This is re-posted from Marketing Powers Activate.
By Chantal Tode on May 28th, 2010
QuantumDigital has introduced a new Web-to-print service that eliminates the need for going onto a portal to create marketing materials. Instead, employees receive pre-populated templates on their internet-enabled mobile devices that they can approve for mailing with a click.
“It takes time and effort for someone to log on a portal and design” marketing materials, says Eric Cosway, CMO at QuantumDigital. Small businesses like real estate franchises used to have marketing coordinators who could do this work. In these economically tight times, however, this is often no longer the case. As a result, agents and sales people in the field are expected to create their own marketing materials. Which means it often simply doesn’t happen, resulting in barely used Web-to-print systems, says Cosway.
QuantumDigital’s new TriggerMarketing™ program addresses this issue with an automated system that allows individuals to initiate a direct marketing campaign from their mobile device. For example, when a new house is listed for sale, the agent handling the house receives an e-mail asking if he or she would like to send direct mail to houses in the same neighborhood as the listed house. This is a common lead generating strategy for real estate agents. The agent can review a template with all the necessary information already pre-populated and simply click to place the order. If one of the direct mail recipients goes online to request additional information, the agent is notified via e-mail and can follow up.
The TriggerMarketing platform pulls the necessary information from the data feeds that real estate companies use for listing new houses—sending that data, including imagery, to the templates on file as well as data for 50 to 100 addresses in the same neighborhood. Each card is created with a unique key code, which triggers the system to send an e-mail to the agent when the recipient goes to the site listed on the card and enters the code. If recipients request more information on the site, they are asked to give their e-mail address. At this point, QuantumDigital can feed a lead source with physical address and e-mail address into the company’s CRM system.
“There’s a lot of database work” behind the new program, explains Cosway, adding that the company added a second database expert to its staff specifically for this project. The company’s IT staff consists of approximately 25 employees, 30% of which are currently working on this project.
Weichert Realtors, one of QuantumDigital’s first customers for the new program, has been live with TriggerMarketing since March and reports that 10% of its agents are using the system. In addition to real estate, QuantumDigital feels the program can work for any type of franchise organization providing household services, such as roofers, landscapers and home and cleaning services companies.
“There are endless triggers we can use to be able to do local marketing around,” says Cosway. His expectation is that by making it easier for employees in the field to order localized direct mail, it will drive the use of direct mail by local companies.