Targeting & Segmentation
Introductory marketing teaches us to make several assumptions and generalisations on the market. Top on that list, it is vital for a brand to narrow its target audience down to a set of demographic qualities based on age, sex, wage etc. Even a brand like Coca-Cola, which has near universal appeal, targets their goods toward youth. Beyond the target shop there will be a whole of shop segments, again defined by geo-demographic characteristics. In customary marketing, defining a shop and its segments will build a photo of an audience which impacts on both the creative employed and the media buying strategy.
Do these methods of targeting and segmentation translate into Direct Marketing?
In fact, they're surprisingly unimportant. What's foremost is that communications are relevant and are therefore based on real customer knowledge rather than generalisations. A unique creative arrival for each customer tends to be cost-prohibitive and unrealistic (yes, in some niche business-to-business exercises it may be feasible). Some broad segmentation should be applied to drive the bulk of the creative outcome. These segments must work alongside copy change-outs to unblemished the communication. But this is a secondary concern.
Even the act of segmentation is separate in Direct Marketing because it is advanced from hard customer information rather than shop research. To segment a database, data-mining techniques that inventory for combinations of every potential information variable are used (including transactional data), rather than a broad geo-demographic profile. But the segmentation is just the beginning, the driver for the message platform and tone & manner.
Personalisation & Relevance
Direct Marketing talks to individuals, not markets. This is where customary targeting methods fail when they're bolted on to Direct Marketing. Instead of broad segmentation it is valuable we appreciate that each customer is unique. So we must utilise every piece of information to make the message more relevant and effective.
For a start, it is proven that uncomplicated personalisation (such as foremost placement of name and address), will significantly growth response rates. Using transactional data and linking your message with a customer's known behaviour is more remarkable again - it shows you understand the customer and that you're adapting your goods or aid contribution for their needs.
Building a tailored arrival makes for many copy versions within a particular segment execution. But the further effort and cost is worthwhile for its immediate impact and response, as well as the long-term advantage to the brand.
Using the ready data to better personalise and add relevance to the transportation should be a key difference in personalised marketing efforts versus mass shop communications. It will also make for better targeting as there will be situations where a relevant link cannot be made and some customer groups may be eliminated from the distribution. It makes the customer feel like you're delivering them a service. While all direct communications make a noise, those that present aid are the messages habitancy absorb. They make the recipient feel like more than just another customer. The transportation has carefully the individual and they feel privileged to receive your message. Just as important, the restricted and more responsive audience will corollary in decreased costs, improved Roi and security of the brand.
Advertising Versus customer Service
Customer aid is what finally differentiates direct communications from customary Advertising. In direct, the media is the property of the recipient so it's foremost there's something in it for them. An 'ad in an envelope' (or worse still, an ad in an email or text message) becomes an annoyance. If you address something specifically to an individual, they expect that transportation is about them rather than some irrelevant chest-thumping about your goods or brand. Far too often the customary marketer's view of integration is to put a stamp on their ad. Or thoughtlessly email or Sms the body copy to all their customers.
This hurts the entire Direct Marketing medium because consumers become tired of irrelevant messages intruding into their inexpressive space.
The best customer aid messages hit customers at the right time in their relationship. By contrast, customary advertisers bring a 'campaign mentality' to Direct Marketing. Following this thinking, all customers receive communications at the same time. The truth is relevance is more beyond doubt created with triggered messages driven by customer behaviour. Reputable direct marketers are acutely aware of this and observe database activities that promote a new goods or aid while also delivering a aid message to customers.
Electronic communications that are action driven are particularly beneficial for time-sensitive aid messages. It can beyond doubt add to customer convenience to receive email or text messages. And for the marketer the company opportunities are endless. Dream if your insurance company could text message you in improve of a localised flood warning, or if your bank could email you to recommend your prestige card was approaching its prestige limit. Customers are thankful for these communications; they contribute a tangible advantage for lively and opting to receive electronic communications.
Nothing compares to direct for delivering this information. Particularly in an electronic format because they are both directed to an individual and are time-critical. These newly formed channels supplement the existing communications mix and exist for the customer's benefit. They are not naturally substitutes for customary messages in an effort to save marketing costs with no conception for what the customer would prefer.
Creative Executions
The creative boundaries within Direct Marketing are yet to be reached and the majority of executions fail to observe the possibilities of the medium. This is a hangover from the frequency principle employed in customary advertising and the false conception that direct executions are about the brand first and the message second.
With Direct Marketing the customer owns the message and will actively choose whether they take it in. The doing needs to immediately show the recipient that it's a thoroughly new message and to this end, the transportation should be clearly definite from former contact. The message should withhold consistency to the degree that it is definite who it's from, but the message must scream above the corporate branding. A template arrival is often employed, meaning that visually the messages blur together with a degree of sameness rather than being received with impact. But designers are not Direct Marketers.
No other medium offers the creative freedom of direct mail. Yet most direct mail fails to engage the senses and is lost in a sea of white window Dl envelopes. Customers receive mail from a whole of places and to engage an audience the doing needs to stand apart. Mail offers unparalleled flexibility in terms of format - there are almost no size or shape constraints. Perhaps it's because customary Advertisers and designers are used to fitting into standards dictated by a medium (press, billboard, Tv) that they treat direct mail the same way. They see an A4 letter and a Dle insert as a starting canvas whereas the reality is an open book.
Creative freedom also suffers where marketers are guilty of trying to get their message to as many habitancy as potential rather than improve the targeting. We all know Pareto's Law or the 80/20 rule, yet too often the entire database is treated as equal. By focusing on just the top customers or prospects and delivering a stronger, non-standard creative doing the message can be made more compelling and results magnified. A smaller, targeted audience will corollary in more to spend on those that count. An improved per-unit budget allows things to be done differently, ensuring the transportation is not just read but also remembered and acted on.
Conclusion
Direct Marketing is not naturally about creating awareness, it's about delivering results, creating new customers and selling more to them. As shareholders and Ceo's demand a return on investment, it's understandable that marketers are turning to Direct Marketing for answers. It's here that they need to pause and note that Direct Marketing is a unique craft and counter-intuitive to customary Advertising conception processes. Until they rethink, the credibility of Direct Marketing will suffer through poor executions.
The potential of Direct Marketing is clear. Despite customary reasoning foremost to sub-optimal planning and executions, many businesses have still generated definite returns from their Direct Marketing. But they have merely scratched the covering of what can be achieved. With the right assistance there remains potential to unlock increased returns and improve long-term customer satisfaction.
To make Direct Marketing work, marketers need to grasp the unique complexities of the media. The explosive growth and competition for the customer's time will challenge marketers, demanding stronger executions to break through the clutter. All businesses finding to maximise a return from marketing should elicit the help of a true Direct Marketing specialist. Do this and these businesses will not only improve their success, they may behalf where they had previously failed. Direct marketing does work... In the right hands.
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