Direct marketing pros and cons

Ah, a man after my own heart. When will people realise the immense power of applying data driven marketing in a brand consistent way?

Just imagine business to business DM that teams up pre-qualified data with imaginative creative applied in a totally brand consistent manner to get over 50% success rate. And I’m not talking response, I am talking foot in the door, face to face conversations resulting from the mailing. We’ve done it for our clients. Again and again.

Start thinking of your database as another part of the media mix you can choose from. Whether you are prospecting or talking to existing customers, be it consumer or B2B, direct gives you a chance to build a brand and produce….a response. And you can measure it. And manage it. And improve it.

A few months ago I went to a seminar being delivered by a veteran English DM guru, Drayton Bird. The title of the seminar was “Direct in the digital age”. Now I have a confession to make before I go on.

I’ve been a bit of a fan of Drayton since attending one of his DM courses as a fledgling marketer, way back when simply having email at work was a bit groundbreaking. His course then was full of amusing anecdotes and rock solid examples of why DM works, how you make it work better for you, and why it’s a bloody mystery why even more marketing budget isn’t piled into it.

The point is this. Backed up by solid examples, numbers and yet more witty anecdotes, in this digital age his message was clear. Don’t forget the basics.

Get your data right
Put some resources into making sure this is accurate, targeted and, especially for high value business sales, pre-qualified. Whether you are using those nice folks at Aussie Post, emailing or SMS (and we know the list of options keeps on growing), get this bit right or, all else is wasted.

Make a decent offer
Even if the offer is as simple as really, really relevant information or gossip. People are turning into information junkies – it has value. Of course, you can still go with your favourite BOGOF if it works for you.

Get the message out at the right time
If you get your timing right (knowing what time, day, month works well for you) then you can avoid the equivalent of trying to sell ice to the Eskimos.

Creative has got to be spot on
This is not simply about getting the response you want, it is still about being on brand. In digital days we are surrounded by messages both solicited and unsolicited. Every touch-point needs to support the brand or we are going to really piss people off.

Make it easy for people to do what you want them to do – a nice clear call to action and a simple way to respond.

This is all basic stuff. Any marketer or agency professional should know this. I’m pretty sure you do, but do you always apply it? Do we get too caught up in the heat of the moment, the brilliant creative, the left-field idea to stop and test? Or are you just “too busy”. But this is what we are all here for – it’s our job.

In his article, Mark Buckman was bemoaning poor response rates. And rightly so. Being direct and doing it properly is about never being 100% satisfied with the result because you have a burning curiosity about what it might take to make things work just that little bit better.

And think of the good we can do for the environment by cutting out all that poorly targeted, ineffective DM (my random greenie rant).

I’d like to think that the big-end of town has this stuff sorted, but if one of the big direct communicators in the country (Comm Bank) ain’t there yet, then I guess not. But that’s good news – we have so much opportunity to improve!

Just imagine how positive a recipient’s response will be when they get communications that stand out from the crowd, that recognise them as an individual, that do not insult their intelligence and actually make a relevant offer. Where the look, feel, sound (well, digital can be direct too as we know) are how they would expect that brand to express itself.

It’s really not that hard to start thinking this way, and then use the beauty of direct communications (measurability, testability) to try things out and see what flies. Then go big and reap the rewards.

I say, let others spend away whilst you think, test, improve.

Nigel Smith, partner, The Hub Agency.