Freakin' Genius Marketing Speaks to the North American Meat Processors Association

March 20th, while many of you were still nicely tucked in your beds, I was en route to give a General Session presentation to an estimated 200 attendees at the North American Meat Processors Conference at The Drake in Chicago.

While NAMP had originally engaged me to give a general presentation on Marketing in Mean Times (a presentation I have given to a number of Associations previously) I found that while doing my research to customize the presentation,their needs were much more far reaching and indeed quite specific to one topic many industries face. So, I put my nose to the grindstone and researched and wrote a presentation about Breaking out of the Commodity Box from a strategic perspective.

The presentation was an overwhelming success and just under 50% of the audience also attended our (with the help of Peter Lineal, FGM Partner) afternoon workshop, where specific tactical insights were bantered about for about an hour in a more informal setting.

NAMP is a fantastic association and supports its dedicated member base with strong strategic programs and right-on-point tactical efforts to grow their constituent's business. I am honored to have been a guest speaker at their conference and am even more excited to have been able to provide insightful information on establishing unique selling propositions in an industry known historically to be hinged on price, price and price.

I am thrilled to welcome several new clients to the list of fine businesses we at Freakin' Genius Marketing work with as a result of our presentation at this conference!

Is your Direct Mail Being Read?

55% open something from a brand or company that they know
51% open it if it's personally addressed to them
50% open it if it's a product or service they already have interest in
39% open it if they can see it contains a free sample or a voucher
27% open it if it's a local business or event
21% open it because it's competition
15% open it if it's fun and interesting packaging
10% open it if it looks funny or silly
6% open it if they like the design or find the envelope attractive
3% open it if they like the color
12% open it for a variety of miscellaneous reasons
Source: CCB for MAP 2008- Research

The best question to ask yourself is, have you tried testing different direct mail strategies and tactics in search of the greatest percentage of opens and responses? If not, you are wasting a lot of money on direct mail that is not working for you. ROI, it's the name of the game!