Strategic Email Marketing Advantages at Covenant Designs

E-mail marketing is a very cost-effective way for companies of all sizes to compete successfully in business today. Yet many companies fail to capitalize on this exceptional marketing strategy—and are losing sales as a result.

That’s why Promise Productions  provides Email Marketing Campaign Services -- our innovative e-mail marketing management solution. Being a marketing company with deep roots in strategic Graphic Design, plus our Internet Marketing skills -- we can develop a successful email marketing campaign for your company. Ont that is effective at getting your message to your customers and prospects.

Email marketing evolved from direct mail marketing. We all remember times when we got receive unsolicited mails in our physical mailbox. Do you remember and looking at reading some of them? Some were junk that never invited further examination, but quite a few were able to win your interest, and perhaps, they even made you say - "I want what this person is offering."



Today's email marketing has a wealth of possibilities for growing your business. You see, more than a printed piece, your email can contain photos and links to your products and services -- all with automated tracking that direct mail marketing never had. In addition, email marketing is perfect for today's Internet-savvy customers, plus it eliminates the cost or printing and postage!

• Email marketing is a more inexpensive option. Sending emails is far cheaper than actually printing and mailing letters.
• Generating leads for an email marketing campaign is easier. People are more likely to leave their email addresses rather then a real, physical address.
• With Email marketing, you have the advantage of being able to do multiple levels of follow-ups. A direct mail piece has but one chance to convince the recipient to purchase a product or a service. Email marketing can convince the prospect into subscribing to a mailing list, ensuring in the process that he or she would receive future emails for future offers. Additionally, the recipients of emails can be led to a website for further conversion possibilities.

Email marketing has three purposes:

1. To win sales
2. To Increase awareness of your brand, products and services
3. To gather sales leads

There are several components to a successful email marketing campaign, and at Promise Productions, we possess the right skillsets in each area to make your email marketing effective:

• A clear communication of your Value Proposition or Special Offer
• Visual Design to appeal to your audience
• Marketing-Savvy links and response systems to promote your website
• Professional management of your email list

We are here for YOU -- helping you write great content, manage your list well, so that the results you will achieve will be rewarding and motivating! We understand that customers respond well when treated with intelligence, common sense, and respect. Promise Productions by calling 972-822-3587 to get started utilizing email marketing to your advantage.

The Top 5 Benefits of Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing is a great choice for businesses to maximize their advertising dollars while promoting their brand and serving their customers. A smart email marketing campaign can help your business:

• - Increase Your Sales Conversion
• - Generate Repeat Sales
• - Up-sell and Cross-sell Products and Services
• - Gain Valuable Feedback from your Visitors
• - Drive Web Users to Make Offline Purchases

1. Increase Your Sales Conversion

Regardless of how good your product or service is, most visitors to your site won't convert into sales on their first visit. In fact, research indicates that it takes the average shopper over 5 visits before they'll make a buying decision. In other words, every effective sales process requires an element of repetition.


Think about the times when you've picked up a new product at the supermarket after seeing it advertised on TV a dozen times. Or a time where you've visited a new local restaurant after driving past it every day on your way to work.
That's repetition in action, but unlike a 'bricks-and-mortar' retail store, there is no 'drive-by' traffic on the Internet. In many cases when someone clicks on the little 'exit' button in the top right hand corner of the screen... they're gone forever.
However if you can get their email address, you get a second chance. You can email them with:

• - Your monthly newsletter
• - Your free report
• - Information about new models

In this way, capturing an email address gives you a 'Plan B' and allows you to follow-up with someone after they've left your website.

2. Generate Repeat Sales

Getting new customers is hard work - it's also really expensive.
In fact, it can be up to eight to ten times more expensive to acquire a new customer than to sell to an existing one. To acquire new customers, you have to factor in the cost of advertising, educating and selling to them.
Therefore, a big chunk of the initial sale is simply recouping the costs you've outlaid to get the customer in the first place.
And while new sales are great, we can't emphasize strongly enough the value of repeat sales. Too often, businesses focus only on the initial sale and forget about the lifetime value of a customer.
Keeping in touch with customers on a regular basis via email allows you to generate repeat sales which can be up to four times more profitable than the initial purchase.
A good email marketing campaign will increase the frequency of repeat purchases from your existing customers.

3. Up-sell and Cross-sell Products & Services

"Would you like fries with that?" Fast food makes billions of dollars every year from this basic up-sell.
When appropriate, email provides a great opportunity for you to up-sell and cross-sell your products and services. After all, give them a chance to say YES to your company.
This basic technique by itself can easily add an extra 30% to your average order value and is used by all major companies online.

4. Gain Valuable Feedback from Your Visitors

Customer feedback is an invaluable tool for any business. This feedback allows you to determine:

• - What products and services to provide
• - Who to target
• - What the market is willing to pay

Email in particular provides your customers with a unique opportunity to give honest feedback. Unlike face-to-face interaction where people can be shy about voicing their true feelings, email allows them to get right to the point.
By using email as a feedback tool you can adapt to what the market wants and improve your business.

5. Drive Web Users to Make Offline Purchases

Surprisingly, email marketing is often a catalyst for web users to go and make a purchase offline. When surveyed, 59% of email users said that they have made a purchase offline after receiving an email promotion.
Why? Sometimes a user will find something they want online but they need it straight away and can't afford to wait for delivery. Other times, the product might need to be demonstrated (like a treadmill) and they want to see, touch and feel the item.
If you run a conventional offline business you can use email marketing to drive foot traffic through your door.

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Let Promise Productions develop and send email marketing blasts to keep your brand visible and profitable. Call 972-822-3587 for professional results.

10 Deadly Sins That Are Killing Your Direct Mail Profits

Direct mail is still a great way to generate positive cash flow for all kinds of businesses. It puts your message right into their hands. But is it the right message?

Direct mail must avoid these 10 pitfalls in order to produce significant profits. A smart direct mail marketing communications strategy will produce loyal customers who are ready to buy your products and services. At Covenant Designs, we have been doing direct mail and postcard campaigns for 17 years and typically product 3-6% response rates with some responses even higher than 10%.

As we have all experienced, lots of sales letters are regarded as junk mail these days. When was the last time you opened a sales letter in the mail and actually read it? Why not? Because the letter did not entice you, didn't speak to you – didn't give you a reason to care.

Remedying these 10 deadly sins will release thousands and thousands of dollars that are otherwise missing from your direct mail and marketing campaigns.

#1. Vague Targeting
Your letter doesn't speak to anybody in particular.

 Have you identified your ideal customer and made sure your mailing list targets them? Companies fail to get to know their market, and it undermines, not just their sales letters, but their marketing as a whole.

Take some time to study your target audience - what makes them tick? What problems do they face? What are their values? What motivates them? Only then can you send a sales letter that speaks directly to their wants and desires.



#2. Missing or Poor headline.


Sales letters need to attract the eye – to grab you. Without a headline, a sales letter is just a chunk of words that can easily be ignored. Just look at the headline of this post: it speaks directly to YOU, doesn't it? It speaks in the present tense, and it implies that there is information in this article that you need to read now (true). That's a big reason why you are reading this, isn't it? So do the same – motivate your readers to keep reading!

#3. Failed to Focus on BENEFITS and are bogged down in Features
If you do not understand the distinction between benefits and features in marketing, then you will experience frustration and struggle in your marketing. 

This is the biggest, most common mistake that companies make in their sales letters.

If you get a letter that says, "Hey! Look at what we've got! Look what we've done! Aren't we great?!?", you're going to throw it away in a heartbeat, right? 

What do people want to hear about? Themselves. It's simple human nature – our focus is on our present needs.

Instead, your direct mail needs to talk about them: "Hey! You know that problem you have? This is how we can help you out..."

 If you are writing about your business, you are writing a FEATURE. That's not what you're supposed to be writing. If you are writing about the consumer, you are writing a BENEFIT. That's what people want to hear about - what's in it for me?



#4. Failure To Motivate A Response

If your response rates are down, you may not be giving your market enough of a reason to contact you. Where's the offer? Give them a discount or some form of special offer for responding to the letter. If the consumer reads your entire sales letter, but they are not motivated to take action IMMEDIATELY, you did it wrong. 

(Tip: pinpointing the exact benefits that matter most to your prospects is essential to motivating a response)

#5. Assuming they'll simply take your word for it.


Face it, you need proof. That means statistics that show it works. That means testimonials from people who have enjoyed the benefits. People won't just listen to you based on what you say - show them what others are saying.



#6. Unattractive Design.


How is your communication formed? Is it just a mass of words? Then forget it. You may as well have mailed them a letter in Chinese. At least put in some sub-headlines or lists. Photos are even better! They need something they can easily scan to get the gist of the letter beforehand. It will encourage them to read, to understand the benefits, and to respond.

#7. You didn't Break Down the Barriers.


This is a biggie. Barriers are things that keep prospects from doing business with you. Usually RISK is their barrier – they worry that they are investing their time or money in something that won't work. You need to guarantee them that it will be worth it. Offer them a 30-day, money-back guarantee. Give them a reason to take the plunge, risk-free, and there's a good chance they will.



#8. You don't have a "P.S." at the end.


The "P.S." is a great way to hit the last few skimmers - people who aren't reading. Sum up your biggest benefit, combine it with your offer, and throw it in as the last line in your letter. Then watch those response rates soar!

For example:

"P.S. Stop wasting your time resharpening old kitchen knives! Order your complete set of Mighty Sharpy Steak Knives and use them for 60 days at no cost!"



#9. Nothing makes you stand out.


Who are you targeting and why? You need to position yourself as something unique. Differentiate yourself from the competition. What's your advantage? If you are just like the others, why should anyone choose to do business with you?



#10. They're not even opening the envelope.


If your letter comes in a plain white envelope, you're going to lose. One way around this is to use oversides postcards with color printing on both sides. We've had great success with these.

But for letters in an envelope, print your strong headline on the outside of the envelope. Consider hand-addressed envelopes. Make it distinctive in color, size or shape. Or, as many companies do, take advantage of the "lumpy mailer", where you put something in the envelope that makes it feel bulky - so people will tear it open – intrigued just to find their free gift. Your visual presentation needs to stand out from the rest of the mail. How is your sales letter standing out?

P.S. For professional results from your direct mail or postcard campaign let the experienced marketing communication experts at Promise Productions position you for massive success. Call 972-822-3587

Position Yourself For The Lion's Share of Profits

Crank up your self-promotion now. Don’t decrease your marketing; increase the volume to a roar!

The knee-jerk reaction for a lot companies when faced with a recession is to reduce their marketing efforts. However, decades of research show that those who maintain or increase their marketing will supersede their former competitors once the recession starts to recede. Those businesses who fail to market are like farmers who fail to plant -- they whither.

Even as you accept this truth, you may still be faced with a shortage of spare cash to invest in marketing–particularly in traditional advertising. What to do? You can and should focus on a content marketing strategy that will require a whole lot of thought (i.e. big on strategy) and effort, but will not require a lot of money.

Here are 6 ways that strategic marketing will help smart and willing companies get through the recession:

1. Develop a deep understanding of your customers and what is most important to them. Determine what problems are most vexing and what solutions they require. Make sure that this understanding informs every aspect of your marketing – Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Direct Mail Marketing, etc..

2. Be certain that your website is customer-centric and loaded with content that positions you as a trusted provider. If your website is short on content and if it is all about you and not serving them, it’s essential that you upgrade your site. Your website is your most important sales and marketing tool. You must do whatever it takes to transform it into a positive marketing force.

3. Either begin a blog or integrate a blog into your existing website. Your blog will serve as your best way to connect with your customers by demonstrating that you are open to a two-way dialogue, that you are authentic, and that you have an individual or company personality with which they want to engage.

4. Start a customer-focused eNewsletter or transform the one you have so that it reaches out consistently to your best customers and prospects. A content-rich eNewsletter allows you to direct targeted messaging either to all of your customers or to specific demographics within your customer base.

5. Unless you and your team have the time and talent to do all of the preceding by yourselves, bring in marketing experts to help you make the marketing upgrade. most business owners possess a body of essential knowledge that can be translated into content that will be relevant and valuable to your customers. That translation is difficult unless you have strong editorial skills. Although you may not need long-term help, you will almost certainly need assistance in making the transition to a complete content marketing strategy.

6. Make sure every piece of your marketing and advertising motivates your customers and prospects to visit your new content-rich website. Yes. your ultimate objective is to have them contact you or to visit you in person. But most prospects won’t make that immediate step. They will check out your website (for professionalism, for videos, for their own confidence factor) and if it proves you to be a trusted source of information and by implication of products and services, you will soon receive that phone call or that in person visit.

Even if you may have limited marketing resources, your most important investment both for the short and for the long term will be in developing and deploying a marketing strategy that connects you to your customers and prospects.

Another way to say "connects" is to say "reaches them at their level." By the way, we know great ways to do that with online video marketing as well as Internet Marketing. Smart Marketing is the very best investment you can make. Now is the time to make that investment.

Surpass Your Competitors For Profits Now. Call Promise Productions Marketing Communications at 972-822-3587.

Got Business? Mind Your Branding!

The economic downturn is proof of the message this strategic marketing communications firm has been telling our customers:

"When times are lean, those with anemic marketing are hit the hardest. But those with strong brands still have strong businesses."

You see, customers are still spending, they are just choosier who they do business with. Businesses with TRUSTED brands are thriving today, but those that have not prioritized their marketing are hurting and in danger of bankrupsy.

The time is NOW to market and promote your brand. Fortunately there is great news: there are more cost effective ways today than ever before to stimulate your business through online marketing. Let Covenant Designs show you how to reap profits through smarter marketing strategy.

Here are a few hints...
• Use postcards for direct mail to your best prospects.
• Promote your business web site into the Top Three in Google.
• Use smart Blogging to interact with your customer base and spread the message on the value of your products and services.
• It is a visual age. Utilize professional photography and video production to drive your message home with compelling
• Social media is exploding. I just heard is has surpassed even email! Develop a comprehensive and expert social media campaign to reach your prospects in this arena.
• Choose a Dallas ad agency or marketing firm that understands TRUST-BASED marketing.

Want to know more about our strategic branding services? Call Promise Productions at 972-822-3587 for results and profits.