Article: 4 Techniques to Strengthen Your E-marketing Strategy

 

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4 Techniques to Strengthen Your E-marketing Strategy

by Dan Ogdon

From social media to paid search and SEO practices, lead generation opportunities and methods are endless. While many companies are testing and proving that online lead generation works, traditional methods still play a major role.  According to Econsultancy’s Online Lead Generation Report for 2010 48% of a company’s offline market strategy consists of direct mail and 23% of companies continue to rely on telemarketing for lead qualification and prospecting.

Let’s review two direct mail and two telemarketing examples that lend to an integrated marketing approach which is sure to have a greater impact than email alone. When used in conjunction with email in an integrated marketing campaign, the traditional methods of direct mail and telemarketing boost the overall impact of the campaign. Below are some ways to bring old school methods to present day marketing.

Nurturing new leads that you do not have permission to email
You cannot send email to contacts that you do not have permission to send to.  Does that mean you can’t use a list you just purchased from a reputable provider? No. It just means that you must first gain permission before you engage in an email relationship. Start by sending a postcard to your list with an incentive to visit the landing page URL seen on the postcard. On the landing page, reiterate the incentive and encourage them to fill out a web form that gathers their email address among other questions that will help you further target your message. Based on what information was given and now that you have gained permission to send email, drop them into a focused Drip Marketing email sequence that further qualifies your lead and call those that are the most active first.  A little thought and preparation goes a long way in converting names in a spreadsheet into paying customers.

 Ensuring your message is heard through actionable results
The industry standard email open rate is 30% and can vary greatly depending on how you target and personalize your message. Even with an open rate of 30% a large percentage of your customers are not getting your message. Direct mail is proven to be effective, but can be very expensive. Rather than send direct mail to everyone on your list, save some money and select only those contacts who have not opened your emails and send a targeted mailing to them. For more of an impact, add a few high profile contacts to the list to receive both the email and direct mailing.

Clean up and re-engagement of old leads
Using an email marketing service provider allows you to know who opened, click, bounced, unsubscribed, etc. If a significant percentage of your email addresses are not valid, it behooves your company to update your records. A simple way to re-engage to update their information is to develop a telemarketing campaign that simply asks for their information to update your records. Once you’ve received the correct email address, add them to a drip marketing email sequence that reminds them of your products or services.

Qualifying leads for targeted future messaging
Qualified leads are very valuable to any business. The more segmented your database, the more you can target your message which leads to great open rates, greater click rates and ultimately more revenue. One effective contact profiling tactic is to develop a telemarketing campaign that asks profiling questions in return for a benefit such as a valuable webinar invitation, a month free of service or free shipping. Ask questions that allows you to segment your database. After receiving their information, immediately follow up with targeted messages based on their responses to show you listened.

While these examples are certainly not exhaustive, it is clear that direct mail and telemarketing can enhance the lead qualification and contact intelligence process. Swiftpage emarketing is pleased to announce direct mail and telemarketing services to strengthen your e-marketing strategy and make your business grow.

Swiftpage emarketing .com/directmail
Swiftpage emarketing .com/telemarketing