Multiplatform publishers have a lot more choices – and decisions – to make about marketing campaigns. It’s almost enough to make even a strong person run screaming for the nearest direct mail package designer, isn’t it? But you don’t have to surrender to the confusion – paralysis by analysis is not an option!
In today’s Strategy Spotlight, Don Nicholas, Chairman & CEO of Mequoda explains how the most successful multiplatform publishers we know are using email for less cost than direct mail, and with higher profits.
Quick Strategy Tip of the Day from Don
One thing that troubles publishers who are planning to make the move to multiplatform publishing is how to promote so many different products, especially given the new marketing channels that are available to us in the digital age.
Most publishers have five editions of each magazine they publish – print, digital on the Apple, Amazon and Google platforms, and if they’re smart, they also have an HTML web edition that’s natively designed and can be viewed on any device. When it comes to marketing them all, you’re not limited these days to direct mail via the USPS: Today we have email and social platforms available for marketing, too.
But the digital era allows you to promote your products 52 times a year instead of just two, four or six times, as in the old days of direct mail. Yes, I know that sounds daunting, but bear with me. You may know that Mequoda clients all send out emails to their growing audience every day. Those emails are the core of your new marketing efforts.
Your email test programs each last for one week. There are a total of 13 test programs to complete one complete campaign over the course of 13 weeks. From one test program to another, you may be testing a specific price, term, message theme, sales letter landing page or incentive, and the program runs for 7 days until you run the next one. Depending on your needs, every email you send out that week has ads and/or promotional content for your premium products. The products to be promoted are tightly aligned with the editorial calendar for your free daily posts that are published in those emails.
At the end of 13 weeks, you’ve completed one email marketing campaign cycle, and you start another one. While the second campaign is running, you have the time to analyze the data from the first campaign, which is then used to develop the third campaign cycle. Data from Campaign #2 helps develop Campaign #4, and so on. You’re continuously refining and improving your marketing.
Are you with me so far? There are other marketing channels, of course, including social media. Mequoda has a proven template for social media campaigns, which of course promote the same products that are being marketed via email, at the same time. And like email, we suggest writing unique social media formulas for each promotion in the cycle, watching the results, and recycling your best players in the following cycle.
Can you use other methods, such as pay-per-click and affiliate marketing? Certainly, as long as you integrate the products being marketed via these methods into your email marketing campaign. That way you’ll always have apple-to-apples data to analyze.
At Mequoda, we’ve spent years designing, executing and analyzing modern marketing campaigns for both B2B and B2C clients, with a diverse array of products on different platforms to sell. It’s actually not as hard as it seems, being really quite similar to the direct mail campaign management of old.
If you like what you’ve read so far, allow me to explain how it all works.
When you become a Mequoda Gold Member, you begin a transformational journey to multiplatform publishing success with your own custom content management and marketing system. It all starts with Mequoda’s experienced planning team working with you to create a detailed, bulletproof five-year business plan – a comprehensive map that takes you successfully into the 21st century.
We have a very specific method for leveraging content to drive website traffic, engage an audience, and monetize that content. We will serve as your coach as we teach you the Mequoda Method; give you the tools, analytics, and best practices you need to succeed; and cheer as the profits roll in.
The complete business plan and 5-year financial model that we build for you will leave you with much less doubt about your future. From there, we can turn your plan into reality by building a customized Mequoda System which includes strategic training for you and your whole team. Schedule a 30-minute call with Don to ask your most pressing questions.
