A new improvement has been added to the the Prospect Download consumer direct marketing database, which can help reduce marketing costs, improve targeting and minimise wastage.

By linking with the most up-to-date and complete address database in the UK, users of Prospect Download lists can obtain more accurately addressed data, which helps reduce the financial and environmental cost of wastage, and helps prevent alienating recipients with inaccurately addressed mail. Furthermore, additional cost savings can now be obtained as using PAF can also help maximise potential mailing discounts.

The new feature comes on the heels of a recently launched improved postcode targeting tool, which allows users to enter their chosen postcode then search for all postcode districts within a chosen radius up to a maximum of 30 miles. Rather than hunting through maps of your area, the new tool makes it fast and simple to identify your local geographic target area.

The consumer version of Prospect Download allows online users to build a list selection from over 34 million individuals by using a wide range of criteria; age, gender, income and lifestyle segment. All data is checked regularly for accuracy, and is screened against all the relevant suppression files.

Prospect Download offers free registration and free counts, and lists can be purchased on a Pay As You Go basis with no minimum order value.

Any marketer would do well to remember the AIDA mnemonic:

A= Attract; Attract your target with colours image or words

I = Interest; Engage your target by capturing and maintain his interest

D= Desire; Make him want your product or service

A = Action: Tell him what he needs to do to get it

Remember AIDA – it will serve you well!

Every direct marketing campaign needs to have a goal or objective against which results can be compared.

To help set your campaign goals you can research typical response rates for your sector or industry, or gather data on any previous mailings to set a benchmark.

Your goals might just be sales based. Or they might include driving visitors to your website, generating enquiries for your sales team, encouraging previous customers to get back in touch, generating word of mouth referrals and so on. Make sure you set realistic goals for your campaign though, which are actually achievable.

Include in your goals some financial objectives like the average anticipated profit from each conversion, cost of the campaign and a cost per ‘000 sent, conversions needed to break even, and so on.

Identify your target market in as detail as possible. If possible categorise your target segment as much as you can – technology allows you to send different messages to different sub groups.

Turn all of this into a simple one page plan for your campaign.

For help selecting your target audience call Selectabase on 01304 382211.

Which direct marketing method is most effective: traditional direct mail campaigns, or next generation email marketing? Direct mail is sent to businesses and consumers every day by a very wide range of organisations. Email marketing using opt in data is widely used, and growing more rapidly in popularity.

So what are the relative merits of each direct marketing method?

The Benefits of Email Marketing

• Email marketing is direct marketing at its most impactful. Your message lands right in the inbox of your recipient, your message can be personalised, and even targeted to individual recipients.
• Email marketing can be timed to the day, the hour and even minute, in order to reach consumers just when they are likely to make a buying decision.
• Email marketing can also be tracked in detail, even to the amount of people who open and read your email, or who forward it to a friend.
• Email marketing is more environmentally friendly, and has a far lower carbon footprint than other marketing methods.
• Email marketing can be more cost effective as it does not need costly mailing houses, production, postage and so on. However data costs can be higher and email campaigns require a broadcasting partner.
• Email marketing is highly effective in growing online sales for e-commerce sites: in just a few clicks the recipient can act on impulse and buy from your site.

The Benefits of Direct Mail

• Direct mailshots are a tangible and physical representative of your brand, which can be held in the recipient’s hands. A mailer with high production values can say much about your brand, just through its size, feel and texture.
• Direct mail is well established and proven as a marketing tool. Consumers and businesses are used to receiving marketing messages in the post, and are receptive to the message they convey.
• Direct mail can also be used to increase your online sales from your website: increasing numbers of mail order companies are finding that their catalogues are becoming increasingly effective at driving consumers online to order, instead of by mail or phone.
• Quality direct mail data is generally more affordable and more widespread, and does not come with fixed broadcast costs and fewer issues over compliance and the opt in procedure. The direct mail industry is also far more mature with a wider range of suppliers available.
• Direct mail does not have to fight its way through complex spam and junk mail filters used in many email programs.

One fact is universal: any direct marketing campaign needs great quality data. For advice on sourcing the best list for your campaigns, contact us on 01304 382211.

Imagine your business has just won it’s industry equivalent of the Oscars. Who will you remember to thank in your acceptance speech? Your staff, suppliers, accountant or bank manager even? How about remembering a small thank you for the most important people of all – your customers.

When times are tough, it’s more important than ever to hang on to your existing customer base. After all, finding new ones to replace them can be time consuming and costly. One way of keeping up a good relationship with your customers is by staying in regular contact, and maybe even extending the occasional thank you for their custom.

Sending a regular mailshot to customers with the latest news about your business, products and services, along with a ‘thank you for your continued support’ message reassures customers they are buying from the right people, and that your business is still alive and kicking! Alternatively you can phone customers with a customer service focused courtesy call, just to see if they need anything.

Of course before you do this we recommend a hygiene check of your database. We can help provide a free audit to highlight if there are any incomplete addresses or gone-aways using Clean My List.

If you have too many customers to stay in touch with, or very limited resources, then ask us to fulfill the postal campaign for you or at least target the top clients. They could be the customers who always recommend you, cause the least customer service aggregation, who pay the highest prices, or who buy the most profitable lines.

If your enquiries reveal that a customer is dissatisfied with your service, then you have a chance to deal with the issue before it becomes too serious. Take criticism on the chin and seek a resolution wherever possible.

There’s also another dimension to maintaining good relations with your customers. In this brave new world of social media fueled online chatter, its even more important to keep your most important team members, your customers, on side and on message. Thanks to forums, blogs and social networks bad news about your business can travel fast!

Remember sending a letter in the post can be perceived as more personal than email, plus we can take care of the complete print and post process – all we need is your PDF letterhead, your CSV address list of recipients. We’ll print, insert and send them all for less than the cost of a 2nd class stamp! You can do this online 24/7 using the Create & Post tool or offline with a Selectabase team member during normal working ours.