Fundraising Pros Forecast 2017 Trends for Direct Mail

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For nonprofits, 2017 offers an avalanche of political and technological changes, yet we don’t see any trend sweeping direct mail or e-mail out from under fundraising marketers just yet. Certainly, AccuList USA’s top fundraising mailing lists, based on proprietary research, continue to deliver donors and dollars to clients.

In fact, NonProfit PRO magazine recently found relevant mailing insights when it asked nonprofit pros nationwide for 2017 fundraising trend predictions. A few nuggets from its “40 NonProfit Trends for 2017” include:

Digital & Analog Can Grow Together

Marketers should see digital and non-digital communications as symbiotic rather than competitive. Indeed, Roger Craver and Tom Belford, editors of The Agitator, predicted that the continued rise of digital technology and data will paradoxically foster an increase in “old fashioned” pre-digital methods of communication and relationship building, such as direct mail, printed “thank you” notes, personal phone calls and print newsletters. Why? Because old-fashioned non-digital communications “provide a key—and currently missing—fundraising ingredient: a human, real-life interaction between an organization and its donors.”

Integrating Not Just Multiplying Channels

Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, principal of Clairification, advised nonprofits to recognize that they are now dealing with an all-encompassing “Generation Connected” (GenC) and must be in multiple spaces simultaneously—but with consistent and integrated messaging. Merely fundraising through multiple channels does not equal integration from the consumer’s perspective, she warns;  integration requires coordinated images, messages and offers across channels to avoid muddling the brand.

Going for Mailing Depth Over Volume

Direct mail is still a top fundraising tool—but not if used as a blunt instrument. Nick Ellinger, vice president of marketing strategy at DonorVoice, noted recent Dutch research that found 63% of the revenues of an additional nonprofit mailing aren’t new revenues but rather cannibalized from the revenues of other communications. However, by investing in donor knowledge and targeting, customization and personalization rather than just mail volume, test programs report stable gross revenue and a significant increase in net revenue in year one (or year two at worst), Ellinger reported.

Direct Mail’s Not Dead & Neither Is E-mail

Eric Rardin, vice president of business development for Care2, predicted that e-mail will only increase in importance in 2017. While social tools and platforms proliferate and compete, e-mail emerges as a digital tool that best allows marketers to push traffic and engagement online, he noted, so the value of an e-mail address, with permission to mail, will continue to increase year over year.

Use Technology to Kick Up Results

Though “old-fashioned” mail still drives donations, it may do a better job if paired with new technology. Shari Mason, vice president, marketing communications of Smile Train, suggested embracing 3D-printing initiatives, virtual reality experiences and social-good fundraising platforms to improve giving-impact communications, message sharing, call to action, and cause awareness. Leigh Kessler, vice president of communications for CharityEngine, even urged testing mobile device voice intelligence technology (Siri, Cordera, Google Now)—for example with a direct mail piece that says, “If you have Amazon Echo, just say ‘Alexa, I’d like to Give $25 to customURLnonprofit.org.'”

For more trends, read NonProfit PRO‘s “40 NonProfit Trends for 2017.”

Do You Have a 2017 Strategy for Cross-Device Marketing?

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With mobile now a key platform for digital display ad, social media and e-mail viewing, and even print integrating with mobile and online, marketers clearly need a 2017 cross-device strategy. At AccuList USA, we have expanded our digital marketing offerings, but clients cannot reap full benefits without a commitment to cross-device creative and customer analytics. As a 2016 Econsultancy survey noted, only 14% of marketers said their company was able to handle customer matching across multiple devices, even though almost three-fourths of respondents felt cross-device customer tracking was a strategic priority. Where to start?

Leverage Digital Analytics Reporting

A recent Direct Marketing News article by Pierre DeBois offers some good tips for initiating a cross-device strategy. Start with analytics platform reporting now that Google Analytics, Piwik and Adobe Analytics all offer a user ID feature, a modification to the analytics tag, to allow cross-device visits to be an identifiable segment in the analytics reports. DeBois also suggests setting up report filters for digital traffic to take advantage of what is already known about the digital points at which customers engage, such identifying web traffic by the IP address of a store site to track customers who shop the site while in-store.

Optimize for Mobile & Social

A mobile site that makes it easy for customers to act immediately—whether they want to order, call or download—is a must. Try to keep the mobile site focused on a simple purpose, DeBois advises; for example, a retailer can prioritize an option for in-store shipping delivery. With strong mobile traffic, a marketer can even develop enough audience to support an app launch. Since accessing social media is a key activity for mobile users, and video viewing continues to soar, marketers will want to leverage social traffic stats and demographic parameters to tailor content to social media platforms, with an eye to mobile and visual/video impact. For example, half of YouTube’s traffic arrives via a mobile device. DeBois cites the Google Customer Journey tool as one way for marketers to adjust when media content should be deployed and extend impressions through social media ads.

Use Ad Features That Bridge Devices

Design ads for cross-device viewing and response. Especially take advantage of the paid search platforms’ expanded mobile and IoT (Internet of Things) offerings, with device selection for re-marketing and paid search ads, call extensions and cross-device reporting. For example, Google AdWords reporting can display an overview of cross-device activity, showing assisting device and device paths reports and comparing last click and click-assists. Marketers can use this tracking to learn about the conversion path—the steps customers take toward a sale, download, or other outcome—and evaluate ad impact.

For the article and more from DeBois, go to http://www.dmnews.com/marketing-strategy/how-to-read-analytics-clues-for-a-cross-device-marketing-strategy/article/570022/

 

 

2017 Event Marketing: Social, Visual & Data-Focused

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Event professionals can look forward to some exciting new marketing trends in 2017–especially in the social, digital and data arenas–as recently highlighted in both an EventManagerBlog survey and a post by MarketingTango, the marketing blog for brands like PIP and Sir Speedy. Since AccuList USA has seen similar trends, it has responded with more social media and multi-channel programs to bolster its existing event marketing expertise in market-tested lists. Event marketing trends to watch this year include:

More Data and Retargeting, With a Social Twist

Many event professionals reported to EventMB that they saw an increase in the amount and quality of data available through social media in 2016–data that can be used to improve retargeting and create better multi-channel campaigns in 2017. MarketingTango points out that tighter targeting of the right VIPs and digital influencers will allow marketers to ride their social media coattails to higher Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram traffic and maximize social data ROI. EventMB even reports a trend to use of electronic tablets as part of the registration process, with tablets staying with attendees for real-time data, such as vendor visits.

Engagement, Contests & Connections

Underlying social media’s growth as an event tool is its ability to boost engagement and professional connectivity. Certainly, per EventMB’s survey, using contests and giveaways for posting or tagging in social media is a big trend with exhibitors, who not only reap booth traffic but free marketing buzz as people tag and share.  MarketingTango likewise notes the growing use of a “digital social wall” to engage attendees in real-time and harness the power of hashtags to own conversations. Social media also offers more ways to connect, and EventMB’s surveyed event pros reported increased use of Snapchat and Snapchat geolocation filters to meet and connect as well as use of guest-generated pop-up events such as Twitter meetups.

Event Apps Becoming a Must

Jennifer Hawkins, Director of Marketing at live engagement marketing firm Double Dutch, told MarketingTango that show/convention apps are another must for today’s marketer: “Fifty-six percent of users engage with event applications at least 10 times on average, proving that attendees are eager for this type of timely, contextual content.” Apps are especially appealing because results are trackable.

Demand for Sleeker, More Visual Digital

Event marketers also stressed that today’s attendees want websites and landing pages that are easy-to-use, faster and more concise, preferring bullets and visuals over wordy pages. Image-based platforms are winning more followers, and many event pros forecast growing popularity for video in event invitations, event advertisements, virtual reality experiences to sell venues, event highlight reels, and, for those who can’t attend live, feeds from the event.

For more, read the articles at http://www.eventmanagerblog.com/8-trends-in-socialmedia-and-eventmarketing and http://www.marketingtango.com/event-marketing-trends-2017-beyond/

Multichannel Marketers See ROI Measurement as Top Challenge

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As highlighted recently in a MediaPost Real-Time Daily post, quantifying and optimizing ROI across channels is a top challenge for today’s marketing execs.  Gone are the days when direct marketers could afford siloed channel strategies, and AccuList USA’s multichannel campaign services, supporting integrated solutions across channels, are just one way we have evolved to meet demand.

The Challenge of Multichannel ROI

Citing a new global survey conducted by the programmatic marketing and analytics firm DataXu, the Real-Time Daily article notes that U.S. senior marketers now say the single greatest challenge in their jobs is developing an accurate way to quantify ROI across the variety of channels. Another 37% of U.S. marketers say their biggest challenge is developing an efficient marketing mix across channels to drive ROI. The U.S. marketers are not alone, however; difficulty tracking the success of a marketing campaign into metrics was cited by one-third of global marketers as the largest threat to the success of their teams.

Higher Bar for Digital Skills and Data Literacy

In meeting multichannel challenges, marketers also feel the bar for technical skills is set higher than ever before because of expanding digital technologies and proliferating data sources. So it’s no surprise that 78% of U.S. marketers point to understanding marketing technologies as a skill critical to their mission, and 72% think grasping digital media is crucial to success. Overall,  65% also say it is necessary to be data literate.

Testing Into the Right Channel Mix

Testing to optimize marketing mix ROI is an approach that some marketers are now taking, per the article, including survey author DataXu. These marketing teams are randomizing deployment of existing budgets across various channels and then measuring business outcomes to pinpoint where a campaign is most successful, transforming a media plan into a controlled experiment.  “This methodology identifies the causal link between media investments and business outcomes — sales or brick-and-mortar foot traffic,” Gar Smyth, VP of marketing at DataXu, explained to Real-Time Daily.

For the article and its statistics, go to http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/280801/marketers-biggest-challenge-is-quantifying-roi.html

Study Debunks Marketing Myths About Millennials

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Given that millennials love digital technology, does that mean they prefer digital marketing? Not according to a recent Target Marketing magazine article debunking several marketing myths about millennial customers, including the notion that digital advertising is the most effective way to reach those born between 1980 and 2000. Author Linda Antos, market development analyst at commercial printer Quad/Graphics, cites recent Quad/Graphics research to show that traditional print marketing–direct mail and catalogs–actually has greater power to move millennial buyers, a group forecast to spend $1.4 trillion annually by 2020. It’s certainly why AccuList USA continues to attract clients to its vetted mailing lists for consumer and business catalog marketing.

Millennials Don’t Ignore Print

The first myth Antos takes on is the belief that millennials ignore printed marketing. She cites an annual study by Quad/Graphics that tracks millennial shopping and media habits and preferences. It shows that 82% of millennials read direct mail and 54% look forward to receiving retail catalogs in the mail. Within 30 days of the survey, 49% reported taking print coupons to the store to shop and almost three in four used grocery retail inserts, higher than the average shopper.

Digital Engagement Isn’t Ad Engagement

Myth No. 2 involves assuming that millennials’ known addiction to daily digital interaction means they pay attention to digital advertising. The Quad/Graphics survey found that nearly half say they ignore e-mail and Internet ads, and 45% ignore mobile ads. By comparison, only 15% ignore direct mail ads. When it comes to millennial social networking, less than 10% say they made a purchase based on social media ads, and only 1% purchased from a social site.

Millennials Respond to Bargains

Another false generational stereotype is that millennials are less cost-conscious. In the Quad/Graphics millennials study, 49% said it was fun to see how much they could save with coupons, loyalty cards and discount offers, and 57% said they responded to “Buy One, Get One Free” offers in direct mail. More than half also responded to gift card and percent-off offers, and 52% said they switched from their regular brand to take advantage of a coupon offer.

Multichannel Efforts Pack More Punch

The surprise power of direct mail with millennials doesn’t diminish the need for digital marketing but does underscore the value of multichannel marketing. The Quad/Graphics study found, for example, that 37% of millennials did report accessing retailer websites to view a weekly ad, and 46% will read an e-mail if it is from their loyalty rewards program. Thus, combining direct mail with digital can leverage marketing power across channels, which is why AccuList USA recently developed its Digital2Direct product combining e-mail and Facebook targeting with direct mail.

For the complete article and more results of the Quad/Graphics research, read http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/marketing-to-millennials-3-myths-shattered/

Why Targeted Lists Are Key to Dimensional Mail Success

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Prospecting with dimensional mail is both attractive because of high response rates and risky because of high costs. So what’s the key ingredient of success? Mailing lists that are appropriately and tightly targeted, answers a recent Entrepreneur magazine article on dimensional mail. That’s certainly in line with our proprietary list research and years of list brokerage success delivering highly targeted lists for business and nonprofit mailers.

High Response Can Offset High CPM

Here are the facts: The Direct Marketing Association’s 2015 “Response Rate Report” shows dimensional prospecting mail earns a median 2.8% response that betters the 1% of a letter envelope and postcard, or even the 2% of an oversized envelope. Dimensional mail works because it’s often lumpy, bumpy, unusually shaped and/or weightier, which grabs attention in the mailbox and sparks a curiosity about internal rewards that leads to opens. However, while dimensional mail may earn top response rates, it also has the highest cost per thousand, at an average $1,205 compared with a standard letter envelope package’s $583, per the DMA report. This raises the stakes but does not disqualify dimensional mail as an acquisition tool. Overall, dimensional mail for prospecting still comes in at the lowest $43 cost per response, compared with the highest cost per response turned in by catalogs ($112) and oversized mail ($105), per DMA stats.

Targeted Lists Are Key

Success in this response-cost balancing act depends on another ingredient: list targeting. In his recent Entrepreneur article, Craig Simpson, owner of Simpson Direct, Inc., explains why dimensional mail works best with “a small, highly targeted group of prospects.” It is also “invaluable” with “hard-to-reach niches,” especially business-to-business  promotions that need to get past office “gatekeepers,” he notes. Beware the broadly targeted list likely to produce a lower response rate that will “not bring in enough customers to offset the higher production cost of dimensional mail,” advises Simpson.

Reduce Risk With Testing

So if you think dimensional mail could work for you in generating more response from a highly targeted group of prospects, reduce the inherent cost risk by starting small, as Simpson suggests, with list and creative testing. Results tracking can pave the way to rollout of a winning dimensional package. Read Simpson’s article at https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/276555

Direct Mail Still Stars in Multichannel Subscription Campaigns

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As multichannel publishing evolves, traditional direct mail, long a staple of subscription acquisition campaigns, has evolved as well and retains a key role in audience building. Because AccuList USA supports multichannel subscription campaigns for clients’  business and consumer publications, as well as catalogs, a recent Target Marketing magazine article by Paul Bobnak, director of Who’s Mailing What!, caught our eye. The article provided an interesting example of how an established print publication brand successfully used targeted direct mail to promote multiplatform content and expand reach to a younger, digital-first audience.

Leveraging a Tightly Targeted Market

Bobnak shares how The Economist, one of the world’s most respected magazines and a “big user of direct mail,” created a new mail piece to promote its brand to an academic target market of college professors–and secondarily their students. The piece used a recent issue’s eye-catching magazine cover as the non-address side of the outer portion of a brochure mailer, taking advantage of the visual, tactile and guaranteed-mailbox-delivery of direct mail. There were additional cover examples inside–up to 25 on its first page alone–to reinforce the value of its invitation to academics, at a “special academic rate,” to join “one million leaders” in keeping abreast of significant international political, business, finance, scientific and technical news and trends. Plus, the professors were encouraged to pass along the informational benefits of the magazine to their students, who could subscribe at a special individual rate or via a group subscription provided by the teacher.

Using Print to Push Digital Benefits

Recognizing that many academics, especially younger students, are digital-first today, a full page of the brochure highlighted a digital package. That package included options such as a weekly digital or audio edition sent to tablet or smartphone, and a “Daily Espresso” of top stories shot to the subscriber’s device. So while the promotion was delivered via printed direct mail, the stress was on desirable content delivery–regardless of platform.

Bobnak’s takeaway: “For long-standing brands to adapt to a digital age, it’s necessary to appeal to audiences in a variety of channels.”

To see the actual mail example, go to http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/economist-new-direct-mail/