Teresa Caro
Caro Consulting
Last week the Direct Marketing Association held its annual Direct Marketing to Businesses (DMB) conference. The content covered and ideas generated could fill several newsletters. Here are some of my favorite tidbits.
- "Did you buy?" surveys. A common statement from sales, "These are bad leads. They are not looking to buy." Try having a third party contact your prospects and ask them about their buying intentions. You will be surprised by the results—see rule #2.
- Rule of 45. It has been proven over and over again by "Did you buy?" surveys—45% of the leads you receive will buy from someone, not necessarily you. Just over a tenth will by in the first few months, half of the remaining will buy in sixth months and the other half in nine to 12 months. Of course this breaks out differently for each buy-cycle.
- 40-40-20 rule. Direct marketing success depends 40% on your list, 40% on your offer, and only 20% on the creative. When faced with limited funds, this rule should help you prioritize your efforts.
- Steak and blue cheese is much better than steak alone. Test after test shows a business offer (white paper, business book) is better than a personal offer (sweepstakes, giveaway). A combined offer beats them all.
- Take another look at direct mail. According to the Hacker Group and others, direct mail is more expensive upfront, but if done well, the cost of acquisition (COA) is better than online efforts. [Editor's note: to what form of online advertising are they comparing direct mail, banner ads, or keyword search? Not to mention, it may depend on the target market and their propensity to use online research methods. You decide.]
- The Direct Mail Trinity. The most effective direct mail campaigns include envelope, letter, and a response device. Apparently, self-mailers don't work as hard. A recent article in Jack Forde's newsletter had one direct mail house suggesting ditching the brochure all together and just sticking with the letter. Test for yourself.
- Who's Mailing What! Learn from your competitors by visiting
Who's Mailing What! and requesting direct mail campaign samples. The "X" code in front of the number indicates it has been seen multiple times—most likely a control campaign. Request it and determine for yourself what makes it so successful.
- Small businesses don't consider themselves small business. A focus group of small businesses was asked to describe their business size. Their responses, "I'm a big business; I have over 100 employees." "I'm a small business with big business data needs." Even those that considered themselves small advised they always go to the enterprise side of the site claiming, "That's where the good stuff is."
- The Webinar Trinity. To have an effective webinar, this trinity comprises you, an analyst, and a customer. The audience wants to hear about your solution from anybody else but you.
- Decaying information. All these marketing tips cannot keep your database from decaying (becoming less accurate) 2% each month (24% every year). Keep data as fresh as possible. Spend around $20 per person to call your database to confirm contact, demographic, and firmographic information.
Want to learn more about direct marketing and lead generation? Send me an email or give me a call at 678-471-4472.
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