Business examples
Here are some examples to get you inspired. The best way to start your own succesful business case is to talk to us. Let us think with you about the possibilities with Direct marketing 2.0. Contact us for a free consult!
A hotel owner: 'new clients please !'.
Small hotel with 50 rooms feels the recession: less bookings are coming in. The hotel works for its promotion with online travel and booking partners. They are facing the same problems; prices are declining and people keep their money in their pocket. The hotel has not got the money to advertise on local radio or newspapers to attract business people and international guests from abroad.
How the bookings increase with Direct social marketing 2.0
The hotel has a database with the names and addresses of previous clients and the year they came to the hotel. This is our starting point. We define different groups of clients (1,2 or 3 years ago) and send them a creative and personalised direct mailing postal cards. The key message is a friendly invitation to visit the hotel again.
The hotel also has a surprise for them! They have to go to a Purl; a Personalised Url web-page that has been created especially for them. This Purl is the key in all communication. With the activation of the Purl we can track and measure who responded to our mailing. And by adding specific information on the Purl webpage, we show that we know the client as an individual. The beginning of a new Direct and Personal relationship.
On the Purl the client is welcomed by his/hername. We can even show the room they stayed in or the view they had (Don’t you miss this feeling?). We can ask them to update their information (self data cleaning). But we want to get more information! So we launch a viral effect into our Direct marketing campaign and start to build our own network with the friends from our clients.
Promotion
The promotion we are offering is a free night stay in the hotel. The only thing the people need to do, is to fill in the names of 3 persons they know that might be interested in the hotel. If they put in the Surname, lastname and email, and the people are responding, they got the free night stay.
Result
New people in the database, more targetted marketing opportunities, a friendly call to action and a positive and personal message wich reinforces the image of the hotel.
A fashion brand: 'We want measurable store traffic'.
The fashion brand for men and women is sending out newsletters to 50.000 subscribers. Every time there is a new collection in the stores, a direct mailing is sent; sometimes digital per e-mail and sometimes as a nice postal card. The campaign shows a few images and redirects the readers to the website. Here they can see the whole collection and click on a store locator to find out where they can buy the new collection. There are no visible statsitics or any measurement between newsletter, website visitors and store-traffic.
How the fashion brand became their best friend
50.000 fashion brand fans receive a personalised mailing with a link to a new exciting website; their own. With a Personalised URL (e.g. jackohara.wearsbrandX.com) the fans get direct access to their personalised web pages. Here the brand welcomes them by name and presents relevant information (for Jack we only show the collection for men). We also connect the store locator through postal codes in their personal pages: a list of shops with the new collection is published on the webpage. If we don’t know the postal code yet, we can easily enrich our database by asking for the postal code in return for a brand goodie such as a free to download mobile wallpaper.
Promotion
For the people that have a postal code in the database, the store locator is visible in the Purl with a list of shops in his city. Client Jack can now print a coupon with the name of a store he likes to get a free gift. The freebees, little brand merchanidising such as keyhangers, t-shirts or magnets are pre-delivered by the clothing company and part of the POS materials.
Result
The clothing company has a higher response rate on their DM, they can track and analyse the visitors on the website, they build a personal relation with their fans and they provide a strong added value to the stores.
A Real Estate company
An email newsletter is sent out to the complete 'buyers' database with a general message and an invitation to visit the general website showing all houses on offer. Response % is expected to be very low, but is actually very difficult to determine or track. Without any personal touch, customer and agency remain distanced, the relationship impersonal. To the buyer it's "just another" agency. To the agency "just another buyer…". Poor investment of agency's time, resources and money.
The Direct way
The agency's database is analysed & proves to be a rich source of potential for segmentation and personalisation. Rather than a standard "one-size-fits-all", smaller sets of emails are sent with content that is both personalised and relevant to the potential buyers. Easy to remember Personalised URLs are included that entice potential buyers to visit their own personalised web pages where a selection of houses closely matching their preferred criteria are displayed.
Response levels soar. Respondents feel safe to update their personal details and further refine their search criteria. Results are seen online in real time. While the database is enhanced, the relevant salesperson is sent an instant notification. Qualified potential buyers can even be automatically sent a printed summary sheet in full colour with personalised text and images. No longer 'just another agency' this approach builds a personal relationship where both agency and buyer are rewarded.
A Yacht Charter company
It's that season again; How many brochures to print and what content to include in them… As soon as they're printed they're out of date. Another out of date batch needs to be thrown out. So how many to print this time ? With the cost of postage, sending yet another generalised brochure to everyone on our database seems a questionable investment. But credibility is at stake and it’s difficult to break the trend. Just who reads them anyway ?
The Direct way: After segmenting the prospect and customer database, a selection of possible offers is created. High quality laminated A4 personalised mailers with content better related to the needs of each recipient are printed and posted. Making it easy for them to respond, a Personalised URL (e.g. davidbrown.yachtco.com) gives recipients direct access to personalised web pages. Here relevant information is presented to them and they can further define what their needs. With requirements validated and refined, a follow up personalised brochure is printed with a tantalising spread of relevant contents. Response rates and satisfaction levels shoot up with results visible in real time. Personal relationship-building that differentiates the agency from its competitors.