In the letterbox
the other day were three computer catalogues, a
number of letters from various financial
institutions and an offer from an on-line stationery
supplier. They were all addressed to me yet after opening they
all went into the bin. Direct Marketing, and
the most high profile aspect of this dicipline, direct mail, is on
the increase. But is the value of DM really being
harnessed? In this edition, Les Woolridge of
P3DM answers this question.Add a colleague
to the p3 news mail list, email their details to news@p3.com.au
when dm stands
for
destructive mediaIncreasingly, major advertisers
are assigning more of their marketing budget to DM or CRM activities
to achieve the level of direct response
accountability seemingly unobtainable with traditional media
advertising. But are they achieving a greater level of
marketing and sales effectiveness and efficiency or is it
simply the appeal of the measure?
DM is not a mass media
Used correctly, DM is a powerful marketing discipline. But rather
than being used to develop more rewarding relationships with the
customers and earning their loyalty, many marketers and their
agencies and DM suppliers use it as an alternative mass
media, bombarding customers with unwanted messages. In the
process they risk undermining the very brand loyalty they want to
build and in turn waste potentially huge amounts of time and
money.
The power on DM is communicating with your audience in a way that
considers their needs, wants, desires and interests. It is
not about mass mailing, emailing or telephoning huge numbers of
people with a standard message. If you want to do that then
the existing media channels are often more cost effective, even
adding the cost of the research to provide measurements of the
effectiveness of the campaign.
Managing ROI
By engaging the wrong strategy, you can easily create
the wrong expectation in your existing customers and new
prospects. This can be costly. If down the track you find
you cannot fund all the aspects of your strategy you will have to
adjust your customers expectations, giving them less than what they
first expected from you. Or if you fulfil an overly generous
expectation, that you have inadvertently created, you will continue
to have cost overruns, resulting in a lower or negative
ROI, and you’ll still have to address the problem some time
in the future, to correct the imbalance.
Making more of your DM opportunityIf you have committed to a DM strategy or are considering DM
in your marketing mix, P3DM can provide
independent, expert advice on your DM processes, strategies
and costs to ensure you’re achieving maximum value
from your DM investment. To find out more contact P3DM
dm@p3.com.au
Les Woolridge @ P3DM
Les Woolridge joins P3DM with over 25 years experience in marketing
communications and advertising. Focusing on strategic and intergrated
marketing solutions, Les held senior management strategy and creative
positions with many of Australia’s top advertising and direct agency
networks.
Les provides P3 clients with a wealth of knowledge and experience on
direct response advertising, direct marketing, database marketing and
loyalty and relationship marketing.
top 10 misleading statements heard
in advertising
Treat
yourself to a chuckle
and look out for
the final ‘top 10’ for 2004.
You won’t believe
some of the things we’ve heard
over the past year.
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*
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