Simon's blog archive

2011 is fast coming to an end, before it does I want to share some of the lessons that came from working on close to 200 direct marketing campaigns. While much of these are not new, they bear repeating especially for those new to this blog and direct marketing in general.

Companies who conduct direct marketing are drawn to its targeting opportunities, measurability and ability to personalise a message. While there are a lot of new developments in relation to exciting personalisation and materials, most direct marketers know that these alone won't guarantee success.

The key is and always will be to get your mix right. Timing, creative materials, effectiveness of copy writing, offer strength, brand awareness/reputation and of course list selection all need to be working together to compel your prospect to act now.

Every week I would be getting between five to ten enquiries for business email addresses. As was the case in 2000 when I joined this industry, there is very little in the way of permission based business email data available in Australia.

There is a huge demand for this data and the only permission based options which exist currently are two SME email lists of less than 100,000 records, a few industry specific email lists of around 5,000 to 10,000 records and consumer email lists which offer occupation targeting.

While some list companies also offer 'inferred consent' email lists in addition to these, personally I think these types of lists are to be avoided. For starters I believe some of these lists would contain data which complies with the SPAM Act but also some data which does not. Never buy an email list which uses info@ emails, these do not relate to a specific area of the business as required by the SPAM Act.

I also strongly believe most of the recipients would have an initial reaction that you have spammed them. Before thinking about the low cost and speed of getting out a campaign, pay greater consideration to the damage you are going to inflict upon your brand in the eyes of many potential customers.

Buying lists is something most direct marketers do in-frequently and in some cases are simply looking for the cheapest quote. Lists are like anything else, you get what you pay for. If you buy data for around 10c per unit or less (apart from schools list which tend to be cheaper due to the lower updating costs), chances are your level of inaccuracy is going to be well above industry standards.

While pricing, quantity and selection criteria are the main factors influencing my client's final decision, I always stress the importance of the list owner's customer service. Australia is fortunate to have some terrific list owners who have a great product and equally great people backing it up. I always pay particular attention to how they react when things go wrong, it's where the elite operators really shine through.

While most companies have a good idea of their target market, many still struggle when it comes to devising some killer benefit statements. This to me is an area where you have the greatest opportunity to gain an advantage on your competition regardless of whether they use direct or some other marketing channel.

Testing is still not done anywhere near enough in Australia. If you're planning on spending thousands of dollars trying to win new clients, the least you can do is come up with more than one offer, mail piece or email and test more than one list. Test, test, test and then measure, it can be a real eye opener!

If you want to get a direct marketing campaign out before Christmas there is still time. Unless it's relevant to your own situation to go later, I tend to recommend conducting your campaign by the second week of December.

If you run out of time, generally it's best to hold off until late January for an early new year campaign once people get back from holidays.

Generally speaking a list can be ordered and delivered within 24 hours via email. If it's an email campaign then scheduling a broadcast could be around a week to turn around but this can blow out around Christmas. The rest of your campaign may take a little longer so try your best not to leave things until the last minute. When campaigns are organised in a hurry, the chances of a mistake multiply.

Obtaining a list over Christmas/New Year can be quite difficult as most of our suppliers close for one or two weeks over Christmas. Personally I will be taking annual leave from Monday December 19th to Tuesday January 17th. I will be checking emails from time to time.

An often overlooked aspect of a direct marketing mail piece is the opt-out clause. If you are planning on renting a consumer list to conduct a mail-out, the Use and Disclosure section of the Privacy Act 1988 states that your piece must display '...a notice, that he or she may express a wish not to receive any further direct marketing communications;'

An opt-out clause generally takes the form of a single sentence which states your recipient can contact you to be excluded from your future direct marketing campaigns. Should such a request be made of your organisation, you are required to honour it by law and cannot charge the person for their request to be met.

If you are including a cover letter, the footer is the most common location for your opt-out clause however it can be placed wherever you wish.

For a rented business list mailing then it is merely considered best practice to include an opt-out. I do however feel it's best to include one as it shows your recipient that your company is considerate of people's preferences and won't contact them if they'd prefer not to be contacted in future. 

As you conduct each campaign, be sure to record the details of your 'opt-outs' in a database (i.e. simple excel file will do). This way if you are using different lists the list supplier can simply exclude your 'opt-outs' at the time of ordering so these people are not contacted again.  

If you've noticed a fall in response and been using the same list for some time, chances are list fatigue is becoming an issue. 

With many high quality lists on the market, there is no excuse for continually going back to the same one again and again. The key is to know your target market so your broker can source other lists of a similar ilk.

Obviously some of your prospects from list 1 will be part of list 2 but in most cases the cross-over is less than 10%. 

By testing a wide variety of lists over time, you will eventually find a good mix of options to tap into throughout the year and broaden your customer base.

Without a doubt, many direct marketers are drawn to the lower cost of email marketing. It's also instant, doesn't require paper, printing, postage or mail processing and you can direct your prospect straight to your website.

Email marketing is a powerful tool and has entrenched itself in the arsenal of many of the nation's most successful advertisers.

The landscape of email lists throughout Australia is heavily skewed towards consumer rather than business data. If you are a b2b marketer chances are there is very little on offer which is SPAM Act compliant. b2c marketers however can take their pick from scores of opt-in email lists ranging from 50,000 to 500,000 records in most cases.

There are two opt-in email lists of small to medium businesses both in the range of 70,000 to 80,000 records. There are some smaller niche lists for certain industries which are also opt-in. Apart from that most of the other options are 'inferred consent' lists (see Feb 2nd blog) or consumer lists where we use occupation based targeting.

Email marketing is best suited for consumer based campaigns and market research. Having a website is a must and a well designed one containing relevant information critical to your chances of success.

If you are keen to trial email marketing, check with your broker which pricing models are available. The most common form of pricing is cost per record where you pay for each recipient of your email, this tends to range from 20c to 30c each. There is also cost per click available with some suppliers (50c to $1 each) and even cost per acquisition/action ($2 to $5 in most cases).

Predicting if a direct marketing campaign will succeed or fail is a challenge to say the least. There are a large number of variables at play plus external forces which can help or hinder your result.

Knowing your target market is a crucial first step. Providing your list broker with a clear brief of the right target market will dramatically increase the chance of your campaign hitting a very suitable audience. A vague and ill conceived brief is a recipe for failure.

Successful campaigns always have a clear message as to how the recipient will benefit through taking up the offer. Make sure you put yourself in your prospect's shoes and tailor an offer that will make their life easier in some way or improve the profitability of their business (for business to business marketers).

A well presented mail piece, email, fax or sms or a polite phone call might sound like an obvious ingredient. The reality is there are a lot of companies using direct marketing who do not measure up in this department and can end up doing damage to their brand. People are giving you a moment of their time in reading your letter/email/fax/sms or taking your call, never lose sight of this.

A call to action is also often present with successful campaigns. This could be in the form of an early bird or time sensitive offer. However it is presented, giving an enticement to respond quickly will help reduce the likelihood of prospects who are actually interested never getting around to contacting you.

The other often overlooked ingredient with a successful campaign is prior testing. Companies who conduct large scale successful campaigns have generally been testing lists, target audiences, offers and design elements for many years. It's rare that a first time campaign is a stunning success, DM is a numbers game and a craft that is refined and improved upon over time. 

If you were to speak with every single person on a prospecting list and receive an honest answer regarding their current needs, chances are most wouldn't be in the market for what you sell. On the other hand, many would be likely to have such a need arise over the next six to twelve months.

Contacting a prospect once who may or may not have even heard of your company, probably isn't in the market right now and expecting them to buy there and then is a tough proposition.

Rather than contact a list of 10,000 prospects once, why not conduct two 5,000 unit campaigns 6 months apart to the same audience? The recall of your first campaign would be significant on the second plus a higher percentage will have experienced a need for what you are selling.

I've often stressed the importance of carefully considering your benefit statements. They are what drive someone to act upon being convinced that by responding to your offer, they will be better off in some way.

When devising your benefit statements, why not spend time thinking of reasons why a prospect would not take up your offer? This can be a valuable exercise that throws up some interesting outcomes.

After coming up with a list of reasons, focus on three of these and see if your benefit statements can be used to counteract them. i.e. Impediment: Sign-up process too long and complicated over the phone. Benefit Statement: A member of friendly our client services team can visit your workplace to assist in the sign-up process plus answer any questions.

Convincing a prospect to leave their current supplier and choose you is not easy. It's something that requires a great deal of planning and persistence. While price can drive some decisions to shift suppliers, great products/services backed up by excellent service and expertise will shift far more.

I often receive a report from my client following a list rental in relation to how their campaign fared and which records were no longer current. When dealing with business lists, the number one cause for an error is that the person has left the business. Such a record is far from useless as there is nothing stopping you from asking to speak with their replacement.

If you plan to telemarket a business list (whether your own list or a rental list), you will encounter quite a few instances of the contact person having left the company. With around one in five of use changing jobs each year, it's little wonder!

Should the recipient of your call advise you that the person no longer works there, ask to speak with their replacement. Where your average telemarketer might give up, a committed sales professional will try to establish the right person to speak with and in many cases be given this name.

A regular piece of feedback I have received over the years is that someone new to a company can be a viable prospect. Where their predecessor may have dealt with one of your competitors for a lengthy period and/or chosen against working with your business, a new contact may at least give you the time of day.

Confidence on the phone is vital when trying to make contact with a prospective client. If you have ever had to make 'cold calls' you know how hard it can be and the degree of rejection you can face.

The trap a lot of people fall into when making a sales call is to burn through the calls as quickly as they can. A few rejections early on and suddenly their confidence is shot.

This lack of confidence tends to feed into the outcome and ruin what was intended to be a chance to do something positive for your company.

The first five seconds are critical as to whether your recipient will decide to have a meaningful conversation with you. If your confidence is shot or if you are simply going through the motions, the recipient will pick up on this and end the call ASAP.

Those who excel at this difficult task are the ones who treat each call as unique and an opportunity to showcase their brand and their own professionalism. These people are also worth their weight in gold!

One respected client recently commented that he asks his telemarketers to include lapsed contacts in amongst a rental list. Calls to lapsed clients are likely to be slightly easier than to a rental list presenting an opportunity to increase your confidence. I think this is a terrific piece of advice.

As I have mentioned on numerous occasions in this blog, your prospect owes you nothing and you must treat them with absolute respect at all times. NEVER talk over someone, there is nothing worse than receiving a sales call with someone who spends 90% of the call doing the talking and fails to listen when you manage to get a word in.

Over confidence and in some case sheer arrogance is something you need to avoid at all costs. I can think of a few calls I've taken recently where the person calling me has acted as though we have been working together for ten years. What's on for the weekend and what's for dinner are questions probably best asked well after call number one!

Consider your or your telemarketers’ confidence levels when planning your next campaign. Any measures you can implement that will increase these levels will definitely improve your chances of a successful outcome.

What separates a good from a great campaign? This is a question all direct marketers want answered now but can spend many years attempting to discover.

Over the years I've been briefed on thousands of different direct marketing campaigns. Every single person I speak with has a picture of their target market. Some know their target market better than others. What's apparent however is that all direct marketers are striving to send relevant messages to their potential customers.

Make sure you and your team deeply consider your targeting during the planning stage. Are you looking for prospects resembling your current customer base or is it time to explore new markets?

It's a list broker's job to know the strengths and weaknesses of the various lists on the market. The list broker however is reliant on their client knowing exactly who to target. A high quality list will still fail if the targeting is all wrong.

Offer strength is paramount. Often overlooked when planning a direct marketing campaign is the notion that the recipient of your letter, call, email, fax or sms is giving you a few moments of their time. This person is likely to decide in the first five seconds whether or not to read or listen on so make sure you have an offer which is strong and prominently displayed.

5% off is better than nothing but not by much! If your offer is price related, think long and hard about this potential customer's lifetime value to your business. An offer doesn't have to be price related and can be as creative as your imagination allows.

Timing is everything in life and it's no different with your campaign. Are you and your staff too busy to do the campaign justice right now? Should we market during peak selling times of the year or the slower months? Are our prospects around during school holidays or off with their children? Is Friday afternoon the right time to send my email or should I aim for midweek-midmorning instead? Only you can answer these types of questions but do consider them.

Creative is one area a campaign some direct marketers focus solely on. While well presented and clever DM material looks great, if there is no real offer, your targeting is off and timing lousy then it will still fail. Yes come up with great creative materials but don't expect them to do 100% of the work.

External factors can work for or against your campaign. They cannot be controlled but in some cases you can anticipate them playing a role allowing you to prepare for certain scenarios. Changes to Government policy, interest rate movements, competitor activity, major news events (i.e. elections, natural disasters), negative/positive publicity for your brand can all come into play.

The effectiveness or otherwise of any other marketing you are conducting at the time of your campaign will play a role. Receiving your message from more than one channel will increase your chances of success. If your prospect remembers your TV commercial when reading your letter you are in a good position.

These are just some of the factors that will determine the outcome of your campaign. When planning your campaign make sure you are considering each of them and you might just be on your way to your own perfect storm.

Email marketing has experienced major growth over the past decade which doesn't look like slowing down anytime soon. If email marketing is something you are considering, this blog outlines some of the key considerations.

One of the main attractions is the lower cost compared with the likes of direct mail and telemarketing. This however should not be your sole reason for choosing email. It needs to be relevant to your company and the way you do business.

If you are about to invest in an email marketing campaign you need to make sure your website is ready. Not only should your content be up to date and any special offers outlined, you need to check with your web hoster that your site can deal with the higher level of traffic. Generally speaking the first couple of hours is where the majority of activity will take place so find out if your site can deal with thousands of visits in a short period of time.

You need to make sure you can target your message to a suitable list of prospects. It would be wrong to rent a list with no targeting when your product or service is relevant to only a segment of that list. Never lose sight of the damage you can do to your brand by sending emails to unsuitable recipients.

Lack of suitable data is a major problem for business to business marketers. With a major lack of permission based email lists in Australia, many marketers are left to make do with consumer email lists or some smaller SME lists. Some even run the risk of a fine through using Spam lists.

You will need to familiarise yourself with the Spam Act which is the relevant piece of Legislation relating to email marketing in Australia. There are many useful websites which also outline the fundamentals you need to understand and define the key terminology.

Unless you are a Government agency, political party, market researcher, religious group or charity you will need to rent an email list which is permission based. This involves the recipient of your email having previously 'opt-in' to receive commercial emails from advertisers.

In most cases the company who has built the list will send the email on your behalf. This ensures the recipient recognises your email as something to which they have opt-in and not spam. If the list owner was to give you their email list to send the emails, many of them would appear in junk email folders and most recipients will question whether or not you have just sent them Spam.

Some of the consumer email lists on the market today provide an incentive for the recipient to click-thru to your website. While some advertisers and email marketers are against the use of such lists, I disagree. If someone fitting your target market is on your website (even if rewarded), surely that is a good thing. You need to back your website and product or service in with an offer too good to refuse.

I see many advertisers active regularly with lists that provide members with incentives to click-thru. These advertisers wouldn't go back to these lists if they did not achieve results.

The growth of spam has been the number one challenge facing the legitimate email marketing. While the vast majority of Australian companies who undertake email marketing are aware of the Spam Act and abide by the rules, the real spammers keep churning out their garbage with very few ever captured and prosecuted.

As with any form of direct marketing it is all about relevance/correct targeting, list quality, offer strength, timing, call to action and solid execution of your message. Just because you've always averaged a 2% response rate with mail doesn't necessarily mean email will be the same.

As I have blogged many times before, your prospect owes you nothing and must be treated with the upmost respect at all times. The companies who get this are the ones not surprisingly whose campaigns flourish more often than not.

To finish here are my top 10 tips;

1) Include a strong offer.

2) Keep your subject line to around 7/8 words tops.

3) Do not send attachments.

4) Avoid early Monday and late Friday send times unless they are relevant to your circumstances.

5) Setup a separate landing page on your website for this campaign, avoid linking to your homepage.

6) If possible include one or two images which reinforce a key benefit.

7) Never using misleading subject lines or misleading content within the email itself.

8) Test different days of the week and times of day to find the right option for you.

9) Test multiple lists so see whether the channel has on-going potential for your business.

10) Test your email in a variety of email platforms (i.e outlook, gmail, hotmail, lotus etc)

In my previous blog I discussed the importance of testing. There are many elements which you can test when conducting a campaign but if you are not measuring the results, your testing is wasted.

One of the most obvious yet frequently overlooked measurement techniques is to notify your colleagues of your campaign. In particular staff who have direct dealings with new enquiries, especially those answering the phone. Make sure they are asking new enquirers how they found you and record details of those who are as a result of your campaign.

If conducting a mail-out, a printed code is an effective way to measure the response rate of multiple direct mail pieces and/or rental lists. If your mail piece contains a response form, print the code directly in this section. If there is no response form, refer to the code as a means of the recipient gaining access to a special deal so they mention it on the phone.

If your website asks how this person found you, ensure the campaign IS shown as one of the options. When I shop online as a result of a special promotion, I regularly can't see the campaign that brought me to their site as one of the options.

With email campaigns your broker will generally have access to statistics regarding opens, clicks and forwards. You should however still monitor your own web site statistics to gauge the full impact of the additional traffic the campaign brings to your site. If you have the ability to do so, create a designated landing page for the campaign so you can isolate the traffic at your end.

One of the most effective exercises when measuring your results is calculating what each new lead or client has cost you. A 2,000 item mail-out once you factor in the list, postage, printing and mail-processing could cost around $2,000. Let's say it generates 20 new clients. Divide the $2,000 by your 20 new clients and we can see each one cost you $100.

Measurement can be as scientific or simplistic as you like, the key is to ensure it happens. Make no mistake about it, if you are testing and measuring you will start to achieve some very solid returns over time.

If you've read articles from any DM practitioner worth their salt, you should understand the importance of testing. Testing is integral when it comes to achieving sustainable results yet something only a minority of companies do.

Testing encompasses more than just the wide selection of rental lists on the market. There are many other elements you can test - your offer, timing, imagery, fonts, colour schemes, design, the use of humour, target market, channel (i.e. mail only versus mail with a follow up call), inclusion of an early bird offer, inclusion of a self addressed envelope, use of testimonials and where possible, incorporation of a 'money can't buy' element.

To test is one thing but if you don't measure the various response rates the whole exercise is wasted.

Ensure prior to launch that you can measure the response rate of the various test cells. This can be through the use of printed codes on your mail piece and the thorough recording of results as they come to hand. All your staff should be made aware of the campaign and ask all new enquirers how they found you. Your website should allow people to indicate they received your DM piece.

Where testing items other than the list itself, ensure that the list is sorted randomly so that the results are not skewed by a particular segment of the list.

Testing is never 'finished', it's an ongoing exercise and you will learn something new with every campaign. For companies who test, measure and apply learnings, DM can be a highly cost effective means of growing their business.

Using a high quality list is a lot like wearing a great pair of shoes. They fit perfectly, give you no trouble and have people asking you where you bought them. Sure you probably paid a little extra, but they are worth every cent.

If you are currently looking into obtaining a list, chances are you are shopping around for the best deal. While price is bound to play a role in your decision, it should never be the sole consideration (Oi Simon, stick to lists!).

If your budget is so tight you can only afford a cheap list, you would be wise to revisit the concept at a time where funds are more readily available. Never conduct a campaign for the sake of it.

Think of how much money you could waste on the list, postage, printing and mail processing if your mail-out has a 20%+ returned to sender rate. Not to mention the damage to your brand for those recipients who can see that you've mailed someone (or some company) who has been gone for years.

'Monumental' describes the gap between high and low quality lists in Australia.

I am positive some companies have been lost to list rental off the back of one horrendous experience with a cheap list. While the person buying the list thought they were doing the right thing buy their company, little did they know it was terribly out of date.

With around 20% of people changing jobs and close to 20% of Australians moving home each year, it doesn't take long for a list to become highly inaccurate.

Talk to your broker about their experience with certain lists. While most cheap list are cheap for a reason, there are some notable exceptions such as Schools, Childcare facilities and Libraries which are all robust organisations and a lot cheaper to maintain (in terms of a list).

If you are a business to business marketer in search of a good prospect list, chances are you are currently weighing up the option of rental (use once) versus purchase (keep). What are the benefits of each option? Which is the right option for me?

If you are certain that your targeting is correct and you wish to use the list three to four times over the next year, purchase would be the most cost effective option. Purchase is more expensive than rental (anywhere from two to four times so) but allows you to keep the list for ongoing use.

By purchasing the list you are also not being charged a setup fee (and in some cases incurring a minimum order charge) each time you need the list. It is however your responsibility to keep it up to date.

Rental is often recommended if it is your first direct marketing campaign, you are testing a new offer or new market, have a limited budget or if you only wish to market to a company once. The details of any new clients and requests to keep in touch from your campaign can be retained on your database.

Every campaign is different so have a chat to your broker to see which option makes more sense based on your circumstances.

P.S. The question I get asked most often is 'How does the list owner know if I use a list twice when renting for a single use?' The answer is all list owners 'seed' their list with records that they can trace back to a particular order. As soon as the 'seed' receives a secondary contact penalties apply.

Hang on a minute, have I just been spammed? This is the initial reaction many people have when receiving an email where the advertiser has rented an email list which uses 'Inferred consent'.

'Inferred consent' can only be attributed when the content of the message has a strong correlation to the role of the recipient. For example sending emails to generic email addresses like info@example.com would not meet the criteria for inferred consent and as such you would need to seek consent of the recipient via other means.

'Expressed consent' on the other hand is where the addressee gives their permission to receive commercial emails. Lists generated in these means are known as 'opt-in' and fully comply with the Spam Act.

Where an email address is published (for example on the company's website) and does not have an accompanying statement requesting no commercial emails, you can infer consent provided the product or service has a strong correlation to that person's role. If for example you sell OHS equipment and the OHS manager's email address is published or that of his/her department, you are permitted to email this address.

Assuming the above criteria is met, you must also include a functioning unsubscribe mechanism and list your full contact details on your email.

Personally I feel renting email lists which use inferred consent is not the best way to showcase your brand. While the Spam Act has a reasonable level of awareness, most people in the business community have no idea regarding the intricacies of the act or 'inferred' and 'expressed' consent.

There are also lists out there that use the term 'inferred consent' rather loosely. Harvested spam lists are available and do great damage to the legitimate email marketers in Australia who play by the rules. I still recall receiving an email a few years ago advertising 1 billion email address for $27.

At the end of the day 'Spam' is in the eye of the beholder. If your recipient thinks you have spammed them, you are either doing damage to your brand or about to receive one very angry phone call or email. If there has been a breach and a complaint is made, you might even have ACMA contact you who have the ability to fine spammers $1 million dollars a day until the spam has ceased.

I strongly urge you to visit the following two websites for more information ACMA - Inferred consent and conspicuous publications & ACMA - A practical guide for Business (Spam Act 2003)

Whether you're a regular reader of this blog or it's your first time, welcome to the first entry for 2011! May this year be a rewarding year for yourself professionally and a successful one for your company.

With the New Year comes opportunities. Among these opportunities is chance to improve your skills as a marketer and grow your company's market share.  Those who sit on their hands waiting for the phone to ring would be doing well to increase their yearly sales results come late June.

No matter what type of marketing it is you are planning, make sure you set aside the time to ensure it happens. It's all too easy to put things 'on the back-burner' and never actually see them materialise.

To help get things moving, here are five tips to try in 2011;

1) Ask your colleagues for their opinion on the number one reason your customers use your products or services. How do their opinions compare with the key selling points outlined in your existing marketing material?

2) Try to come up with a list of 50 reasons why someone should buy your product or service who doesn’t currently do so. It can be quite a difficult thing to do but I'd be surprised if you don't come up with one or two gems. Refine this to a top ten that can be used (two or three at a time) in your direct mail pieces.

3) Ever come up with an 'outside of the square' type idea you were too afraid to try? Run it by your colleagues for their thoughts. They too might have some great idea that they've always been hesitant to try.

4) Take an old prospecting letter and see if you can get the same messages across with half as many words. Whether you achieve this or not, the exercise itself is quite useful in getting you thinking in concise terms ahead writing your next mail piece.

5) When analysing the results of your campaign, take your overall cost and divide this by the number of new clients generated. With great variation of pricing models across the various marketing channels, it's hard to measure effectiveness of say TV versus Direct Mail. This rather universal formula is very simple to calculate and should lead to you spending your marketing budget more effectively.

With 2010 coming to an end, it's time to take a look at some of the events that impacted the Direct Marketing industry this year.

Early this year the Federal Government outlined plans to expand the Do Not Call Register to include business phone numbers and fax numbers. After consultation with industry groups, the Government decided to instead permit only the registration of Government phone numbers, Emergency Services phone numbers and all fax numbers.

Not long after this Australia Post announced its plans to lift the postage rate for Small, Large and PreSort Letter Services. This saw the basic letter rate move from 55c to 60c in a move that significantly impacts upon the mailing costs of companies throughout Australia, especially those who use direct mail as part of their customer acquisition activity.

The emergence of permission based business email data took some significant steps this year. In the recent years permission based email data for businesses has been my number one request that has largely been impossible to meet. Thankfully there are now three suppliers of business lists who now have opt-in email addresses with quantities expected to rise in 2011.

This year from a personal standpoint I noticed a greater emphasis placed on the targeting of my client's campaigns. With most lists possessing terrific targeting opportunities, it is great to see more and more clients using this to their advantage.

With only 18 working days to Christmas, it's time to get those last minute campaigns attended to plus your early 2011 activity locked away.

Most list suppliers will be available to run counts and dispatch orders up to December 24th. Generally they will re-open the first week of January with the remainder re-opening in the second week of January.

Turning an entire campaign around will generally take at the very least two to three days so take this into account if you are planning a campaign to go out in the next few weeks.

b2b activity tends to slow down around December/January as mentioned in the previous blog. If you find yourself with spare time in early January, it can be a good time to conduct small scale prospecting with businesses generally a little quieter and under less time constraints.

From a personal standpoint I will work through to Friday December 24th before taking annual leave until Monday January 17th. I will be checking emails during the break so can still attend to most requests within 24-48 hours during this time.

Around this time of year I am frequently asked regarding the scheduling of a campaign close to Christmas and New Year. When is too late for December and when is too early for January?

If you are a b2b marketer I generally favour the first two weeks of December as the latest date for a campaign (in 2010 by Friday December 10th). Any later than this and your recipients are going to be more focused on winding down for the year and quickly reverting to holiday mode.

The earliest you would be looking to go out in the New Year would the the final two weeks of January. By this stage most people are back from holidays and in many cases, conversations your prospects had with your competitors the previous year long forgotten.

For b2c marketers the timings are not too dissimilar, mid December for a late 2010 campaign and mid January for your first 2011 campaign. Once again a higher percentage of your prospects will be on holidays. While this might work against you on some levels, in another it can work in your favour by those opening your letter/email or taking your call not as busy as they might be when back at work in the coming weeks.

These timings are not universal, there are of course exceptions where it makes perfect sense to conduct a campaign closer to Christmas (a last minute pre-Christmas sale) or January 1 (a product aimed at the New Year's resolution market).

Use your judgment, talk to your colleagues and clients and you should be able to determine the timing that makes most sense for your company.

Make no mistake about it, the first five seconds are make or break. This short timeframe is where your recipient will decide to read/listen on or not. With this in mind, there are some important principles to live by when devising your campaign.

At the top of the list is the respect you demonstrate towards your prospective client. If you take them for granted in any way then chances are your call will be brief or your letter/fax/email will be cast aside.

Make sure your offer is prominent and that your benefit statements impossible to miss. At the end of the day this person has to perceive a genuine way in which they will be better off as a result of taking up your offer.

If you can say the same thing with fewer words then do so.

Include a PS on your mail piece, email or fax. After the heading, this is the next most read item in a direct marketing piece and where possible, ensure yours is a benefit oriented one.

The human eye will also be drawn to any images so ensure those used are captioned ideally with a benefit statement. 

Through the presence of a strong offer, the refinement of your key benefit statements and a compelling call to action, you too can succeed in the fine art of customer acquisition.

From January 1st 2011 Australian Consumer Law changes will come into force relating to sales made to consumers outside the organisation's premises. Sales made through telemarketing will be subject to these changes and apply to all b2c telemarketers.

Among these changes include a prohibition on the supply of goods or services and billing for 15 business days from the call. A cooling off period of 10 business days will also apply.

In addition to this the consumer will need to be provided with a consumer agreement within 5 business days of the sale. The consumer must be informed that they can terminate the sale during the cooling off period.

One decision you will face following your first campaign is whether to include or exclude previously rented names. Finding the right answer will depend on many factors such as time between campaigns, availability of other data, budget, nature of the current promotion and the performance of the first campaign.

Reasons to re-contact these prospects centre around keeping your brand at the forefront of your target market's thoughts and for b2b campaigns, factoring the rate with which people change jobs. Another benefit is that over time you can build on your message and tell the story that is your brand.

Choosing not to go back to the same names could be as a result of not wanting to contact people twice, the desire to go to as many new prospects as possible, the failure of the first campaign or wanting to do so but at a later date.

There is no one size fits all answer to the question of whether to re-contact a prospect. You should consider at the very least testing a re-contact strategy to determine the worth of incorporating this into your on-going prospecting work.

How often do you receive a new enquiry and fail to ask that person how they found you? If you are like a lot of people then I am guessing you would answer 'rarely' or 'never'.

During your campaign it is important that anyone answering the phone is making sure every single new enquirer is asked how they found you. This is even more important if you have conducted a mail-out plus another promotional activity in recent times.

If you have made a commitment to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a campaign, the least you can do is make a concerted effort to measure the response.

Once you have tallied your leads and subsequent new clients, it is a worthwhile exercise to calculate your cost per new client. This is simple formula whereby you divide your overall campaign expenditure by the number of new clients. i.e. $10,000 & 100 new clients > 10,000/100 = Each new client has cost $100 to acquire.

While you are unlikely to identify 100% of the activity generated by your campaign, following this simple step should allow you to detect most of it.

Over the past decade I have heard many people say they will build their own list as opposed to renting one. While I am sure many of these people followed through, I suspect the majority never made the effort and instead waited for the phone to ring.

Prospecting for new clients is something most companies do from time to time. It is also a task that many people dislike especially when they are personally responsible for sending the letters and making the follow up calls.

It does however get easier over time and can help fast-track the development of your customer service skills, selling skills and professionalism in general.

Having the view that 'I will build my own list' will surely increase the likelihood that prospecting will be cast aside and never happen. If on the other hand you make a decision to invest money in a list or employ someone in-house to conduct prospecting, chances are the activity will actually take place and hopefully lead to some sustainable success.

If you (alone) are about to undertake a business to business mail-out with follow-up phone calls, why not split the list up into smaller chunks? By dividing the list into smaller segments, you are not creating the impossible task of calling a few hundred or thousand prospects within a week or so.

The main benefit is the greater ease with which to make your follow up call within a one to two week window of mailing (ideally one). If your call is any later than this you may as well be starting from scratch.

The next benefit is that you can adjust your offer, message and approach as you go through the feedback you receive. This can be the difference between a successful and failed campaign.

By not rushing through your follow up calls, you will do yourself more justice when speaking with your prospect. It is not uncommon for people in this situation to forget there is someone on the other end of the line doing you a favour by taking your call. Fail to respect that and you will most likely never hear from that company again.  

When buying your list also factor in that the longer it takes you to work through the list, the less accurate it will be by the time you are finished. Also list owners generally allow only three months to finish working through a rented list. Calculate how many records you could handle during this time frame before ordering.

They say timing is everything and that is largely so when it comes to direct marketing. If your opposition suddenly goes quiet on the promotional front, all of a sudden your opportunity to increase market share is staring you right in the face.

In recent weeks Australia has seen a tightly contested election result which coupled with other economic challenges has created some uncertainty in the market. This can often cause some companies to delay making decisions on investing in new products, staff, training and areas such as marketing.

This presents marketers of all types an opportunity to remain active or increase their level of activity to help arrest market share from their less bold counterparts. Your prospects soon forget you and your earlier good work can be wasted with a sustained period of inactivity.

The reality is Australia is a great place to do business and the underlying strength of our economy will hold us in good stead well into the future. The rewards are still well and truly there for those companies that are prepared to demonstrate the highest levels of commitment to convincing prospects of the benefits their product or service brings.

Those companies who rely on direct will need to be active in the next two months. This is especially the case with b2b marketers as the Christmas/New Year period is generally not the best time to be active due to many businesses being closed or key staff on leave.

With a successful campaign under your belt before Christmas, chances are you will take that momentum into 2011 and start the year in a positive frame of mind.

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me 'How do they know if we use the list again?', I would be very wealthy. To someone who has never rented a list before it is an understandable question to ask but one with a rather straightforward answer.

List owners throughout the world are highly protective of their data. They are careful in terms of who they permit to use their list and are also committed to ensuring the list is not misused in any way.

To make sure rented lists are not being on-sold or re-used by the company renting them, a list owner will 'seed' the list with a small number of monitored records that are unique to that particular order.

If the list owner receives a second mail piece to the unique seed, they will then notify the broker of the breach. On the other hand if another company mails the seed, the owner will know that the company renting the list has on sold or disclosed it to another party.

Fortunately very few companies run the risk or re-mailing a rented list. Where it does happen I believe it is more likely a case of the list not being deleted following the rental and then someone else in the company unknowingly re-using it.

The message from this is to make sure that your rented list is deleted after use. Those who become clients or request on-going communication from your company can of course be added to your database.

Create your own DNCR account here

Readers of this blog will be aware than it is now mandatory to wash fax lists and Government sector telemarketing lists against the Do Not Call Register. For those yet to open up an account, you can do so by visiting this address.

Washing a list is a simple process whereby after you've created your account, you simply upload your list and download the washed list in a matter of moments. 

Without question there are companies out there who will ignore this requirement and fail to wash. These are the very companies who ruin things for the other 99% who do the right thing.

For those companies who decide to ignore the legislation, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) have the power to issue massive fines. Please contact ACMA if you have any questions about compliance matters with the legislation.

Brainstorming is a must for any successful direct marketing campaign. It enables you and your colleagues the chance to come up with numerous ideas but to also undertake valuable discussions regarding your business and what about it appeals to prospective clients.

Used effectively a rigorous brainstorming session sets the direction of your campaign and helps get the key stakeholders to take ownership of it. This is highly important as a campaign can often fall down when not everyone in your organisation is on the same page.

The first aspect to consider is your target market. Are you looking to expand into new markets or to search for new prospects who are similar in profile to your current client base? At this stage of your planning it should be known as to whether list rental will be required.

Your focus can now switch to your direct marketing piece and message. This is a perfect time to put on your Edward de Bono Green Hat to come up with some great new ideas. Make sure you are capturing everything as some great ideas might come out which can be utilised in other areas of your business.

Following on from this I recommend setting aside time specifically to focus on benefit statements. These are key phrases that are designed to outline the major benefits your product or services brings to the end user. To me this element is make or break.

In addition to helping you come up with the right mix for your campaign, this process is highly beneficial to you and your team. Discussing these concepts with your team can help crystallise some of the very reasons why your company is in business. It also can help you further understand your company's key selling points and the more of these types of conversations you have, the more natural they become when talking with a new prospect.

With Australia going to the polls on Saturday, this week we look at similarities between election and direct marketing campaigns. While kissing babies and preference deals might not play a role in your campaign, here are three aspects which do.

While I am as guilty as anyone of politician bashing from time to time, I do respect people who dedicate their lives to serving the community in this way. It is an extremely tough job and requires a massive level of commitment and sacrifice. 

This leads me to the first key similarity, passion and commitment to your cause. Regardless of whether you agree with a particular point of view, there are some politicians who you can tell genuinely believe in their cause and this shows through in their communication of the message. If you have serious misgivings about your product or services, chances are people will pick up on this.

The next campaign element is one I believe has been sadly lacking in this election. That is the ability to effectively communicate a clear message as to how Australia will benefit by voting for either major party. By in large I have found the advertising mediocre and the 'Moving Forward' & 'Stand up for real action' slogans uninspiring (yes I hear you, c'mon Simon do better!). 

Major political parties are no different to any of my clients (big companies or small) in this regard. I often tell my clients the biggest challenge they face in their campaign is getting this very aspect right. Those who give this plenty of serious thought, extensively brainstorm and then test various ideas will eventually get it right.

Another similarity which has threatened to derail Labor's campaign has been not having everyone on the same page at all times. With leaks to the media rife and allegations being made as to who was responsible, the focus switched to the division within the party rather than to their message for the country in seeking re-election.

While trouble with your campaign is unlikely to make the six o'clock news, staff not being on the same page can kill off any chance of winning a new client who has sub-par experience when making the initial enquiry. Not knowing a campaign is even on, getting a key detail wrong, failing to even respond to an enquiry (yes it happens!) will quickly undo any good work your campaign did that drove their initial attempt to contact you.

Make sure you brief all the relevant people in your organisation ahead of the campaign and remind them while it is running. In particular those taking phone calls and responding to emails must be across all the details.

Whether it is PM Gillard or Abbott next week one thing is for certain, babies of Australia you can relax in the knowledge there will be no politicians and camera crews chasing you in the near future!

With Christmas four months away, now is the time to start planning your pre-Christmas campaign. There are plenty of things to organise in the next few weeks so this blog covers the key aspects of the planning process.

Timing is always a key consideration but this is magnified during a Christmas campaign. Finding the right balance between too early and too late is rather delicate and something you can only develop a feel for over time. Personally I always err on the early side and advise most clients to get their campaigns out by the first week of December at the latest (unless there is a compelling reason to go later).

Come up with a long list of ideas relating to your offer, message and benefit statements. If applicable, organise a time to meet with your colleagues for brainstorm session. Not only does this lead to a greater selection of ideas, it also sees your colleagues take ownership of the campaign and do their part to assist you while it's up and running.

Brief your suppliers (list broker, mail-house/call centre, printer, designer etc) fully on the campaign requirements. Make sure they are aware of your deadlines and establish which of their colleagues will look after you should your contact be away during any part of your campaign.

Before the campaign is launched, make sure your staff are made aware of the campaign. Those answering the phone must to be briefed on the calls they are likely to receive including enquiries and even those people wishing to opt-out. They will also need to make a note of all enquiries for measurement purposes and record opt-outs in your suppression list (easily created in excel).

Establish your campaign goals as these will be central to your post campaign analysis. Goals can include aspects such as response rate, average order value, return on investment, cost per acquisition, building awareness, identification of new markets and the identification of high yielding lists. In addition to this, I also believe through listening to enough of those who enquire, you can also get a feel for which parts of your message were most compelling.

By giving yourself ample time to plan your campaign properly, you are giving yourself a much better chance of succeeding and avoiding making a costly mistake through rushing at the last minute.

Every direct marketing campaign relies on multiple elements coming together to get your message across effectively. Your mail piece, fax or email is conceived through a series of decisions made by you as the marketer which are designed to knock your recipient's socks off.

Unfortunately it can take only one or two key errors to derail the rest of your good work and ruin the campaign. A wrong date, phone number, price, key fact or grammatical error/typo can all slip through the proofing stage and go out to all and sundry. Now not only are your recipient's socks still on, you have egg on your face!

That crucial first five seconds of your prospect scanning your mail piece, fax or email is everything. If they spot an error in that time you can kiss their business goodbye and in some cases leave an impression in their mind (of your business) that may never be overcome.  

Anyone who has ever sent an email with a mistake (detected just after pushing 'Send') knows how bad that feels. While sending an email with a mistake to one person feels bad enough, imagine sending this to hundreds or thousands of prospects!

Make sure you run your spell check, proof read, read aloud and triple check all key details. Once you have completed this, circulate your piece through the office for feedback and proof reading from your colleagues.

When planning your campaign make sure there is ample time for thorough proofing before proceeding. Not only should this prevent obvious errors slipping through, it also enables valuable feedback from your colleagues.

A well crafted mail piece sent to the right audience is still likely to fail if your offer is deemed weak or non-existent. Today we take a look at some commonly used offers to sort the good from the bad.

Over the past decade I have seen/received thousands of pieces of direct mail, email and faxes. Many are excellent with clear selling points and a compelling offer. The majority however tend to fall down in relation to the presentation of a weak offer, a hard to find offer or no offer at all. 

A 5% or 10% discount is barely an offer and rarely leads to more than a mediocre response. If you are going to look at discounted price, work out at what point you break even on a sale and then consider the new customer's lifetime value to your business. You should then have a clearer picture as to what you can really afford to offer the prospective customer.

An early bird discount can be effective means of fast tracking your response. By providing an incentive to respond promptly, you are reducing the chances of someone interested never getting around to responding. Early bird offers can also be most useful when promoting an event as it allows you to get an early idea of numbers and make the necessary arrangements.

A gift can be highly effective and is often used by advertisers who find discounting cheapens the prestige of their product or service. The item (or range of items) should be in keeping with your brand and should also be of relevance to your audience. If you are considering this approach once again, work out the amount of margin you can afford to give up with a view to retaining this prospect as a lifetime customer.

A two for one deal does not work for all advertisers (i.e. car maker, bank or utility) but can do very well for others (retail and hospitality). In addition to being a strong offer (depending on the product or service), this approach gives you two opportunities to knock your prospects socks off and demonstrate why they should be staying with your brand long term.

To me an offer is a gesture which demonstrates your commitment to the prospect. It tells them you are confident that your product or service will make their life better or in some way add value to their business. As I have said previously, these people owe you nothing so treat them with the respect they deserve and make an offer befitting your appreciation of them as potential customers.

Over the past decade there has been one common ingredient shared by those of my clients who have achieved the best results. Their passion has jumped out at me and I have no doubt it also shines through in their campaigns. 

Organising a direct marketing campaign is a challenging exercise, organising a successful one is much harder. If you are not really giving it your best shot, chances are you could be on the road to wasting a lot of your time and money.

To say you need to have passion is rather simplistic and at the end of the day, common sense. How does having passion translate in a practical sense when it comes to organising a direct marketing campaign?

Passion means you are giving 100% effort at all times and are hell bent on doing whatever possible to ensure success. 

I believe passion can't be manufactured, it has to come from within. It is best harnessed when you as a marketer have clearly identified your goals. Knowing what you are setting out to achieve allows you to map out a strategy that gives you the greatest chance of success. 

Passion extends to a lot of the menial tasks which are often overlooked. Asking your suppliers all the relevant questions, talking to colleagues about the campaign and sharing ideas, constantly brainstorming until you find the right mix of points you wish to make, making sure deadlines are met, making sure enquiries are measured and making sure the campaign is thoroughly reviewed. 

If you find yourself lacking passion for any marketing campaign my advice would be to take a step back and consider the benefits. Most people will tend to focus on areas such as growing the client base, getting that long awaited promotion or increasing your business's bottom line. What many people overlook is that it improves your ability to sell a product or service and what greater challenge than to master this art with people not currently using your company.  

While there are exceptions (passion > failure & no passion > success) these are few and far between. If you are reading this blog chances are you are someone who is passionate about their work and committed to achieving success.

Direct marketing lists can be rented for one off use, rented for 12 month multi-use or purchased outright (business data only). Deciding what is best for you is not always easy. Here are a number of key questions you should ask yourself beforehand.

The first question is how many times over the next 12 to 24 months you wish to contact this audience. If you are adamant the answer is once then rental becomes the obvious choice.

If on the other hand you are considering contacting them more than once, multi-use should be explored. You might decide rather than taking a multi-use package, it might be better renting the list for the first campaign and renting again (using fresh data) when you are ready for the next campaign. This gives you the extra flexibility of holding off on the second rental until you are ready.

If it is apparent that over the next 12 to 24 months you intend to contact this audience more than twice, multi-use or purchase start become more viable. While you are paying more than rental for these options, you are not being charged setup fees for multiple orders. 

The next question to ask concerns cost and whether you can afford the added expense associated with multi-use or purchase. The difference in cost varies greatly from supplier to supplier and can range from two to five times more expensive on a per record basis than rental.

Another question to consider is the amount of time you and your colleagues have now and are likely to have in the future for DM work. If the next 12 months are likely to be extremely busy, if your business is in the process of moving, if your business is struggling to keep up with demand, if your business is facing financial hardships are all realities that will determine the amount of time you have to devote to the campaign.

If this is your first campaign you may also need to consider whether opting for the more conservative rental approach is the way to go. While there are exceptions, generally speaking a person's first campaign is rarely their most successful. As with any form of marketing, it is about giving something your best shot, trying to learn from it as much as you can and then making a decision based on what your instincts tell you in relation to continuing on or looking elsewhere.

If you are still unsure have a chat to your broker, they can take you through the pros and cons of the various options at hand. They can also look to come up with tailored solutions to your own circumstances which might just make the crucial difference to your campaign.

If you are about to tackle your very first direct marketing campaign, no doubt the response rate will consume a lot of your thinking. What if nobody responds? What if the response is so great we can't meet demand? These are valid questions but let them bog you down and you will never get a campaign off the ground.

First time users of direct marketing will often ask what their response rate will be. Over the years my clients have used most lists on the market. These companies represent a wide range of industries and comprise of micro business through to multi-national corporations. Despite this I like all list brokers do not have the ability to say 'Company X' using 'List Y' with 'Offer Z' will yield a 5% response rate. 

There a many factors that will determine your response rate, some you can control and others you can't. Obviously as with anything in life your task is to focus on those areas you can control. In a direct marketing sense they revolve around identification of your target market, list selection and quality, the strength and nature of your offer, your creative material, the level of respect with which you treat your prospect, knowledge of legislative requirements and your timing.

Factors beyond your control but that can aid or hurt your result include competitor activity, changes in Government policy, share market activity, interest rates, media coverage of your industry or even your business, major events such as natural disasters and even the weather (in the case of mail where envelopes get wet).

The fact the most campaigns generate single digit percentage response rates does not prevent some campaigns achieving double digits. On the other hand it hasn’t guaranteed others achieve a response at all.

Rather than focusing on an arbitrary response rate, devote your time and energy towards creating a campaign that will compel everyone to respond.

Set clear and realistic goals, brainstorm plenty of different ideas and have the foresight to test the various elements of your campaign. If you are genuinely committed to the cause, over time you will develop the mix of skills necessary to achieve solid results.

DNCR Website

Practical Guide to the SPAM Act  

List marketing is a heavily regulated activity with numerous pieces of legislation users should familiarise themselves with. The Privacy Act 1988, SPAM Act 2003 and Do Not Call Register Act 2006 each outline how companies who use list marketing should conduct their campaigns.

The Privacy Act 1988 requires companies who conduct direct marketing to give the recipient the chance to opt-out from future correspondence. The advertiser cannot charge for such a request and must make sure they do not contact this person again. The advertiser is also prohibited from conducting their campaign in a deceptive or offensive manner and cannot target recipients on the basis of sexual orientation, race, or religious beliefs.

The Do Not Call Register Act 2006 relates to companies who conduct telemarketing campaigns to consumer lists, those who conduct telemarketing campaigns to Government lists and those who undertake fax campaigns. Such advertisers are required to screen their call list against the Do Not Call Register prior to the commencement of their campaign. Each time you wash the list this is valid for 30 days.

The SPAM Act relates to those companies who conduct campaigns using email and sms lists. When renting such lists the advertiser must make sure that the owner of the list has captured permission from the recipients first to receive 3rd party email or sms. In addition to this the email or sms message must contain a functional opt-out mechanism, identify the advertiser and list their full contact details and not be in any way deceptive.

While these pieces of legislation might seem rather daunting to some, they do act to protect all Australians from those companies who abuse this channel. Fortunately such companies are in the minority and more susceptible to going out of business. The sad reality is as soon as one goes out of business, another one pops up.

Rather than tightening regulations for companies who do the right thing, I believe Governments should be acting more forcefully on companies who don’t.

Often I speak to many companies who find quite it difficult to describe their target market. In these cases I recommend talking to colleagues for their input but also to take a good look at your existing database for some insight.

Depending on its accuracy and depth of information, your database could hold the key to determining the right target market. Whether you are looking for prospects exhibiting similar characteristics or to identify gaps that your campaign aims to fill, reviewing your database is an excellent initial step.

If you are a b2b marketer your database could shed light on areas such as industry, job title, company size, and location. Obviously this is only possible if the information is captured and in many cases I am sure it isn't. If so why not randomly select 100 records and among your staff try to establish the trends from your collective client knowledge.

A b2c marketer at the very least can usually run a query on the top postcodes or suburbs/towns. If the database is comprehensive in nature, you may also get a clearer picture in relation to demographics which will assist greatly during list selection.

Those marketers who set clear goals, know their target market and know what drives their target market will consistently outperform those who don't. The icing on the cake is their ability to clearly articulate how using their product or service will benefit the prospective client/customer.

Spend ten minutes looking at your database today, I would be surprised if you don't pick up at least one piece of valuable information out of it. 

Sign up to the Do Not Call Register

Sign up to the ADMA Do Not Mail service

Federal Privacy Act

I take great interest in media articles or pieces concerning direct marketing. Over the weekend one such newspaper article appeared here in Victoria that was particularly disappointing on a number of levels.

The article focused on the ways in which the journalist believes the Privacy of Victorians is under siege. In addition to list marketing references, the article went on to discuss illegal activity which is rather disappointing. Direct marketing is legal and one of, if not the most regulated forms of marketing in Australia.

The article mentioned the journalist's failed attempt to reach a list broker for comment. I have today contacted nine list brokers throughout Australia with not one contacted (nor I) by the journalist or newspaper in question. I am not suggesting the journalist did not try contacting any list providers.

Many people reading the article will have interpreted it as though list marketing is a new trend and confined to Victoria. The reality is direct marketing has been around for centuries, list marketing not long after World War II and occurs throughout the world.

Unlike many marketing channels, direct marketing has a strict regulatory regime in place. Individuals have the right to opt-out to hearing from a company or be removed from a list entirely. They can also sign up to the Do Not Call Register or place their mailing address on the Australian Direct Marketing Association's (ADMA) best practice Do Not Mail file.

In addition to this, the SPAM Act requires the use of permission based (opt-in) email and SMS lists for non-exempt companies.

The article stated our industry is worth $20 billion dollars annually but failed to distinguish the difference between list rentals and companies contacting their own database. Of the two, companies contacting their own database would easily represent the lion's share. This figure also comprises of postage, printing and fulfillment.

Throughout Australia I estimate tens of thousands of companies rent lists. The resulting campaigns generate revenue that helps companies grow, retain/add staff, and use the services of other companies. The purchasers of the product or service also save time and money.

In addition to this, the Charity sector in particular is heavily reliant on list marketing to help identify new donors whose resulting generosity pumps vital funds that have enormous community benefit.

Section 2 of the Privacy Act (1988) titled 'Use and Disclosure' clearly outlines the guidelines for companies who conduct direct marketing. It mentions the need to give recipients the chance to opt-out, not charge them to do so, not contact them after opt-outing and to not disclose sensitive information.

Section 10 covers 'Sensitive Information' and states an organisation must not collect select sensitive information unless the person has consented. The only commercially available privacy compliant lists that capture sensitive information (i.e. Medical conditions) are survey based lists. These surveys clearly outline the person completing this section is aware they must 'opt-in' for this information to be made available to direct marketers.

I have mentioned previously in this blog that while most companies do the right thing, there are companies out there who don't and abuse direct marketing. While just a minority, there are still enough to infuriate people throughout Australia and internationally. While over time such companies are bound to fail, until they are specifically targeted and fined I believe little will change.

There are companies out there selling lists that do not comply with the Privacy and/or SPAM Acts. For instance I once saw an advertisement which offered 1 billion email addresses for $27. While this is an extreme and obvious example of a non-compliant list, there are others out there which on face value appear legitimate.

My advice to anyone looking to rent a list for a direct marketing campaign is to ask the supplier or broker if the list is compliant and get this in writing. I also strongly urge you to remember the person who receives your letter, fax, sms, email or call owes you nothing. They are doing you a favour in giving you a moment of their time so treat them with the respect they deserve.

Create your own DNCR account here.

Despite the Federal Government's recent decision to exclude business phone numbers from Do Not Call Register expansion, some direct marketers face a new landscape in the coming weeks. Those who conduct telemarketing to the Government sector or use fax marketing (to any sector) will have a new piece of legislation to abide by.

These direct marketers will now need to wash their list against the DNCR prior to the commencement of their campaign. I would recommend creating your own washing account and to hold-off on washing the list until the day of your campaign. As each wash is only valid for 30 days, this will lessen the chances of the need for a second wash should the campaign take over a month.

We often read comments from legislators that response rates will improve due to the removal of likely non-responders. Personally I feel this is an over-simplification of the matter and political spin. The reality is too many companies have abused the telemarketing and fax channels for too long and not enough was done to stop them. These are the companies causing people to opt-out, not legitimate marketers who present relevant, strong offers and treat people with respect.

As with the introduction of the SPAM Act, the vast majority of companies who do the right thing are punished for the actions of a minority. The challenge as I have mentioned in previous blogs is to remember the recipient owes you nothing and is doing you a favour through giving you a few moments of their time. Overlook this key fact and you are bound to fail.

The ACCC have announced today that from June 28th 2010 postal rates will rise for Small, Large and PreSort Letter Services. The basic letter rate in Australia will move from 55c to 60c which represents a 20% increase since September 2008.

In late 2009 the ACCC rejected Australia Post's submission to increase postal rates as they deemed costs were not falling in response to declining volumes. The ACCC are now satisfied with Australia Post's cost reduction strategies and Chairman Graeme Samuel is of the view that no additional rises will be required over the next two years. 

This is disappointing news to many of my clients who will now see what is normally the largest component of their overall campaign cost increase. It is also hard to comprehend how increasing postage will help prevent further decline which will eat into the increased revenue this decision brings.

For more information http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/332074

I am often asked by my clients regarding when is the best time for a follow up call. There is no single answer to this question and it can depend on your target audience.

The majority of follow up calls are made by clients who contact businesses. The senior decision makers they seek are generally time poor. I recommend asking the person who answers if your contact is available to speak now or if a time could be made for a call back that suits them.

In terms of time from your mailing to the call, I recommend one to two weeks tops. It is also best to mention in your cover letter when they can expect a follow up call. If you do indicate a time frame for a follow up call make sure you follow through!

Consider also your audience, if you were contacting Cafes you shouldn't call during the lunch time rush. Think about your audience and if there are certain times they are likely to be too busy avoid calling then.

If you are following up a consumer mailing then your first task is to have the list washed against the Do Not Call Register (Create your own DNCR account here). Once you have your washed list you then have 30 days of coverage before the list would need to be re-washed. Once you have your washed list you then have 30 days of coverage before the list would need to be re-washed.

Familiarise yourself with call time regulations and as with a business campaign, aim to follow up your letter in around one to two weeks. 

Regardless of whether you are contacting business or consumers, make sure you announce yourself and company clearly. Never talk over your prospect and avoid reading from scripts.

It is about time some companies took stock of their telemarketing efforts. Many have abused this channel for well over a decade now and have lost sight of one simple fact....the person who picks up the phone owes you nothing and is doing YOU a favour by giving you a few moments of their time, don't ever forget this.

Last week the Do Not Call Register Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 was passed by Federal Parliament. Whilst business telephone numbers still cannot be registered, a number of changes will apply to those companies who undertake tele or fax marketing.

The first wave of DNCR registrations were due to lapse this month however Senator Conroy is expected to extend these registrations an extra two years. In all this means 600,000 registrations will now lapse June 2012 rather than 2010.

Government phone numbers (including emergency services) and fax numbers will be permitted to register on DNCR. It is yet to be announced when these changes come into effect. 

The full range of commercially available Australian direct marketing lists allow me to provide suitable data for most briefs. There are however some gaps and number one on the list would have to be business to business (b2b) opt-in email data.

The SPAM Act was introduced in 2003 and meant when renting an email list, it had to be permission based. Those on the list had to have opt-in to receiving third party promotional emails. There were exemptions under the Act and they consisted of Government, Political Parties, Education, Charities and Religion.

From this day on b2b email briefs have always been challenging and in some cases not possible at all. Business to Consumer (b2c) opt-in email lists have generally filled the void during this time as some do offer occupation related targeting.

In recent years some industry specific b2b email lists have emerged, some b2c lists have improved their b2b targeting but to this day, the only real b2b email list is this week's featured list Catch SME. At 55,000 records however, this list still only represents a small cross-section of the million plus SMEs in Australia.

Of those who are exempt from the Act, there are additional b2b email data sources out there and some good ones at that. In these cases I can supply email data which is not permission based however the email must still contain a functional unsubscribe.

It will be interesting to see what this decade has in store for the b2b email space. Will we see a number of substantial lists become available that once and for all reach the levels of those mailing lists which currently exist? 

With postal rates possibly about to rise next month, the demand for this data will only grow. 

Over the weekend the Federal Government scrapped its plan to extend the Do Not Call Legislation to include business phone numbers. This is a significant result for the many thousands of Australian businesses who market themselves to other businesses. 

Making what is already a tough call tougher would have been detrimental to businesses growth, competition, skill development (of those people making the call), cost jobs and forced many businesses to close. 

The Do Not Call Register Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 will however still proceed in relation to fax numbers. For those businesses undertaking fax marketing, it will mean they need to wash their fax lists against DNCR prior to conducting their broadcast.

As part of his announcement, Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy also outlined plans to extend the current three year registration period to five.

Every great mail piece didn't simply materialise out of thin air. The person or team behind it will have spent countless hours brainstorming and refining before settling on the finished product.

The following checklist is one I have sent to many clients over the years and hopefully one they still refer back to whenever planning their next campaign. 

Most of the points covered are simply common sense but when you are working hard to meet a deadline, it is easy to overlook the basics and subsequently make a mistake.

Some points will be more relevant that others depending on your own circumstances but no doubt there will be at least one or two you may have otherwise been oblivious to.

- Is the focus benefits rather than features?

- Do the layout and design reinforce the product or service and company positioning?

- Does the layout make it easy for the prospect to respond?

- Do copy, layout and design work together to tell the story of the offer and its benefits?

- Is response information easy to find in large, bold type (phone, fax, web, postal address & email)?

- If a letter is used, does it look like a letter with serif type and indented paragraphs?

- Are the key benefits or offer elements highlighted (i.e. using violators, bursts or corner cuts)?

- Is the font selected easy to read and suitable to your target audience?

- Is the font size appropriate for the target audience?

- If the font is printed over a background colour, photograph or design, is it easily read and scanned?

- Are colour and other design elements used to draw the reader’s attention to major benefits & key selling points? 

- Do photos have captions (ideally benefit related)?

- Do photos contain a human element wherever possible?

- Are elements of the offer shown in photos or illustrations?

- Does the copy have and effective ‘voice’ that speaks with authority?

- Does your copy help differentiate yourself from the competition?

- Does your copy promote your entire offer instead of just your product or service?

- Does the copy focus on the reader rather than your company?

- Are words, sentences and paragraphs short and easy to read?

- Is long copy broken up into scannable pieces using subheads, bullets and sidebar stories?

- If a letter is used, does it contain a strong benefit oriented P.S?

- Does the copy maximise the benefits provided by the format? 

- How well do the copy, layout and design work together to generate results?

- Are there multiple (or at least one) calls to action present?

- Does your mail piece contain an opt-out clause?

Back in February I was fortunate enough to meet with Communications Minister Senator Stephen Conroy who was in Ballarat for the Rudd Government's Community Cabinet forum. This week we check in on the Government's position and where things currently stand.

Throughout Australia tens if not hundreds of thousands of businesses use the phone to market their business to other businesses.  As a result of the ensuing transactions, the businesses making the purchases collectively save research time that would more than off-set time spent taking unwanted calls. 

Politicians no doubt receive many complaints from people who dislike telemarketing and see it as an inconvenience and waste of their time. Politicians do not hear from the majority of people who purchase via telemarketing or have no problem with it.

Personally I would be very interested to see the results of research into the amount of time the Australian workforce spends on personal internet use (myself included!) versus answering telemarketing calls.

In 2007 the Government launched the Do Not Call Register for those households wishing to opt-out from receiving telemarketing calls. Politicians, Government, Charities, Religious Groups, Market Researchers and Education providers were however all exempted.

Despite the massive publicity and expectation of mass registration by those who championed its implementation, only one in three households registered. 

Senator Conroy last year proposed that business phone numbers and fax numbers be permitted for inclusion on the Do Not Call Register (DNCR). Should the legislation pass, it would mean companies who make commercial phone calls or undertake fax marketing will be forced to check the numbers they are contacting are not listed on the DNCR. 

Whether your company buys lists or you look up the numbers yourself, whether you use a call centre or make your own calls, DNCR expansion will add extra complexity to what is already a challenging call. It will also see some prospective clients off limits via a phone call and/or fax.

During our meeting there were specific questions the Senator was unable to answer due to the finer details still being worked through. For example;

• Will inferred consent provisions exist? Meaning can you still call if the company you wish to contact advertises its phone number and the product or service you sell is relevant to their business? 
• If that company has been a client or enquired with us in the last five years can we contact them if they are on DNCR? 
• My understanding of the proposed changes were than any busienss will be able to register, the Senator suggested it may only be small businesses who can. If only small businesses can register, what is the definition of 'small business'?
• If a receptionist at Telstra (or any company with more than one phone number) lists one phone number, is the entire Telstra organisation covered by this registration?
• What will be done to educate the thousands of businesses who will be impacted by the changes but who don't perceive their calls as 'telemarketing'?

One point of difference from the existing DNCR is that companies who register will be able to select which industries they want to opt-out from. While this might sound good in theory, personally I feel it will create problems with many grey areas especially for companies who can be categorised under multiple industries.

The Senator did accept my point that in some cases telemarketing calls open up opportunities for the recipient to sell their product or service to the company who made the initial call. We've all been on either end of such calls where the subject moves from the product or service of the caller to the recipient.

Getting on the phone and selling a product or service is a tough call but one that improves a critical skill in all of us. The ability to explain to somebody the benefits of using your company, the ability to listen and ask relevant questions and overall honing of your communication skills with customers all are improved. 

Senator Conroy agreed that the skill of getting on the phone and selling a product or service is important to your professional development. He mentioned  his experiences in politics of door knocking and calling his constituents which benefited his own development.

I then commented that over the next decade, millions of Australian’s will miss out on this opportunity when the hardest call get placed in the ‘too hard basket’ even more so than now.

The Senator could see my point regarding hypocrisy of many who wish to opt-out but whose company conducts telemarketing of its own (whether they realise it or not). He agreed that many companies don’t see themselves as conducting ‘telemarketing’ but in essence do and will be impacted by these changes. 

If registering on DNCR banned that company from its own telemarketing call, how many would still register?

It was unclear exactly when the Legislation will be tabled in Parliament, especially with an election on the horizon later this year. In recent weeks a Senate Standing Committee has gathered and recommended the legislation be passed.

Last month the Coalition announced they would not support key aspects of the DNCR expansion. Shadow Small Business Minister Bruce Billson commented that the Coalition would propose amendments to limit the expansion to faxes and emergency services phone numbers. 

For those readers who believe this legislation will be detrimental to their business I recommend contacting your local MP and Senate Representative to express your concerns.

April 13th - Planning your campaign

Focus on benefits when putting together your DM piece.  

This week we take a look at some of the key planning areas to focus on ahead of your direct marketing campaign. With numerous external factors potentially impacting your result, make sure you take the time to plan those aspects you have control over.  

The first step is establishing who you wish to target. Are you looking to contact existing clients, capture new markets or look for prospects who most closely match your existing client base? If you are favouring the second or third option, list rental will need to be investigated.

A list broker can present you with details regarding the most suitable lists based on your target market. Once your target market and campaign requirements are known, the broker can generally present a summary of your options within 24 hours. Should you decide to rent a list then normal turnaround on an order is also 24 hours.

Your next challenge is to come up with a message which is relevant to this audience. It must clearly outline how the recipient would benefit through responding and should contain a compelling offer with a strong call to action.

You also need to decide whether the campaign will be conducted in-house or whether you will employ an external mail-house or call centre. Availability of staff and your own time need to be weighed up against the cost of outsourcing.

Timing can play a significant role in the outcome of your campaign. Make sure you take into account school/public holidays, seasonal buying trends, competitor activity or any other relevant events and dates.

Campaign measurement is one area I believe many direct marketers can improve. When designing your mail piece print simple identification codes which can be tallied if your recipient post or fax back a form. This code also can be requested by your staff where the recipient calls instead.

Make sure all staff are aware of the campaign while it is active. During this time all staff should be checking to see where any new leads have come from (and recording this) to ensure you are not under-reporting the outcome.

The analysis of your campaign is also very important. Establish the criteria with which you will analyse the success of the campaign and also when this needs to occur. A response rate in percentage terms is OK but try to move towards calculating your cost per response which can be done quite easily by dividing your overall cost by the number of respondees.