1 Define the campaign purpose



Setting out the objectives of the campaign is not always as simple as it appears. Common problems that we encounter include people trying to do too many things in one campaign, or not being able to agree on the desired outcome. Direct marketing works best where there is a single objective and where that objective is simple to communicate to customers. Where the objective is financial, it makes sense to do simple calculations to see how feasible the numbers are. For example, at a certain response rate, are there enough potential targets in the population to generate the sales or profit target.

2 Identify the target group

The campaign target group needs to be clearly identified. In business to business, the most common indentifiers for companies are SIC and size. Other specific data that may be used could include number of employees, number of PCs on site, or type of location. Once the business address has been selected, the decision maker must be identified. There may be several people involved in the decision and they need to be contacted individually. Response rates are better if named individuals can be contacted. If this is not possible, lower response rates should be forecast.

3 Assemble the database

There is no substitute for experience at this stage. Buy the best quality data that you can from trusted sources. Combine data from different sources if necessary to produce a database of the size required. It is always important to make sure that you comply with privacy and data protection legislation and this should be reviewed at this stage. If opt-ins are required for your campaign, they should be planned. This is the most important action step in the sequence, so give it the time and resources that it requires. The creative part might be appealing but the dollars are earned here.

4 Select your delivery method

If you have a product used by everybody and you can produce a great offer, then a one step process may be best for you. If you wish to reach new clients, you could combine a magazine insert campaign with a mailing to targeted prospects. On the other hand, if you have a 500 page technical catalogue, you need to qualify prospects before you send it out, and a two step process would make more sense. In the first step you would ask people to register for the catalogue and then you would despatch it if they met your criteria. If you sell a high value product and you cannot find a list of named individuals, then it could be feasible to telephone the company to find the names first before mailing them. Any opt-in requirements of the campaign also need to be included at this stage in the planning.

5 Compile the offer

In a one step mailing this may be simply a question of finding a good product at the right price to catch customers attention. In a multi-step approach it may be a lot more complex. As always in marketing the offer should be produced with the target customer group in mind. Make sure that you tell the customer why your offer is irresistible. The communication should tell the customer everything that they need to know to take the action that you want them to take. You also need to give them a reason to do it now. If they file it away, the chances are they will not act.

6 Produce the piece

The piece is what will deliver your message in a mailed campaign. In a crowded market you need your piece to stand out. If your mailing is seen as boring it will end up in the bin. In fact the chances are that it will never even reach the decision maker. You need to be concerned about your envelope or polywrap design, about how the piece is folded, and about any detail that will stop the customer from reading your message immediately. Test the offer piece on people who match the target customer profile and listen to the feedback they give you. It is worth doing some mock-ups of the mailing and watching how they open it and read it. Watch for anything that distracts them from the offer.

7 The creative

Your overall objective is to communicate the value of the offer clearly and quickly. The graphical presentation needs to be eye catching and to show the product in its best light. Any graphics should guide the eye directly to the product/ offer. The tone of the copy needs to be persuasive and appropriate to the audience. This needs to be consistent across every step of the campaign.

8 The numbers

The campaign forecasts need to accurately predict the revenue and costs associated with the campaign. Experts can be consulted for typical response rates for the type of campaign. There are also figures available from the Direct Mail Information Service in the UK. Plan to track all the numbers that you forecast and keep the data for use in future campaigns.

9 Order Capture

Plan how orders or details will be captured. This may be a manual process, but if possible it should be automated. Give the order handlers any information or training that they may need to answer customers questions. If they need to add a sales message to the call, that should be scripted for them. Make sure they know all the details that you want captured, including media codes or offer codes. Look at the numbers and make sure that you have enough resources available to take all the calls that will be generated. Remember that in some businesses it make take 2-3 calls before an order is placed, and this should be factored into your resource planning.

10 Fulfilment

Make sure that operations are aware of the campaign and of the additional orders that will be generated. They will need to plan to hold more stock and they will need additional order processing capacity and transport to deal with the additional demand. Remember that the worst thing that you can do is to spend money promoting a product and then to frustrate your customers by not being able to deliver it to them.

If you follow these ten steps then you should avoid any nasty pitfalls or surprises as you direct marketing campaign runs