Direct Mail Must Be Relevant and Creative
The title of this post comes from IPC Strategic Perspectives, July 2009. Focusing on the subject of marketing in tough economic times, the article states:
to realize the maximum ROI, Direct Mail must be relevant and creative. This provides opportunity for posts to play an important role with customers, by providing them with front-end expertise in design, creative, audience segmentation and address hygiene.Citation
The word “posts” here refers to the different post offices around the world and the quote is really saying that they can play a role in determining their own destiny by helping those that mail to be successful. I like this concept because it’s based on the same philosophy that we have used for the past few years, – namely, searching for ways to help our clients be successful and letting them know about options they may not have considered before.
As important as relevance and creativity are, I do recognize that they are not new concepts. Still, I think that they are perhaps more important in today’s economic climate.
Poorly targeted prospects and undeliverable addresses cost a lot of money. If 30% of your mailing list falls into either to these categories, imagine the extra costs that you will incur for which you can never have any return. There are many data cleansing tools available as well as processes to determine the validity of the addressee. These include Address Validation & Correction and NCOA (National Change of Address) processing.
You can also have undeliverable Addressed Admail returned if you use a Return Postage Guaranteed postal indicia. I should note, though, that there is a fee for this, which needs be considered before using this option.
When considering the target audience, there are many business and consumer lists that can be purchased to help you target the right individuals. And, of course, effective segmentation of your own database can help you to effectively reach the right groups.
Like beauty, good creative is often “in the eye of the beholder”. I like to think of it as being tastefully different; something that stands out, creates intrigue or perhaps brings a smile. And, creativity need not be expensive, although it certainly can cost more in some instances. Today, we are mailing addressed Roundcards™ at an all in cost (printing, mail preparation and postage) for about $0.67 as well as message in bottle packages at an all in cost of about $15 each. That is quite a difference but, regardless of price, what is most is important is the amount to which resultant campaign revenues exceed campaign expenses.
Clients, agencies, direct marketing companies and the “posts” all have a stake in the outcome of direct marketing campaigns. And, I think we all recognize that in tight economic times we must be careful to ensure that we are targeting the right people, that we have good addresses and that what we deliver will stand out from the crowd. There is no doubt that being relevant and creative are key factors in delivering a solid ROI on direct marketing programs.
