3 Ways to Get Your Marketing Materials Noticed
Your business’s marketing materials aren’t cheap, so if you’ve invested time and money into having professional brochures, pamphlets and other resources developed, why risk having them tossed into the trash by a well-meaning, but careless mailroom clerk?
The unfortunate reality is that most business people these days are so pressed for time that it takes a Herculean amount of effort to get your marketing materials into your prospects’ hands. So if you’re struggling to get your promotional content noticed, check out the following tips on how to stand out and get your materials read!
Technique #1 – Mail your materials via Fedex
If you really want to get a prospect’s attention, send your marketing materials via Fedex or UPS Next Day Air. Think about it – if you received one of these high priority envelopes, is there any way you’d even consider tossing it into the trash unopened? Chances are, you’d not only open the package, but also make a note of how much the sender obviously values your opinion.
Yes, sending your brochures this way isn’t exactly cost-effective, which is why it’s important to save this strategy for truly important prospects. However, if you’ve identified a great opportunity to pitch a potentially high value prospect, use priority mail services for your marketing materials to show how committed you are to the deal.
Technique #2 – Use hand-written addresses on padded envelopes
There’s something about receiving a padded envelope with a hand-written address printed neatly on the front that makes us subconsciously think back to care packages received at summer camp or in the college dorms. In some cases, these happy associations make it more likely that your package will be opened and read, versus tossed into the recycle bin alongside other unsolicited mailings.
As an added bonus, this technique isn’t nearly as expensive to implement as mailing your materials via priority mail. Padded envelopes can be purchased online in bulk at extremely low prices, while mailing them at the USPS Parcel Post rate can save you even more money.
Technique #3 – Deliver your materials in person
Delivering your materials in person isn’t always feasible depending on where you’re located in relation to your customer base. But if you’re able to, know that dropping off your materials off in person increases your odds of getting past the gatekeepers (namely, your prospects’ secretaries and mail clerks) who are tasked with keeping out uninvited promo pieces.
To make this strategy as efficient as possible, make a day out of it by scheduling a route that reaches various prospects who are located in a similar geographic area. Call ahead to find out to whom you should address your materials and ask to speak to that person when you arrive at each office. Even if you aren’t able to get a “walk in” appointment to meet your prospect face-to-face, you may find that simply being there demonstrates enough interest to get your materials read by your target client.
What techniques have you used in the past to get your marketing materials noticed by busy prospects? Share your techniques and advice in the comments below!
About the Author: Thunder Pack is an online wholesale packaging superstore where you can purchase all of the packaging supplies you need at real wholesale prices. Whether you’re interested in our extensive line of cardboard boxes or our high quality padded envelopes, find out how our exceptional customer service ensures our store stands out as the number one wholesale packaging provider in the UK.
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48 Tips for Dealing with the Media Like a PR Pro
You Need Three Core Goals When Working With The Media
- Continually inform your target audience, via the media, about your activities
- Sustain image building and sales support
- Be ready to control potentially damaging situations
Your Overall Publicity Aims Are To
- Communicate and promote your brands, products and services
- Create positive publicity about the operation of your company as whole AND specifically about your products
- Sustain your image as the authority and leader in your business activity
- Establish and develop good contact and relationship with the media
- Make the work of journalists easier in their dealings with you
- Be open in your attitudes to the press (they need us as much as we need them)
- Give journalists service at every opportunity
- Be pro-active by keeping an eye out for general and specific opportunities to achieve publicity
- Continuously drip-feed your targeted media with news and information about the operations of your company and/or product areas
How You Should Act When Meeting The Media
DO’s
- Answer all questions fully, honestly and promptly
- Treat a journalist as a customer
- Be prepared (Know your organization in detail, your products, services, etc), decide exactly what you want and need to say, select the most important issues
- Have key figures readily available
- Never be a barrier
- Be impartial with the media
- Humanize your organization
- Keep control over the information you are providing
- Target the information you are providing to the specific needs of the publication or journalist
- Demonstrate improvements (production up XX%, sales up XX%)
- Endeavor to find out in advance what sort of information they are after and tailor your answers to their particular interests
- Keep to the point
- Take time to consider your answers
- Tackle misunderstandings and correct errors immediately
- When asked about specific issues, strive to use wording and phrasing that has already been published, for example in corporate releases or in annual reports.
DON’T’s
- Never deviate from corporate policy
- Do not provide financial or other information that may impact share price 14 days prior to a quarterly financial statement (whenever possible avoid any interviews on financial topics in the run-up to a financial report from your company)
- Do not comment on activities other than your own, unless relevant information has already been published.
- Never make forecasts, and be careful with market projections.
- Never confirm or deny, ongoing business deals before they are closed and made public.
- Avoid ‘fudge’ statements
- Do not go ‘off-the-record’
- Do not allow yourself to be provoked (Never get ‘angry’ or become abrupt)
- Do not offer ‘inside’ information or an ‘exclusive’
- Do not exaggerate, bluff or ‘pad’
- Decline to comment on rumors.
- Do not allow yourself to be pressed into commenting on topics we are unsure about.
Your Media Relations Principles
- By keeping media informed in a truthful and respectful way, you can strive to heighten journalists’ awareness of, and familiarity with, your activities. You must be aware that every media relations activity affects your company image, reflecting on the reputation of your products and services, and on employee morale.
- News must be relevant and up-to-date. News is of interest to journalists only if the information is new. By making sure that you are first with all news that concerns you and your company or products, you ensure wider publicity for your messages. By being first with the news, you also ensure greater accuracy, while avoiding external sources of information, as well as rumors and speculation.
- Service to journalists must be of high quality. You should always give journalists good service, communicate through relevant spokespersons, and respond promptly. When answering journalists you never guess, but rather ask to get back with correct information. You should not allow yourself to be forced to comment on topics you are not sure about.
- Have a clear idea of your message. In all media relations, you should have a clear idea of the message you want to get across. This will help you focus your message on what is most important to you. Clear, focused messages help journalists do their job.
- There is no local news. The news business today is a 24-hour, constantly ongoing global process. Your media relations must be based on the assumption that any message can easily and swiftly spread from one market to another. This puts ever greater demand on you to coordinate your messages.
- Professionalism in contacts with journalists.
In A Bigger Firm, Who Has Responsibility For Information
- Contact with media about the business or area for which a manager is directly responsible is a natural part of every manager’s job.
- Corporate-related media issues should be handled at a top level by
- Corporate Communications, and sometimes by designated national spokespersons in international environments.
About the Author: The simple guidelines for working with journalists have been developed for Wanobe.com, a business networking site for small and mid-sized businesses, by David Noble, a leading journalist, writer and public relations professional with over 40 years in the media industry.
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5 Steps to an Effective Media Pitch
Using outlets like helpareporter.com or ProfNet, it’s possible for a small business to get national media attention– without the help (and cost) of a publicist.
Once you’ve identified an opportunity to respond to a journalist’s request for leads, it’s important to send a well-crafted pitch as soon as possible.
Here are the five steps you can take to ensure your pitch will get the attention of the media!
1. Be First
Both Help a Report (HARO) and ProfNet send out emails several times a day. Get familiar with the mailing schedule, and be sure to check your inbox as soon as possible after new emails go out. If you are among the first businesses to contact a journalist, your chances of getting noticed go way up!
2. Use Twitter
Many journalists, including the people behind HARO, use Twitter to communicate a journalistic need that can’t wait for the next email. By following these sources on Twitter, you could find out about a major media opportunity that only hundreds (instead of thousands) of people know about!
3. Follow Directions
If the journalist asks for a particular subject line to be used in your pitch email, for example, do so. Don’t deviate from specific requests regarding the content or format of a pitch, or your email may end up unread and in their trash.
4. Get to Your Point
Open your email with why you are the best candidate for the media opportunity. Provide specific examples of your expertise or qualifications, and don’t ramble on points that are off-topic or vague. Provide as many tips and commentary as you can in your message; many journalists won’t have time to circle back around to you and may appreciate being able to pull quotes directly from your email.
5. Be Available
If you aren’t going to be in the office for several days after your email, be sure you provide another phone number you can be reached at for follow up questions or interviews. Likewise, be sure that you offer more than one method of communication (phone, email, Skype, etc.) If a journalist can’t reach you, they will move on to the next qualified lead.
Be confident and polite in your response to media professionals, and they’ll be more likely to take you and your small business seriously. Your next big media mention may just be an email away!
About the Author: Patsy is working for GO-Gulf.com, a web design company in Qatar that provides web development solution in entire Middle East
Photo Credit: Seattle Municipal Archives
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Is Social Media Marketing Right for Your Business? Consider This
Still on the fence about whether or not marketing with social media has a place in your business?
Before you write it off, or jump in with both feet, here’s some interesting statistics you should consider.
Social Media Marketing Statistics
- 78% of 26,486 say consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising according to a global Nielsen survey
- Online social network users were three times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions. JupiterResearch, March 2007
- 84% said they would trust user reviews over a critic. Marketing Sherpa, July 2007
- 78% of consumers trust the advice of other consumers. Neilsen “Trust in Advertising Study”, 2007
- Social networks are the most popular sites for 18-24 year old age group – besting search engines, email, and even *cringe* porn. Time, 2008
Still Not Convinced?
Here’s some more stats to think about before you decide if adding social media marketing to your mix is right for your business. I think you’ll come to the same conclusion I have – but see for yourself.
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