Express Marketing Memo

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I received a direct mail piece today that left me scratching my head. It’s an oversized, folded, full-color postcard for a company that I’ve never heard of.

The address panel says, “Congratulations, Shari – You’re a preferred quilter!” So far – so good. They got my name right. I’m a wannabe quilter. But who’s sending this to me and what’s the offer?

It’s from a company with a non-descript name and the product it’s touting is “Blank Quilting Fabric.” What?

The other side of the still closed card offers (in big block letters) a FREE TOTE* AND $10.00 in fabric savings inside! Note the asterisk. More on that in a moment.

The photo of the tote looks nice and although I have no idea at this point why I’d want to purchase a Blank anything, I’m really curious as to where this shop is located. After all, I’m a preferred quilter!

So I open the card, find FREE this and SAVE that, accompanied by an abundance of exclamation marks and disclaimers, but where’s the store?

* The “Blank Quilting Tote” is FREE with any Blank purchase to the first 24 visitors to their shop who show this ad (while supplies last).

$10.00 in fabric savings accrues by having seven thimbles punched out of a coupon at a rate of one thimble punch per yard of Blank Quilting fabric.

Wait, there’s the address – in a size 12 font, smack dab in the middle of the coupon for “Bland fabric” that I’m supposed to cut out of the postcard and carry with me to a store that I’ve never heard of, in a city 45 minutes away.

And yes, you read that right … not only was the brand “Blank Quilting,” but the coupon had a typo and it wound up as just “Bland.”

Now maybe I’d better offer my own disclaimer and repeat that I’m unfamiliar with Blank Quilting fabric. Its tagline is “the fabric of inspiration,” and it might be just that. But the image it brings to mind is of a bland, blank canvas. As a wannabe quilter, I want color and texture. Quilting fabric correlates to paint ON a canvas.

Missed Opportunities

To begin with, this was an expensive piece to produce and mail. We’re talking four-color process, digitally imprinted with the store name, recipient name and address. Why spend all that money to send out a card without …

• a real offer?

• a prominent physical address? Better yet, with a tiny map?

• a web site URL?

• a phone number so that I could find out their hours, if I was so inclined?

• telling me, or better yet, showing me what’s so great about Blank Quilting fabrics?

• proofing every single word so that your brand doesn’t show up as “Bland?”

I don’t want to see two photos of the same tote that will only be available to whoever might show up before me … and newsflash … I’m not going to drive 45 minutes to be one of the first 24 people in line for a tote.

What would have hooked this wannabe quilter? Those very same missed opportunities, especially a web site, where I could have had all of my questions answered. I’d have gone to the trouble to look up their web site.

Once there, I’d have signed up for a newsletter, if they had one … maybe one offering tips for the beginning quilter. Tie those tips in with a product that I can order online, and I might just do so. Provide quality content and quality products with good customer service, and the next time I’m in your fair city, I’ll probably pay you a visit.

If this mailing had directed recipients to a specific landing page on that web site, the retailer would be able to track response to the mailing. Each of the next steps could be easily tracked and analyzed and the retailer could adjust his marketing strategy, test new ideas, repeat the profitable ones and discard the rest.

As small business owners, it’s vital to our survival that we make wise use of our marketing dollars.

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One of Seth Godin’s most recent books is Unleashing the Idea Virus. It’s a practical guide to breaking out of the rut of time-wasting, money-wasting Interruption Marketing. In a nutshell, he shows how to encourage the spread of an idea from customer to customer, like a virus. This time of year with flu season reaching its peak in Wisconsin, it’s easy to draw the correlation.

Because the book, itself, is an idea worth spreading, Seth offers it for free download on his web site and he allows everyone else to do the same. My gift to you today is to call your attention to this valuable small business marketing resource. Download Seth Godin’s Unleashing the Idea Virus here.

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I’m constantly on the lookout for great blogs on small business marketing, especially those that deal with online marketing tactics. My Twitter and StumbleUpon friends are a great resource for finding these, as are other bloggers whose feeds I track and read through Bloglines. This past week I began to clip and save the URL of blog posts that I’d like to share with you. I hope you find them interesting, useful and educational.

What Does 2008 Have In Store For Local? The Internet has surpassed phone books and newspapers as the primary resource for consumers seeking local services.

Hey Blog Writer, One Post-One Point - Keep it short, Shakespeare! This is part of an excellent series on blogging literacy.

The Great List of Ways to Get Blog Traffic - 67 ways to draw traffic to your blog.

Change is the Ultimate Secret to Business Growth - From Duct Tape Marketing - Add this blog to your must-read list!

Small Businesses and Social Media - Excellent post for those who are curious or trying to figure out social media and how it relates to small business.

SEO Is Not An Option, It’s a Requirement - A site that’s invisible in Google may as well not exist. This post is directed toward web site designers, but also offers valuable insight to the small business owner.

That’s it for today. Please let me know if a weekly list of links such as today’s is useful to you.

I hope you’ll subscribe to this blog if you’re finding this information useful. You can subscribe through any RSS reader or via email using the link in the upper right portion of any page.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!