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.

LinkedIn. Networking... for Dummies.

It seems that plain, old-fashioned, good manners have been tossed out the window along with handwritten notes and real blind dates.

I’m a huge fan of LinkedIn – (in their words: [It’s] the world’s largest professional network that connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals.) and there’s nothing better than being able to review a prospective client or employee biography, or participate in a peer-to-peer dialogue on a hot marketing topic in one of my favorite marketing group forums.

But lately I have been getting invitations from complete strangers to “link in” to them. And often, they’re from lands far, far away, where I’d have to use my Nancy-Drew-turned-anthropologist skills to find it on a map.

Why not take the time to write a personal note to me like: “I’m a talented art director with heavy B2B direct marketing experience. After visiting your website and looking at the types of clients you work with, and the types of work that you do, I think I could be another resource for you if you ever have the need for new talent. Would love to connect.”

Clearly, this would help me put the individual into some sort of perspective, understand why they want to link in to me, and help me determine whether or not I might want to make a connection with them. But no. Instead, they default to the standard “Since you are a person I trust, I wanted to invite you to join my network on LinkedIn.”

How can I be a person you trust if you’ve never met me? Done business with me? Been introduced to me?

Before you initiate contact with a complete stranger on LinkedIn, here are a few tips:

• Do your homework. Why do you want to connect with this individual, but, more importantly, why should they want to “accept” and connect with you? Use that information in your “request to link in” message. To learn more about them and their company, visit their website, Google their company name or their individual name. It’s not that hard, but it will help make the connection more relevant.

• Post a RECENT and DECENT photo of yourself. No, not the one with you holding your kids (save that one for Facebook) or your dog (funny, but not appropriate for a business networking site). And don’t take one with the camera on the top of your computer (not very professional). Schedule time with a professional photographer. And, when you crop the photo to place it on the site, don’t show me more than your head and shoulders. Your face gets really, really, tiny when the image on LinkedIn is about ½” high.

• Complete your bio… please. Your bio should be robust and as complete as possible, otherwise, I start to wonder if you’re trying to hide something. Didn’t go to college? That’s nothing to be ashamed of… just that by listing your Elementary School only, it looks like you only went as far as the 5^th grade (helpful for those looking to reconnect to their 1^st crush, but again, not appropriate for a business networking site).

• Ask for references. 1^st class LinkedIn profiles always have a few references included. So why don’t you have any? If no one will endorse you, why would I want to do business with you? And why would I want to “link in” to you?

• Be prepared to be rejected. If your bio is incomplete, or I don’t know you, or you’ve not given me one good reason to get to know you, I’ll reject your invitation. And, if I suspect you are abusing the LinkedIn platform, I’ll report your request as SPAM. So, consider yourself warned.

8 Tips for Maximizing Landing Page Conversions

During my “down” time over the holiday season, I was able to catch up on lots of my white paper and research reading… and have gathered a succinct set of tips for those marketers seeking to optimize landing page conversions. I could spend a lot of time lecturing on landing page strategies, but most people reading this want me to just cut to the chase…


1. Click This… Right Here… Right Now: When you invite someone to do something (in an email or via direct mail or web banner) and you take them to your destination page, keep the information on that page clear, concise, visually clean and with directions so simple your 4-year old would understand. You want your target to sign up for a newsletter? Then ONLY offer that sign up option on your page. You want your target to download something? Then that’s the FOCUS of your page. Don’t clutter it up with navigation bars to the rest of your site (it will only distract the user from the assigned task). Don’t offer other options (after all, they arrived at the site because of one of your clever copy points; don’t muck it up now!). And DO NOT introduce a new offer/option. Distractions will only serve to dilute your desired result. If you want to add those options AFTER they take the desired action, then design a “thank you” page with additional offers/options/navigation tools.

2. Watch Your Language: Every little word offers a subtle nuance that can be misinterpreted and prevent the user from completing the desired task. Words like “Required fields” sounds harsh. How about turning that around and using “Optional” for those fields not required? You’ll be surprised how many people supply you with the optional information anyway.

3. Looks Count: Clean and uncluttered works best; WHITE or lightly colored backgrounds are far preferred over reverse type out of a dark color. If you want to include an image, people like looking at images of people. Smiling people… good looking people. Not a box shot or, a picture of the product – unless it’s being used by smiling, good looking people who are being more productive in their lives as a result.

4. Forget the Small Print: Don’t try and trick your user. Make sure they know exactly what they’re signing up for and reiterate the benefits of doing so. Trickery only makes people angry… and then they opt out at the first opportunity.

5. Don’t Ask if You Don’t Need To Know: If you have no plans to create a direct mail campaign, then why gather a mailing address at first contact? If you’re never going to call me, why ask for my phone number? And really, is my birthdate, marital status, eye color, or shoe size relevant to how you’re going to market to me? If so, then by all means ask away! But if not, why not try dating me first before asking for my vital statistics.

6. Forms Designed by Real Users: When designing forms, make sure users can jump to the next field by clicking on the “tab” key; ask for a phone number with 3 different boxes (the first box is for a 3-digit area code and, once completed with three keystrokes, it should jump the cursor to the next box automatically). I personally HATE having to input a phone number only to be told I didn’t follow the correct format for YOUR site (who had time to read your instructions??).

7. Confirm Our Relationship: Either create a pop up window (“Thanks for registering!”) and/or send me an email confirmation. Otherwise, I’m not sure you ever got my registration form. So I’m not sure if we’re dating… or not. Or if I need to fill out the form again. Confusion is NOT the way I should end our meeting.

8. Keep Those Divorce Papers Handy: Once registered, you have to nurture our relationship. Don’t keep knocking on my door every day (unless I agreed to your daily visits); the first time you email me after I register should be part of the “wow!” factor. Relevant to me and the information I just shared about me. Best offer. Best foot forward. It’s like arriving at my doorstep for our first post-meeting date and forgetting to put on a clean shirt.

Mad as Hell and Not Going to Take It Any More

Today, I received a call on my cell phone from an unknown company. This “unnamed” company hailed from Seattle (based on the area code of 206) and was trying to solicit me for a new credit card with the lure of lowering my credit card bills. While I’ve received a half a dozen calls from this company, today I was mad as hell, and determined not to take it any more.

Since my cell phone number is on the FTC’s “Do Not Call” list, I get particularly annoyed with these calls. In the past, I’ve attempted to prevent them from calling me -- I’ve pressed the designated number as if I’m interested, so I can speak to a live person. I try to plead my case, but they’ve repeatedly hung up on me. Clearly disinterested in my distress over the call (and clearly, I am NOT a good lead, so why ignore my request?). I was stumped.

Today, I Googled the incoming phone number (206.214.5578) and found a very interesting website where a host of people are complaining about this company and their unethical business practices (http://tinyurl.com/7c9el9w).One blogger actually did the research and discovered that the phone number belongs to a company in Seattle, and provided a link to the LinkedIn profile of the CEO. AHA!

I promptly sent an “In Mail” message to the CEO as follows:

For the 6th time in the past month, I received a call on my cell phone from one of your representatives. When I try to politely ask to be removed from your call list, the caller promptly hangs up. And I get another call a week later.

As a seasoned direct marketer, these tactics do NOT help increase your lead generation activities, but rather create a negative view of your brand.

I would be more than happy to work with you/your marketing staff to help INCREASE response/lead rates and conversions, so I invite you to contact me. Know that your name and Linked In Profile are being circulated on the internet, and you will be getting a lot of spam to your in-box. Rather than deploy that tactic, my goal is to HELP you succeed.

If you choose to ignore my offer, then please do me the courtesy of suppressing my cell phone number from future solicitations. It's XXX.XXX.XXXX. Remember: You are breaking several laws by continuing to call my cell number and ignoring my pleas to be put on your "do not call" list.

Let’s see if this CEO actually wants to build a positive reputation with consumers. Let’s see if the power of 1:1 marketing pays off. Let’s see if this CEO can take my cell number off his call list.

I don’t blame the guy for trying to make a living. But in an age where we, as marketers, need to act responsibly, I am LOVING LinkedIn for their ability to help me find and contact those organizations who need a lesson in marketing strategy.

Was Alec Baldwin a plant?

Perhaps it's just me.

I find it suspicious that the day after Alec Baldwin was tossed off an airline for refusing to shut down his iPad in the middle of a "Words With Friends" game, Zynga (the game manufacturer) announces it's going to have an IPO.

Mr. Baldwin has enjoyed lots of press about his actions and each time he casually mentions the product name "Words With Friends" -- including on a Saturday Night Live spoof. You can't buy better press than that!

I must admit that I'm also addicted to WWF -- and to other Zynga games Hanging With Friends, and various other games of skill/luck. Yet the general media keeps referencing Zynga and "Farmville" without a mention of their other games.

I think they're letting Mr. Baldwin do all the marketing for them.

Smart. Very smart.

Email Best Practices -- Says Who?

Recently, a client told me we were not using “best practices” in the recommended email copy and layout we had designed.

After probing them about their experience, it turns out they were referencing an article they had read in a marketing publication that provided “Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Email Performance.”

Since we too, read (and write!) articles like that one and subscribe to national research studies, attend conferences, listen to experts, read a multitude of books on email marketing topics, design, execute and measure multiple email campaigns for a variety of clients, it occurs to me to pose the question: Who gets to dictate that something is an email “best practice?”

A year ago, we invested several hundred dollars in an email research study conducted by Marketing Sherpa, a well-known and respected marketing resource. It was 580 pages with ideas, tips, and “best practices.” Only this time, their best practices were based on 86 Case Studies, which certainly adds up to credibility in my book. We use this as our email design and planning bible and so far, their tips haven’t proven to be wrong yet.

If you type “direct marketing best practices” into Google’s search engine, you’ll be served with 2.7 million results. The problem is, the results range from some really helpful sites chocked full of information, to an email vendor site that has a vested interest in steering you towards an email design that works best for their email software.

The real trouble is that email marketing — really good email marketing — is hard work. While you should certainly do your homework before you start, it’s even more important to know your own customer. What offers, creative formats, colors, etc. resonate with them? Have you tested it yourself to know? Ultimately, what proves to be a “best practice” for Company A is not necessarily a “best practice” for Company B.

That said, there are a few email best practices that work, no matter what and the trouble is, they seem to be the least of most email marketers concerns. So, for what they’re worth, here are my top 5 “best practices” or should I say “most practical words of wisdom” based on all my research reading, testing, and results of efforts for multiple clients, B2B and B2C:


1. Subject Lines: No longer than 40 characters INCLUDING spaces. Ideally less than 30 words INCLUDING spaces. Most important words at the front of the sentence. The Email Experience Council recently sent an email with the subject line “Top 10 Vital Factors for Email Marketing Success.” (41 characters) Based on the settings in my MS Outlook in-box, the sentence was truncated as “Top 10 Vital Factors for E” (21 characters), still an interesting subject line but missing the critical words “Email Marketing Success.” My suggestion would have been to change this Subject Line to “Email Marketing Success Factors” (28 characters).


2. Use Buttons AND Links: Visually, buttons draw your eye to the action item, however sometimes people don’t download all the visuals associated with your email. If viewed through a preview panel (and over 50% of consumers use one for personal email), the recipient can read your text and click on links without downloading any visuals.


3. Design Creative for Vertical and Horizontal Preview Panes: Print out your email creative and use your right hand to cover it, leaving about 2” showing from the left hand margin. Are your most important messages within the remaining space? Now cover it 2” from the top of the email. Now imagine every part of your email that’s NOT HTML will not download. Can you still read and understand the message? Can the reader still take the desired action? If not, rethink your layout and copy.


4. Include a Visual: People are drawn to people. Faces should be attractive and worth a second look. Product shots should be visually interesting. The same rules that apply to print, apply to email. An attractive visual breaks up the copy and gives the eye a place to rest. Thermal eye studies show recipients look at the visual first and rest of the image the longest.


5. Don’t Over Use Hot Links: Too many hot links and you’ll lose your reader. Not enough and the reader will be frustrated that they can’t easily follow up on a key idea. Readers scan email, looking to “cut to the chase.” If they can easily click on a link to get to more RELEVANT information, all the better. But if every 3rd word is a link, it’s visually distracting.


These are my email best practices — what are yours?

Building Brand Loyalty -- One Contact at a Time

Okay I admit it. Today I was impressed by a sales guy from a company called Vovici – and believe me when I say, I am not easily impressed.

It all started this morning when I was sorting through my in-box, finger poised over the “DELETE” key, and I noticed an email from Direct Marketing News Whitepaper of the Day. It offered a free whitepaper on ‘The Role of Feedback in Brand Loyalty.’

As a marketer I was intrigued. So I clicked on the link. Not surprising, a registration form popped up... and, like a good little soldier I filled out the form (knowing all the while that my contact information would be dumped into someone’s database for future follow up). After clicking “Submit” I reached another page with a laundry list of whitepapers.

Unfortunately, none of those whitepapers were the one advertised. Hmmm... I’m thinking. Somebody screwed up.

So I clicked on a different whitepaper (yep, still interested) but another registration box appeared. So now I’m cranky.

I find a “Contact us” link at the bottom of the page, and scribble a helpful little email note as follows:

Subject: Email Problem

You send out an email offering a whitepaper “The Role of Feedback in Brand Loyalty” – I filled out the form, but it took me to a page that there were 6 whitepapers but none by this title...

Then, when I did try to download a different whitepaper, it took me back to the registration page.

So, when you discover that your email campaign was not generating qualified leads, you now know why...

We design and develop B2B lead generation programs. When you realize this campaign effort didn’t work and you created a negative impression about Vovici, let me know. Perhaps we can help.

I hit the “Send” key and then notice an email in my IN-BOX with a link to the original whitepaper I had requested. Err...umm...

Suddenly the phone rings and my call display shows Vovici, the company I had just emailed. Wow. That took like, seconds for them to respond!

At the other end was a very friendly Vovici sales guy who patiently listened to my complaint and explained that I must have clicked past the page telling me they would email me my link and probably clicked on the link to read additional whitepapers.

But — and here’s the impressive part — he was very interested in my feedback, my user experience with the email and links, and my B2B marketing advice.

Naturally I shared a few best practice tips with him, and since he felt they were helpful, I thought I’d share them with you, too:

1. Don’t design your whitepapers (or any other downloadable document for that matter) with a heavy use of bleeds. It eats up printer toner.

2. Make sure you don’t use darker backgrounds with type over it for call-out boxes or sidebars. It turns into a big unreadable blob when it’s printed.

3. Often, to save paper, people don’t print the front cover of the document, so make sure your company’s contact information (name, phone number and email address) are on the bottom of every page. Especially since folks often just print specific pages or sections of a larger document.

4. Avoid the use of a lot of photography. Again, unless it’s adding a compelling insight to the story, it just eats up ink toner.

5. If you include charts or graphs, make sure they can print properly if the recipient prints in black and white. Don’t count on the end user to have (or want to use) their color printer.

6. If you offer a free paper/document as a lead generation device, make sure you test the user experience before you make the offer. Once I fill out a form, I don’t want to keep filling out forms to get additional documents. If your back end system can’t handle it, don’t make the offer – or provide a link with your follow-up/thank you email that carries my contact information on it so at least the form can be pre-filled for me.

Oh, and one more thing... make it someone’s responsibility to follow up on emails immediately, cranky or otherwise. It creates a GREAT brand impression.

URLs, MURLs and PURLS -- What's a GURL to do?

If you read direct marketing industry trade pubs on a regular basis, you'll constantly learning about new techniques other organizations are using to increase direct mail response rates and conversion rates. The challenge is to try and intelligently apply those ideas to your own direct mail efforts with the hope of yielding those same successful results.

Before Al Gore created the Internet, direct mail campaigns offered recipients two response channels: Phone and mail. But with the rise of the Web, URLs were added to the response channel mix. The term URL refers to "Uniform Resource Locator" which is the address of a specific Web site on the Internet. Our client KCSM-FM, for example, owns the URL www.kcsm.org. The problem is, when the target visited that page, they were arriving at the organizations front door. There was no one there to greet them, or help them find their way to the desired destination (a donation page, for example).

Then along came MURLs, or Modified URLs. Use the URL, but add an additional destination to the end of the URL so the target lands exactly where you want them to within your web site. An example might be www.kcsm.org/bass. It tied to a fundraising campaign based on the theme around a double bass instrument.
As MURLs started to get longer and longer (think of a URL that's already long to begin with, add a forward slash / nameofcampaign and you get the picture), that led to GURLs or Generalized URLs (thanks to Ethan Boldt of Inside Direct Mail for clarifying this definition).

An example of a GURL might be www.kcsmjazz.com. This is a nice way to create a destination page using many of the elements of the existing brand, but adding a campaign twist (and, since URLs are relatively inexpensive to own, it keeps campaign costs to a minimum).

Over the last few years, PURLs have been gaining a lot of traction with promised response rate increases by as much as 30%. A PURL or Personalized URL is a combination of a MURL and your personal name: www.kcsmjazz.com/carolyngoodman. These dynamic Web landing pages are customized to the recipient, which in turn, can be based on past purchases, buying behavior or other 1:1 communications. The lure of seeing your name in print is apparently, too enticing to resist. Thus the increase in response rates. If you arrive at your page and discover content that you can relate to, it would explain the lift in conversion rates.

We recently launched two different campaigns for two different clients using PURLs and have had some fascinating results.

The first campaign was for B2B client. Using a self-mailer, we reached out to busy professionals (doctors, dentists, etc.) asking them to learn more about a series of insurance products. The landing page offered a click thru to another page which provided more information. Without spending a lot of time and money on content or 1:1 communications on the page itself, we were still able to generate a nearly 1% response rate. A feat unto itself in this highly competitive category.

The second campaign was for our favorite non-profit client, KCSM-FM. By using a postcard to reach past donors and cold prospects, we offered them a personalized T-shirt if they made a donation of $80 or more to the station. The targets name was digitally printed on the billboard panel of the postcard, helping to build the personal nature of the message and the offer. The PURL lured them to the donation page, carefully tying all the messages together. After only 3 1/2 weeks, we achieved a nearly 1% response rate, with 80% click thru -- and the offer doesn't expire until the end of June.

My takeaways?

Personalization, which has always been a good thing in the direct mail business, is leveraged even further with the use of a PURL. And higher response rates and conversion rates for our clients make THIS girl happy.

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!

Paperless communication is NOT a green initiative

I love direct mail. I like the feel of it in my hands. I love a brilliantly crafted package that has been perfectly targeted to ME based on my habits, life stage, or past behavior. I gaze lovingly at gorgeous visuals beautifully reproduced as if by magic, from masses of ink dots soaked into paper.

I admire, no revel, in a clever headline, that guides me to a story laid out in front of me. If executed properly, that story creates a desire for the product or service, and guides me to visit a web site, call a toll-free number, or (gasp!) return a reply device in a postage-paid envelope.

And I know I’m not the only one.

But I have been told — repeatedly — that I am in a dying industry.

Email, they shout gleefully, has replaced direct mail. “The USPS will be out of business soon!” one digital designer recently pronounced.

Those of you who have read my blogs know I believe that email has a short life span as a viable be-all-end-all marketing channel. So I won’t rehash that argument.

But the whole “green” message around paperless communication, is really making me lose my cool.

“Stop killing trees!” they cry. (They look at me with disgust, as if I’m an axe murderer.)

The recent Kaiser Permanente radio campaign caught my attention because it takes the whole “paper-less” concept and exploits it as their own contribution to re-greening America. It brags that KP keeps all their medical records electronically, thereby saving trees and “proving” how green they are.

Give me a break.

While I applaud KP for storing my health record electronically so they can quickly and easily access it when I’m lying unconscious on that gurney, my B+ blood gushing over my bloodied body, you’re NOT doing it so you can be part of the green revolution.

For some reason, there is a belief among consumers that the pulp and paper industry blithely attacks any forested area they can get their hands on, and mows down 100-year old redwoods. But here’s the real truth: The big paper manufacturers grow trees for the specific purpose of cutting them down to produce paper. Then, they plant new trees to replace them and start the cycle all over again. If all consumers would take their paper and hand it over to be reused, it would be -- over and over again. And that, my friends, is called recycling.

So why doesn’t the paper industry stand up for itself? Why aren’t they spending money educating the masses on the ‘inconvenient truth’ – the reality behind using trees to make paper? Good question!

But hey KP, here’s the question for you: At your gigantic data centers where you store your patient records electronically, how much energy do you consume keeping those mainframes humming? You had to install new computers in every KP room in which the patient comes in contact, in order to retrieve patient records. How much extra energy does that consumer? And how many times does the doctor hit “print” so I can get a copy of that report on my gallbladder? When I leave KP, I get a printed record of my visit. And I receive a postcard in the mail reminding me of my next appointment. Need I go on?

Businesses think they’re going green by refusing to print their collateral any more – “we’re saving trees,” they note with pride.

Instead, they push customers to their websites where the onus is on the consumer to download the information. After they do, they’ll do what all people do: Use their own printer toner and paper to print the material. Then, they’ll use a highlighter to note the salient points… attach a sticky with a notation to pass along to other colleagues, or simply stuff it in their briefcase to read on the commute ride home. Later, they’ll file it and return to review it again and again when they need to refer to a detail.

Net-net is that the business has made it harder for me to consume information about them on my terms and it has increased MY cost (and my time).

I’m not saying that organizations need to print millions of pieces of collateral, but get off the “I’m saving trees” bandwagon. Help your customers and prospects to better understand your products and benefits by delivering information in the form best consumed by your target – whether it be digitally or on paper.

Not everyone wants (or reads) emails. And not everyone wants to spend time on your poorly laid out website trying to dig to find the information they want.

I’m willing to kill another tree if it helps me communicate better to my target and it's helpful to their sales consideration process. Are you?