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How to get a Higher Response from your Current Marketing Efforts
by Michael Huggins, RGDAre you getting the results from your mailings that you want?
Do you have a marketing machine that delivers you a CONSISTENT and PREDICTABLE response every time you use it?
Or is your marketing machine currently ‘broken’?
Well let me ask you this…
Do you have a steady stream of potential clients coming your way?
Or are you like the many other designers in business today who are constantly frustrated with their lack of leads?
Whichever position you find yourself in, there is one thing as a design entrepreneur you need to always be thinking about, and that is – “how can I improve my current marketing response rates?”
Don’t know what a response rate is?
A response rate would be the number of people who respond to your mailing each time you send it out. For instance…
if you sent out a 100 sales letters and got 10 people responding to you, your response rate would be 10%.
If you could do that with a sales letter or a promotional mailing that would be a pretty sweet marketing machine. Mail out 100 letters – get 10 responses in return.
But while that sounds like a really nice thing to happen, getting good results is no easy task. There are a few critical factors you need to be aware of to get your response rates up.
And one of those crucial elements is a targeted list.
A targeted list can make all the difference between success and failure in your marketing program.
So, what exactly is a targeted list?
The easiest way to explain this is to show you what a targeted list isn’t.
Let’s say you have a business directory listing all the companies in your town or city. It contains every conceivable type of business from retail stores and restaurants to manufacturers and trucking firms. You could start in the “A” section and mail your sales letter to every one of these companies, working your way through the alphabet until you get the “Z”.
How successful do you think your mailing would be? Not very.
That’s because your list isn’t a targeted list at all. You’re simply scooping up a list of company names randomly and hitting them with the same generic letter. That’s as close to junk mail as you can get. And it will most likely be perceived that way by your recipient.
In a targeted list all the names have one or more things in common. They could be all dentists, or Marketing Managers of large corporations, or share a common marketing or communication problem.
When you have a targeted list it allows you to customize your mailing to the specific needs, wants and desires of people on that list. It provides you with a ‘connection’ to a real person with a real need.
And it’s your starting point to building a relationship with them and getting them as a future client.
So how do you create a targeted list? There are a dozens of ways to create a powerful mailing list that will yield you results.
Here are two ways low-cost ways that you can use to create one for your own business…
1. Your best list is close to home
One of the best places to start when creating a targeted list is in your own business with your in-house list.
Your in-house list is made up of clients, prospects and other contacts that you have built up over the years.
This is your best list because, in some way, everyone knows you. And because they do, they’re more likely to open your envelope, read your letter, or scan through your promo material. Based on your connection with them, it is very likely the will be interested in what you send them and they will trust what you have to say.
Don’t think you have that many people on your in-house list?
Chances are, there are a lot of potential clients that you already know—at least to some degree. People you’ve met at business meetings and events. Companies you’ve worked with before, perhaps in a previous job. Projects you’ve quoted, but never won. Dig deep. You can probably come up with dozens, or even a hundred or more, names.
Building an in-house list is often an overlooked strategy for many designers. Most designers focus on developing new contacts but miss the opportunity they already have in their own business.
If you want a targeted list that yields results, then make building your in-house list a top priority when marketing your design services.
2. Success by Association
Another effective way to build your list is through Business and Professional Associations.
Once you’ve identified a target market for your mailings you can research what the business groups and associations are for that industry. And in many cases, you can join the association comprised of companies you want to do business with.
Many of the business associations allow for full memberships or if they don’t they will often allow provisional, student or associate memberships. As a member, you’ll have access to their membership list, which can make a great mailing list for you.
When you join an association, you not only get access to their list of members, but you will be alerted to upcoming events and current issues of your target market. Giving you an inside advantage over your competitors.
There are some challenges however.
Be aware that some associates control or limit how their membership use their list, especially regarding marketing. So always check in advance about their codes of conduct regarding marketing to the membership. And be sure to respect their rules.
Utilizing these two simple list building techniques can dramatically improve the response rates of your promotional material and sales letters.
Resulting in more clients for you and your business.
Dedicated to Graphic Designer SuccessMichael Huggins
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