The Case for Database Driven Marketing - Marketing - Marketing Tips

Is your company considering a database driven direct marketing campaign, either through the Internet or the mail? I've been receiving a lot of inquiries about this type of marketing tactic, but see that the marketing people are sometimes having a hard time getting executive management on board with the idea. If you need some help making your case, here are a list of benefits you can point out that may sway opinion.

-Marketing funds are spent cost effectively because they are concentrated on current customers and best prospects. It's a targeted, rather than shot gun approach. This is where you'll receive your best ROI.

-Direct marketing, particularly through email, is one of the most cost effective forms of marketing communications. Compared to print advertising and trade shows, it's a downright bargain.

-Your company can improve its relationship with customers which increases customer loyalty. It's important for companies who sell through dealers or manufacturers' reps to build good relationships with end-users of their products in addition to the relationships established between the dealers and end-users.

-The results from most database marketing activities are measurable. This is appealing to execs who are being increasingly asked for concrete results from their marketing initiatives... "We spent $5,000 on our email marketing campaign last quarter and the ROI ratio was 12 to 1."

-Different types of offers and communication styles can be tested to see which are the most effective. What you learn from one test can be used to improve on the next effort.

-Database marketing communications can be personalized for individuals in such a way that they speak directly to the needs and interests of each person. This increases the appeal and effectiveness of the communication.

-Specific offers or promotions can be directed at certain groups of prospects or industries without having to make the same pitch to everyone. Especially with email marketing, the communications can be highly targeted and customizable and still be very cost effective.

In this time when budgets are being slashed and companies are fighting for every customer, keeping your name out there has never been more important. Direct marketing can be a much more economic way to do that.

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Using Demographics and Psychographics to Effectively Market to a Smaller Crowd - Marketing - Marketing Tips

Yesterday morning, as I sat on my porch sipping a fresh cup of coffee, I watched the world drive by my little slice of Nirvana. While most in my position would not have been thinking about Direct Mail Marketing as the sun continued to gloriously rise and the normally peaceful neighborhood reluctantly awakened, it was the perfect time as far as I was concerned.

A frazzled Mrs. Schwartz drove her mini-van full of sleepy children past Miss Julie. Miss Julie was performing her morning power-walk. I-Pod blaring, the music keeps pace with her steps, as her Golden Retriever woofs a hello seeing Mr. Cummings. Mr. Cummings opens his garage door and waves, ready to begin another day of repairs on his ongoing house remodel. In the space of a few moments the microcosm of life, known locally as Oak Hill, begins a new day.

Like most neighborhoods, Oak Hill is a blend of young career couples, growing families and long time residents. Diversity is everywhere. How then would a smart company market to such a neighborhood: with direct mail marketing and Psychographic Segmentation.

Psychographic Segmentation are lists that group customers according to their lifestyle. Activities, interests and opinion surveys are some of the tools used for measuring lifestyle. It looks at a number of potential influences on buying behavior. This can include the attitudes and expectations of marketable consumers. If these behaviors are known, then marketing campaigns can be customized for more appeal. Those kind of marketing campaigns are a dream for businesses and direct marketing agencies alike.

There are six main types of psychographic segments.

Lifestyle

As in my neighborhood, different people have different lifestyle patterns. Behavior changes as we pass through life's stages. Direct mail marketing to Miss Julie would be different than direct mail marketing to Mrs. Schwartz or Mr. Cummings: and vice versa. With the sagacity lifestyle model, marketers can identify four main stages in a typical lifestyle:

Dependent (children still living at home with parents)

Pre-family (own household but no children)

Family (parents with at least one dependent child)

Late (parents with children who have left home or older childless couples)

Each group can then be further divided according to income and occupation if necessary.

Opinions, Interests and Hobbies

If you have ever attended a neighborhood cookout or just taken the time to chat with your neighbor across the fence, you know that most people have political opinions, views on the environment, sporting or recreational activities, the arts and other issues. Oak Hill has a plethora of people willing to share those opinions. Direct mail marketers can use Psychographic Segmentation lists to market to consumers based upon those opinions. While Mr. Cummings might be interested in knowing where to find the best deal on hardwood flooring materials, Miss Julie would rather hear about where she can find information on the most reliable vet in the area.

Degree of Loyalty

Valuable to companies are customers who buy one particular item all or most of the time. Direct mail marketers can then use this type of Psychographic segmenting to adapt their marketing to retain loyal customers, rather than focusing on constantly recruiting new ones. It has been said that it is ten times more profitable selling to existing customers than trying to find new ones. Ask the Oak Hill children's recycled clothing store. Mrs. Schwartz has been a customer of theirs since her oldest child was in diapers.

Occasions

This Psychographic segmentation uses the basis of when a product is purchased or consumed. Some consumers might only purchase wine, flowers or tickets to the symphony for celebratory occasions. Others may buy these things on a weekly basis. Smart marketers could use this information to try and change consumer perception of the best time to purchase a product by direct mail marketing and promoting optional uses for a product. Mrs. Cummings wouldn't mind sliding a postcard under the nose of Mr. Cummings showing that her favorite restaurant has a "buy 5 meals, get one free" offer available. It is nice to be taken there for her birthday every year, but going once a month would be nicer.

Benefits Sought

A local day care center has a discounted weekly fee for multiple children registered with their location. The local dentist has enacted an annual free cleaning by signing up for his oral health preventative package. Your neighborhood insurance company now offers annual rebates if you use their company for both home and auto insurance. Benefits sought Psychographic segmentation requires direct mail marketers to identify and understand the benefits consumers are looking for in a product or service.

Usage

While all of us here in Oak Hill enjoy the convenience of both local and national businesses in our neighborhood, some of us use them in varying degrees: light, medium and heavy. Direct mail marketing to those that fit your businesses focus is more efficient than attempting to market to those who would rarely, if ever, use your services.

It would be easy to sit here and continue talking about the benefits of Psychographic Segmentation and direct mail marketing with you, but the mail has just been delivered. Evidently the local garden center is having a special on hanging baskets this week. I want to get over there before the best ones are already taken.

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Direct Mail Marketing and the Growth of Giving - Marketing - Marketing Tips

The Oak Hill Animal Shelter works hard to care for abandoned and unwanted pets. Year after year they helped local residents, both young and old, find the perfect household companion. When they needed to inform the town of a dire need, the board of directors needed a quick and effective way to pass the word around. Jenny Fuller, the director of animal care suggested they turn to direct mail marketing.

Springtime rains flooded a number of neighborhoods in our little corner of the world. Both homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed by the overflowing rivers. Insurance companies and home improvement stores had their hands full making sure that structures could be repaired and lives could get back to normal. Unfortunately for the Oak Hill animal shelter and its 53 inhabitants, repairs couldn't be finished quickly enough.

Jenny slogged her way through the knee high water of what was at one time a sleek, clean and safe home to dogs, cats, rabbits and the occasional snake. Walking down the aisle of enclosures, Jenny sees Max the Mastiff shivering in the corner while Penny the Persian howls in wet displeasure. How was the shelter going to afford to pay temporary housing for these adorable creatures along with the insurance deductible? The annual fundraiser was still not to the half way point.

They did it through direct mail marketing.

Jenny had read a report from Target Analytics about non-profit fundraising. In their paper "Index of National Fundraising Performance" for 2009, she remembered something astounding. In 2009 organizations participating in the survey showed that an average of 78% of their revenue came in through the mail. Another surprising fact was the percentage of new donors acquired through direct mail:

"As would be expected with overwhelmingly mail-based programs, most new donors are acquired through the mail. For index organizations in 2009 a median 87% of all new donors were acquired through the mail, while only 12% of all new donors were acquired online"

To Jenny those facts were important. The past three years the Oak Hill Animal Shelter had turned their marketing towards going viral and using the internet as a marketing tool. While the economy affected everyone during that time, non-profit organizations such as theirs were hit even harder. Making the decision to cut costs by eliminating direct mail and print advertisements was considered a good move at the time. Now it seemed that decision may have been off the mark.

Jenny and the board of directors learned an important lesson when it comes to marketing. Putting all your eggs into one basket and not using a multitude of baskets to sell a message can be harmful in the long run. A well rounded marketing campaign consists of many channels. Use them. All the instruments and tools available when organizing your next promotion can and does make any campaign more profitable in the long run. It may take a month or so to see a good return on investment, but the rewards will be worth it.

In the end, the OHAS not only acquired enough funds to house the building's inhabitants and rebuild the structure, along the way they also helped introduce some townsfolk to a community institution. Volunteering and adopts are at an all time high.

What kind of marketing have you found productive?

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Saying Thank You: Using Psychographic Profiles to Encourage Return Business - Marketing - Marketing Tips

Psychographic profiles are a commodity obtainable from a number of sources. Sadly too few companies employ these profiles when marketing to the masses. Securing information that compiles characteristics connecting personality, values, interests, lifestyles or attitudes together to complete a profile of a person or group makes marketing sense. Once this psychographic composition is in place, every company has the opportunity to use this information to its advantage. Applying psychographic profiles into a direct marketing campaign becomes an invaluable tool.

One type of psychographic profile valuable to companies would be customers who buy one particular item all or most of the time. Direct marketers can then use this psychographic profiling to adapt their marketing in hopes of retaining loyal customers, rather than focusing on constantly recruiting new ones. It has been said that it is ten times more profitable selling to existing customers than trying to find new ones.

Ask the Oak Hill Klassy Kids children's recycled clothing store. Mrs. Schwartz has been a customer of theirs since her oldest child was in diapers. She would not shop anywhere else.

Wanda Sands started Oak Hill Klassy Kids fifteen years ago. Along with a number of her friends, Wanda was part of a group of parents that networked together. Any and all information gathered about making life easier while raising children was shared with the group. The idea for the store came about when the couples realized children outgrow their clothing faster than they can wear them out. Buying brand new items constantly puts a strain on a family budget if a new wardrobe is needed every three to four months.

When Mrs. Schwartz started her family, her mother suggested stopping by Klassy Kids to check out their stock. Mrs. Schwartz being a first time mom wanted everything sparkling and new for her precious bundle of joy. After the baby had grown three sizes in a matter of months however, she relented and stopped by the store.

Wanda recognized the look of panic in Mrs. Schwartz's eyes when she walked through the door. She remembered what it was like to want only the best for your children. That is why her stock and her sales staff were top notch. Taking a moment to converse with Mrs. Schwartz, Wanda was able to find out the size of the family, budget constraints, needs and lifestyle preferences. All this information went into a psychographic profile database for future use. When Mrs. Schwartz left that day with her purchases she seemed pleased.

Wanda would make sure she was.

Like most businesses, Klassy Kids relies on repeat business for continued growth. When Wanda began advertising her establishment, she purchased a psychographic profile database. With this database she was able to market directly to the consumer that could use her products most: parents of young children. Over time though, Wanda realized that simply bringing someone in the door once was not enough. If she was overstocked with boy's winter coats in sizes 6 to 8, how was she to advertise to families with boys of that range in the household? Psychographic profiles to the rescue!

Realizing the benefits of using psychographic profiles, Klassy Kids added their own informational variables to the database. After Mrs. Schwartz stopped by that day, Klassy Kids sent her a thank you card. In that thank you card was an offer for 20% off on all infant clothing on the following Thursday. Mrs. Schwartz couldn't pass up an offer like that.

In the years that followed, Mrs. Schwartz received a number of thank you cards. Some with offers included others merely to say we appreciate your business. Klassy Kids always knew what types of items their clientele was looking for and marketed accordingly. Mrs. Schwartz is so pleased in her encounters with Wanda and the staff that she hypes the store every chance she gets. You won't find a more loyal client anywhere.

How can your business use psychographic profiles in your company marketing campaigns? The ways are limited only by the imagination. Just ask Wanda.

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Information Overload - Why A Marketing Message Should Be Pithy - Marketing - Marketing Tips

Direct marketers know the value of saying a lot with only a few well chosen words. The idea of being concise and to the point has never been as important to a marketing message as it is now. The popularity of sound bites, text messages and tweets proves that people want their information succinctly.

If that is the case, then why do so many companies deem it necessary to overload our senses with too much information?

Patrick Sullivan owns and operates the Oak Hill Insurance Agency. Blessed with the gift of gab thanks to his Irish forbearers, he is often called upon to spin a yarn or two for the children's library hour or chronicle the history of the town's founding families at the Oak Hill History Museum. He keeps his audience enthralled with tidbits of information and an enthusiastic approach to the subject. Unfortunately for Patrick, that kind of talent can be the demise of a message in a marketing strategy.

Never one to say in three words what he can say in thirty, Patrick advertises his business in detail. Ad nauseam. Every bit of information about what agencies he represents, the different types of services they provide, the cost bases and comparisons and even links to the provider's websites are readily available. His marketing messages are packed so full of details, that potential clients lose interest almost immediately. They do not care about the whys and wherefores of one type of policy over another. The public only wants to know that Patrick can help them with their varied insurance needs.

While business is fairly steady, Oak Hill Insurance Agency is not setting the world on fire.

Bert Morrow on the other hand knows the advantages of keeping things pithy to spark interest. Bert runs the Quick & Easy Insurance Consortium. Some say his way of communicating is curt and he sees that as a positive. In all his business dealings he is known to find out what is needed and cuts to the chase. He uses that ability to his advantage. All of his marketing messages, whether they are in the form of a direct mail piece, television advertisement or his website, are made to pique a potential client's curiosity.

Recipients of Bert's marketing know in a matter of seconds that his organization handles any and all types of insurance needs. He advertises the Quick & Easy Insurance Consortium as being a supermarket of insurance requirements. Every one of his marketing messages alludes to phenomenal coverage at competitive rates: simply call or email for more information. Bert learned early on that when offering services with variables, it is better to encompass a client's needs one on one instead of attempting to inundate the prospect with too much information.

Quick & Easy Insurance Consortium runs rings around the competition.

How can you take your company brand and create a buzz? Design a marketing message that is pithy. When you think of UPS for example, do you think of brown service vans delivering boxes, or do you think of "See what brown can do for you". Pep Boys "Does everything for less". Fox News is "Fair and Balanced." Energizer "Keeps going and going and going." These marketing messages not only keep brand recognition at the forefront but they are also designed to attract the public's interest.

Which way would you rather advertise?

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A Bitter Pill to Swallow: The Side Effects of Poor Market Research - Marketing - Marketing Tips

If you have ever been the recipient of a prescription medication or viewed a television commercial touting one, it sometimes seems that the possible side effects can create more problems than the solution. You ask yourself if it is worth the risk. Improper, inadequate or halfhearted market research should ask you the same thing.

Since most companies are founded on the principle of profitability, the goods or services they provide ought to be something that the public can benefit from. That is where market research comes into play. Doing that research accurately will determine if your business will flourish or fall flat on its face.

Wendell Dunhill learned his lesson in market research the hard way.

Wendell is Oak Hill's most prolific businessman. He is an expert on everything under the sun and he is happy to tell you about it. There is not a subject you can mention that he will not expound upon and tell you how to make it or do it better. Unfortunately like those medications with nasty side effects, Wendell has some incredible business ideas but not the capability to know what the townsfolk wanted.

Business venture number one was a Thai restaurant. After leasing a site, remodeling the interior, creating an authentic ambiance and importing the ingredients needed to produce the bill of fare, the restaurant failed within two months. If Wendell had done his research he would have found that more clientele would have walked through the door if he had attempted an Irish Pub instead.

Venture number two was a kayak and canoe shop. The storefront was awash with posters of white water treks and couples meandering down lazy rivers under sun dappled trees. Inside there were racks upon racks of kayaks and canoes along with sundry items needed to make your day on the water an enjoyable one. Regrettably for Wendell he did not do his market research. The nearest lazy river was a two hour drive away and the closest white water was four. Our little town would have preferred a sporting goods store that specialized in soccer, softball and football paraphernalia. Our local sports teams are legendary in the area.

The most amazing venture was when Wendell opened a video rental store. Wanting to gather as much business as possible he inundated his locale with multiple copies of every video imaginable. His motto was "If we don't have it in stock, your next rental is free". If Wendell had done his research he would have found that with the advent of DVR's, the popularity of Netflix and broadcasters offering television series online few were spending their time and money at mom and pop rental stores.

Today Wendell's garage and basement holds the remnants of supplies from his many failed ventures. His wife wonders what the next great idea will be and where they could possibly put any more materials. Being the smart woman that she is, she went to the library and did some market research of her own. It appears that public online auctions are a great place to rid one's self of unwanted items.

When thinking about the products or services your company intends on offering, make sure to research your market first. Don't offer to alleviate a complaint if your solution is not what is needed. Become proficient in your area of expertise and give the public what they desire. Don't turn into Wendell. Otherwise you may be asking:

Pad Thai anyone?

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Save Time and Money: Discount Whistler Ski Rental Tips - Travel - Budget Travel

Discount Whistler Ski Rental Information HubDiscover one of the best ways to save money and time on your next ski or snowboarding trip to Whistler Blackcomb

Whistler is notorious for being pricey, but your ski vacation doesn't have to be. Do your Whistler ski rental research now and liberate yourself from thinking about dollars and cents later.

While there are many Whistler Ski rental options available, not all of them are right for you. Cut wasted spending from your next trip by browsing through all the ski rental options available for your Whistler ski vacation. Find and select the ski rental option that best fits your budget and the length of your vacation and laugh all the way to the bank--and the mountain.

Top 8 Tips on Whistler Discount Ski Rentals

Many websites offer exclusive discounts on equipment rentals to their clients vacationing in Whistler. If you book your Whistler accommodations directly with the owners, you can save big by avoiding hotel taxes and middle man fees. Then, grab even more discounts on your Whistler ski rentals.

Work began on this record breaking 50-million-dollar project in 2007. For an nominal fee, you can ride the longest free spanning gondola in North America, transporting you between the Rendez-vous and the Roundhouse.

The hype around this highest and longest free-spanning gondola simply doesn't do justice to how impressive this experience truly is.

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