50
Top Tips for
Fax
Marketing Success
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1. Faxes
Stand Out -- Your
customers are swamped with printed direct-mail
marketing
solicitations and email, most of which is discarded before
they’re opened. Faxes, however,
are timelier and garner more attention from your customers.
-- Almost nobody will throw out a fax without looking at it
– unlike email which can be instantly deleted or printed
mail which hits the waste basket without opening.
2.
Make
It Easy to Order or Request Information --
A successful fax broadcast message should not only outline a
compelling offer, it should also include room for response
information -- commonly at the bottom, and with a headline
to stand out -- so customers can place an order or request
information merely by faxing back the same sheet.
3.
Focus
on Your Customer’s Benefits --
A broadcast fax is another form of a direct marketing sales
letter, so the basic rules of marketing apply: focus on the
benefits your product or service provides to your customers,
and help them see and understand what’s in it for them to
do business with you.
4.
Grab
Attention Quickly --
Like any successful marketing literature, your broadcast fax
needs a compelling headline to grab your customer’s
attention quickly and inspire them to read the rest of your
offer. Your campaign is competing for attention with other
faxes, the phone and other distractions, so you have to grab
it quickly.
5.
Broadcast
Fax Gives You Space --
Faxes are generally printed on standard office paper which
gives you a wider palette to work with than you get with
email messages. A broadcast fax is roughly the size of a
full-page magazine ad, but
you can deliver it to a targeted audience for a fraction of
the cost.
6.
Boost
Efficiency, Slash Costs --
A fax broadcast helps companies avoid the printing and
mailing costs associated with direct mail, and is an
effective way to deliver timely offers to eager customers.
Another efficiency boost is that once a broadcast message is
created, it’s easy to distribute it to customers and
prospects.
7.
Avoid
Fancy Fonts -- To
make sure your message is easy to read, consider the fonts
you’re using in your broadcast fax. The letters have to be
large and clear enough to render clearly on a fax printout.
Arial is a good choice, and Times New Roman can be, if
it’s at least 12 points.
8.
Don’t
Use a Cover Letter --
Because you need to make your offer (which is the point of
your message) quickly, including a cover letter provides
your customer with a distraction that increases the odds
that your letter won’t be read. Consider your message to
be a stand-alone flyer, and send it by itself.
9.
Consider
Your Frequency --
Depending on your industry, products or services, your
customers may appreciate consistent reminders of your latest
offer, and a weekly or monthly fax broadcast may be
appropriate. A daily fax may be too frequent and lead to
opt-outs or being ignored, so consider your timing
carefully.
10.
Test
Your Messages --
Before you broadcast an offer, fax it to yourself to make
sure your message is easy to read and your offer seems
compelling. A faxed document isn’t going to look the same
as it does on your screen or printed from your computer, so
fax yourself to see what your customers will receive.
11.
Personalization
Boosts Responses --
Depending on the broadcast fax software you or your provider
is using, you may be able to import customer names into the
fax message itself. If so, that’s likely to improve the
sense of connection the customer feels when the fax arrives,
and could lead to better results for the campaign.
12.
Don’t
Save the Best for Last --
Make your point or offer quickly, and use the rest of the
broadcast fax to highlight benefits and explain your offer
in more detail. Saving information to the end of the letter
to make a big impact is risky, because a lot of customers
might not read enough of your copy to see it.
13.
Only
Broadcast One Page --
Consider a broadcast fax to be a hybrid combining elements
of direct-mail sales letters and a flier. While the
temptation is there to cram lots of information about your
offer and company into each message, it’s more effective
to be brief and make your point clearly, on a single page.
14.
Double-Check
Your Message --
You don’t want the value of your offer to be overshadowed
by spelling or grammar mistakes that can make your broadcast
fax campaign look sloppy or amateurish. Careful proofreading
can be an important step in making sure your campaign
provides the professional image you’re seeking.
15.
Include
Incentives --
Coupons, discounts or other attractive offers can make
repeat customers more receptive to your broadcast fax
messages. If, for example, your business serves a local
market, inviting customers to redeem faxed coupons can bring
in business and help you measure the effectiveness of your
fax campaign. Travel incentives are also popular.
16.
Event
Reminders -- An
event such as a holiday, community event or a sale at your
business can be a good reason to reach out to customers with
a fax broadcast message. A lot of companies, for example,
run sales events at specific holidays because that’s when
customers have come to expect them.
17.
Contests
Yield Contacts -
Contests or sweepstakes can help inspire your customers to
provide updated contact information and to opt in to future
offers. You want to provide customers with a special offer
or other incentive to show your appreciation for their
business and to make them look forward to receiving your
campaigns.
18.
Send
Timely Offers --
If your business has inventory whose value is in danger of
expiring, a timely fax broadcast can generate last-minute
sales you might otherwise miss. If you’re running a hotel
and you have vacant rooms just before a holiday weekend,
contacting travel agents or past visitors with a special
offer might inspire new bookings.
19.
Be
Careful With Images --
Photos or complicated images that might look impressive on
your web site or your email marketing campaigns might not
appear clearly to your customers because fax machines
typically provide a much lower resolution than onscreen or
printed documents. Intricate images can also extend
transmission times.
20.
Consider
Your Resolution --
Sending your faxes with ‘fine’ resolution might look
better than ‘standard’ resolution, but each message will
take twice as long to transmit. Try to design your offers to
look their best in standard resolution, and save yourself
the time required to send fine-resolution offers.
21.
Avoid
Graphic Blocks --
Using a lot of black lines to separate sections of your
offer message is going to increase your transmission times.
A border around a couple of highlights or a dashed line
above your order information block might be appropriate, but
consider whether any lines are helping your message or
delaying its delivery.
22.
Printer
Drivers Are Important --
When preparing an electronic document for fax broadcasting,
be sure to use a fax-specific printer driver because drivers
for documents printed on paper are designed to use the best
resolution possible. Printer drivers, in contrast, know how
to format a document to allow efficient transmission.
23.
Check
Your Paper -- If
you’re sending a small broadcast manually, make sure the
copy you’re faxing is clean and not wrinkled. Stray lines
or dark blemishes on your printed sheet, or wrinkles caused
by multiple trips through your fax machines, will show up on
your customer’s copy and detract from your offer. For
anything other than a small broadcast I recommend a bureau
such as FaxLeadsToday.com
who can do the job much more quickly and more cheaply than
you ever could.
24.
Align
Your Benefits With Your Target Audience --
If your offer applies best to customers in a specific
industry or at a certain corporate level, try to make sure
that’s who you’re reaching. A senior executive may not
care about discounts on office supplies, but a purchasing
agent is likely to be very interested.
25.
Test
Your Offers --
Before you broadcast thousands of messages with the same
offer, it’s a good idea to conduct tests with smaller
segments of your lists. If one headline or format is clearly
more effective with one small portion of the list, that
success will probably carry over to the rest.
26.
Consistency
is Rewarded --
Like any sales process, sometimes turning broadcast faxes
into orders requires asking more than once. Your offer may
be compelling, but your customer might not need it on the
morning your broadcast faxes arrive. But they might the
second time you ask. Successful broadcasters are regular
broadcasters.
27.
Focus
on Your P.S.
- Adding a postscript (P.S.) reminder that summarizes the
highlights of your offer is one of the keys to an effective
broadcast fax. Customers sometimes need a final prod before
they place an order, and a reminder such as “P.S. -
Remember, save 20 percent if you order today” can motivate
them to act.
28.
Highlight
Your Call to Action --
Your broadcast fax message should spell out, clearly and
concisely, what you want the customer to do. Place an order?
Call for more information? Sending information about your
company or offer without highlighting your call to action is
not an effective approach to broadcast fax marketing.
29.
Headlines
Grab Readers -- What do
newspapers have in common with broadcast fax messages? Both
rely on headlines to grab a reader’s interest and
summarize the contents of the letter (or article) so the
reader knows what to expect. For marketers, the headline
highlights the offer and starts to build the customer’s
interest.
30.
Meet
Your Opt-Out Obligations --
In the US,
laws governing broadcast fax messages call for a number of
opt-out mechanisms, such as listing an opt-out number
or email address
that is always available (many companies use automated
systems).
31.
Avoid
Color in Your Fax Broadcasts --
Color text or images generally improve the effectiveness of
marketing campaigns, but broadcast faxes are an exception to
this rule. Because the fax is transmitted in black and
white, your outbound fax will try to convert any color image
to grayscale, and the results probably won’t be
attractive.
32.
White
Background, Black Text --
Sending a message or even a paragraph as white text on a
black background is a bad idea for several reasons. First,
the white letters probably won’t appear clearly as the fax
is delivered. In addition, your customers might not
appreciate your message using extra ink or toner.
33.
Testimonials
Can Clinch Sales --
Customers who are unsure about your company, product or
service might be persuaded to make a purchase if your offer
includes an endorsement or two from satisfied customers. A
short description -- even a sentence or two -- might be
enough to convince the undecided.
34.
Divide
Your Marketing Lists --
The odds are pretty good that a small segment of your
customer list provides your business with a comparatively
larger share of your revenue. Make sure you divide your
broadcast fax campaigns so your best customers get the best
offers, and contact them more frequently than less loyal
companies.
35.
Repeat
Offers Equal Repeat Sales --
If a broadcast fax campaign is effective, consider repeating
the offer to the same list about a month later. You may not
have the same success the second time, but because most of
the hard work was completed for the first offer, a follow-up
offer can be worth pursuing.
36.
Appeal
to Emotion --
Customers think they make rational decisions when they
purchase, but most people also base at least part of their
purchase decisions on emotions. Reminding your customers
about their problems, and then explaining how your product
or service can help them, can boost the results of your
broadcast efforts.
37.
Target
the Press --
Broadcast fax can also be an effective way to keep the local
press or industry publications updated on your company’s
latest news. Most reporters and editors are getting deluged
with email, so distributing a news release by broadcast fax
may help it stand out and get noticed.
38.
Consider
Delivery Times --
The time your broadcast fax message is delivered may have an
effect on its ultimate success. Most campaigns are timed to
arrive in the early morning, before customers are
overwhelmed with work or other offers, but you should run
some small tests to see if changing the delivery time
improves your results.
39.
Welcome
Back Old Customers --
A certain percentage of the customers on your lists can be
classified as inactive. They may not have purchased in six
months or a year, but they haven’t opted out of future
offers either. Perhaps an enticing “welcome back” offer
will remind these customers they once found you valuable and
lead to new orders.
40.
Unify
Your Efforts --
Most companies use a variety of methods to communicate with
customers, but don’t always coordinate them effectively. A
broadcast fax can be a good complement to an email campaign
or provide an update to direct mail letters. The trick is to
coordinate these efforts so you’re not competing with
yourself for customers’ attention.
41.
Fax
Broadcasts Generate Savings --
Compared with the costs associated with direct mail
campaigns -- postage, design services, printing, envelopes
and postage -- fax broadcast campaigns can deliver a more
timely message to your customers while offering you savings
well in excess of 90 percent. Often you can send up to 100
faxes for less than the cost of a basic direct mail letter.
42.
‘FREE’
Is the Magic Word --
“FREE”
is still the most effective word you can include in your
offer, especially when you can couple it with other customer
benefits associated with your product or service. Free
shipping might be the most obvious example, but there are
lots of other bonuses you can highlight in your broadcast
fax campaigns. The word ‘Free’
in emails can alert spam filters. With faxes it doesn’t
matter.
43.
Guarantees
Ease Decisions --
Uncertainty can play a role in undermining other elements of
your fax broadcast offer, but you can reduce this
uncertainty considerably by offering a money-back guarantee
to customers. Telling customers they have the option of
seeking a refund drastically improves sales by reducing
perceived risk.
44.
What’s
Appropriate for Fax Broadcasting? --
While special offers are probably the most common reason for
a broadcast fax, customers may also appreciate receiving
price lists or rate sheets, trade show or event reminders,
newsletters, press releases, inventory or account data, or
other information that makes their job easier or saves them
money.
45.
Faxes
Can Open Doors --
An attractive broadcast fax with a compelling offer can be a
standalone message, or may be the first step in a sales
process that continues when customers call to learn more, or
when a sales rep contacts the customer. Either way, the
broadcast fax can be a great first step.
46.
How
Are We Doing? --
Following up a customer order with a faxed message asking
how they like the product of service is a helpful way to
remind customers you’re out there. Most customers won’t
take the time to respond, but asking is a good way to help
maintain the relationship.
47.
Use
a Conversational Tone –
If using a letter or text format make it sound like a letter
coming from a person, not like a boring corporate report.
Work to avoid corporate or industry buzzwords or jargon that
confuses readers and gets in the way of the campaign’s
message or offer.
48.
Cascading
Offers Cascade Sales --
Broadcast fax campaigns highlighting small offers can be a
good way to build credibility that lets you sell
more-expensive products or services over time. A reader may
buy an inexpensive report or two, which in turn can lead to
their investing more in attending a conference or online
seminar.
49.
Monitor
Your Success Goals --
Broadcast fax campaigns are so cost-effective that it’s
not going to take a huge increase in sales to generate an
attractive return on your investment. But small, targeted
tests at the start of a campaign will give you a good
indication about whether elements of your planned campaign
should be adjusted.
50.
Can
You Back Up Your Promises? --
If a fax broadcast campaign succeeds beyond your
goals, will you be ready? Be sure to follow up on
each lead as soon as you can.
To set up your fax broadcasting account,
call
a representative today at (954)
770-8313 or for more information email us at adverfax@aol.com.
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