Looking to drive last-minute holiday sales? Then consider the targeted and uncluttered medium: front-door marketing.

The NRF estimates that 2011 holiday retail sales will grown 2.8% during November and December, totaling nearly $465.6 billion. With several key holidays (like Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas) just around the corner, is your advertising or marketing campaign garnering you a good share of consumers’ spending dollars?

Consider giving your campaigns a boost with front-door marketing. With a speed-to-market of only 14 days from receipt of approved art work, front-door marketing is the perfect complement for retailers and marketers who need to get a message into a market quickly to:

• Increase store traffic
• Promote specific brands or products
• Boost slumping markets

Learn more about front-door marketing’s unique speed-to-market here and share with us how you boost your holiday retail sales.

Whether you’re prepping for summer vacation or back-to-school, now is the time to save big

Mass retailers like Kohl’s, Macy’s and Target are looking to move summer merchandise fast to make way for their fall offerings.  In addition to slashing prices, retailers across the country are attracting customers out of the heat and into their cool, air-conditioned stores with front-door marketing.  So what are your customers waiting for? Help them decide that it’s time to pick up that super cute bathing suit they wanted back in April, not only at a sale price but perhaps at an even deeper discount in the form of an attention-grabbing coupon right on their doorknob.  

With a high-value retail offer waiting at the front door, brands have the opportunity to get the attention of parents who are busy juggling summer activities and priorities.  And while more families are taking ‘staycations’ to save on gas and lodging, that doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t trying to beat the heat in the latest summer fashions and accessories. With a big need for shorts and tank tops but little room for big splurge, consumers are looking to brands that appreciate and respect their position.  Retailers must in turn attract consumer dollars more creatively and at every strategic opportunity.

Front-door marketing can be executed quickly and easily to drive response with a compelling offer that gets consumers to act.  With a start to finish timeframe of as little as two weeks, retailers can have their branded message delivered to the front door of some of their best and most promising customers.               

What are you doing to get shoppers into your store during the lazy days of summer?

Front-door marketing can influence purchasing decisions by reaching Hispanic consumers at home.

Marketing to a diverse Hispanic audience is becoming an important challenge for major brands across the country.  According to recently published reports from the U.S. Census Bureau, more than half of the growth in the total population of the United States between 2000 and 2010 was due to the increase in the Hispanic population. In fact, in 2010 there were 50.5 million Hispanics in the U.S., accounting for 16 percent of the total population – some pretty impressive statistics that are causing marketers to rethink this important audience and how best to reach them.

This week’s Hispanic Retail 360 Summit in San Diego will no doubt highlight this new data and offer up some innovative methods to turn Hispanic prospects into customers. Front-door marketing is one such method that is growing in use based on its ability to reach precisely targeted Hispanic market segments whose country or place of origin (such as Mexico, Puerto Rico or Cuba) typically affects similarities in dialect and cultural traditions. Highly motivating incentives and promotions are characteristic to front-door campaigns and a boon to marketers – essential for reaching a value-conscious Hispanic consumer base and amplified by the word-of-mouth communication inherent to many Hispanic communities. Door hangers remain a popular choice, made today in high quality, oversized formats designed to get attention.  Polybags, courier packaging and other creative approaches are also available, including scratch-offs, affixed gift cards, or even sensory options such as sound, scent, or taste.

Recent Hispanic front-door marketing campaigns have been deployed by PowerDirect for clients such as Clorox, Hillshire Farms and Fingerhut. Have you joined the ranks of culturally-savvy brands, thinking outside the box to get the attention of this growing audience? Are you embarking on front-door campaigns to offer relevance and respect for what the Hispanic audience values most? What are you doing to reach and engage the Hispanic consumer?

After a coupon glut in the 90’s, some brands refocused efforts on everyday low pricing – however sweeping factors like unemployment, rising gas prices and a faulty economy have steadily increased consumers’ sensitivity to pricing and sharpened their focus on getting a good deal.  On everything.

Coupon redemption is up almost 17.6% from 2009, according to Valassis' 2011 US Mid-Year Consumer Packaged Goods Coupon Facts Report.

Coupons and coupon users have changed with the times. From casual users, to enthusiasts, to evangelists, to extreme couponers a la TLC’s television show – brands have recognized a shift in how coupons are perceived, valued and redeemed. Today, coupons are a hot commodity valued by a much broader range of the American public, and offered strategically by forward-thinking brands charged with developing buzz and profits amid recession.  Via Google Insights for Search, “coupon” or “coupons” recently indexed at more than twice their 2006 pre-recession levels. Growth was steady through 2009, leveled off in 2010 and reached new heights in early 2011 – in step with growing consumer concern for value and savings.

Brands are more than ever recognizing coupons as an opportunity to build consumer awareness and trail, as well as a platform to tell their value story.  Front-door marketing is proving highly viable in this effort – but requires some expertise in order to make of the most of a strategic opportunity.  For example, your brand is being invited into someone’s home right through the front door – don’t show up empty-handed.  Consumers have a strong expectation of quality from their favorite brands, and front door marketing campaigns must meet or exceed this bar. As a result, the front door offer is typically higher in value than offers made through other channels, providing the most compelling call to action and ensuring greater result by being remarkably worthy.

Are you considering the strategic couponing opportunity presented by the front door and its ability to communicate powerfully on a personal level?  And if so, are you tapping channel expertise to develop the most compelling offers and maximize the front door as a customer venue?

The term ‘Melting Pot’ has been used for some time to describe the makeup of the United States but has never before been more descriptive of today’s diverse population. With 2010 Census figures released this summer, many are speculating the growth of various ethnicities, age groups, familial status, etc. For marketers, this means figuring out what the new data will mean and how it will affect marketing efforts for years to come.

Effective data targeting can help you find your best prospects in a sea of consumers.

One thing is clear – ‘one size fits all’ messaging has no place in achieving real marketing goals. Census data and obvious societal changes over the last half-century represent not only the demise of the ‘average American,’ but also the resulting critical focus on segmentation in effective marketing. Knowing all there is to know about your customer is what it takes to be relevant with messaging and find the best ways to reach an audience.

Thoughtful analysis of segmented data predicates development of defined target groups that take into consideration not only who your best prospects are, but where they live and the probability that they will be moved to purchase your product or service. 

With PowerDirect’s front-door marketing approach the best prospects are identified and used to determine the most effective distribution strategy.  Geo-demographic clustering information and complex data are applied to identify and further segment the best prospects.  These groups can be targeted in much smaller units, based on “block groups” of about 400 households instead of entire zip codes.  Digging even deeper, custom profiles can be created using Census data, purchase behavior and lifestyle segmentation to identify clusters of homes that will in turn deliver the highest response rates on a campaign’s objectives.

Are you still trying to reach the ‘average Joe’ or are you honing in on your true targets? Are you taking advantage of segmentation methods that can be used to pinpoint your ideal customer’s front door?

Wide-sweeping financial, economic and even political issues impact American life today, inspiring ‘a new normal,’ or permanent changes in consumer thinking based on the recession and economic challenges.  In actuality, consumers are embracing a series of ‘new normals,’ including dramatic changes in the way we think, act, plan, shop, spend and save.  Americans are adapting and marketers must follow suit. These trends represent a significant opportunity for marketers to move well beyond grabbing someone’s attention, and instead deliver usefulness and value. 

"New normal" consumer habits like penny-pinching continue in the post-recession economy.

Shoppers are seeking value as a priority, paying cash for necessities, foregoing credit cards, searching for discounts and putting money in the bank as the rule rather than the exception – courtesy of the recent recession. Spending is more cautious, with consumers looking for deals, using coupons and actively focused on getting the most for their money.  In turn, trimming advertising and promotion budgets is part of the new normal for marketers, who now must turn to more streamlined, targeted, ROI-based practices.

The current marketing climate is ripe for alternate strategies such as front door marketing, using the same targeting tools routinely applied to more crowded media venues – yet providing a quiet, uncluttered environment to offer value and build ROI with an intelligent, response-driven mechanism.  The call to action on the front-door marketing piece attracts the attention of the recipient by proving to be remarkably worthy. Gift cards, sweepstakes, tear-off offers, and sensory marketing with sound, scent or taste are available options, and represent a highly-strategic, savings-based approach suited to major brands and promotions.

The recession may be showing signs of recovery, but many economists predict that most of the changes in our spending habits, initially seen as temporary, have taken hold for the long term.  If consumer behavior has truly evolved on a socio-economic level, what are you doing to meet or exceed a consumer’s expectation of value from a favorite brand?  Are you tapping into the front-door marketing channel to deliver savings to your best customers?

As the United States Post Office continues to take a beating – posting a $747M net loss in April alone – marketers have got to wonder about the long-term viability of this once stable and reliable entity to effectively deliver marketing messages.  Postal staff has been reduced, offices have closed, and changes in service may be coming soon as the USPS looks to find ways to survive losses in the billions for its fiscal 2011.

Is your advertising message getting lost in the clutter?

The mailbox is certainly finding it difficult to compete in a world where marketing messages have permeated nearly every aspect of daily life; it has sadly been relegated to the role of clutter collector. Smart marketers are responding by targeting their best prospects with offers that bypass the tired mailbox and bring value directly to the front door.  Major brands like Kohl’s, BestBuy and McDonalds have learned that front-door marketing is a highly effective tool in getting the right message to the right consumer at the right time – ensuring that messages are both delivered and heard over the noise.  A direct response discipline in its own right, front-door marketing eliminates the reliance on postal services and bypasses a clutter-filled mailbox, reaching consumers with personalized brand value.

Are you relying on outdated methods to generate customer response? Perhaps it’s time to consider broadening your reach beyond the mailbox with a more focused and effective front-door marketing approach.

Photo courtesy of redjar via flickr.com

In nearly every aspect of life, economic concerns and a rapidly evolving landscape are causing consumers to make spending choices cautiously. Yet even so, IDC’s recent report on U.S. Consumer Fixed Broadband Services forecasts consumer demand for fixed broadband services to remain strong. The market is expected to increase by nearly 13 million new consumer broadband subscriptions before 2015, even amid economic challenges for the industry. This anticipated growth is great news for cable providers, but capturing market share is clearly a tricky proposition that will take some creative thinking and smart marketing.

Leading cable providers such as Comcast, Time Warner and Cox Communications have leveraged front-door marketing’s sophisticated data intelligence, high-quality physical media, eye-catching creative and an attractive offer to meet a variety of marketing objectives. Front-door marketing has the ability to attract new subscribers, while working to recapture subscribers who have “cut the cord,” downgraded their service, or may be in the market for bundled services.

Consumers may be just plain tired of scrimping and saving – driving interest in minor indulgences such as affordable access to cable services for home entertainment and communication. But making cable affordable is just part of the equation. The ability to get the right message to the right audience – whether it is a limited-time offer, special pricing promotion, free trial period (premium channels) invitation, tiered package offer, or other subscriber incentive – is critical to gaining market share.

Front-door marketing is proving highly effective in this arena, delivering special offers and promotions to meet new customer subscription goals and increase average revenue per user (ARPU).  Are you efficiently and effectively reaching the consumers in your subscriber area with relevant services and ‘can’t miss’ offers?

Handled with skill and technology, today’s front-door marketing campaigns are able to generate results faster than most other media. In fact, with a highly-efficient distribution system in place, speed-to-market can be maximized with campaigns frequently executed in a 10-14 day timeframe.  Now that’s a fast track to results, which can be tied to a range of client metrics or priorities.

Consumers redeem front-door media offers in-store, and coupon redemption is tracked to evaluate campaign results.

There are a number of ways to measure success and it’s important to determine those criteria up front.  Frequently, the ultimate goal is redemption of a promotional offer, however front-door marketing can and does serve a variety of purposes.  It can be used to generate traffic, provide loyalty incentives, increase awareness or reinforce branding efforts; it is an ideal component to an acquisition, retention or ‘re-activation’ program. 

The medium also works well to reinforce a position when a company is expanding or finds itself going head to head with the competition.  New product launches and trial programs can be targeted with pinpoint accuracy, getting information and product into the hands of those most likely to respond. Response-driven mechanisms like coupons, toll-free numbers and drive-to-web incentives are popular and effective – made even stronger by working with a skilled, trusted front-door marketing partner.

Meeting marketing goals effectively – while communicating a strong sense of brand – is a top mandate for national and regional businesses, and is well-supported by delivering a high-quality message of value to a very precise target.  Are you defining metrics and moving quickly to engage your best prospects? Are you teaming up with an experienced and knowledgeable front-door marketing partner that knows the ins-and-outs of deploying a successful campaign?

Every marketing campaign requires thoughtful analysis and identification of the best prospects based on the brand’s targeting strategy and available data. For front-door campaigns, data must be analyzed with the front door in mind – including information reflecting behavioral characteristics, geo-demographics, and transactional information whenever possible.   The ability to consider these factors and apply the information strategically has in fact enabled front-door marketing as a highly targeted strategic tool.  

Photo courtesy of Raymond Shobe via flickr.com

For example, a recent campaign was executed to promote the launch of a new family film.  The front door campaign was executed within 3 days of the movie’s launch, delivering to 4 states simultaneously. U.S. Census block level data was used to identify target family neighborhoods, eliminating waste by delivering the offer only to families with young children.

Prior to such skillful targeting capabilities, marketing pieces were delivered to the front door based on ZIP code saturation.  This meant everyone within a ZIP code (approximately 13,000 households) would receive the same piece of media regardless of demographic importance or project objective.  By abandoning the ZIP code approach and moving to the use of U.S. Census Block Groups – census-defined territories of approximately 100 to 400 households – this process has been substantially refined to enable extremely targeted distributions.  Digging even deeper, custom profiles can be created using Census information, household purchase behavior and lifestyle segmentation; this identifies clusters of homes that will in turn deliver the highest response rates on the campaign’s objectives.

Are you achieving results by pinpointing your target, or wasting marketing resources by blanketing a too-broad group?  Consider creative integration of front-door marketing programs within your overall marketing strategy.