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vidually prepared if the database has the information.
The objective – the purpose of the direct mail marketing activity
(or activities in a campaign) must be clear. Keep referring back to
it. Examples are – ‘to get a 5 per cent response rate with 2 per cent
converted into sales’; ‘to raise charitable donations exceeding
£XX,000 in total’.
A useful way to see if any objective will work is to test it against
the SMART criteria. The letters stand for: S = Specific, M =
Measurable, A = Agreed, R = Reasonable, T = Timebound. What it
means is that an objective should not be vague: ‘specific’ implies a
figure; a target, with the ‘timebound’ giving a date when the objec-
tive should be achieved. ‘Measurable’ means just that. ‘Agreed’
means giving an objective that all those involved agree with
which.
Once the decision is made to go for direct mail, decide who is
responsible for decisions and planning procedures/logistics to get
the mailshot created and who is to produce it under the creator’s
direction. In order to measure achievement, you need to allocate a
budget and delegate responsibility to a single person overall. As
direct marketing usually relies on an internal database – and if you
are likely to do more mailshots, then it is best to set it up as an in-
house operation. Integrated marketing more or less requires
everyone to be aware of every marketing activity to make sure the
customer view is one of seamless communication. So, go for an in-
house operation. If it is a first-time situation then it may be better
to use a freelance specialist to come in and advise you, to avoid
making too many mistakes.
Direct Mail
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For in-house production it is possible to purchase appropriate
equipment to save on the cost of the direct mail marketing activity.
The advent of desk top publishing along with the price drop of
some printing and camera equipment, means it is now possible to
justify printing in-house small quantities (say less than 5,000
copies) of material cheaper and very much faster. This means that
material can be updated or personalized every time. It means you
can test out ideas in-house and with a small group of customers
before giving the larger run to a printer. Double-sided A4 full
colour laser printers with scanners are less than £2,000 (as at
August 2001). Professional digital cameras are priced at under
£1,000. The computer with a sufficiently large memory capacity
and software is also around £1,000.
If you use a commercial digital printer subsequently, then the
material for printing can be supplied through the Web or on disk
(CD ROM) again saving time. It is worth paying a visit to a commer-
cial digital printer just to see how compact (even with lacquering)
a digital press is – no larger than a small broom cupboard. To
contemplate the 10 terabyte memory that it has is mindboggling.
As an example, the time to type in, produce and print an eight-side
A4 newsletter in full colour with photographs can be within a day
using a commercial digital printer.
Another possible saving, but using conventional litho printing,
is to use a ‘gang’ machine, which prints personalized mailings
from computer on to headed paper; prints addresses and any
messages on to printed envelopes; folds and stuffs the mailing and
any inserts into the envelope; seals the envelope and then franks
the envelope with the appropriate postage. Preparing mail for
mailsort is also a possibility. This sort of single pass ‘gang’ machine
– the speed of the service set against its cost in terms of capital
and maintenance – should be compared with your present
method. For example, an organization that offers to print in-house
and quotes two to three weeks to send out a mailing for 4,000 –
because a lot of the process is carried out by hand – may well
mean that customer relations are adversely affected. Volumes of
mailings should also be considered as a factor. A typical ‘gang’
machine can produce 22,000 pages an hour – every hour of every
day.
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Direct Marketing
The planning stage
Note: this book looks at the mailshot process from both the direc-
tional and operational view – in reality, direction and operational
management may be tasks undertaken by two people. The best
way to proceed is as follows:
■ Responsibility. Give the whole job to someone. Put them in
charge of creativity and the logistics, tell them the objective –
the purpose. Agree with them how success is to be judged and
how it is to be measured (it is a good idea to let the person with
the overall responsibility for the mailshot come forward with
their own key performance indicator and its measurement – but
of course you give the job of doing the measuring to someone
else). Give them a budget, which includes the cost of
measuring.
■ Creativity. Describe the target audience (in a profile) and the
message you want the customers to retain. Assemble the facts
that support that message, the brand profile and any other
marketing activities in hand. To ensure you are consistent
across your marketing, define the responses both desired and
any alternatives the customer might take as a result of receiving
the mailshot and have to hand the legal requirements of direct
mail (see next bullet). Timetable the operation working back
from the preferred date for the customer receiving the mailshot.
■ Logistics. Decide how the mailshot is to be put together. The
team you need, the space and timings for the operation. Not
only do you need to check with the Data Protection Registrar
that you may use your list for the mailshot, but the Advertising
Standards Authority for what you say and also the Royal Mail
to ensure your package does not violate any postal regulations.
(See the Appendix 3.)
Design stage
First, think customer. Customers are becoming increasingly direct
mail literate and direct mail cynical. The material should of
course be stimulating, interesting, relevant and readable. The
objective – the purpose – needs to be kept in mind along with the
profile, limits of perception and understanding of the customer. It
is no good being too clever and winning a design award for
Direct Mail
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53
creativity if it doesn’t bring in sufficient customers. Actually direct
marketers do not usually fall into this trap, it is usually advertisers,
but… there are always a few.
Prepare rough layouts and copy and test alternatives – the initial
package will no doubt be revised a number of times, and time
should be allowed for this. The package will include some of the
following, but you must have a letter – people expect it. The letter
is what they read first:
■ The letter. This tells the story and gives the individual spin. It is
easy to get carried away. It should be written in a personal way
– including a touch of humanity, just as if you were there
talking to them. The amount to include depends on where you
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