How to Leverage The WIFM Factor

For a society that has often shunned discount coupons as something distasteful, it’s somewhat surprising that the popularity of discount companies like Groupon, Living Social or RockBottom has reached such a feverish pitch.

But for those of us who are died-in-the-wool direct marketers, and who understand the power of the greed factor or the “What’s In It For Me?” (WIFM) factor, it makes complete business sense.

As any good marketer knows, there’s no point to sending out a 1:1 marketing message without a compelling offer. Offers are the reason you give your target to “act now,” while the rest of the message is crafted to present the most compelling reasons why the product/service is perfect for them.

Offers have often been treated with disdain by many marketers. But I was always taught to lead with your BEST offer — the offer the recipient won’t find anywhere else; An offer that is too good to refuse; And an offer that will compel the target to raise their hand and say “count me in!”

If positioned properly, a superior offer to the right audience will achieve dramatic results (fantastic email open, click through and conversion rates; superior direct mail response rates). No matter how you measure it, a marketing initiative with a superior offer will propel a sales program to a new level of success.

But in my experience, that’s not what companies do when putting together the offer.

Instead, they spend an inordinate amount of time trying to convince their organization that a paltry “10% off” is necessary for their initiative, and everyone is disappointed when the email open rate/direct mail result is dismal.

But now the “put forward your best offer” strategy has been proven to be true once again.

Take Groupon, for example. I got caught up in the excitement the first time my local golf course offered a round of golf for 4, 4 pull carts, and 4 tokens for a bucket of practice balls (a $118 value) for only $50. Apparently I wasn’t the only one to smell a deal because it seems over 400 people took advantage of this offer!

Now, let’s do the math together… that means this Groupon deal generated $20,000 of gross revenue. And, since Groupon keeps half, the golf course received $10,000 in revenue… up front… before the buyers even took advantage of the offer. Why is that good news?

It’s called C-A-S-H F-L-O-W. The golf course ran an offer, and got $10,000 in sales just like that. They don’t need to wait for the coupons to be redeemed (in fact, some folks will forget to redeem them).

But more importantly, it proved that a good offer — no, a GREAT offer — works. It drove their target to respond… immediately.

So, the next time you spend marketing dollars to put together an email or direct mail campaign, stop and spend some time on offers. Your goal should be to put together your BEST offer in order to get your BEST result.

And, if that particular golf course hadn’t used Groupon for distribution, they would have received $20,000 in cash instead of $10,000.

But this golf course has never asked me for my email address… or my mailing address, so they don’t seem to have a database. Which means they have no idea who their customers are… and that’s just shameful.

Set Yourself Apart -- Everyday

Most companies spend a great deal of time, effort and money fostering a brand for themselves, including everything from logo design to mission statement to value proposition. In fact, it can be argued that the most valuable asset any company has is its brand.

But branding isn't necessarily limited to businesses. With a grueling job market awaiting college students entering their final year, enterprising young people might do well to create a brand for their most important product -- themselves.

According to my colleague Denise Williams, East Coast manager and director of strategic marketing for Goodman Marketing Partners, a multi-channel, direct response marketing agency in Philadelphia, personal branding is a powerful tactic for setting yourself apart in the eyes of prospective employers. And if you do it well enough, your brand could remain with you throughout your career.

"Branding yourself is a matter of boiling down who you are and what your values are, and then being true to that. In other words, living it," says Williams, who also serves as president of the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association. "For example, going out of your way to volunteer or lend assistance to other people, rather than always looking out for Number One. Or always maintaining your cool in a crisis or when the chips are down...these are traits that will not only serve you well, but will precede you through the door."

Like a corporation laboring over its mission statement, branding yourself might be a time-consuming process, requiring a thorough assessment of who you are, who you want to be, what principles you hold most dear, and what your strengths and weaknesses are. "Then determine how to make your strengths part of your daily life, while minimizing your weaknesses," says Williams. It also helps to choose someone whose "brand" you admire and try to emulate him or her, or even enter into a mentoring relationship with that individual.

Williams, who speaks to students about marketing themselves whenever she has the opportunity, offers the following five suggestions for building your most important brand:

Know Thyself

Understand what motivates you and the kind of environment in which you will thrive. Know what your goals are and create the strategies that will get you there. Every brand has a mission and a way to fulfill that mission. This is true for your own personal brand. Your education, your work, your affiliations, where you network, where and how you converse online, and the people with whom you associate, will define your brand.

Stay Positive

Negativity kills positive people. Negativity will kill a brand. Stay positive and be viewed as a healthy, positive professional, one that makes each and every person feel important. It's not always easy but worthwhile in that positive people are sought after to lead, manage and share their knowledge and energies. Learn to bring out the best in people. Be known for it.

Get Involved

Don't sit on the sidelines. There are a variety of professional and community-related affiliations that not only need volunteers or hire interns but provide networking. Selfish networking to hawk products is not what we are talking about. Getting involved and volunteering your time tells others that you care. People like people who care about things other than themselves. Reap the satisfaction of getting involved and helping others.

Maintain Reasonable Expectations of Others

Some people ask for help of others one too many times. It's OK to ask for help, but know when to stop. No one is going to get the job for you. No one is going to jump through hoops for you unless they are inclined to do so. Business is a give and take - better to be a giver than a taker. Better to be owed than owing. Once you are known as a taker, you've shot yourself in the foot. Ask for guidance but don't ask for too much. Find a couple of people you trust and respect, and look to them for mentoring.

Remember To Thank

Referrals, personal contacts, introductions, and invitations should never go without a thank you. If someone has helped your initiatives in any way, be sure to thank them the old fashioned way. Yes, it's 2009, but a text is not sufficient, and an e-mail is just OK. Send a note. A gift shows real appreciation. Make your brand an appreciative one.

I couldn't have said it better myself!

It's good enough. But is it award winning?

After spending the last several days as a 3rd Round Judge at the Direct Marketing Association International Echo Awards, I am beginning to wonder if I expect too much from my colleagues and peers in the industry.

I reviewed nearly 100 entries across 4 categories, and I'm disappointed that I only found a handful of truly brilliant entries that, in my humble opinion, deserve to be recognized with an Echo Award.

The Echo's are awarded based on a combination of 3 key factors: strategy, creativity, and results. Considering today's business climate and marketing challenges, I firmly believe that if a marketing effort doesn't move the sales needle even to generate more interest and awareness in your product or service, then the marketing expenditure may have been wasted.

Brilliant direct marketing solutions start by digging deep into the client's business problem. Asking lots of questions and conducting research to fill in any gaps, it is imperative that you understand what's going on in the marketplace, and how the client's particular product or service solves a problem experienced by the target (even if they don't realize they have that problem!).
Determining the most innovative way to position the solution and how, where and when to communicate it to the target efficiently so it drives the desired action is the biggest challenge. This is the strategic part of the marketing equation and the step that seems to be missing from most of the entries I judged.

The execution of that solution is the creative itself. Superior creative seamlessly leverages both words and visuals. It brings them together in perfect harmony in a way that will be most attractive to the target, cause an emotional or visceral reaction, and entice them to learn more/purchase/visit a web site.
The proof of a brilliant strategy and flawless creative are the results. Did the marketing do what it was supposed to do?

It seems that many direct marketers took a problem and applied the most obvious solution. Whether it was a new segmentation strategy, or leveraged a previously tested idea, what I witnessed was rarely breakthrough and certainly did not have the “wow!” factor.

Am I wrong to make this one of my benchmarks?

We all have work we’re proud of – work that has achieved or exceeded a client’s objective. But is it worthy of an Echo award, one of the most prestigious awards in our industry?

Personally, I’m looking for campaigns that make me think “I wish I’d thought of that!”. Or that demonstrate such a new and innovative way of solving a problem that it puts the rest of us to shame.

Sid Liebenson of Draft/FCB delivered a “Lunch and Learn” presentation on how the U.S. has seemingly fallen behind in the creative competitive arena proven by the fewer and fewer awards held by domestic agencies. I must admit I was a little incensed during the discussion, but now that I’ve seen the work for myself I have to wonder: “Is good enough, good enough?”

I hope not. I hope I’ll continue to push my own team to rise to every business and creative challenge because without exceeding the edges of the envelope, we’re destined to become obscure.