information from www.MarketingViews.com
Contents of MarketingViews - issue 1 | |
| THE ULTRA-SECOND MANAGER | Returns to sender. Increasing response rates. |
| HANDS-ON TIPS | ACSL's 7 Laws of Direct Marketing |
| SAR-VIEWS | SUN IN BELGIUM |
| BOOK OF THE MONTH | "Direct Marketing Strategies and Tactics - Unleash the Power of Direct Marketing for Bigger Profits." |
| ROOTS | SPARC International, Inc |
| REFLECTIONS | The dangers of being "invisible". Reviewing your media. |
One liners about marketing for the really busy people who don't have time to read the articles.
...If you don't get a bag full of "returns to sender" every day, then you probably aren't doing enough direct mail.
This assumes you aren't using 3rd class mail (in the US) and that you ARE interested in tracking and deleting these returns. If your mailer design does not encourage "returns to sender" then you may have a low return rate, but you will continue wasting money the next time you mail these lists. The average rate of contact/address changes varies in different segments. In the UK, the average rate of change in current SPARC contacts is in the range 20% to 30% per annum. Rates are highest in vendor organizations.
This change rate includes the obvious factors such as contacts or companies who have moved, but it also includes the less obvious factors of changed post codes, and the changed interest in the recipients.
For example: SPARCstation users who are replacing their workstations with PC's for new desktop applications, may still be classified as "Sun users" in your mailing list, but they should be removed or sent mailings more relevant to their needs.
...The simplest way to increase your response rate is to add the words "Java" and "world wide web" in your promotion.
ACSL's list rental customers, who were promoting internet related products and services in the UK during the first half of 1996 reported response rates which were consistently higher than those for conventional products (workstations, upgrades and other software). It's reasonable to assume, that this trend may continue during the second half of the year.
The late Isaac Asimov managed to write volumes of entertaining stories which revolved around his three fundamental laws of robotics...
The stories showed that complex behaviour can result from apparently simple origins. Asimov's fictional robots would be an unpredictable enough bunch of individuals to market to. The problem for direct marketers in real-life is that we are constrained to use mechanistic methods to mass communicate with large numbers of quite illogical humans who are driven by motivations and programming that we can only guess at from our remote perspectives.
Some of the books which my colleague Janet Downes recommends in her marketing courses include literally hundreds of rules or checklists. Below is a list of 7 simple rules which are based on our practical experience of being involved in hundreds of clients' mailshots in the business to business computer systems market.
| 1 | Get your message to the right people. |
The worst designed communication, can still get results if it goes to the right people. If they have a desperate need for your product, and your competitors haven't got to them first, you might still succeed in getting a response... But, the best designed communication in the world can't make up for a business proposition which is not compatible with the needs, interests or aspirations of the recipient. An offer which is uncompetitive, unsound, or irrelevant, does not improve your business by being better packaged. |
| 2 | Get your message noticed at the right time. |
If a prospect sees (or hears) your communication when they have a strong need and interest in that subject, there's a good chance they will try to contact you, even if your mailer is very badly designed, and even if they have to look up your number in the phone book! On the other hand... If the same prospect sees (or hears) your communication just AFTER they have satisfied their need for that product, they may be interested to see what they missed, but it's more likely they will ignore it (or never notice it because they have stopped "looking"). So your chances of getting an order, from this well qualified person who is still receiving mailshots, and is in your ideal segment, are exceedingly remote. This is a good argument for regularly mailing your target segments (if their buying times are random) or synchronizing your activity with your market's buying cycle if there is an element of seasonality. But you also need to consider rule 3. |
| 3 | Make sure you can afford it. |
Your direct marketing should contribute to your profitability and business goals. If it doesn't, then spend less, or investigate ways to improve. If your direct marketing is unsustainable.. one day someone will pull the plug. If your direct marketing is profitable, consider increasing or decreasing your volume until you are getting the optimum benefit for your business needs. If direct marketing is a big part of your marketing mix, you should constantly measure and analyse its effectiveness, as with any other part of your business. |
| 4 | Practise makes perfect. |
If you hunt in the forest every week with a bow and arrow, you will eat more game than the tourist who comes down once a year armed with the latest rifle. Books and courses can prepare you with the fundamental do's and don'ts. But regular testing in your market is the only way to keep in touch with how your customers will react to what you communicate. Regular testing is a good discipline and means that you are always ready for that moment of truth when your company needs results fast, throws a large budget at you and expects you to bring in the bacon. |
| 5 | Ignore other people's response rates and focus on your own profitability. |
Hearing about another company's 20% response rate while you get more "returns to sender" than positive inquiries may harm your morale and divert you from the straight and narrow. Resist the temptation to seek a high response just for the sake of it. But in some cases it may be better to get a 1% response rate from people who have self qualified themselves and have genuine interest in your products, than getting a 20% response from people who may not even be sure what your product is about. The "don't knows" can waste valuable telemarketing and personal sales resources to take you back to the genuine 1% (if they are in that sample at all). Absolute percentages are meaningless. If your average order size is $100,000 and you get 10% order conversion from a 1% inquiry rate, you could be doing better (or worse) than the company which sells a $75 software package and gets 20% inquiry rate and 20% conversion. It depends on the profit margins of each product, the likelihood of repeat sales, and your related marketing costs in qualifying and following up each inquiry. Percentages are very important when you are comparing your own trends. But setting a goal for a response rate in isolation to profit means your motivation and results will be off the target. |
| 6 | The only important rules are the ones that work... ...for you in your own market. |
If markets and technologies never changed, and all people behaved the same, you could probably write a set of rules and software to do your direct marketing. Luckily that's unlikely to happen anytime soon in this market. If it did, the output from such a process would become boring, and the market would switch to favour the first company which broke those rules. Your experience shows you that the "killer mailer" from last year might not work quite so well today. You have to work hard even to stay in the same place in your market's awareness. The expectations of your market change with every day, and with every communication they receive from you, your competitors and from other sources. Direct marketing is really a black art. True, quite a lot of Science is used: as a tool, as a measurement device, even as part of the product delivery. But when all the lights and mirrors are taken away you're looking at trying to affect the behaviour of large numbers of people you will never meet to take a more positive look at a future product which may not even exist yet. The wonder is not that it works so well, but that it works at all. |
| 7 | Keep it legal, decent, honest and truthful. |
This rule is from the Advertising Standards Authority in the United Kingdom. We should always remember that our communications operate within the legal and cultural frameworks within which we operate. Sometimes assumptions which are valid in one framework may be invalid in another. Therefore a mailer which is accepted as normal in one country, may actually be illegal in another. Similarly, a photograph or verbal proposition which is effective in one country, may be offensive or misunderstood somewhere else. |
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The article above was by ACSL, but if direct marketing really interests you, take a look at hundreds of online questions and answers by the Drayton Bird Partnership. Mr Bird has written some very good books about traditional (pre digital) direct marketing, and many of these ideas can cross over into communicating on the web or other media. |
SPARC Authorised (hardware) Resellers are the backbone of the SPARC systems market. Every month we'll have a short article written by a SAR in a different country or state writing about some aspect of their market and the problems they work out.
This month's SAR-VIEWS article "Sun in Belgium" is contributed by Vincent LEYMARIE - Director, Source Information Technology.
Businesses are demanding more and more from their IT organisations. They are under great pressure from customers and shareholders to provide better service, quicker response time and more accurate information. They are, in turn, driving their IT organisations to change the existing IT infrastructure to deliver those changes.
To address those demands most IT organisations are implementing network computing environments. Network computing offers businesses the ability to meet customer demands by implementing a flexible and adaptable IT infrastructure. These changes have enabled customers to develop new systems that give them competitive advantage in their markets.
Implementing network computing enables businesses to use their existing mainframes and PC's more effectively. It allows them to maintain their heterogeneous environment while providing them with better functions and capabilities than previously available.
In this context, Sun's value proposition is very simple. It is to make businesses more competitive by using network computing. Network computing is a superset of client-server computing that allows a system to communicate with any other system. This results in improvements in the flow of information through a business.
The key elements of Sun's strategy for networking computing are :
Sun Microsystems Belgium includes two offices : one located in Zaventem near Brussels, the other one in Luxemburg. Started in June 1991, Sun Microsystems Belgium numbers over 80 employees. Their major tasks are :
The partnership model covers Sun Authorised Resellers, Netra Authorised Resellers, ISV's, System integrators and consultants.
Since 1995, the aftermarketing services from SunExpress have been provided by Source Information Technology (Tel : +32 2-721.54.10).
Three years ago Sun set some very aggressive goals : double revenue in three years, become a server vendor and be a quality supplier to the customers.
In the last three years, revenue increased by 220 %, the number of servers/year quadrupled, and ISO9002 was obtained last year.
Amongst the clients we find : Alcatel, BBL, BP Oil, Cedel Bank, De Persgroep Hoste, European Commission, FOREM, Generale Bank/Ginirale de Banque, Krijgsmacht/Force Armie, Metalim, Nationale Loterij/Loterie Nationale, NATO/OTAN, Opel, Philips, Provincie Vlaams-Brabant, Roularta, Sabena, VLM, VUM.
Sun is more than ever dedicated to be(come) the dominant server vendor, and to go for Total Quality Management.
More information on Sun can be found on http://www.sun.com
More information on SunExpress can be requested from info@source.be
If you would like to contact the author to discuss this article, contact:-
Vincent LEYMARIE - Director
Source Information Technology
Hermesstraat 6B
B1930 - Zaventem
Belgium
Tel +32 2 721.54.10
Fax +32 2 725.88.50
email:- vile@source.be
url:- http://www.source.be
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