It's not personal. It's math.

If you drive a car, use a bank or a credit card, shop at a grocery store, rent movies from Netflix, have a cell phone, surf the web, or live in the 21st Century, you’re probably a denizen of a databank somewhere.

Like it or not, Google, Facebook, Walmart and the government are building profiles of you. They know who you talk to and what you search for online. They know what you purchase and how much you buy. They know your likes and preferences.

Your car probably has a black box in it—just in case you’re ever in an accident—but also to track your position anywhere on the globe via GPS. Ditto your cell phone.

There’s no escaping scrutiny. You may keep a low profile, but these guys know more about you than even close family. You may hide your Mars Bars addiction at home, but these guys have your number.

And that’s just what you are to them: a vast series of numbers that describe your attributes.

Data mining is used to drill down through all those jumble of numbers to find the attributes (described by those numbers) that should resonate with your audience. Data mining is simply finding the patterns, relationships and correlations in all that stored information.

As marketers, you probably know that the problem is that there is simply so much data, it is hard to extract the exactly right bit of information to pinpoint your perfect target. And finding exactly the right bit is critical. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.

But fear not, gentle marketer. Exhaustive new programs are being written—even as I type—to simplify and clarify the process. Stay tuned. It is a brave new world out there. Soon even more information about your customers/donors/prospects will be available. At a price.

Have the money? If so, you can look like a marketing genius. After all, getting your message to someone who has a high likelihood of a positive response earns you better return on marketing investment. Your job is still to define the characteristics you are looking for. Then let the computers do the heavy lifting and sifting.

So what about individual privacy? Now there’s a quaint 20th Century concept. Forget about privacy in an era of Facebook and all-seeing cameras at every street corner. Sorry, it’s history.

Netflix and Amazon are using data mining today to increase sales. Enter their websites and they recognize you. They then recommend books and movies to you that “people like you” have enjoyed. The recommendations are based on the theory that you will enjoy what people like you have enjoyed. Aka, similar number strings like similar things.

Can beauty be in the eye of the beholder? Probably. If Netflix makes a movie recommendation and you like the pick, the information becomes useful. You come to rely on Netflix’ subsequent recommendations and the process becomes less like advertising and more like a friendly exchange between friends. Even robots and computers need friends, it seems.

It doesn’t always work perfectly. Sometimes you question what where they thinking. And sometimes you agree. But don’t take it personally.

Remember, it’s not personal. It’s math. It’s data mining.  And you are just a number in a computational labyrinth.

The 4 Rules of Direct Marketing: Ignore them at your own risk

I think we can agree that direct marketing is complicated. It’s a mix of strategy, psychology, technology, with a modicum of just luck thrown in for seasoning. But it essentially all boils down to 4 rules that can make—or break—your mailing.

Much as Boris Pasternak said of families in Dr. Zhivago, (All happy families are alike; unhappy families are different, each in its own way), all successful marketing efforts have 4 things going for them. All unsuccessful marketing has violated one (or more) of the rules.

Rule #1. What does your mail (or e-mail) LOOK like? Does it stand out in the crowd? Are the colors and design attractive? Does it “catch the eye” right away? Catching the eye is good—it gives your promotion that little extra millisecond in someone’s hand—a millisecond that could be enough to advance your mailing to rule #2.

If mail, is it big enough? If your mail is so small that the carrier hides it inside a missing kids flyer, then your mail is lost. If your mail is buried with 50 other advertisers, it is not doing what it could—what it should—do for you. It’s violated Rule #1.

Violate Rule #1, and you’ve lost the race at the starting gate. People have to see your offer before they can respond to it.

Rule #2. Does your promotion SPEAK to the recipient? Does it catch attention with a good headline, or teaser, or an offer that a recipient can’t refuse? Does it make recipients want to read further? (more on great hooks another day). Does it recognize the recipient’s needs/wants/concerns? Is the message more “you” than “me?” Are you reaching out to establish a relationship or just talking to yourself? Bottom line: are you speaking to the recipient?

If rule #1 engages the eye; rule #2 engages the brain. You need to analyze how you can best present your message to your audience. Succinctly. Cleverly. Pointedly.

If brevity is wit, less is often more. You want to present your information in such a way that recipients want to read more and know more about your organization/offer. You want them to want to open the email, or flip over the postcard and read on. You want to keep them engaged.

Violate Rule #2 and you’ve lost your audience. Your promo dies an ignominious death in the recycle pile or delete bin.

Rule #3. Are you addressing the right AUDIENCE? You could have the most beautifully designed and written piece, but if you’re sending it to the wrong people, they won’t care. Your campaign is over.

How do you find your audience? Go to someone who knows lists. There are 40,000+ lists on the rental market in the US. A reputable list broker like Paul&Partners will be able to steer you in the right direction.

The broadest—and cheapest—is a list of all addresses in the US. If you’re announcing a new restaurant in the neighborhood, this is the list for you. However, if you’re announcing a pricey new pre-school, then you need “selects” like household income, as well as presence (and age) of children. Your list got smaller, more targeted, and more expensive. And your marketing probably will be much more successful.

If you’re asking for contributions, go to contributor lists. (More on this huge subject another day, too.) There are also lists of people with specific medical ailments, and lists of publication subscribers. Lists of people who listen to certain genres of music…people who own (or rent) their home…what kind of car they drive…what they like to do in their spare time…if they’ve just married/divorced/had a child or retired…and about a million other details about their lives. Details you can use to find the exactly right people you need to address.

Business lists can tell you the industry, size of company, number of employees, annual billings, computer software they use, number of locations, and a multitude of other “selects” that you can use to define your market.

There are lists for everything. Approaching the right people is the lynchpin to marketing success. Analyze your message; define the audience that would be most receptive. Then call a list broker.

Rule #4. TIMING. It sounds obvious, but you need to launch your marketing at the time when your message would be appropriate. Don’t send summer camp messages at Christmas. Duh!

But Rule #4 also has an evil doppelganger. You could do everything right, but then something happens outside your control and your mail fails.

A tornado comes out of the blue and destroys the town you just sent your mailing to…a hurricane devastates the city where you have been planning to have your annual meeting…a blizzard, flood or fire seizes the headlines, hearts and wallets of people. Your marketing, no matter how ingenious or clever, doesn’t have a chance.

Those outside influences needn’t stop with weather-related disasters. On a macro scale, geopolitical events like invasions, wars, or unexpected emergencies large and small can refocus the mind and work against your campaign. On a micro scale, an unexpected illness or death of a family member or beloved pet, a car that just broke down for the last time, a really bad report card, or many other recipient-level disasters can doom your promotion household by household.

You can’t control everything all the time. Rule #4 is the “gotcha” factor. It’s Loki, the Norse god of mischief and mayhem, having his way with you.

Sometimes you just can’t win. But if you follow the rules, you’ll give your marketing the very best chance of being a success.

Get a USPS Endorsement

First a truth-in-advertising confession: Anyone can get an endorsement from the post office.

No, a postal endorsement is not a letter of recommendation that adds glowing creds to your resume. But it does sound important, doesn’t it?

An endorsement is a line of type under the return address that instructs the letter carrier to do something specific with the mail piece should the intended recipient not live there anymore.

In today’s economy, 40% of people moving in this country are sneaking out in the dead of night to avoid creditors. Not surprisingly, they fail to report their new location to the post office. And because they don’t report their whereabouts, USPS NCOA (National Change of Address) processing can’t find them.

So what’s a mailer to do? You don’t want to mail to people who have skipped town. After all, they are no longer the good prospects you had hoped they would be.

Self-protective act #1 is to run an NCOA on your data before you mail it. NCOA casts a wide net, and you’ll catch most—but not all—of your bad addresses.

Self-protective act #2 is using a postal endorsement to catch the people who fell through the NCOA safety net.

One endorsement reads ‘RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED.’ This instructs the postman to return the original mail piece to you. There will probably be a yellow sticker on it with an (not The) explanation. “Moved. Left no Forwarding Address”…“Addressee Unknown”…“Bad Address” etc. Then you remove the name from your mailing list as they are gone. Skeedaddled. Voted with their feet. Vamoosed.

If you’re lucky, they’ll show up another day, another time. But for today, they are probably laying low at the nearest KOA kampground.

Another endorsement reads ‘FORWARDING SERVICE REQUESTED.’ This wording instructs the postman to make a photocopy of the piece—with the yellow sticker affixed to it. He forwards the mail if he can and returns the photocopy to you.

The theory behind this processing is that your info gets to your recipient faster, and you can correct your data for your next mailing.

There are three major flaws with this thinking:

#1. Your intended recipient is gone. He hasn’t left a forwarding address. There simply is no one and no where to forward that letter to.

#2. Some idiot at the post office regularly puts the yellow corrective label directly over the addressee’s name and address. So even if you can read the corrected address, you can’t tell whose address is being corrected.

#3. The copier machine badly needs a new toner cartridge and you can’t read the information that the post office is so helpfully sending to you anyway.

You’ve probably guessed that this service has a price tag. However, if you’re mailing at First Class, your cost per piece returned is FREE. You saw it right: your cost is Zippo. Nada. If your piece weighs less than one ounce.

However, if you’re mailing that same piece at Standard or non-Profit rates, your cost per piece returned is $1.09.

And while $1.09 sounds rather high, if you consider the cost of not mailing to this non-existent person again and again with all that incumbent expense, it becomes much more reasonable.

Check with your post office to ensure you’re getting exactly the endorsement you want. And while you’re at it, check on other critical USPS requirements for endorsement lines including point size, spacing, and positioning.

Bottom line: a USPS endorsement sounds impressive, but it won’t help your resume at all. It can, however, help your mailing list stay up-to-date.

After all, keeping your list clean really is important when every penny counts.

Finding my new BFF!

I can’t tell you how many times people ask me to help them with direct mail marketing….but they can’t tell me who their audience is!

Like the guy last Thursday who wanted to mail to “People who love their homes.”

Or the lady who defined her audience as “women.”

They are Doomed! Doomed! Doomed!

There is absolutely no clarity or critical thinking on their part. They can’t give me a reason why “women” would care about their product or service.

But ask me to find “Married African American women ages 25-50, in a specific geography, with household income over $xx, and kids” now there’s something I can work with!

We’re talking about knowing the audience for your message. Understanding who you are trying to reach so you can tailor your presentation to them. Finding your new BFF! (Best Friend Forever)

Demographics. Big word, but use it right and it can generate huge results.

For instance, last week I had the privilege of working with Kathy, a real estate agent who knew exactly the audience she wanted to reach. She knew her demographics.

She wanted homeowners with household income over $100,000 and home values over $775,000. Having lived in their homes for at least 10 years, they are now empty nesters. And yes, she wanted a very specific geographic area.

Sweet! She had her demographics down pat.

I had to go out only 1.39 miles from her office to find 1000 families that met her criterion. Her sales literature, phone calls and conversations are targeted to their unique needs. Her closure rate should be phenomenal because she “talks the talk” and “walks the walk.” She knows her audience and what drives them.

Most of these folks (772 of them) have HHI over $250K. The majority (714 families) have lived in their homes more than 14 years.

Are they ready to downsize? Retire? Move up and move out? I assure you Kathy will know in short order. Sales will inevitably follow.

So here’s the next-to-last word on demographics. Truly, thoughtfully consider the optimal person for your message. Not every person is the right person for every message. By using selective demographics to weed out inappropriate people, you can select the people who are right for your message.

Among some of the defining demographic factors are age, gender, household income, marital status, homeowner/renter, home value and length of residence, type of home (ie multi-family or single family), geographic location.

If you need to have even deeper analysis, you can ask for political or religious affiliation, credit worthiness, hobbies and interests, type of car they are likely to drive, pets and a multitude of other factors.

Last word: If you don’t know if something is available, ask. But don’t ask for information that is not core to your message. You’ll pay for something that you really don’t need. And that’s almost as stupid as mailing to “people who love their homes.”

43670 Trade Center Place, Suite 150, Dulles, VA 20166
Phone: 703.996.0800 | Fax: 703.996.0888 | 1.866.365.2858
www.paulandpartners.net | sales@paulandpartners

CLEAN UP YOUR NEXT MAILING!

Clean your housefile…Clean up on your next mailing!

Anyone who has studied Direct Mail 101 understands that mailing to a clean list is critical to the success of a project. A clean list reduces printing, production and postage costs…even as it increases percentage return.

Clean up your housefile and you’ll look like a marketing genius. I guarantee it.

Interested?

Consider this: 20% of the US population moves each year. Some marry and merge households; some divorce and split households; some die; some just move away. Thus consumer files can go stale quickly.

Or this: 20% of small businesses fail each year, and a somewhat smaller number of larger companies merge, get bought out, or move—sometimes “off shore.” Furthermore, the specific individual you want to target may be downsized or promoted, on maternity or military leave, retired or replaced. Organizations mailing into the government have an even greater challenge, due to personnel turnover.

Or this: maybe you are your own worst enemy. Maybe you have people listed multiple times on your datafile. Don’t deny it! I’ve seen databases just like yours. Duplicates everywhere. And that means wasted money…and upset recipients.

It is hard enough to find people who are interested in your message…people who are willing to buy from your company or donate to your cause. Staying in touch with them can be just as difficult.

You probably intuitively know that it is less expensive to keep customers or contributors than to replace them. Prospecting is expensive. And it rarely breaks even. So it only makes practical sense to periodically clean your housefile.

Yet so many direct mailers don’t take that one simple—and inexpensive—step. Instead, they watch as their list slowly atrophies and their return rates plunge. And they wonder what’s wrong.

The answer is simple: poor list hygiene. Cleaning a list is simply the best way to keep your customers and donors active and keep your prospecting costs down.

And list hygiene needn’t be a laborious process. There are several ways to clean your housefile.

The first method is to call everyone on your list before you mail to them. While your accuracy will be assured, you will never get anything into the mail because you’ll always be on the phone. Unless you have a staff of thousands with nothing better to do, try another technique.

A second method is to mail everything First Class. It’s effective: the Post Office will forward your information to your intended recipient. Voila’! Prime mission accomplished! But at a price. You are paying dearly for your postage, your intended recipient may get a package that has been handled so many times it is no longer readable and you may not get back needed corrections in a timely fashion.

A third solution is to use endorsement lines (such as “Address Forwarding Requested.”) Depending on the endorsement you select, you will get predictable results. In one instance your mailing will be forwarded to your recipient—new yellow stickers and accusatory pointing finger stamps and all—and you get a photocopy. In another instance, the package comes back to you with the correct address (if known) noted so you can send out a fresh piece. But again there are downsides. Sometimes you can’t read the photocopied forms. They are too light or have a sticker over a crucial piece of information. If you get the piece back for remailing, then you’re paying twice for postage. It can take weeks or months to get your information back. And, unless you’re mailing First Class, you have to pay a price for this service—but only on the pieces returned. So using endorsement lines can be expensive.

A fourth method is to NCOA your file before you mail. NCOA—or National Change of Address—is a software solution to updating your datafile. An NCOA service provider like Orion Direct can check your existing database again a Post Office master database. If an entry has changed, your database changes. It’s that simple.

Or not.

You need a provider like Paul & Partners that can help guide your list through this process. The list has to be modified to NCOA format...then run against the NCOA list...then returned to your native format. You truly need a professional like Paul & Partners on your side. It will make your life--and your list--so much happier.

So what is an NCOA file?

NCOA files are maintained by the Post Office. (Remember the last time you moved? Remember that yellow Post Office form you filled out with your old and new address? You intended the postal service to forward your Time Magazine properly, right? Well, they did forward your Time Magazine to you, but they also put your addresses—both old and new—into a database. And then they made that database available to mailers to confirm address accuracy.)

Upon running your housefile through the NCOA process, you are awarded a certificate. That certificate allows you to mail First Class Presort, Standard Presort, or Nonprofit Presort (NCOA certification no older than 90 days is required for all presort categories of mail) should you wish. It also shows the Post Office that you are concerned about list hygiene and doing your part to keep your list clean. Call it “good will” if you wish. More practically, it updates your file and reduces your outlay for non-deliverable packages. NCOA certification is valid for 90 days.

Upsides: It’s fast: an expedited NOCA can happen in a couple of hours. And it’s cheap. NCOA processing will also catch incomplete addresses (i.e. missing apartment/suite numbers) or mismatches between states and zips, or incorrect addresses (no such street number). It will tell you if someone has moved, and if so what their new address is. It will tell you if someone has moved overseas (no luck on that address, though). And it will tell you if the person is gone with no forwarding address (best to check Heavenly Acres for current residence status). So you can fix your list and get in the mail faster with cleaner information. That means more positive results faster.

Downsides: Did your recipient fill out his/her yellow moving form legibly? If the input keypuncher can’t read it, the entry may be wrong in the database. Mail could be misdirected. So there is a small element of human error involved. And about those incomplete or incorrect addresses: NCOA processing probably can’t fix them for you. It can pinpoint problems, but you have to make the fix later.

Also, an NCOA of a company file can not pinpoint if your specific recipient is still employed in his/her position; it can only tell you if the company address is still viable.

Bottom line: For speed, accuracy, cost and getting your corrected information back in a timely fashion, no other list cleaning technique equals an NCOA.

Direct mail marketing is tough enough. Mailing to people who no longer live where you think they live only makes it harder and more expensive.

Make it easier on yourself—and your organization’s pocketbook. Keep your data clean, eliminate duplicates and kill the “deadwood.” But get a professional like Paul & Partners to guide you. Professional help costs nothing more than the NCOA fee. But get that NCOA done. You’ll be surprised at how much your return rates will improve on your next mailing! Best yet: your boss will think you’re a genius.

Now that’s a win-win!

43670 Trade Center Place, Suite 150, Dulles, VA 20166

Phone: 703.996.0800 Fax: 703.996.0888

http://www.paulandpartners.net/ travis.boaz@paulandpartners

Our Services Include: mailing services, bulk mailing services, direct mailing service, printing and mailing services, mass mailing services, buy mailing lists, mailing lists, buy mailing list, mailing list service, mailing list, direct mail mailing list, direct mail post cards, direct mail house, direct mail programs, direct mail printers, direct mail solutions, direct mail cost, direct mail advertising services, direct mail post card, direct mail marketing services, direct mail companies, direct mail postcards, direct mail advertising, direct mail marketing, direct mail

TOP 10 DIRECT MAIL MISTAKES!

1 - Using the wrong list. This is the biggest and most costly mistake. Many people send out mailings, never get a measured response, and do not understand why. It is critical to ensure that your list is current and aims your message at the right target.

2 - Poor copy. No matter how many words you choose to use, they must be the RIGHT words. Spend time doing several versions with the goal of grabbing the readers attention. You only have a brief moment to convey your "Call to Action".

3 - No call to action. you must ask the reader to do SOMETHING! If you do not convey exactly what you want the reader to do, your marketing concept is worthless. Do you want them to pick up the phone and call you, or go to a particular web page? Make sure your "Call to Action" is clear and concise.

4 - No testing. Do not leave your marketing success to chance. Test your concept, hone and refine your message, and be ready for the potential response. Without testing your concept, your ROI will be jeopardized.

5 - Using hype over content. It is common to hype your product in place of highlighting the actual benefits and value to the consumer. Do not underestimate the intelligence of your target market. They can tell the difference!

6 - Not proofing the copy. Missing information (like phone numbers, web address, disclaimers) are the kiss of death for even a great Direct Mail campaign. Throughly proofread your marketing to assure that your not throwing money in the trash can! Have someone else review your marketing also to get a different perspective on potentially devastating errors.

7 - Not focusing on your headline. The biggest reason most of us throw Direct Mail straight into the trash, is that the headline did not catch our attention. Meaningless headlines or gimmicky sayings insult the readers intelligence. Use eye catching, pointed and meaningful headlines to increase your ROI, while not turning off a potential client.

8 - Highlighting form over function. A common mistake is placing too much emphasis on the creative design elements. Do not trade your valuable content for flashy graphics. Keep it simple!

9 - No follow up. Have a plan in place to react to the contact you will get from your marketing efforts. Using your marketing campaign to get the phone to ring is only half the battle. Have a plan for following up with leads, providing requested information and fulfilling service or product requests.

10 - Not tapping into expert advice. Learn more about what you would like to do from the experts in the industry. Direct mailing has been around a long time because it works very well when correctly implemented. We at Paul & Partners have spent our careers mastering the art of direct mailing. We know how to get results. We want to show you how to save money and help you devise a great marketing campaign that will get you more return for your marketing dollar!

43670 Trade Center Place, Suite 150, Dulles, VA 20166

Phone: 703.996.0800 Fax: 703.996.0888

www.paulandpartners.net travis.boaz@paulandpartners

Our Services Include: mailing services, bulk mailing services, direct mailing service, printing and mailing services, mass mailing services, buy mailing lists, mailing lists, buy mailing list, mailing list service, mailing list, direct mail mailing list, direct mail post cards, direct mail house, direct mail programs, direct mail printers, direct mail solutions, direct mail cost, direct mail advertising services, direct mail post card, direct mail marketing services, direct mail companies, direct mail postcards, direct mail advertising, direct mail marketing, direct mail