Marketing Maestro: January 2008

Over the years I have seen many different marketing strategies and media channels but the one that was waiting for me at my desk takes the cake. ATM receipt advertising. I guess this makes sense if you want to waste your marketing money while people take out their own...

It makes sense to advertise in this medium if you are the bank and want one additional touch point but do you think a consumer is going to take action based on an ad they see on the back of a bank slip? 

Here are some of the sales points made in the sales letter (I just had to read to see what they were thinking) along with my counter points:

• A method that reaches 65% of the population
  • This is way too broad for anyone with a targeted message or offer
  • What if my target audience is in the other 35%?

• Some people use an ATM 10 times a month
  • Great, but how many of those times do they look at or even get a receipt? 
  • 10 trips does not mean they will see my ads if they use a different bank or branch.
  • What about all those teller visits?

• They will keep the receipt for 30 days
  • Of course they do but it is stuffed in a file or wallet until the bank statement arrives. 
  • Even when they look at it they just want to make sure the debits and credits are correct.

The main point they should have included was how this media performed for other companies. A good case study or testimonial might have helped their case.

So if you have $25,500 to withdraw on your next ATM trip you can get in on the 2008 distribution. Good luck to them...

Remember marketing strategies that are designed to generate a response don’t rely on the 'flavor of the month' marketing tactic. They stick to the basics and remember to reach their target audience while testing ideas and channels that can deliver the right message at the right time.

Have you seen ATM marketing at your local bank?

We run Real Estate Seminars across the country.  The goal is to teach people about the correct ways to get involved in real estate investment opportunities.  We don't want anyone to take our program as a quick fix or if they think this is a no money down program. 

As you might expect we have been getting requests for resources to help people in foreclosure.  Some of the attendees at our free orientations come just to get this information.  Since our goal is to teach in a real world setting we want to get the best information possible to help these people. I have been asked to pull this information together.

My first thought was to ask this group of real estate experts to send me the best resources they could recommend. So, if you have a list of foreclosure prevention/help resources that you would be willing to share with us please let me know.   

Thanks in advance for your help.

Do you use direct mail, email, online marketing to drive your business?

Do you test everything you can to increase your marketing conversion or response rates?

Are you using control groups?

If not, you aren't testing effectively.  You might be guessing, assuming or just throwing caution in the wind. 

I know many people who have said "we are testing X,Y or Z"  but when you ask about a control group they answer, "we are going to see how it performs to what we did last year".  What!?  You are comparing this year's marketing to something that happened a year ago.  Did nothing change?  Obviously this doesn't make sense and is a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea.  

When you are working on your marketing plans and business strategy do you include testing?

Can you determine which messages generate the largest response rates?

Are you familiar with setting up and reading marketing tests?

What was the most important marketing learning you discovered last year?

How could you have been more effective in marketing your services? 

If you're not in control of your testing and marketing it is probably costing your company money.

What is your company's tag line?  

At Trump U we have been using 'We Teach Success'.  To me this line is all about TrumpU and not about our clients.

To change this we are doing two things:

1) We are reevaluating this copy.  One idea we are playing around with is: Invest in Your Success. 

If you have other ideas let me know in the comments section.

Recording Studio and Music Store Grows With Knowledge Gained from Donald Trump

Commercial Property Holiday Decorating Service Acquired by Trump University Student

Trump University Helps Aspired Entrepreneur Launch Global Recovery Service

There are three marketing strategies behind this effort.

1. We live up to the promise of helping our clients achieve success by promoting their business using our budget and resources.  Who wouldn't want a little free marketing and PR?
2. It is more effective if the Trump U story is told by a client who has achieved success then by any marketing we could do on our own.  Word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective ways to get your message across. The challenge is getting people to tell the story. 
3. Each press release we put out contains text links back to our site which helps build inbound links.  Those links help people searching the internet find us.

We are continuing this strategy going forward and will post the stories on our site as we send them out to the press.

Are your customers or clients telling your story?

Are you giving them a reason to talk about you? 

What are you doing to help your clients succeed?

Let me know with a comment below.

On the Trump U Marketing Blog I posted about the pros and cons of using postcard to market your business.  I know many real estate professional use postcards in their business so I am sharing the meat of the post here. 

A postcard by USPS standards is no larger then 4x6.  So when should you use this potentially very effective mailing device?

Pros:

• Postage is lower then any other class of mail
• Fast and easy to print and mail out
• Inexpensive to produce in small or large quantities
• Great for timely promotions or specials
• Can be used as a reminder to an earlier direct mail effort
• You can use graphics and text to communicate

 Cons:

• May get lost in your consumers mail pile
• Limited space to tell your story
• Size limits room for creativity (although you can be creative)
• Too small to send to a potential prospect
•  May not perform as well as a larger mail piece
• Some marketers rely too often on postcards when other formats would be better suited.

I think the pros win but remember to make sure your marketing goals match the medium.

Do postcards work for your business? 

What direct mail methods work best for your business? 

Do you agree with my assessment? 

Let me know by posting a comment.

I finally set up a Twitter account to figure out what if any use it has in marketing.  So far I don't have a solid marketing strategy for this technology.  I think there might be a way to use it for our Real Estate Seminars to keep people updated on what is happening and to create some buzz.  Stay tuned to learn if and how we put Twitter to use in our marketing.  In the meantime, if you want to stay updated with my 'Twittering' research just follow me (you will understand once you create a Twitter account) my user name is DirectMaestro.

If you use Twitter I would love to hear how, why and what you see in the service.

Trump University is looking for experienced real estate investors and professional to train others in the field of real estate investment.  The full job description can be found on our career page.  We now run real estate seminars across the country and need additional experts to speak, sell and train our students. If you love real estate (I assume you do or you wouldn't be on this site...), enjoy teaching other and know how to motivate others to fulfill their dreams this might be a great opportunity for you to work with one of the biggest names in real estate.

If you post a comment here with a link to your profile I will send the URL to my coworkers for follow up.