Creating Powerful Synergy With Paid, Owned & Earned Media
When budgets are tight, it’s tempting to focus on earned and owned media over paid media promotion. But marketers need to know the growth penalty of that strategy. Brands that use paid media typically grow three times faster than those that rely on owned and earned media alone, according to recent international research from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), as reported by The Drum.
Synergy From Paid, Owned & Earned Media
At the same time, paid media is more effective when coupled with earned and owned media. IPA research shows that owned media, which includes brand websites, blogs and social media sites, typically increases the effectiveness of a paid ad campaign by 13%. Meanwhile, earned media, which includes online mentions, shares, re-posts and reviews, increases the effectiveness of a paid campaign by a larger 26%.
The Emotional Power of Video
The IPA examination of media marketing further finds that emotion is a vital ingredient to success, and that television advertising continues to be the most powerful in delivering emotional engagement. Researchers report that adding television advertising increases a promotional campaign’s effectiveness by 40% and is also the best for generating the top-line growth that drives profit, with a 2.6% average market share point gained per year when using television advertising. The growing use of video-on-demand and online video has turbocharged video impact: IPA’s research shows a 54% increase in the average number of “very large” business effects from adding television and online video together, versus 32% for television only and 25% for online video only.
Finding the Golden 60:40 Balance
When it comes to the optimal combination of paid, earned and owned media, and the best balance of brand-building vs. targeted sales ads, IPA results show that the most profitable campaigns have a 60:40 ratio of long-term brand-building (broad reach, highly emotive) to short-term sales activation (tightly targeted and information rich). For help with media strategy tailored to your budget and market, don’t hesitate to call on AccuList USA’s multi-channel marketing expertise, from social engagement and online ads to e-mail and pay-for-performance TV. And for more on IPA research, see http://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/10/31/brands-use-paid-media-grow-three-times-faster-those-just-rely-earned-and-owned-finds
Positive 2017 Fundraising Trends Create Opportunities
While 2017 is starting as a year of uncertainty, especially in politics, a recent CauseVox post provides some good news for AccuList USA’s current and future nonprofit direct marketing clients. CauseVox staff writer Tina Jepson spotlights 10 fundraising trends that offer opportunities for greater success this year, and we’ll pass along a few here.
Increased Individual, Corporate & Recurring Giving
Donation forecasts are upbeat, Jepson shares: Philanthropy Outlook 2016 & 2017 predicts that an increase in individual and household income will help to boost fundraising efforts for nonprofits, charities, and NGOs by as much as 3.8% in 2017. Plus, with Gross Domestic Product and business savings on the rise, total corporate giving is predicted to rise by 4.7% in 2017. And monthly giving, which accounts for 17% of online revenue, also will continue increasing per the 2016 M+R Benchmarks report. The trick with individual donors is to catch the wave with smart targeting, inspiring creative and campaigns to get existing donors to boost giving, says Jepson, while, for corporate giving, nonprofits would do well to maximize gift matching, to court business leaders and to keep tabs on company arrivals and growth locally. Plus, Jepson urges nonprofits to amp up their monthly giving strategy, making monthly giving the first option for donors on the website and a marketing priority in e-letters, direct mail and e-mail.
Donor Retention at a Record High
Donor retention rates are at the highest rate since 2008 at 45.9%, and nonprofits and charities clearly should make retention a marketing priority to capitalize on this powerful fundraising engine, Jepson notes. She suggests capitalizing on the trend with tactics such as personalization; prior gift recognition; leveraging donors’ preferred channels; donor education via videos, infographics or pamphlets; and donor activation with engagement opportunities such as volunteering or advocacy.
More Donor Data Than Ever Before
Digital interactions—websites, e-mail, social media and now the Internet of Things (IoT)—combine with traditional channels such as direct mail to generate a wealth of data about existing and potential donors. A key goal for 2017 is to gather, analyze and use actionable data effectively. Jepson lists a few ways to do so: Tracking analytics on your website and social media posts to learn the demographics and behavior of your paid, earned and owned media audience; using Facebook and Instagram Ads and Business Manager to target ads to donors likely to give; and turning around data learning to share with, and inspire, donors in real-time online via options such as a website ROI ticker that tracks return on investment (possibly in lives changed) per average donation.
Social Media & Mobile Marketing Challenges
In social and mobile marketing, nonprofits face challenges as well as opportunities. Social media platforms, including Facebook, now are promoting organic content that prioritizes the audience’s friends and family over nonprofit messages. Jepson points out that this means that effective social media marketing will need to rely more on purchased ads and targeting of key demographics, as well as creating viral content that inspires shares. Meanwhile, if your nonprofit hasn’t invested in mobile optimization of websites and e-mails, you’re missing a key donation source: Mobile giving makes up 17% of all online giving now and is projected to rise further in 2017.
For more trends and Jepson’s suggestions on maximizing their fundraising impact, see https://www.causevox.com/blog/fundraising-trends-2017/
Direct Mail Finds Revived Power With Multi-Channel Marketing
In today’s digital environment, focused on delivering the right message to the right customer in real time, some may mistakenly see direct mail as a clumsy marketing relic. Yet at AccuList USA, we see a re-energized role for direct mail among many clients of our data-driven marketing support services. Why? A recent blog post by Patrick Groover, Solutions Consultant at Marketo, highlights just three ways multi-channel data and automation platforms are actually boosting the power and relevancy of direct mail.
Direct Mail Personalizing
Maybe you’ve received a “happy birthday” mailer with a relevant, personalized coupon offer. That’s a simple example of how direct mail can integrate with a marketing automation platform through software APIs (application program interfaces) to use information about a customer’s specific demographics and behavior to print timely personalized content. With pre-configured creative, Groover points out, it’s easy to call up the right template, add elements of personalization, and print and mail on the same day. Multi-dimensional mailers can pre-stock materials and send out batches according to agreed protocols. Such timely, personalized offers delivered in unique, tangible formats are proven response drivers.
Direct Mail Nurturing
Many marketers engage in time-released nurturing campaigns with customers, often via a series of e-mails. Why not integrate direct mail into a multi-channel nurturing campaign? By adding a direct mail step with dynamic personalization to create relevant, specific messaging geared to the buying cycle, marketers increase their tangible, personal outreach and make the audience feel more hand-selected and valuable. Guaranteed to be seen in the mailbox, a mailed nurturing contact may reconnect in a way missed by e-mails lost to crowded inboxes and spam filters.
Direct Mail High-Value Targeting
Direct mail is pricier than e-mail (especially dimensional mail), which is why it makes sense to reduce risk by targeting direct mail to the most valuable audiences. Multi-channel data and marketing technology make that targeting easier today. Groover suggests using marketing automation to quickly identify the most valuable leads, create self-sustaining high-value lists, and trigger timely mailings of relevant collateral. This is clearly a boon for B2B account-based marketing. As one example, Groover notes how mailers can target prospects at higher education institutions by sending a piece only after the prospect downloads a specific website asset.
For the complete article, see http://blog.marketo.com/2016/10/3-effective-ways-to-incorporate-direct-mail-into-your-multi-channel-campaigns.html
