Yesterday I attended a great seminar put on by the SDDMA (San Diego Direct Mail Association). The presenter was the Director of List & Data Solutions for a local business here in San Diego.The focus of the event was how to maximize the most important element of your Direct Marketing campaigns…THE LIST. Whether you use one that is in house or you’ve purchased one from an outside vendor, about 40% of your success rate comes from targeting the correct demographic. Your campaign may have excellent copy, a clear call to action or even a great offer to go along with it, but if you have the wrong list you end up with ZERO response. If you’re working with an in house list, here are a couple of points to help you out.
- When registering a new client, gather as much information as you can
- Understand who you’re working with and profile your database
- Add more info and append demographic fields
- Rank – model and score your fields
One more thing to remember when using a house list…they will always change. People are constantly changing addresses, jobs, titles, etc…so keep them up to date. House lists are the most responsive…however, growth comes with prospecting. What’s the key to prospecting…take a hard look at who your customers are now (who’s coming to your site, who buys, etc…) and go out and find more that are just like them!
