Is Broadcast E-mail DOA? –Farquharson/Tedesco

Is broadcast e-mail for prospect lead generation purposes "dead?" Not really, although it's true that this channel has been badly beaten up. We'll tell you what you can do about it—in a moment. First, let's journey inside the numbers.

When evaluating broadcast e-mail campaign performance, start by looking at read rates (also called open rates). Typical B2B read rates hover around eight percent to 15 percent. That means even your best campaigns aren't seen by six of seven recipients.

It gets worse.

Most marketers consider the click-through rate as the most important e-mail campaign metric. In the B2B space, these average below five percent. That doesn't mean five percent of your list, but five percent of the one in seven people who even saw your e-mail.

In other words, you'll be lucky if .5 to one percent of your broadcast e-mails generate end user interaction of any kind.

Now let's dive for rock bottom.

Intended customer response—i.e., what most finance-types care about—for broadcast e-mail is about three percent of that 1⁄2 to one percent who click through.

Put it all together, and that means 0.02 percent of promotional e-mails to prospects—or one in 5,000—will on average result in buying activity.

Owww! Now you see why your e-mail campaigns seem less effective than a 5˝ fan trying to cool a whole baseball stadium in August. What if you're like most printers, and have an opt-in list smaller than 5,000? You'll be lucky to snag a new client from e-mail...ever!

We know what you're thinking: Thank you T.J. and Bill, for confirming our decision to stop marketing!

Now, just wait a moment. We've only told you part of the story. Your printing company must explore different ways to reach and influence your customers and prospects, while making the most of a declining, but still viable, communication channel. Time's a wastin'—let's get started!

1) Stick with E-mail. But Make the Most of It

We've told you the bad and the ugly about e-mail marketing. Now, the good:

• ROI. A recent DMA study reported that e-mail, on average, achieved a ROI more than four times higher than direct mail. The reason is simple: e-mail campaign costs are almost always lower—usually much lower—than direct mail. This is painful for your ink-in-the-blood authors to report, but it's pointless to stick our heads in the sand and ignore the benefits of other channels.

• It's still the most-trafficked virtual channel. There are 3.146 billion e-mail addresses in the world.

That said, most broadcast e-mails don't get opened, a bunch get skimmed, and only a lucky few get read and clicked through. Here are a few tips to help yours end up in the latter pile.

• Keep it Simple—Keep your message singular and focused. Using video to get your message across? Make it 90 seconds or less. Text? Make it two paragraphs, or four bullet points, and include an image to draw attention.

• Include Video—Plain and simple: video drives click-through results.

• Use A/B Testing—With A/B testing, you can continually fine-tune your e-mail campaign based on what elements—subject lines, graphics, send times, etc.—work best.

• Cross Sell and Up Sell—One thing we haven't mentioned yet: e-mail campaigns usually perform much better when targeting people who have already bought from you. News flash! E-mail works when pre-existing business relationships are involved.

2) Drive Client Engagement with Content Marketing

Content marketing means creating and sharing valuable content with prospects and customers, with the goals of building trust, engagement and eventually getting an order.

Content marketing can take many forms:

• "Tip-of-the-week" blog posts or videos

• Video tutorials

• Newsletters (e-mail or print)

• White papers

• Case studies

• Special reports

Can content improve the value—and, perhaps, the returns—of your e-mail marketing campaigns? Absolutely! But there are a couple ground rules:

1. Be relevant to your audience—kind of obvious!
2. Be good—No making silly faces into a video camera or pounding out a rant on your keyboard (unless it's REALLY well-written).
3. Don't give it away—If your content is good and it's relevant, ask for something back from your recipients. Have them tell you a little about themselves before granting them access to your case study, video or article.

An added bonus—All that good, keyword-heavy content works wonders for SEO! More interested, maybe-ready-to-buy eyeballs to your Website!

3) Video Gets Results

Online video has a lot to offer as a marketing channel:

• Drives good e-mail click-through results.

• Sound and video grabs and holds attention.

• Easily sharable via social media, blogs, e-mail, etc.

• Big production budget not required. Just grab a camera with decent video resolution, hammer out a quick script, assemble your "talent" and shout "ACTION!"

Want to make a wager? Send us your last broadcast e-mail campaign's results. Then, create a new ultra-simple e-mail template with your logo, contact info, a large screenshot of a compelling video linked to your Website, a well-chosen title and no more than 25 well-chosen words.

Here's the bet: one large coffee—at any place of your choosing—says this simple template will boost your click-through rate by 50 percent. The bets are down. Any takers?

4) Ditto on Blogging

Blogging can entail a lot more than a 100-word update. Take advantage of the channel's content flexibility by including video, image galleries, slideshows—you name it. Then, cross-promote your blog with broadcast e-mail.

Blogging will drive more visitors to your Website. How? From a search engine optimization standpoint, timely, relevant content is your Website's best friend. There are few more practical ways to produce such content than maintaining a blog on your company's site. Speaking of SEO…

5) Invest in SEO and Search Marketing

SEO can be boiled down to seven best practices:

• Create external links to your Website

• Use search engine-friendly page titles

• Increase Website traffic

• Prioritize fresh content

• Write search engine-friendly Web copy

• Use KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index)

• Take advantage of plugins for WordPress Websites

6) Stay Active in Social Media…We'll Figure it Out Someday!

Social media has moved the dial for many B2C businesses. But, we're not totally sold on its value as a B2B marketing tool. For now, remain active on Facebook, Twitter and the like. But remember: it's not 2009 anymore. Ignore the social media "experts" promising that a few weeks following the "right" people and posting the "right" content can generate dozens of leads.

7) Keep an Eye on Mobile

There are more than four billion mobile phones in the world. Could mobile be the next marketing channel waiting to be tapped? Hard to say, so employ a "watch-and-see" strategy. Location-based apps are about where Twitter was in 2008: curiosities that aren't widely adopted enough—at least in the B2B space—to warrant an ongoing strategy.

We're not at the end of an era, folks—we're in a transition period. Printers must evolve the methods they use to communicate with their core markets. We recommend an integrated marketing strategy that involves direct mail, blogging, SEO and Web design, content marketing, social media, and—you guessed it—e-mail. PI

—T.J. Tedesco, Bill Farquharson

About the Authors
T.J. Tedesco is team leader of Grow Sales, a marketing and PR services company that has served graphic arts companies since 1996. He wrote "Direct Mail Pal 2012" and seven other books. Contact Tedesco at (301) 294-9900 or e-mail tj@growsales.com. Bill Farquharson is the president of Aspire For (www.AspireFor.com). His Sales Challenge can help drive your sales momentum. Contact him at (781) 934-7036 or e-mail bill@aspirefor.com.