Alicia Forest |
Alicia M Forest, MBA, Multiple Streams Queen & Coach and creator
of "21 Easy & Essential Steps to Online Success System, teaches
coaches, consultants, and other solo professionals and online
entrepreneurs how to attract more clients, create profit-making
products and services, make more sales, and ultimately live the life
they desire and deserve. For FREE tips on how to create abundance in
your business, visit Client Abundance. |
Alicia Forest
has written 16 articles for SB Informer. |
View all articles by Alicia Forest... |
5 Simple Steps to Adding Offline Marketing to Your Online BusinessAlicia Forest
August 28, 2007
Taking my
struggling consulting business online and following the business model
I now do turn everything around for me, financially and otherwise. So
when I started hearing from my mentors that I might want to add some
offline marketing tactics back into the mix, I was hesitant to say the
least.
But then I started studying and learning more about some
specific direct mail strategies, and recognizing the power they have, I
started wondering in maybe I wasn't missing an important piece of the
puzzle to take my business up another notch.
Then I started
seeing some amazing results from my colleagues who were using direct
mail in addition to their online marketing efforts - things as simple
as a postcard - and I decided I needed to get into this game myself.
(I'll keep you posted on my own results in a future article.)
How do you get started adding direct mail marketing to your mix? Here are 5 simple steps:
1. Start collecting physical addresses
You
may have the addresses of those clients and customers who have
purchased from you already, which is a great start. But you also want
to start collecting snail mail addresses from those people who sign up
for your list. This way, when you're ready to send a physical mailing
out, you'll have all the information you need. AND, as email
deliverability gets muddier, you'll always have this other option of
reaching your audience.
2. Plan a campaign
I
always tell my clients to plan an online promotion campaign when they
are ready to market a specific product, program or service, instead of
sending out a single announcement. The campaign I recommend typically
includes a minimum of three emails.
Same goes for an offline
mailing. You need to plan a campaign, with more than one mailing, in
order to truly get and discern a return on your investment.
3. Go cheap the first time
Something
I learned when I was the PR director for a university was NOT to do an
expensive mailing until we had cleaned our list. Peoples' addresses
change for a variety of reasons and you may not always have the most
up-to-date ones when you're ready to send your mailing.
So,
here's a tip to clean your list before you start investing in some
higher-end mailers. Send a postcard that has your return address on it
to your current list. Then update your list via the returned postcards
you get. Then make sure you have your return address on every mailing
you do to keep your list as up-to-date as possible.
4. Keep it simple
Do
a postcard, which gets read right away, with a simple, direct,
compelling message and an immediate call to action, with graphics that
don't distract but support your message.
5. Track your mailings
The
easiest way to do this is to send your readers to a simple website
address (URL) that you only use for the purposes of that mailing. All
you have to do is redirect that URL to your existing web page (where
your offer resides) using the tracking link feature in your shopping
cart. That way you can tell how many people typed in the URL and how
many people took advantage of your offer. This is how you measure your
return on your investment.
Getting started with adding direct
mail to your marketing mix isn't difficult. And by combining your
online strategies with offline ones, you'll be gaining a lot more
clients and customers and bringing in a lot more income.
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