Direct Marketing List Expectations In A Down Economy

10 Tips for business development in a NEW way with essential target lists.

How do we find new business to replace the customers we haven’t sold to this year?

It is my belief that at some point, you need to market to targeted lists. You cannot wait for new customers to find you. You HAVE to go get them.

With a nearly 10% unemployment rate, we can be sure that 5% of our 2008 customer list has gone bye, bye- and in some cases companies themselves have disappeared. Where a known contact was, there may now be an unknown person handling that purchasing. You may have to introduce yourself all over again.

In the list industry, addressing data normally takes time to catch up. This affects list buying decisions. Imperfect data is not bad data. Nevertheless, with elusive audiences, the more you know about your customer profile and the strengths and weaknesses of available lists, the better success you will have in reaching your response objectives.

Use compiled lists for broad coverage and economy.

  • With a decline in buying behavior, many response lists have shrunk. Compiled lists are generally a fraction of the price of proprietary lists and have very broad coverage. We often can ascertain profile characteristics on compiled lists that are not available on proprietary data.

Use title addressing on everything.

  • Because of the changes in the employment market, we cannot assume that the name of the individual on record is currently in the same position. Therefore, to ensure that your mailpiece is routed properly, add your unique title to the address. For example: Joe Jones, Marketing Director might more usefully become Joe Jones, Or Printing Buyer.
  • In the case of consumer offers, Joe Jones, Or Current Resident will be more deliverable if your offer applies to any resident of that address.

Mail to home address where identified if you are looking for individual purchasers or recruiting.

  • If your offer is one that is purchased by individual discretion- such as books, uniforms, association memberships, or even profession specific education- explore home address lists. Many professions can be identified at either home or business. Decide how much transience there may be in your audience.

Merge/purge multiple lists against your house list.

  • Contracting with your list provider to run your purchased mailing or email list against your own list could be one of the best values available to you. The arithmetic is simple. If your list is large enough that 15% of your records, times cost of your piece in the mail (printing + postage), is greater than the estimate of the cost of the merge/purge, it will immediately pay back.

  • If you are making an offer that is specific to new business, it might be wise to avoid sending to your existing customers.
  • If your list is large enough and your rentals are substantial, you may avoid paying for names you already own (net names).

NCOA often.

  • The postal regulations now require proof of NCOA MoveUpdate within 95 days of your mailing for maximum postal discount. Most rental lists will be compliant. Ask your broker.

  • NCOA your house list prior to any mailing. You can either drop individuals whose address has changed or you may append the new address up to 48 months since the change.

Explore email options.

  • We are developing more email resources all the time. Marketers hopeful of switching away from postal mail may be disappointed by the limited email that is available to rent in a specific market.

  • The more frequently you contact prospects by email the greater likelihood for response. Also the greater likelihood for opt-out. Good. You don’t want to pay to email those who clearly never want to hear from you again.

Be clear about your expectations and questions.

  • Some audiences are more highly email responsive. Some professions have very sophisticated spam filters.

  • Talk with your list broker about the best methods of deployment or creative to avoid filters and increase response.

Use multiple media to attract attention.
Each method of targeting prospects has its advantages and drawbacks. When combined, it exponentially enhances any response potential. For example:

  • Advantage of email is an immediate response
  • Disadvantage is that there is no collateral if the offer is right but the timing is off.
  • Advantage of print mail is its physical longevity. If the time isn’t right, it will sit on a corner of a desk or get passed on. It may also be handled by multiple decision makers.
  • Disadvantage is its longer response and delivery timeline, as well as printing and postage costs.
  • Another advantage of postal mail is the size of the identifiable audience is greater.
  • Space ads have great institutional branding value.
  • On the other hand space is expensive and usually overshoots its target.

Ask your list broker for multi-use permission.

  • List owners are amenable to allowance for multi-use of lists during the current economy. This is real opportunity to get greater bang for the buck.

  • Try to get multiple deployments of email lists for reduced or descending rates.
  • When counts don’t meet minimums ask for multiple use agreements to meet minimums.
  • When looking to do an email campaign, enforce it with direct mail and vice versa. Ask for a full record discount when planning to do both on the same offer.

Be patient.

  • Your prospects are more tentative and need to know you have what they need.

  • You will go to the front of the list if you’re visible while others are quiet.
  • It is the early bird that catches the worm. It still may be a late spring!

Ann Guyer, President/CEO
PCS List & Information Technologies
PCS List & Information Technologies is a full-service broker, compiler and list manager offering quality list products, FREE direct marketing consultation and research, as well as modeling, data appending, merge/purge, NCOA and other data standardization processes for over 30 years. Call 800-532-LIST(5478) or email info@pcslist.com.

www.pcslist.com