We were recently asked to assist a regional industry association with marketing their annual conference. We created a multi-channel marketing campaign strategy that included direct mail, e-mail, tweets & Facebook posts, and video marketing.
Our audience consisted of the association’s current membership, lapsed members from a three-year period, and two targeted lists of prospective companies. Prospects were identified through a partnership with a similar industry association and targeted businesses based on SIC codes within a five-segment, geographic area.
The campaign rendered attendance from over 30 companies, across the nation and Australia. Twenty percent of the companies were first-time attendees and eight percent of the lapsed market was recaptured.
Direct mail brought the largest returns as 57.5% of the total registrations occurred within 10 days after a mailing and 57.1% of first-time registrations occurred within the same time frame. We also saw that 33% of our total webpage traffic occurred within a ten-day period after a mailing.
E-mails that emulated the mail pieces and followed a mailing brought the second highest amount of activity. Within 72-hours after a direct mail/e-mail, 23.1% of our total website hits occurred and 12.1% of attendees registered.
Generic e-mail blasts brought also brought 12.1% of the total registrations and comprised 15.8% of the total website activity within the 120-day campaign.
The social media component brought interesting results as well. Nearly 25% of all website activity (24.7%) occurred on the day of positing on Facebook or Twitter, using a link connected to the website. We noted that 14.6% of registrations occurred on days where social media was the only form of marketing used.
Seven videos were created and uploaded onto YouTube during the 120-day campaign bringing 399 views. One-third of all views came from the inaugural, two-minute, introduction video that outlined location, topics and speakers. Daily, 30-second spots, highlighting schedules for the three-day conference were watched by 18.7% of the registrants and accessed from a QR-Code conveniently placed on the cover of the conference program.
In conclusion, the conference was a profitable and successful venture for the association. Revenues were 13.4% higher than the previous year and first-time attendees were up 3.9% from 2011.
The USPS is hoping to boost visual impact and increase open rates of mailpieces by introducing the Picture Permit Indicia program. It’s a great idea, incorporating a logo, brand or trademark within a mail permit or indicia. The regulations for indicia elements (verbiage, location and placement) are the same, however, there are so many additional stipulations that the “great idea” is buried in a mountain of red tape.
