Simon's blog

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.

Comment - Seen a great offer over the years?

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.