In direct mail lore, there’s a rule stating that you can measure the success of your efforts by a minimum response rate of 1-2%.

In other words, if you send out 10,000 pieces, you’ll have a successful mailing if at least 100 recipients respond to your offer. (One percent of 10,000 is 100.)

That’s one view of direct mailing success.

Permit me to offer a different perspective: one from the small business world. Specifically, I’m referring to those small business people who work by and for themselves. Call them “One-Man Bands,” “Working Soloists,” “Free Agents,” or whatever you’d like.

To help you remember these two perspectives, let’s give them a couple of catchy names:

1. The “Playing the Percentages” Perspective. This is the “industry standard 1-2% response rate on your mailings” perspective you’ve heard so much about. This is the yardstick favored by businesses that are sending large quantities of direct mail to sell mass market products.

For example, if I own a pizza parlor, and I’m doing a “use this card for 10% off on your next order” mailing to all residences within a three-mile radius of my business, I might have a mailing list of 10,000 names.

You’d better believe that I’m going to watch the overall response rate like a hawk, and I’m going to be looking at precisely where those hungry customers are coming from. If most of them are coming from a handful of apartment complexes next to a college campus, I’ll know to send my future mailings to those complexes.

2. The “You Only Need A Few” Perspective. This is the one for those One-Man (or One-Woman) Bands who are selling services that take a fair amount of time to provide. Like marketing consulting, public relations services, graphic design, or customized computer software applications.

For these folks, a handful of new or repeat clients from a promotional mailing is quite enough. After all, as the owner of a one-woman graphic design studio told me once, “I don’t want to be a victim of my own [direct mail] success.”

Compulsory centralized marketing programs are probably one of the supreme strengths of franchising. Pooling funds from all of the franchisees in a system gives them communally much greater marketing power. This fundamental fund can be used to do things that no individual franchisee could afford. The fund can also be used to hire professionals to produce advertising materials of far better superiority than what an individual owner could create. It is essential for anyone considering a franchise investment to know prior to becoming a Franchisee that the Franchisor’s marketing system is a good one. The essential qualities of a good franchise marketing program include these actions.

The first priority in any marketing system is knowing that the results will be more people using the products or services of the Franchise.
Second, allow franchisees to offer their opinions. They work in the market in which they operate and know what works and what does not. The final decision can be made by the franchisor, but franchisees will appreciate your allowing them to become involved. Create a franchise advisory group consisting of representatives of all of your franchisees. They should meet with the franchisor’s marketing group and provide input into future projects and campaigns.

Marketing funds should be directed primarily toward covering the costs of controlling the marketing effort (internal expenses, agency fees, etc.). Next they cover the expense of producing advertising resources (print, direct mail, radio and television ads, etc.). Finally, they pay for media purchases to place these advertisements for the advantage of the contributing franchisees. A frequent franchisee criticism is that too much is being spent in one of these area and not enough in another. Clearly there must be a practical balance between these needs.

Don’t spend more on brand advertising than on efforts to bring in more customers. Building the brand is very important but so is bringing in customers. A powerful brand is only as good as the customers in brings in. The marketing system should be carefully documented. A franchisor most likely won’t provide all of their proprietary internal marketing documentation, but you can ask for at least the table of contents of the marketing support manuals they provide to franchisees. This will give you a good idea of the extent of the strategies they provide in training franchisees to market successfully. It will also validate that they have improved their systems to the point where they have record them in manuals and other support and training tools.
The undisputable way to determine how the marketing program is working is to start asking the existing franchisees. You’ll find that they will be very accommodating on this topic since few things are closer to their hearts than marketing. Be precise and ask them how well the marketing works in terms of bringing customers to their business. Also ask if they think they’re steadily getting good value from their contributions to any required marketing fund. If you find a franchise system where the greater parts of the existing franchisees are unhappy about the way their marketing dollars are being administered, you can presume that others will be unhappy as well. If most of the franchisees are satisfied with the way the marketing fund is handled then you will often find that franchisees are happy about most other factors in their business as well.
Franchise Marketing Ideas for Explosive Growth
To expand your franchise you must use marketing techniques which will help to reach your target audience. Franchise marketing involves two areas. Customers are first and of course Franchisees. Both can benefit from the same marketing ideas and techniques, but the results differ significantly. Unfortunately, many franchise companies miss this little fact and focus their marketing methods too heavily on one cause over the other.

Search Engine Marketing (PPC & SEO)
Search engine marketing means bringing increased traffic to your company on search engines through paid search billboards or other ads as well as natural search earned through SEO practices. Distinguishing between how this helps your franchise grow and how consumers will react is an important difference:

Consumer: PPC and SEO techniques will help drive eligible traffic to your franchisee’s local page. This eventually helps you generate more leads or sales because your franchisee location or information pages will hopefully be shown to a direct and relevant audience that is most likely to become a long-term client or customer. It saves consumers time because they are instantly taken to the page that means the most to them because of your ads and to SEO efforts.

Franchise Development: Each type of marketing will help drive traffic to your website which in turn will help create more leads. This essentially benefits franchise development the same way as with consumers. Your ads and organic search submissions are optimized for this audience and deliver prospects attracted to starting a franchise.

Encourage Online Testimonials.
Testimonials are a strong method for showing your success and satisfaction amongst franchisees and customers. Because you manage the reviews you display on your site nevertheless they can make a big difference:
• Consumer: Testimonials provide opinions submitted by satisfied customers and it is important to include them on your site.
• Franchise Development: Testimonials are important to franchise development because they permit prospective franchisees to see how current franchisees’ businesses are functioning as well as their experiences with the corporate office.

Franchise Development
The objective is to invite franchises in the locations where you don’t already have a franchise. Social media can help make this a likelihood by showing the opportunities your business offers next to your target market. Those who are seeing your social media crusade are your target market; consequently your products and services as well as those who relate are all in one place. Once you see who is the most active on social media, you can start generating more personalized content and emails to ultimately start up a conversation.

Build familiarity in the media.
This is one facet of franchise marketing that has become more imperative in recent years. Building familiarity of your brand in the media is a great way to find that stability for your two goals:
• Consumer: Local newspapers and TV stations want to know what’s happening in the neighborhoods they cover. Connecting with publishers, editors and producers with press releases of anything newsworthy at your business will always be of interest to media professionals. Offer to write a free column that benefits a news outlet’s viewers. Many local media sources will show interest in your business. Always make sure you’re offering pertinent information and have something you can offer back to these media outlets.
• Franchise Development: Build relationships with media outlets and provide them with in-house research performed about the industry you operate in and how the franchise system operates in general. The information you provide should be valuable and interesting that the general public.

Infographics
An infographic is an eye-pleasing portrayal of intricate data. Gather your data, and statistics, and create an infographic to transmit your company messages. They can be used in print, on blogs or on social media platforms.

Preparing Your Message
Create a budget to make your infographic. When creating an infographic, using various free programs and templates is not a bad idea. The collecting of data and creating charts and graphs can be time consuming. However, the payout could be substantial.

Choose your message.
The infographic should provide details about your business while not being overly complicated. Keep away from messages that are sales-focused. Buy our product is not a good communication to present. Stating how a product expands quality of life or helps to improve business is a better choice. Non-profits, universities and individuals can profit from infographics, in addition to companies. Infographics can present a story to potential customers more easily than you can by speaking.

Assemble data that sustains your message.
Choose between assembling your own data or finding reliable data from other sources. The following are good places to find statistics if you can’t collect them yourself:

• StatPlanet provides worldwide statistics.
• Search government websites such as the US Bureau of Labor Statistics or the EPA to get dependable statistics.
• Trade journals and scientific studies provide study-based data.
• Make sure to list your source(s) for your statistics at the bottom of each graphic section. Use the most trustworthy sources that you can find.
• Use industry reports from Ibisworld.com.

Input your data into an Excel spreadsheet. The data that you gather can be entered into an Excel spreadsheet where you can create charts of varying types to use in your infographic.

Choosing Infographic Tools
A graphic designer. If you want a fully personalized infographic, you should consider hiring someone who can produce it. Rates vary by designer so make sure your budget is adjusted accordingly. If you want to use your final infographic to improve web traffic or social media content, then you should hire a graphic designer. A graphic designer with experience will be extremely beneficial. Use a large headline. Don’t try to save space by making the font smaller. Use a big font that is easy to read, so that it catches the reader’s eye.

Use your logo.
If you want your website found, make sure your logo, website and social media URLs are prominent in your infographic. If you have a general message that you want to go viral, you can skip this step.

Use photographs.
If you prefer you can use photos over illustrations. Use between one and six photographs. Make sure to leave plenty of room to separate the images and add text.

David G Komatz is a seasoned leader and manager and has studied franchising extensively. He is versed in the many aspects of franchising including preparing the manuals and policies used in new franchises.

When launching a new business, making yourself known within the business sector is key to getting off to a good start. If before the digital age there were not many methods of dissemination and the few that did have a high cost and an impact that is difficult to measure or of doubtful success, the arrival of digital has democratized these practices and has incorporated a world of possibilities to promote a deal. Digital marketing and its different actions allow each entrepreneur to make their business known and thus boost their activity.

A common question toward all the new business owner: “how to do digital marketing for my business”, let me share you,

5 digital ways to publicize your business

Among all the actions that can exist, what is the best to start with? What are the almost obligated actions? Do you need to use all actions from the beginning to get results? These are some of the thousands of questions that arise when starting a digital communication strategy. The first answer that is here that it is not necessary to do everything at once, you will have to choose the first actions based on your strategy.

1. Create a company website

A topic so talked about that it is still surprising that many companies do not take it as a priority. Web agencies have tried for years to highlight the need for any company, whatever the sector of activity, to have a website. Actually, this page happens to be the first platform for your business. Before going to the store, the consumer looks for information on the internet. From the moment a company creates a web page, this page becomes the store’s first showcase.

2. Create content to boost your page’s ranking on Google

Once your website is available with all the “static” content ready, it will be time to work on the natural positioning or SEO of your business. To have a better position in Google, it is necessary to keep your website “alive” and the best way is to add content regularly. The best way to create content for your page quickly and easily is through a blog. Thanks to this you can tell everything related to your business to your community and your customers.

3. Communicate with your clients with emailing campaigns

Email marketing continues to be the first means of communication: Newsletter, promotional offers, private sales, invitations to events, thanks, birthdays there are many opportunities to communicate with your client, especially taking good advantage of the data you have since you can reach to high customization.

4. Keep in direct contact thanks to SMS marketing

To complete email communications, it may be interesting to use a more direct channel. Digital Marketing Agency Malaysia is the ideal one to assist you out in this situation so that you don’t be lacked behind. The goal is to communicate with your customers quickly and have the guarantee that they will have your information. With an almost total insertion of mobile phones, a method as direct as SMS, 98% of these are read within 5 minutes after sending. This means that bulk SMS constitutes a very useful channel to send relevant information.

5. Find and encourage your community on social media.

Last method of this article: encourage communities on social media. It is the ideal channel to group your customers and exchange information with them. Facebook, about to reach almost 2 billion users, constitutes an advantage to be known, acquire and retain. It is an immediate method of feedback with your followers.

Well, if any business owner found difficulties to start their business using digital marketing, or no idea how to do digital marketing for your business? You have a great choice by attending best digital marketing course. Checkout resources below.

Website traffic is one of the top priorities in digital marketing. Each year entrepreneurs and marketing executives spend thousands of dollars paying for website traffic. Digital advertising through links and display ads on search engines and social media are among the most popular methods for website traffic.

Yet, for the first time, digital ad spending will go down worldwide from the year before. According to a July, 2020 report by eMarketer, experts predict a decline in ad spending of 4.9% worldwide in 2020, compared to 6.3% growth in 2019. The decline is mostly due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Nonetheless, as the economy recovers, digital ad spending will go up again. But should you spend money for website traffic? The answer is no, if you have not first invested in conversion.

You see, it makes no sense to pay for traffic if you do not have a way to capture the lead and convert them into a customer. That’s because without a conversion strategy in place, you will spend money on attracting visitors to your website, only to see they leave without buying.

There are 3 strategies you should invest in first before you invest one penny in website traffic.

Strategy #1: Capture The Lead on a Landing Page
Less than 1 percent of visitors buy the first time they visit a website. Think about that for a second.

That means over 99 percent of visitors to your website will leave your website without buying. Yet each visitor costs you money. If they leave without buying, you lose money. Plus, your acquisition cost per customer will be very high.

That’s why its best that you develop an opt-in campaign focused on capturing the lead. NOT selling your product or service at first. By capturing the lead, you now can develop a relationship with each visitor that opts in. And convert them from lead to customer over time.

The thing is, with digital ad spending, you should NOT send traffic to your home page or product pages. Learn more here.

Instead, it’s best to send traffic to a dedicated landing page with an offer to compel visitors to opt-in and give you permission to message them via email and SMS text. These offers can be a free report, checklist or quiz. Something of value to your audience to establish your credibility.

Strategy #2: Follow-Up With a Series of eMails and SMS Text Messages
Email is the most cost-effective form of media with the highest return on investment, according to the Direct Marketing Association. SMS text messages have open and read rates of over 90%. Together, these two methods of messaging can help you in your follow-up to convert leads into paying customers.

The thing is, the persuasive quality of your content will have a big impact on your results. Plus, the quantity and frequency of your messages. If you only have a few follow-up messages, chances are you won’t close many sales. Some contacts may respond quickly, while others may not be in a hurry. The key is to not stop messaging your opt-in contacts, unless they op-out.

One common myth in digital marketing is to not send too many messages that will cause a contact to opt-out. But if you send too few messages, you’ll never make a sale. The key is to send messages with relevant content to your audience for as long as it takes to close the sale.

Strategy #3: Convert Sales With a Video Sales Letter or Automated Webinar
Digital marketing is a form of direct response marketing. The traditional long copy sales letter is a proven way to convert leads into customers. In a digital marketing campaign, you put the sales letter on a landing page with buttons that take the visitor to your order page.

An even more effective strategy is to create a video sales letter. This can involve a voiceover artist communicating the message of the letter, with either the words showing on the screen or images that bring the words to life. Video is emotional and can boost your response rates.

You can also promote the sale of your products and services with an automated webinar. This a slide presentation with voiceover that you convert to video. Then customize interactive features in the automated webinar platform. You can schedule the webinar to play several times per day to make it easy for your audience to register and attend. You can create a button that appears at a strategic time in the webinar for your audience to click and buy your product or service.

How to Start Your Digital Marketing Campaign
The good news is you can complete a viable marketing campaign with opt-in landing page, email and SMS text messages and a landing page with sales letter, video sales letter or automated webinar with a small investment. Once you complete these, then you’ll have everything in place to help convert website traffic into customers. Hiring a consultant to help you can be a good way to start.

Marketing services by Jeff Traister can help you increase your sales conversion through automation and persuasive copywriting. He is a certified Internet marketing automation consultant and direct response copywriter.