Part 1 of 2 – Using SOC Campaigns as Marketing Tools

Some people will recognize the sentiment from a Spongebob Squarepants episode, in which Spongebob wakes and finds that it’s time to celebrate Leif Erikson Day. The comic potential of Vikings is almost unlimited, and the script writers certainly made the most of it.

Having already established that every day is a holiday or observance in honor of something, it is worth noting that while the aforementioned script writers took comic liberties with the Vikings, they were not the creators of Leif Erikson Day.

In fact, Leif Erikson Day is a recognized holiday celebrated on October 9th, honoring the Viking Explorer Leif Erikson – who some think was the first to discover America. Today, the holiday is officially celebrated in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where large numbers of Scandinavian immigrants settled in the latter half of the 19th Century.

So what do you do on Leif Erikson Day? How should you celebrate?

Welcome to SendOutCards, where every day is a new reason to celebrate! It’s time to seize the day, and make it your own, sharing the joy of Leif Erikson Day with everyone you know – especially those new contacts who are anxious to learn more about SendOutCards. I promised a step-by-step breakdown showing how you can build an effective campaign around the day, so let’s get going!

Step 1: Generate Your Leads

SendOutCards is a product company. One of the most effective ways to get the message out is to put a card in the customer’s hands as quickly as possible so they can see it and touch it. If we’re going to engage the interest of potential customers, we need to involve them in the process. They need to see a card, they need to send a card, and if we do our job right – they need to sign on and sell cards themselves.

The first step in this process is to generate leads. Set a goal for yourself to generate some number of new contacts every day. It sounds hard, but it really isn’t; it’s just a matter of developing the right habits, and this one is simple – talk to people! Don’t be shy! Let people know what you’re doing, and if they aren’t interested, ask if they know someone who might be! Carry business cards with you, and leave them with people. Carry a notepad (or Blackberry), and jot down names and numbers as you get them. You CAN do this – but you have to make it a habit! Eventually you’ll find that you’re able to generate dozens of new leads every week without even thinking about it – and each one of those leads is a potential customer. The Daily 8 provides loads of good information on how to get started and find new contacts.

Step 2: Get Your Leads into Contact Manager

Time is precious; the longer you wait to get started, the longer it will take to succeed. Leads grow cold, people forget you spoke to them, or they forget what you spoke to them about. Don’t wait until you have 20 contacts written on the backs of various supermarket receipts and napkins to do something about it – get those leads into your Contact Manager every single day!

You may want to set up a group specifically for new contacts and add them to it when you enter them into the system. This makes follow-up and tracking easier down the road. You may also want to enter additional information about the person in the notes field – like where you met them, who gave you their name (if they are a referral), what the person’s occupation is, etc. This seemingly trivial information is the bread-and-butter of relationship selling (emphasis on relationship). Leverage what you know – and what you learn about a person to establish a commonality. Nobody will buy anything from you if they don’t like you, and the easiest way to start liking someone is to establish some common ground. This information can help you find that ground!

Step 3: Establish the Goal of Your Campaign

Now you have the leads, and they are in Contact Manager – it’s time to do something about it. The first thing we want to do is get a card out to the person quick! But wait – it isn’t their Birthday, and it isn’t Christmas or the 4th of July, so what can I possibly say in a card without sounding like a pushy salesperson?

Enter Leif Erikson Day – or any one of thousands of holidays and observances that take place every single day of the year.

I would suggest the best approach is to select one holiday or observance each week, and build your Campaign around that day. Your goal should be to get a card into the hands of each new contact (and maybe some old ones as well), and follow up with each card recipient in person when the card has been delivered.

Card tracking information is now available online, but the best way to determine when your cards have been delivered is to include yourself in each campaign mailing. Once you receive your card, it should be safe to begin your follow-up calls immediately if you are east of the Mississippi, or the following day if you are west of the Mississippi. If you are in Utah, you might wait two to three days after you get your card, since locally posted items can take less than three days in some cases.

Simply stated, the goal is to do one mailing a week, to each new contact, and to follow-up via phone (or in person) to step the lead through a gift account walk through.

Step 4: Find or Create the Perfect Card

Now comes the fun part (at last!) – creating the card for your campaign. With this card we want to reinforce several points. We want the lead to know that SendOutCards is a quality Greeting Card company. We want them to see that cards aren’t just for Birthdays and Christmas, but for any time we want to reach out to someone we care about. We also want them to know that we would like to share this opportunity with them, and we want to give them an easy way to do it.

It sounds like a tall order, but fortunately SendOutCards gives us all the tools we need to make it happen! So, we start by selecting the card we want to use for our campaign.

Option A: Find a Card in the Catalog

I’m going to assume that everyone knows how to use the Card Catalog and the New Keyword Search Feature to find a card. With over 15,000 cards in the catalog, there is a fair chance you will find an appropriate card for your day of choice.

Of course, this is all fine and good as long as you can find a card that’s a perfect match for the day. But what do you do when you just can’t seem to find the perfect card?

Oh no! There are NO Viking cards … time to call Customer Service?

Option B: Use Picture Plus to Create the Perfect Card

Don’t be discouraged if you can’t find a perfect card in the catalog. Half the fun of using the system is in being able to exercise your creative talents (you know you have them)! If you can’t find the right card, it’s time to fire up Picture Plus and create the perfect card for your campaign!

Picture Plus is one of the most exciting tools in the SendOutCards arsenal. I’ll be doing a whole series of articles on Picture Plus in the near future, but for now, if you aren’t familiar with it, there is a great online tutorial at SendOutCards.com > Main Menu > System Training > How to Use Picture Plus. Alternatively, make sure you’re logged in to your SendOutCards account (in another tab in your browser), and click HERE to access the tutorial.

As you create your card, try to use an image that will appropriately represent the sentiment you are expressing, and something that will immediately grab the attention of the reader. Keep in mind that images must be 300 dpi or higher to produce the best results. Anything less than this won’t look good when printed on a card.

Leif Erikson … and he’s Picture Perfect!

If you are creating the image using PhotoShop or other image editing tool, full card artwork specifications can be found at SendOutCards.com > Purchase Products > Click here for more information about Custom Cards (this link is near the bottom of the page just above the Credit Card Information section. Alternatively, make sure you’re logged in to your SendOutCards account (in another tab in your browser), and click HERE to access the page.

If you aren’t using your own images (photos or pictures that you’ve taken or created yourself) remember that many of the images you find on the web are copyrighted. If you’re using an image you found on the web, make sure it is in the public domain, or that you’ve licensed or asked permission to use it.

Option C: Let SendOutCards Create the Perfect Card for You

There may be reasons why you aren’t able to create the perfect card yourself. This might be the case if (for example) you want a company logo or special image combined with other pictures, and you aren’t a PhotoShop user yourself. If this is the situation, SendOutCards can create a Custom Card for a very reasonable price.

Depending on the size and scope of your campaign, a Custom Card may be a worthwhile investment. A $25 or $50 investment on a mailing campaign to 50 or more qualified contacts could be extremely cost effective even if only 2 of these card recipients join SendOutCards! When weighing the investment against the return, remember – the money you spend on creation of a custom card is nothing more than an advertising expense for your business.

Full information on Custom Cards can be found at SendOutCards.com > Purchase Products > Click here for more information about Custom Cards (link is near the bottom of the page just above the Credit Card Information section). Alternatively, make sure you’re logged in to your SendOutCards account (in another tab in your browser), and click HERE to access the page.

Step 5: Save the Card to Your Favorites

OK, you’ve now found, created, or purchased the perfect card for your campaign, so you need to put it somewhere where you won’t lose it.

To do this, find the card on your screen and click on the heart icon underneath the card. This will move the card to Your Favorites, making it much easier to find in the future. This is important, first because you want to be able to find it when you set up your campaign, and second because you may want to use it in the future – perhaps for your campaign the next year.

Click on the Heart to add a card to Favorites

The card you selected will now appear in the Card Catalog under My Cards > My Favorites. This will make it easier to find when you set up your campaign.

Coming Soon: Happy Leif Erikson Day! Part 2 of 2 – Creating the Campaign