By Robyn Kahn Federman, Director of Communications
A whopping 10% of all Americans get engaged on Valentine’s Day.
The other 90% get engaged on the other 364 days…with your direct marketing. Your mail, your email, your website, your banner ads, your social media, and your customer service team.
In direct marketing, we talk a lot about engagement. That’s because direct marketing is all about relationships. We date, we get engaged and ultimately, we get married.
We introduce prospects to our products—that’s dating.
We capture their interest with relevant information and invite a relationship—that’s engagement.
Over time we give and receive more layers of information (more data), we get to know each other better, and we tailor our interactions with each other accordingly: Does she (or he) prefer chocolates on the first date or roses? Yellow or red roses? Or would she really prefer a foot massage by the fire?
We put a lot of time into nurturing the relationship. And before you know it, voila! There is trust, which is the foundation of all good relationships. So we close the deal—that’s marriage.
Seems like most of the chatter today is about engagement in social channels, but for direct marketers, it’s always been about engagement. We form relationships with people. More important, our relationships lead to action, with measurable ROI. Engagement is great, but if you’re still planning the wedding three years down the road, maybe what’s lacking is the commitment to buy. Maybe it’s just not the optimal relationship.
I believe social media is, at its heart, a direct marketing channel. Some social media experts will disagree with me. They’ll say the value of social media is engagement and relationship-building.
I say that’s true, but it’s missing the back half of the equation. How do you translate all that social engagement into measurable ROI? How do you use that increasing depth of information to market and remarket to those fans more effectively? How do you turn all those Facebook fans and Twitter followers into a metric that matters to the boardroom, such as increased Web traffic, leads, or sales?
If you can’t do that, maybe something’s missing from your integrated marketing strategy. Maybe what’s missing is a direct marketing mindset. I see it this way: In social media, you just get engaged. In direct marketing, you not only get engaged—you plan the wedding.
So this Valentine’s Day, engage your prospects with a truly integrated, multichannel direct marketing program. It’ll produce results you’ll fall in love with.
