Tag Archive for: Handwritten Letters

post-event marketing
Lead Liaison

Why Direct Mail Should Be Part Of Your Post-Event Marketing

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So your trade show was a big success! You and your team had fun. The event helped you capture a lot of leads. Great! But your journey is just beginning. Now is the time to consider your post-event marketing strategy.

You captured leads at the trade show. Now, post-event, you need to nurture those leads. For that, you want an approach that involves multiple marketing channels. You have already harnessed the power of connecting with your leads face to face.

Now it’s time to leverage email, social media and content marketing.

Why not use another channel that has proven to be very effective at post-event marketing: direct mail?

Direct Mail Is Dead! Or Is It?

I have a pretty good idea what you are thinking: “Direct mail? Are you kidding me? Everyone knows that digital marketing is the way to go. Direct mail is dead!”

Is direct mail really dead? That’s what the digital marketing “conventional wisdom” might tell us, but maybe it’s not true. Plenty of B2B marketers like you are successfully harnessing the power of direct mail to help them nurture leads and boost sales results.

Direct mail marketing works!

According to one study, “direct mail proved the most effective advertising media. It outperformed digital channels consistently – and, in some cases, significantly. These findings suggest that while the digital space provides essential platforms for customer interaction, physical media is better suited to close the marketing-sales loop, or the gap between interaction and action.”

To quote marketing strategist and author, Elaine Fogel, “According to the Rain Group, half of B2B buyers prefer to be contacted by direct mail, 3rd out of a list of nine outreach methods.”

And…surprise, surprise! Apparently, even tech-obsessed millennials love direct mail:

“It’s been found that millennials who spend more time with physical ads have a stronger emotional response, leading to better memory of them. You could be on the list of the next generation’s most-loved advertising campaigns by optimizing your use of direct mail.” 

Direct mail can indeed be a powerful addition to your post-event marketing. Combine it well with digital marketing channels such as email and social media, and you can enjoy a powerful synergy that drives your results even higher.

But you have to do it right. So let’s talk about how to do direct mail right.

Omnichannel Post-Event Marketing: Be Everywhere

A Proven Way To Fail With Direct Mail. Hint: Don’t Do This

We’ve all received direct mail marketing pieces we threw in the trash without even opening them. Why didn’t we? For one thing, they probably had a very generic, bland, “corporate” look to them. They were obvious solicitations, and in addition to looking like they came from a big, impersonal company that cared nothing about us, the envelope gave us little incentive to open it.

If we did read it, we were not impressed. The letter’s content was focused on the company and how wonderful its products were, instead of where attention needed to be placed – on us! It did not empathetically focus on our problem and helping us solve it. It merely peddled a product.

“Letters From Grandma”

So what should you do instead? How do you make your direct mail stand out in a positive way from the onslaught of corporate “junk mail” your leads are receiving? Choose a marketing service that supports adding handwritten letters to an automated post-event marketing workflow. Then, take additional steps to make your letter personal. Make it look like a “letter from Grandma”.

Think about it: any letter or piece of mail that looks personal, that appears as if it came from an old friend or family member, is almost guaranteed to get opened.

What do these letters have in common? A handwritten address on the envelope. A “real” stamp, not one from a postage meter. When you open it, you read a conversational message written to an audience of one. You see a word you love: “you”! We all love to hear or read the words “you” and “your”. 

“Great To Meet You!”

Want to give your post-event direct mail an even more personal touch that will help you nurture your leads better? Mention your shared experience, the event itself. Talk about how much you enjoyed meeting and visiting with them. Reference something specific from your in-person conversation, especially as it relates to their problem and how you can help them solve it.

Don’t Forget About Postcards 

Why not consider using postcards in addition to, or even in place of letters? Postcards get attention. They are a visible, tangible reminder of your brand and your products to your trade show leads. Here’s a great benefit of postcard marketing: it’s easier for you to get your message to your readers. Why? They have to open a letter. But, a postcard catches a reader’s attention from the moment it comes into view.

A big part of post-event marketing success is building Top of Mind Awareness (TOMA) in your audience. Done right, postcard marketing can help you do this. Postcards catch attention at the mailbox. Your message is likely to get read. There’s a good chance your leads will hang onto your postcard and leave it on their desk.

The result? Every time they see your postcard they think of you. If they think about you often enough, who will they most likely contact when they are ready to buy? You!

What’s Your Ultimate Goal With Direct Mail?

Remember that your ultimate goal with post-event marketing and lead nurturing is to convert your reader into your customer. So keep moving them through your marketing/sales pipeline. At the end of each direct mail piece, have a call to action that encourages them to take the next step in the buyer’s journey.

This may be directing them to make a phone call. It may be telling them about a personalized URL where they can join your email list and download your latest whitepaper. It may be a big announcement about an exciting live event you are hosting.

With direct mail or any other marketing communication, your call to action is crucial. It pays to discover more about this fascinating and potentially profitable topic.

Bottom line: always remember that your goal with direct mail is to drive the lead nurturing process forward and convert your reader into a paying customer.

Your Post-Event Marketing Toolbox

As with all of your marketing initiatives, think of the lead nurturing you do as if it were a construction project. It’s absurd to think you could build a house with only one tool, right? You need a well-equipped toolbox. The same thing goes for your trade show-related lead capture and nurturing.

Think omnichannel marketing, rather than one-channel marketing. As we’ve discussed today, direct mail can be one of your most effective post-event marketing channels.

You can win at direct mail marketing. Lead Liaison’s marketing automation capabilities can help you. We’ll make designing your next mail campaign easy. Want to find out more? Get in touch today!

Lead Liaison

How to Get Through the Gatekeeper & Raise Brand Awareness Using Marketing Automation

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envelope-1803662_1920Sometimes the easiest way to not only get through the gatekeeper, but to get your prospect’s attention is to deliver the “WOW” factor. See, most gatekeepers see the same emails. They get the same phone calls. You are just one of many, and most are boring.

If you were in their position, what would happen if you received something super personal? Well, I can tell you that almost every FedEx package is opened. Likewise, hand-written notes also receive special attention. They show the recipient that the sender has taken a specific interest and investment in making a contact. When Lead Liaison added the ability to send hand-written notes, many of our clients began to report instant success in reaching audiences that previously ignored them. Success rates went through the roof where competitive environments existed.

Think about it: “Thank you” emails have become so ubiquitous that many people have stopped sending them all together. However, a physical note sits on a desk for hours…days…even weeks! It makes a physical impression, and raises brand awareness, which leads to the one thing you need most in your sale: trust. They’re thinking, “Hey, it’s a real person that cares about my business!”

Unfortunately, legacy Marketing Automation platforms think in solely digital terms and have become email dinosaurs. If you are not already thinking outside of email with your automation strategy, I would highly encourage you to look at an advanced system like Lead Liaison in order to grow some ideas on how you can improve your sell-through rates.

Read more about Lead Liaison’s Handwritten Letter feature here. Request a personal, one-on-one demonstration of this feature and many others here.

Lead Liaison

Buzzwords in Marketing Automation: Database Segmentation

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Database Segmentation

Database Segmentation: its meaning and how to apply it. A part of the series Buzzwords in Marketing Automation.

Many small businesses use tracking services to find information about their prospects or leads, be it contact information, age and gender, or even things like their buying behavior. Database segmentation refers to the organization of that data in a way that can then influence outreach such as email marketing campaigns, or strategic company decisions like selecting new product lines or determining pricing strategies. A few examples of ways to segment your data could be…

Lead quality – Within marketing automation software, leads can earn a score. Ten points for opening an email, 100 points for downloading content, 500 points for watching an entire video, etc. Lead qualification is a great way to segment. You could have different buckets according to lead score (i.e. 0-100 score, 101-500 score, 501-1000 score).

Ideal Buyers – Who are your ideal customers? Do they have certain job titles, company sizes, demographics or criteria. Ask your sales people, and then utilize your database segmentation tools. Once you’ve done that, you will be able to treat that group differently than you would a group that may not be as inclined to consume your product or services.

Geography  – Maybe certain areas of the world are more important to you than others. Or perhaps they should just receive separate content that is specific to their region. The folks down in Austin might need to know when your new barbecue recipe is available, whereas the crowd up in Chicago are more interested in when your winter boots are on clearance.

What’s even better (and more effective) is that you can then combine these! Perhaps you would like to send a handwritten letter & company t-shirt out to only your highest scoring leads in California. If you’ve utilized the data segmentation features within your marketing automation tool, you can get that personalized content out to that specific group of prospects in no time.

Learn more about Database Segmentation!

Lead Liaison

How to Prospect Using Handwritten Letters

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How to Prospect Using Handwritten Letters

Get Ready to Prospect Using Handwritten Letters – Be Different

With technology, people are always looking forward. They constantly think of new ways to tackle problems or attract customers. Sometimes, though, you need to take an old school approach to get the job done. That’s the case when it comes to prospecting. Instead of letting technology get in the way of your prospecting success, use handwritten letters. Once you know how to prospect using handwritten letters, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been using this method all along.

Write Letters That Are Easy to Scan

People are used to reading on the web, where articles include headlines and are easy to scan. You can provide the same experience with your handwritten letters. Make the paragraphs short and to the point and include bullet points, if needed. People should be able to glance at your letter and pick out the main points without any problems. 

Use a Handwritten Envelope

Your letter will only be effective if the recipient opens it. People are more likely to open mail that has a handwritten envelope, so take the time to write the names and addresses out. If you don’t have the time, a service can do it for you.

Don’t Include Teaser Copy

Some people like to put what is often referred to as “teaser copy” on the envelope. They use words like “FREE” and “URGENT” on the envelope, thinking it will increase the open rates. Instead, it makes people think they have received junk mail. 

Use the Letter as Part of an Automated Sequence

Handwritten letters are an excellent way to prospect, but you can’t expect people to respond to them. People aren’t going to sit down and write a letter back to you, and many people won’t pick up the phone and call. That’s why you need to make them a part of a sequence. Follow your handwritten prospecting letters up with phone calls or emails so people can respond. Putting the letters inside of a sequence also makes it easier to nurture your leads.

Now that you know how to prospect using handwritten letters, it’s time to get started. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to write a great sales letter or if you don’t have the time to put into the process. You can use a service to handle the letters for you. Services can even include the handwritten letter as part of an automated prospecting plan.

Start Sending Handwritten Letters Now

https://scribeless.co/

Lead Liaison

3 Tips for Better Handwritten Notes

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3 Tips for Better Handwritten Notes

Better Handwritten Notes

Want to write better handwritten notes and letters? Handwritten notes provide an easy way to break down barriers between your company and your customers. When people receive a handwritten letter from you, they will be impressed that you went the extra mile to drop them a line. You can impress them even more by following some tips that will allow you to send out top-notch handwritten notes. These tips are easy to follow and will put you on the right track for customer service success.

Use High-Quality Stationary

Don’t get out your spiral notebook and fire off a letter to your customers. They deserve high-quality stationary, and they will judge you if they don’t get it. If you send handwritten notes out on subpar paper, they will think that you are either too cheap to spring for the good stuff or your business is in trouble. Put your best foot forward by using high-quality stationary every time you send out a note or letter.

Keep It Simple

People love the idea of receiving handwritten notes, but they don’t want to put aside an hour to read them. Keep your notes short and to the point. Remember, each customer’s time is precious and you don’t want to infringe on it any more than necessary. Get right to the point, say thank you, and let the customer be on his or her way. 

Use the Right Type of Ink

Blue and black ink are considered professional. If you go with red, pink, green, or another color, your company will look unprofessional, which means your reputation might take a hit with your customers. Simply choosing the right type of ink will help you stand out for the right reasons. Then, when customers think back to the handwritten note, they’ll have positive memories, down to the type of ink you used.

It can be hard to remember everything that you need to do to write amazing notes. If you aren’t sure that you can keep everything straight, use a service for your handwritten notes. The service will write the notes and send them out to everyone. Some services even let you choose the gender of the letter writer, along with the type of handwriting the person uses. This type of customization ensures that your customers receive the perfect handwritten notes.

Start Sending Handwritten Letters Now

Lead Liaison

How to Send Handwritten Letters Online with an Authentic Touch

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Send Handwritten Letters Online

Send Handwritten Letters Online

Learn how to send handwritten letters online with these insights. If you feel like technology has eliminated the personal touch, you aren’t alone. A lot of people complain that emails and printouts have replaced handwritten letters and other personal gestures. As much as you might miss the good old days, this change actually has its benefits. Now, if you do something personal, such as send out a handwritten letter, your business will stand out. The best part is you don’t actually have to write the letter yourself. You can send handwritten letters online through a service. Just make sure the company you choose provides authentic-looking handwritten letters or you won’t win over your customer base. 

Real Handwriting

While some companies use a handwriting font and print the letters off, others actually handwrite them. They put pen to paper to create these letters so no one can deny the authenticity. When people see a real handwritten letter from your company, they will assume you took the time to take a piece of stationary out and write. They won’t realize that you used a service to send handwritten letters online.

Postmarked from Your Location

Savvy consumers will notice if a handwritten letter is postmarked from the wrong location. For instance, if your company is located in Florida and your handwritten letter is postmarked from California, that will stand out to someone who is observant. The person will automatically realize that you didn’t send the letter yourself, which means you will look untrustworthy.

That’s why some companies make sure the postmark comes from your location. This adds another layer of authenticity to the process and helps you build trust – and win points – with your customer base.

Fully Customizable

Handwritten letters are all about personalization and customization. You can take it one step further by adding your logo, headers, and other customization options to the letter. This is a great branding opportunity, and it will assure the recipient that the letter is authentic. You need to grab every branding opportunity that is available, so this is critical.

Instead of lamenting about how technology has changed the world, use it to reach out to your customers with handwritten letters. You will give your customers the personal touch they crave while benefiting from the speed and ease that technology provides. 

Start Sending Handwritten Letters Now

Lead Liaison

Handwritten Thank-You Notes Give Businesses a Boost

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Handwritten Thank-You Notes Give Businesses a BoostMiss Manners could probably write an entire column about the death of thank-you notes. Instead of thank-you notes, businesses fire off impersonal emails or send out bulk mailings to their customers. Emails end up in spam folders, and bulk mail-outs make their way into trashcans, so customers don’t realize they have been properly thanked. If you want to make Miss Manners proud, it’s time to consider handwritten thank-you notes. You can hire a service to create and send the notes for you, so you can enjoy the benefits without spending any time on the process. 

Handwritten Thank-You Notes Show Appreciation 

According to the Harvard Business Review, companies send out more than 100 emails each day, while young adults send or receive around 100 texts each day. At the same time, people receive approximately one personal letter every seven weeks. These numbers mean your thank-you emails and bulk mailings get lost in the shuffle, but your handwritten thank-you notes stick out to the recipients. They show appreciation in ways that other forms of communication don’t, making handwritten notes well worth sending.

Customer Loyalty Is Based on Beginnings and Endings

Most businesses put a lot of emphasis on the first impression with a customer. They go out of their way to ensure that customers like them from the get-go. Then, they make the sale and forget about the customer.

Endings are just as important as beginnings. If you end the transaction the right way, you will build customer loyalty. Customer loyalty translates into additional sales, plus referrals. The easiest way to build that loyalty is with a handwritten thank-you note.

These notes put a heartwarming end to the transaction. They make people think of your business in a favorable way, and those thoughts will stand out the next time they look for goods or services. They will also make people more likely to become advocates for your business. 

Writing your own notes is time-consuming, but you can simplify the process by using a service. Services that provide handwritten thank-you notes handle all of the details so you’ll get the accolades without the hard work. It’s nice to get the credit without putting in the time, so don’t pass this opportunity up. Need help with what to put in your thank you note? Click here for more help. 

Start Sending Handwritten Letters Now

Lead Liaison

What to Include in a Business Thank You Letter

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business thank you letterWhen you want to thank your customers, what do you do? Do you shoot them an email that they will never receive, or do you send them a letter? If you send them a letter, do you print it off and mail it, or do you go the extra mile and handwrite it? If you want to get the most out of each business thank you letter you send, handwritten letters are the way to go. They add a personal touch that you can’t get with a printed or emailed note. Get even more out of your handwritten business thank you letter by including the following components. 

Personal Information

When you’re sending a thank you letter to a specific person, include some personal information. Something as simple as what the person bought will help you connect with the reader. If you formed a relationship with the person during the sales process, take it a step further and include information about the person’s job, family, hobbies, or anything else that you know. The more personal information you include, the greater the impact the business thank-you letter will have. 

A Hope for the Future

In the business world, you want to form long-term relationships that weather any storm. Lay the groundwork for such a relationship by mentioning your hope for the future in the note. Something like, “I hope that we can continue to serve your automotive repair needs,” lets the recipient know that you will continue to be there, well after the note is read and put away. 

A Drop-in Item

Drop-in items, such as a gift card, will make your letter even more special. Some people even send books with their thank you letters. Think about what your customer would like and, if it is reasonable, send it with the letter. 

If you like the idea of sending a business thank you letter to your customers but you don’t have time, utilize a service. You can have a company send handwritten thank you letters out, and some services even include drop-in items upon request. With the help of the service, you can connect with your customers in a way that you never thought possible. These new connections will help you as you forge ahead with your company.

Start Sending Handwritten Letters Now

Lead Liaison

First Marketing Automation Software Company to Include Handwritten Letters

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Lead Liaison continues its disruptive path in the marketing industry as the first marketing automation software company to include handwritten letters, written by humans, as a native offering in a marketing automation platform.

ALLEN, TX — April, 28 2016  — Lead Liaison, the leader in sales and marketing automation software to the mid-market, is the first marketing automation software company to help businesses send handwritten letters online using a native, out of the box solution as part of their automated software suite, called Revenue Generation Software®. The new solution gives B2C and B2B salespeople a classic way to be unique with their outreach and follow up efforts.

Before the internet, before cell phones, before email, handwritten letters were a surefire way to do business. Fast forward to today. Businesses are engulfed in technology, forced to move at a rapid pace, forced to multi-task, forced to meet and exceed results. Consequentially, salespeople are under pressure to perform and have very little time to step back and think outside of the box.

Handwritten letters are an excellent way to take a different angle with customers, prospects, and partners. They’re the exact opposite of an outbound sales and marketing strategy that companies have come to expect in this digital age. But who has the time to sit down, write a letter, buy something to drop-in the envelope, get stamps, and run to the post office? It might work for a short period of time, but fails in the long run. Persistence and process certainly pays in sales. The task of writing handwritten letters is way too time consuming, and time is money in sales. It’s opportunity cost, it’s the cost of paying a salesperson to write the letter, it’s the cost of materials – it all adds up.

Lead Liaison’s VP of Customer Success, Alan Page, says:

“We are jumping out of our seats with enthusiasm! We’re the very first company including handwritten letters as a native feature in a marketing automation platform, without needing to integrate 3rd party logic – it all just works out of the box. We expect other companies to follow suit.

“Writing a letter adds such a personal, unique touch point, and converts at an incredibly high rate. With our offering, we’re also including the ability to drop in different items with the handwritten letter, like a $5 Starbucks gift card, or include other items, like books or bags of popcorn. This further ‘humanizes’ the experience and gives it that wow factor. We want our customers to have the opportunity to make an impression. That’s why we’re reviving this lost art. Sending email after email is boring and loses someone’s interest and attention fast. Handwritten letters are different, and memorable – they’re here to stay and add a welcome mix to our multi-channel marketing capabilities.”

Lead Liaison simplifies the process of creating and sending handwritten letters to reduce a time-consuming task that could take up to an hour of time (and make hands hurt) down to a few minutes, and can be fully automated. The letters are unbelievably customizable, allowing users to choose handwriting style, ink color, letter size, insert dynamic data fields (lead owner information, recipient information), and add company logos to stationery or the envelope. The importance of multi-touch, multi-channel communication in B2B (and B2C) is critical. Handwritten letters, coupled with other forms of online and offline marketing such as SMS messages, direct mail, email, and phone calls can make a serious impact on a sales team’s ability to convert more prospects into paying customers.

Existing customers have immediate access to this exciting new feature once activated on their account. To see a demo of Lead Liaison’s handwritten letters feature contact us.

About Lead Liaison

Lead Liaison is a cloud-based sales and marketing automation solution that helps businesses accelerate sales by attracting, converting, closing and retaining more prospects. Filling a void in the small pool of marketing automation providers that focus on marketing-centric functionality, Lead Liaison gives equal focus to sales providing sophisticated visitor tracking and additional website engagement tools to boost sales effectiveness. Lead Liaison blends ease-of-use, a flexible business model, deep external integration, marketing across social, web, mobile, email and offline channels and powerful functionality, all specifically tailored for mid-sized businesses, into a single platform, called Revenue Generation Software®. Lead Liaison is headquartered in Allen, Texas, near Dallas. For more information, visit http://www.leadliaison.com or call 1-800-89-LEADS (895-3237).