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ANTI-SPAM
LAWS - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
The Spam Act became law in an effort to stop the
flood of junk emails and unwanted SMS'.
The
penalty provisions of that law became effective
11 April 2004, meaning any businesses or individuals
who send unsolicited commercial emails or text messages
in breach of the law can attract very heavy fines.
A message is "unsolicited" if the recipient
has not given prior consent to being sent the message.
If
your business sends out any emails or text messages
to a database, or you are planning to, these laws
affect you.
What
Should You Do?
1. Update all of your current email and SMS marketing
templates to ensure compliance
2.
Always get consent before sending any emails or
SMS' to new customers
3.
Brief all staff about the new laws
4.
Do not purchase any email lists from brokers unless
you get a guarantee that all the names on their
lists are opt in. These are called a 'permission-based'
list. Most email list owners do not give you
their email lists anyway. They will do the broadcast
to their members on your behalf.
Note
that an opt-in BUSINESS email list that you
can purchase for yourself
is rare. Business opt-in mobile numbers are simply
not available. There are a couple of business email
lists that are NOT opt-in that are available...ask
us about these.
At
A Glance
An electronic message includes emails, SMS or instant
messages, but not telephone calls using a landline.
A 'commercial electronic message' is an electronic
message which advertises, offers to supply, or promotes
goods, services, and any other business.
The Act does not include messages which are factual
in nature (e.g. news bulletins) but will apply if
the message has a commercial purpose.
The Act prohibits the supply or use of "email
harvesting" software.
Do
not send a commercial electronic message unless
you:
a) have the express or implied consent of the recipient
(e.g. when they joined they ticked a box agreeing
to receive electronic correspondence from you.)
and
b) your message contains details about you or the
company who sent the message
and
c) includes an unsubscribe or opt-out facility.
FULL
DETAILS OF THE SPAM ACT CAN BE FOUND HERE
www.noie.gov.au
PERMISSION
MARKETING
Hitting your target market can be a tricky business.
Most consumers loathe receiving cold calls and unsolicited
mail, and advertising such as TV, radio, and press
can be expensive. All that unnecessary waste of
time, trees, and your marketing budget.
So
what's a business to do?
The
internet has opened up many channels for companies
to market very cost-effectively using email and
SMS. This is called Permission Marketing.
Permission
marketing is also known as opt-in marketing.
This means that somebody has OPTED IN to receive
marketing messages from a company. For example,
if you have an email newsletter that goes out to
your customers, your customers would have given
their permission verbally or via email for you to
contact them further through email. Perhaps they
signed up to your enewsletter from your website.
In
the above example, you're using email to perform
basic customer relationship management. So how can
you as a business use email or SMS to acquire more
customers? By using quality lists.
Email
has had some bad press over the years, and yes we
all get great hints on how to improve our sex lives
and stock tips in our Outlook on a daily basis.
These are spams (alias unsolicited messages) and
a constant source of frustration, which is why the
Australian government has set such heavy fines for
spammers.
You
may have read about the car sales website that went
through the newspaper classifieds and just added
peoples' mobile numbers to their database without
their knowledge, then started sending marketing
messages to these people via SMS. Not surprisingly,
people complained and the company received a fine,
and no doubt a dent to their credibility.
If
people consented to receiving SMS's then there would
have been no problem...but instead they spammed
them.
The
heavy fines have spooked a lot of businesses into
not using lists to aquire customers. This is understandable,
but misguided. There are several very good quality
email and mobile lists that are available via your
list broker that allow you to send highly targeted
campaigns to consumers and a few for businesspeople.
For
example, you want to target consumers in Melbourne
who are music lovers aged over 18 - you can do this
very quickly using one of the many permission lists
available. The added bonus with using a list is
you can push customers through to your own website
where they can join your database - a great way
to build or add to your own database!
And
you can see how many people responded to your message.
Email marketing is very trackable and accountable.
So
where do these miracle lists come from?
List
owners usually gather lists via their websites by
offering consumers great deals on products and services,
or great content. In return consumers accept advertising
messages from third-party companies via email and/or
mobile phone. Members are always asked detailed
questions when they sign up, so the list owner can
segment the database.
When
we want to book our ad campaign, we can select the
audience, their job title, State, age group, and
their lifestyle preferences, so there's minimal
wastage.
And
in most cases, the list owner will conduct the broadcast
on your behalf, and your creative goes within their
template. This works much better for you because
you are sending to a 'warmer' audience.
Doesn't
that just beat sending out a bunch of letters to
people who don't want to know you?
The
average cost for a campaign is around 25-35 cents
per email/SMS and you're looking at around $400
in setup costs. Most list owners have a minimum
spend, so budget for at least $1,500.00 to $2,000.00
per campaign. Still cheaper than mail, and the response
rates (usually measured in clickthroughs to your
website) can be anywhere from 5% to 80%.
Promotional
campaigns to consumers can do exceptionally well.
For example, youth website MyGamma.com had a 52%
response rate to an email campaign using a quality
list, Email Cash.
There
are still questionable email lists floating around.
Always ask a list broker if the lists they represent
are 100% opt-in. If they um and ahh, thank them
and put the phone down. A quality list owner or
list broker knows which lists are permission-based
ones!
Permission
marketing really offers a 'full circle' approach
to your marketing campaign because people genuinely
want to read your message. If they like what they
see, they'll click the link in the email to visit
your website, or flash their mobile voucher in your
store. Hopefully they'll become a subscriber to
your own permission list...because you'll ask them.
top
TURN
YOUR AD INTO A DIRECT RESPONSE MASTERPIECE
We allow ourselves a moment to gloat over our catchy
slogan and funky graphics on our fabulous advertisement...until
we realise that our quarry has probably forgotten
who we are 5 seconds after seeing our advertising
masterpiece.
All
because they had no way of responding in a way that's
convenient for them.
Did
you know that the mobile phone has an 95%+ penetration
into the Australian market? And 85% of the mobile
phone-toting public uses SMS - short message service
- to send text messages.
These
thumb jockeys are all potential customers and are
probably looking at your ad right now. They're not
going to call your 1800 number or remember your
website, but they might let their thumbs do the
walking.
Let
me give you a scenario: I'm on the train reading
the morning paper and see an ad for a great holiday
package. When I get to my station, I put the paper
in the bin, holiday company forgotten. A wasted
opportunity for you.
By
adding a simple call to action to any advertisement,
you can get a response from your target audience,
plus track when that response came in.
A
call to action using SMS can be as simple as this:
For further details SMS the code SUN to 0429
555 555 and we'll send you more info.
Using
the holiday example above, I could request a brochure
to be sent to my email address or a reply text message
with the company's website be sent back to my phone
so I can follow up later.
The
point is, I have responded to your advertisement
in a way that's convenient for me.
And
you can see exactly what time I did respond, making
your ad very trackable.
Our
company recently worked on a campaign for the infamous
Melbourne Oyster Bar. They took out a small display
in Melbourne's Herald Sun with the usual call to
action. We also included an offer for a special
lunch voucher using our Virtual Post SMS to Email
system. Consumers had to SMS the code MOB followed
by their email address to request a voucher be emailed
to them. 328 people did just that.
A
great response from one small ad. That's the equivalent
of 328 people ringing the restaurant. Imagine the
response from a national campaign!
Consumers
were able to get coupons for Dunkin Donuts by responding
to billboards, radio, and POS ads. By sending a
code to the number, consumers received a free gift
coupon exchangeable at local outlets. Sales were
reportedly up 9% within the first three weeks of
the campaign.
McDonald's
SIP N' FLIP SMS Instant Win campaign attracted over
3 million entries in 4 weeks.
There
are many ways you can use an SMS call to action
in your advertising. For example, to generate enquiries
about your business, to offer mobile coupons and
vouchers to the public which they can redeem at
your stores, to run a competition etc etc.
The
benefits are numerous. An SMS call to action in
your ads:
- Makes your ads perform better
- Gets information out to consumers instantly
- Gives you instant research data
- Introduces a viral component
- Builds a database for follow-up marketing
Gives
anybody with a mobile phone the chance to respond
to your message.
That's
a pretty powerful marketing tool!
Want
to talk about anything on this page? Phone 1300
668 287 or email mail@mediamgroup.com.au
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