After several quarters of mounting losses, the Postal Service is once again ready to raise rates across the board. The reaction from direct marketers was immediate and clear – volumes will fall and the shift will be toward online channels. If it was not already hard enough to convince the CMO to spend on direct mail, the problem just got that much harder.
How this helps Marketing Service Providers
To capitalize on this challenge, offer to assist your clients with developing an email marketing list. A simple plan that has been successfully used by many MSPs follows:
Step 1
Add a landing page with opt-in to every customer communication and touch the client makes
Step 2
Offer an incentive on the landing page for the client to opt-in and provide an email address. For B2B applications exclusive content works well and for B2C applications discounts and coupons are effective.
Step 3
Use the collected opt-ins for direct marketing with both direct mail and email.
To price a project like this, consider doing it on spec and charging per lead and follow up. We have never met a CMO that won’t pay for a qualified lead and an automated follow on program. Since landing pages are available with VDP Web for only $40 there is virtually no risk. Typical prices for leads can run from $3-5 for small consumer goods to more than a hundred for auto loans, insurance, and mortgages. For not for profits consider a percentage of the donation. The possibilities are endless as overburdened marketers look for automated, but cost effective, ways to do their jobs.




George Culbertson and GAP Marketing
This is a shameless plug from George Culbertson while he was presenting a Hewlett-Packard case study featuring VDP Web at Interact! 2010 in Chicago.
Posted at 08:35 AM in Commentary, Cross Channel Marketing, Cross Media Marketing, Direct Marketing, Email, Personalized URLs, Purls | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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