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Direct Mail Woos Millennial Shoppers by Embracing Their Digital Side

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With the millennial generation, roughly those aged 18-35, now outnumbering boomers, most marketers want to keep this big batch of younger purchasers in their crosshairs. Yet direct mailers sometimes report frustration that response does not match assumptions and expectations from mailing lists and creative.  One cause of lower than desired response may be failure to take into account how millennial shopping and buying habits differ from those of other generational groups.

Yes, Millennials Shop Differently (and Digitally)

A recent article by eMarketer, drawing from its “US Millennial Shoppers 2017” survey report, cited three shopping habits that should be of interest to direct marketers. First, millennials tend to prefer digital shopping, even while in stores. Second, millennials are very comfortable with mobile shopping. And third, millennials have a strong presence on social platforms yet also respond well to direct marketing via e-mail. (See more on the report.)

How Direct Mailers Can Woo Millennials

Millennials are not averse to direct mail–but it depends on the direct mail. Target Marketing magazine’s Summer Gould recently cited five reasons direct mail may flop with millennials–and three come back to the clear digital preferences identified by eMarketer. First of all, a direct mail offer that does not include an online purchase option is missing sales, Gould points out. And, per eMarketer reporting, mailers may be losing sales in a big way considering that 90% of millennials, 93% of Gen Xers and even 84% of boomers said they bought online in a June 2016 Berkeley Research Group survey. Next, since millennials clearly embrace mobile shopping, every aspect of the shopping experience should be mobile-friendly (website, landing pages, shopping cart), Gould advises, and it is certainly key if the direct mail includes mobile-scanned QR codes to connect digitally. Then, since social media matters to millennials and is where they do research before they buy, a direct mailer lacking a social presence is also snubbing millennial shoppers. But not just any social outreach will do; millennials want authentic, informative, humanized interaction.

Friendly, Authentic, Tech Savvy

Regardless of digital messaging, printed content also needs to seem authentic and friendly if the mailer wants millennials to make a connection with the offer and the brand, per Gould. Millennials value companies that make them feel good, she points out, so mailers should review their creative and remove the phony or impersonal. Finally, millennials expect a company to be up-to-date with technology and to integrate marketing, shopping and sales with technology–whether in-store, in direct mail, or on the website. Millennials can relate to direct mail offers–but not if they are tied to a company that lacks the technological savvy to make interaction easy, seamless and personalized. Do millennials’ digital and tech preference mean that direct mailers can only succeed by stuffing technology into print pieces–QR, AR, video, etc.? Not necessarily, answers Gould. As with any marketing effort, just test what makes sense for enhancing audience experience and boosting response.  For Gould’s article, see http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/how-to-get-millennials-to-respond-to-your-direct-mail/

 

2017 Magazine Trends: Digital Embrace, Platform Tensions

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The pursuit of circulation and ad revenue will push magazine publishers to embrace a number of digital publishing trends in 2017, per predictions in a Publishing Executive magazine article by Ron Matejko, president of digital publisher MVP Media. We thought our consumer and business publication clients would be interested in a few of those trends.

Subscription Drives Go Digital

While insert cards and direct mail remain sturdy tools for circulation marketing, Matejko foresees increased use of digital tools in audience development, and he cites the example of Dallas-based D Magazine, which is leveraging its combined database with outreach via automated and personalized e-mail campaigns and targeted social media advertising to audiences that look like their current print subscriber base. The result has been more new and renewed subscriptions for the print product, in fact almost a 100% increase in subscriptions generated monthly through digital efforts. The power of postal combined with social/e-mail database marketing has certainly given legs to AccuList USA’s Digital2Direct marketing program.

Mobile Apps Boost Brand & Revenue

Also watch for increased use of mobile magazine apps that enhance the reader experience, predicts Matejko. Consider the success story of Cities West Publishing in Arizona, which expanded its app offerings last year with interactive versions of two monthly print publications, as well as apps to supplement multimedia campaigns for two special issues. For example, an app for Apple and Android mobile devices reformatted the more than 1,200 listings of design experts, shops, and services showcased in Phoenix Home & Garden magazine’s Top Design Sources issue, followed by a similar app for Phoenix magazine’s Travel Guide issue. The benefits: branding, extended shelf life beyond the newsstand, and revenue via multi-platform value-added for print ad partners.

Tech Innovations Could Be Transformative

Tech innovators are courting publishers with tools that could make a big difference to digital success, according to Matejko. He cites innovations such as Advontemedia’s software that caters to mobile readers’ preference for scrolling vertically instead of horizontally, or Woodwing’s Inception digital content production tool that enables publishers to create a constantly updated app, with responsive design for all devices.

Publishers in a Tug of War With Platforms

Given those digital trends, it’s no surprise that publishers are distributing content across audience-rich platforms such as Facebook and Google. They are betting that targeted content on digital platforms will drive traffic back to their own sites—boosting readership, content value, and ad revenue. But the formula for monetizing multi-platform efforts has proved challenging, according to Patricia Orsini, eMarketer analyst and author of the new report, Media’s Digital Challenge: Publisher Strategies for Monetizing Content Across Platforms.  Instead of the content on platforms scaling up audience for most publishers, “readers spent more time with those platforms, and therefore boosted revenue to those platforms,” Orsini found.

For more on the digital publishing trend predictions from the Publishing Executive article, go to http://www.pubexec.com/post/4-digital-publishing-trends-watch-2017/

Positive 2017 Fundraising Trends Create Opportunities

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While 2017 is starting as a year of uncertainty, especially in politics, a recent CauseVox post provides some good news for AccuList USA’s current and future nonprofit direct marketing clients. CauseVox staff writer Tina Jepson spotlights 10 fundraising trends that offer opportunities for greater success this year, and we’ll pass along a few here.

Increased Individual, Corporate & Recurring Giving

Donation forecasts are upbeat, Jepson shares: Philanthropy Outlook 2016 & 2017 predicts that an increase in individual and household income will help to boost fundraising efforts for nonprofits, charities, and NGOs by as much as 3.8% in 2017.  Plus, with Gross Domestic Product and business savings on the rise, total corporate giving is predicted to rise by 4.7% in 2017. And monthly giving, which accounts for 17% of online revenue, also will continue increasing per the 2016 M+R Benchmarks report. The trick with individual donors is to catch the wave with smart targeting, inspiring creative and campaigns to get existing donors to boost giving, says Jepson, while, for corporate giving, nonprofits would do well to maximize gift matching, to court business leaders and to keep tabs on company arrivals and growth locally. Plus, Jepson urges nonprofits to amp up their monthly giving strategy, making monthly giving the first option for donors on the website and a marketing priority in e-letters, direct mail and e-mail.

Donor Retention at a Record High

Donor retention rates are at the highest rate since 2008 at 45.9%, and nonprofits and charities clearly should make retention a marketing priority to capitalize on this powerful fundraising engine, Jepson notes. She suggests capitalizing on the trend with tactics such as personalization; prior gift recognition; leveraging donors’ preferred channels; donor education via videos, infographics or pamphlets; and donor activation with engagement opportunities such as volunteering or advocacy.

More Donor Data Than Ever Before

Digital interactions—websites, e-mail, social media and now the Internet of Things (IoT)—combine with traditional channels such as direct mail to generate a wealth of data about existing and potential donors. A key goal for 2017 is to gather, analyze and use actionable data effectively. Jepson lists a few ways to do so: Tracking analytics on your website and social media posts to learn the demographics and behavior of your paid, earned and owned media audience; using Facebook and Instagram Ads and Business Manager to target ads to donors likely to give; and turning around data learning to share with, and inspire, donors in real-time online via options such as a website ROI ticker that tracks return on investment (possibly in lives changed) per average donation.

Social Media & Mobile Marketing Challenges

In social and mobile marketing, nonprofits face challenges as well as opportunities. Social media platforms, including Facebook, now are promoting organic content that prioritizes the audience’s friends and family over nonprofit messages. Jepson points out that this means that effective social media marketing will need to rely more on purchased ads and targeting of key demographics, as well as creating viral content that inspires shares. Meanwhile, if your nonprofit hasn’t invested in mobile optimization of websites and e-mails, you’re missing a key donation source: Mobile giving makes up 17% of all online giving now and is projected to rise further in 2017.

For more trends and Jepson’s suggestions on maximizing their fundraising impact, see https://www.causevox.com/blog/fundraising-trends-2017/

 

2017 Multi-Channel Marketers Challenged by 3 Key Digital Trends

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As this year’s marketing gets underway, we want to alert marketers seeking our multi-channel support services to three important 2017 digital trends recently cited by digital marketing hub ClickZ author Rebecca Sentance.

‘Mobilized’ Search Is Digital Marketing Must

Marketers need to go beyond “mobile friendly” to a “mobile first” strategy given current search trends. Though ClickZ’s own Intelligence Report on 2016 mobile marketing found that 56% of client-side marketers and 44% of agency respondents still described their mobile ad efforts as “beginner,” big search market changes will spur more mobile strategy investment this year, Sentance notes. Think mobile is over-hyped? Sentance asks you to consider the following: Search-engine giant Google has removed the “right-hand rail” from the search results page and moved to only displaying paid ads at the top and bottom, making the main search results layout more adaptive to mobile; Google continues to strengthen a mobile-friendly ranking system that penalizes websites that aren’t mobile-optimized; and Google announced in October that it would further favor mobile search by splitting off desktop and mobile into separate search indexes, with mobile as its primary index.

‘Visualized’ Social Marketing Wins Followers

Marketers need to embrace visual elements and visually focused platforms for more effective social media performance. Sentance points out as an example that YouTube was the fourth-most cited channel of the 2016 Marketing Trends Survey when respondents were asked to name the top three performing networks for their social media marketing efforts (behind Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn). And though Instagram came in fifth place, the rise of visually focused platforms like Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat is undeniable. For example, Sentance reports that Instagram is far outstripping social competition in follower growth, with a median average of 6-8% follower growth month on month. So it’s no wonder that formerly text-based social media leaders Facebook and Twitter have made it a priority to meet the competitive challenge this year by integrating more multimedia into their platforms, with the addition of GIFs, short videos and live video streaming.

‘Commercialized’ Social Offers Sales As Well As Branding

Finally, marketers should stop assuming social media is mainly a tool for brand and traffic building rather than direct sales. Social media and e-commerce have been overlapping more and more, Sentance argues. She cites the launch of Facebook Marketplace, the acquisition of Famebit by Google/YouTube, and the change in Pinterest’s business profiles to showcase Buyable pins more prominently as just three recent examples of the trend to integrate e-commerce with social.

To read the complete ClickZ article go to https://www.clickz.com/three-major-developments-that-will-shape-multi-channel-marketing-in-2017/108468/