Variable data messaging (basically custom direct mail pieces “Your Name Here”) today is available and affordable. We have finally arrived at a stage where we can print one-off customized “messages” and send personalized email with links to personalized web pages and do it all affordably. We can Tweet, post to Facebook, create videos and send messages via phone – voice and text. We have more ways of bombarding potential clients today than ever before. And these same targets are getting better and better at avoiding our messaging attempts.

Our Internet service providers, Email clients, SPAM checkers, Virus Protectors, DVRs, voice mail, and caller ID, are all there and working hard to prevent unwanted intrusions. Yet, effective marketing – marketing that is relevant and wanted – is more valuable than ever. When I have a need, send me a message that solves my problem and I am going to buy what you are selling. Send it to me too early or too late and it becomes irrelevant.

Today we can find information easily and quickly on just about anything we want. So why am I constantly bombarded with messages I have not requested that may or may not be relevant to me? Unless I am actively seeking what you are selling, I do not want to view your marketing message. If you look at marketing from this perspective, you will see that traditional marketing messages are at best an expensive experiment with a hope and prayer of hitting the right target at the right time.

Let’s take, for example, a college trying to increase its enrollment by using a marketing campaign. The target audience would be primarily people in their late teens and early twenties. The first step in getting effective messaging into the hands of the right people is to find out what the goals of a company are. Who is their target audience? Who are their current customers? What do these customers (students) “look” like? What do they have in common? Once you know that, target others who “look” like your current clients.

You are not likely going to be able to target late teen and early 20-somethings via a direct mail campaign. You need to hit them where they live. You need to text them, you need to Facebook target them, you need to Tweet them, you need to YouTube them. You need to leverage your existing clients to help you get more who are like them. Then you need to diversify. Now that we know what we have, how do we attract those we want (target)? You attract people today just like you do when marketing first started.

The IEEO

You have to have an Interrupt. Once Interrupted, you have to Engage, then Educate, provide an Offer. The I is a headline: “Been rejected by Harvard, want the same education, with a better teacher to student ratio?” And yes, adding personalization will improve the “lift” “Bob, Stanford is a great school, but not everyone can get in. Want the same education with a better student/teacher ratio?” or “Bob, Harvard has a great Law School, but where do you go if your career choice is Recreation Management?”

Once you have gotten my attention, you have to Engage me. An Engage is a promise that if I read further I will get benefit. Once you have me engaged, you need to Educate me on why you are the better choice. And finally you have to get me to take action by providing me with an Offer.

Lastly, you must be willing to break the usual rules in order to appeal to your target audience. A direct mail campaign for late teens and 20-somethings is the wrong delivery vehicle. Email is better, Twitter, Text Messages with links, Facebook and YouTube are better still; all with links to pURLs that are much more in-depth, informative and educational, then with a call to action. Our college example might actually be better off targeting school guidance counselors with good printed materials on their various programs and the type of students they desire. Targeting unknown students with unknown interests is a waste of time, energy, and money.

Bottom line, know your audience and communicate with them in a manner that is engaging and appropriate.

1. It makes your company look bigger. If you are a home based internet business, having a toll free number makes you look like a larger corporation and might make transacting with you a little less scary.

2. It provides a tracking tool to you. Assuming you use an 800 number from a service like Whos Calling or Kall8, you will be able to track all the calls that came into you from that number. You can see who called you, how long you talked, etc. This is vitally important if you only offer your 800 number on your website. Being able to track the volume of calls allows you to track whether or not your website is working for you. You can also put unique 800 numbers on other marketing pieces (direct mail postcards, radio ads, television, banner ads, etc.)

3. Potentially easy to remember numbers. If you can get a vanity number with your company name, it might make it easier for people to call you if they do not have your number handy. For example, our toll free number is 888.WEB.NSNA. Someone may be able to recall that easier than 360.738.81188.

4. It shows you take customer service seriously. If you do sell product to people outside of your local area, it shows people that you stand behind your product and are willing to give people a free way of contacting you.

5. Many 800 numbers have features like voicemail, fax to email, call forwarding, caller ID, etc. So after business hours, you can have the 800 number forward to a cell phone, call center, etc. That way you can keep doing business even if you are not physically in the office.

If you sell strictly local, and do little to no online sales than the benefits of an 800 number may be few if any. However, with toll free numbers starting at $2 per month using Kall8, you might as well have one on the chance that you do get a new customer or retain a current customer because of that number.

In my opinion, make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch with you and your company. If having an 800 number makes it easier for people to contact you, then do it.