Old Marketing Technology and Tactics

3 years ago

Originally Posted by valleywide1997

I was curious, what are your expert opinions on using old marketing technology, maybe in foreign countries for offers that work there?
to get through to the B2B customer, not really consumer:

I was thinking; Fax machines, Fax blasting, Fax On Demand to Email.

Medical practices still extensively use the fax machine, Hotels, Legal, etc. yes I am aware of the TCP acts and stuff. But in other counties they have different laws, for instance, Brazil does not even have a spam law around email or communications.

I just see so much NOISE with online ads, I am looking for alternatives with mediums that are still being used but no one bothers with them anymore.

What about 1-800 Info on demand? Consumers can call and request info to SMS, email or fax# I know there are a LOT of people and businesses that would respond well to this, because stats show people get weary of having to enter their email into a form, then confirm and be part of another email list, mainly business prospects.

I also know that 1-800 #'s definitely work in newspapers with older population 55+ for health, vitamin and medical device offerings and reports, I see these ads in USA today almost everyday as well as major city newspapers.

Just looking for other experienced opinions, thanks.

It entirely depends on the target... I use newspaper want ads, I run TV ads on the evening local news time slots. Can't say that I use fax blasts ( because of the rules ) but if that option is open to you, and its not breaking "rules" and the target applies... I would be all in.

I think there is a huge hang up with "Old" vs "New" and it's a bunch of malarky... use any and all methods that work. If I had the ability to fax a takeout lunch menu for restaurants to doctor's offices etc... yeah, I would be doing that.

It's all in the targeting... EDDM post cards work, Facebook ads work, want ads work, TV ads work - AS LONG AS it is reaching a desired target.

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GordonJ

3 years ago

I quoted savidge4 above, I doubt you will get better advice.

But I do have some questions. First about this: "offers that work there". How do you know what offers work? Where is this data/info coming from?

Yes FAXes are still widely used, but not so much for OFFERS, more to exchange information. Making offers via fax in some countries land you in very hot water. As for the media to use for ADVERTISING, doesn't this still depend on the OFFER and the Target?

Also, how do you KNOW that a LOT of business people will respond to 1-800 due to email fatigue, I suspect you don't have hard data to support this.

And you sort of answered your question too, knowing direct response ads in papers still work for certain products aimed at a certain demographic. Which brings us back to "any and all methods that work".

It sounds like you are suffering from email/ INTERNET ADS fatigue, and want to do something different. What you would do would depend on your product and your skill at making offers to business people. Changing media needs testing, and all those old world methods, are more expensive than IM testing, but if you are sincere then run some tests.

I don't currently know of anyone anywhere faxing offers, but all other media is working for someone, somewhere.

Depends on your plan and what you want to do, doesn't it?

GordonJ

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WF- Enzo

Administrator 3 years ago

Yes, newspaper ads still work. And print marketing in general isn't dead - https://www.gardnerweb.com/blog/post...pending-impact

Originally Posted by valleywide1997

I was curious, what are your expert opinions on using old marketing technology, maybe in foreign countries for offers that work there?
to get through to the B2B customer, not really consumer:

I was thinking; Fax machines, Fax blasting, Fax On Demand to Email.

Medical practices still extensively use the fax machine, Hotels, Legal, etc. yes I am aware of the TCP acts and stuff. But in other counties they have different laws, for instance, Brazil does not even have a spam law around email or communications.

I just see so much NOISE with online ads, I am looking for alternatives with mediums that are still being used but no one bothers with them anymore.

What about 1-800 Info on demand? Consumers can call and request info to SMS, email or fax# I know there are a LOT of people and businesses that would respond well to this, because stats show people get weary of having to enter their email into a form, then confirm and be part of another email list, mainly business prospects.

I also know that 1-800 #'s definitely work in newspapers with older population 55+ for health, vitamin and medical device offerings and reports, I see these ads in USA today almost everyday as well as major city newspapers.

Just looking for other experienced opinions, thanks.

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Jason Kanigan

3 years ago

Originally Posted by valleywide1997

I was curious, what are your expert opinions on using old marketing technology, maybe in foreign countries for offers that work there?
to get through to the B2B customer, not really consumer:

I was thinking; Fax machines, Fax blasting, Fax On Demand to Email.

Medical practices still extensively use the fax machine, Hotels, Legal, etc. yes I am aware of the TCP acts and stuff. But in other counties they have different laws, for instance, Brazil does not even have a spam law around email or communications.

I just see so much NOISE with online ads, I am looking for alternatives with mediums that are still being used but no one bothers with them anymore.

What about 1-800 Info on demand? Consumers can call and request info to SMS, email or fax# I know there are a LOT of people and businesses that would respond well to this, because stats show people get weary of having to enter their email into a form, then confirm and be part of another email list, mainly business prospects.

I also know that 1-800 #'s definitely work in newspapers with older population 55+ for health, vitamin and medical device offerings and reports, I see these ads in USA today almost everyday as well as major city newspapers.

Just looking for other experienced opinions, thanks.

Every method is a TRAFFIC SOURCE and DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL.

There are eyeballs in those places.

You can push your message out in front of those eyeballs.

Back around 2006 I ran a metal fab shop and fax blasted a list of architects, builders and engineers in the area. I'd send 100, 120 faxes overnight once a week. They had a nice picture of our plasma cutting table and an offer.

I'd piss off 2 or 3 people. And 1 or 2 would buy.

It was well worth it with an average $3000+ price tag. Easy to remove the annoyed people from the list, and find a few more to add for next time.

The key here is to understand WHO is at the other end of the line when it comes to phone, fax, magazine, newspaper, Yellow Pages, etc. Who's there? Age? Gender? Socio-economic status? Living and working geographies? Disposable income level? Likes & dislikes? Other psychographics?

THEN you can create an offer that makes use of the distribution channel you have with that old school platform.

You are limited in quantity of leads by that distribution channel. A magazine or newspaper has a circulation to a specific number of people. The fax blast goes out to those who have a machine and whose number you have entered into the database. The 1800 # works only if you hook up some kind of traffic source to drive people to it. This is not so important when you're simply looking for something that works in the short term. But it can be valuable to know for longer term planning.

Even this forum has a finite visitor count. It is a distribution channel (your content and signature), and a traffic source (people here looking for help). I sold a lot here 10 years ago...and thought it would go on forever. One day the count got saturated, ie. most of the visitors knew of and/or had bought my program. Sales dropped. Around the same time the forum was sold and the typical visitor changed quite a bit as awareness of the forum was opened up to larger parts of the world outside of Europe and North America. That visitor quality drop (sorry but it's a fact--people wanting something for nothing, and the simple reality of exchange rates meaning $50 suddenly became a ton of money rather than an impulse buy for the majority of the visitors--keep watch for these kinds of marketplace shifts) definitely impacted sales as well. Again, a longer term kind of thing for your consideration when it comes to the question of "where do you build your base?".

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ThePromotionalGuy

3 years ago

Believe it or not, I still write 30-second radio ad scripts for a client.

RADIO!!! OMG!!!

I know, it's crazy, but this HVAC company swears by them and it brings in leads for them.

Thank HGL, I've never forgotten your words.

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WF- Enzo

Administrator 3 years ago

Surprisingly radio ads are still effective.

Originally Posted by ThePromotionalGuy

Believe it or not, I still write 30-second radio ad scripts for a client.

RADIO!!! OMG!!!

I know, it's crazy, but this HVAC company swears by them and it brings in leads for them.

Thank HGL, I've never forgotten your words.

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Jason Kanigan

3 years ago

Originally Posted by WF- Enzo

Surprisingly radio ads are still effective.

People are relatively captive in their cars. They are looking for entertainment and while some people listen to audiobooks or their own music, some want those choices made for them--and to keep up with what's new in music and events. Especially if they have a short term trip like picking up the kids from school: no time to invest in an audiobook chapter--the kids are going to be in the car screaming in a few minutes.

So the radio commercial gives the opportunity to reach a certain listener market niche...and the same attention-getters that have worked over the decades continue to operate. I remember a thread in this subforum where KenMichaels and some other folks, probably Ewen and Claude, talked about two people whispering back and forth for a few seconds being a good attention-getter, as well as a clock ticking. (Yeah, Jason has a pretty good memory

)

I wrote and used radio commercials in the relatively isolated Wilmington NC market in the mid 2010s and they did pretty well. Just as in writing YT ads, it's more difficult to write a short ad than a longer one.

This is going back awhile, but the initial big sales training program I invested in advertised relentlessly on the city's AM sports station back in Vancouver before I left. Worked well for them. I had a long drive home that was often 90 minutes and staying current with the hockey team's fortunes was entertaining. Interspersed were the repetitious commercials, and they had their effect. Initially I didn't think the training applied to me. Then after awhile I began wondering what I was missing out on. Then I started understanding I was the target market. At that point I called the number and booked an appointment. A fast-growing mattress company also did the relentless radio advertising and it fueled their growth. People would sing their jingle. These, I will remind you, are not the distant neanderthals of ancient times: they, if you were born before 1990, are us.

IMO you have all the elements of making money: a platform (the radio station) pushing out a conversion tool (the commercial) to a traffic source (the listernship). While in my experience the knoweldge of the radio station about its listenership is mushy--they can't really give you more than a basic estimate of count, rarely divided by times of day, either...and that makes me question their assertions of magnetizing "the 25-34-year-old mom" market, and putting some numbers and words on a colorful chart doesn't make it fact--it's still an option you can use and learn on.

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ThePromotionalGuy

3 years ago

Originally Posted by Jason Kanigan

I wrote and used radio commercials in the relatively isolated Wilmington NC market in the mid 2010s and they did pretty well. Just as in writing YT ads, it's more difficult to write a short ad than a longer one.

You are not getting. I have roughly 75 words, for a 30-second radio ad, to state the problem, agitate it, present the solution, and deliver the call-to-action. It's brutal!

There is literally no room for fluff, yapping, or visual stimuli to get the radio listener to park their car, pick up the phone, and call.

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ThePromotionalGuy 3 years ago

Originally Posted by WF- Enzo

Surprisingly, radio ads are still effective.

Many do not know or possibly realize there's still a vast market of people who love to listen to AM talk radio.

For instance, when I lived in Sebring, Fl, from 2016-2019, Alan Jay car dealerships ran radio ads on the local FM, country-western channel, and AM talk radio channels in the morning, noon, and early evening time slots.

Because it was a small market, Alan Jay had a captive audience, and due to the repetitive radio ads, and their DR mailers landing in one's mailbox, their dealerships dominate that market to this day.

I believe that all marketing works, but it has to be paired with the right audience and region for any medium to work effectively.
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savidge4 3 years ago

Originally Posted by WF- Enzo

Surprisingly radio ads are still effective.

In my market radio ads are by far the most expensive media you can buy... Its cheaper to buy ad space on Streaming services - which is eh kinda the same thing - and you can geographically target - so its not running "nation wide" BUT using streamed media.. if you ( the listener ) are using a "Paid" subscription ( and basically who isnt? ) the music is Ad free.
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