The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) was founded in 1917, and currently represents more than 3,400 companies in the United States and 48 other nations. NextMark and many of our clients are also DMA members. The organization "advocates for responsible marketing and promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers," as noted on their web site. With 40 percent of a campaign's success dependent on choosing the right lists, it is clear that targeted list research is an important part of the direct marketing process. So how are they doing with the list side of the business?
I decided to conduct a quick poll on LinkedIn to find out what marketing services providers are thinking on the subject.
When I walk the aisles at the DMDays conference each year, I see dozens of list companies lined up with innovative solutions for helping mailers with new customer acquisition; and I know they paid good money to be there. Let's see what they think and how it might be paying off.
There may be 7.5 million Twitter users following each other around, but I still prefer to Digg NextMark. Twitter outpaced Digg earlier this year, so I guess I'd better start paying more attention to our followers, although there are not that many of them -- yet! In the meantime, I must say that the Digg widget below is a really nice feature. You can customize it based on your preferred news content and it will update in real time.
Don't think for a minute that neglecting a data card doesn't have a cost. While it is easy to get distracted by the demands on our time, keeping these documents current is essential to the direct marketing process and quality data cards improve the odds of getting list orders. Here's what one expert list broker commented on the subject:
"Our content strategy team has a good handle on the lists that work best for our clients, but we still need to know that the counts, pricing, and other information are up-to-date before making a formal recommendation," said Lisa Donnelly, Senior Director at Merkle, Inc. "Quality data cards give us the confidence we need to stand behind all of our recommendations."
NextMark publishes a quarterly report titled "Top List Managers by Data Card Quality" to encourage the users of our free data card publishing tool to post quality information and keep it current. This report presents the top list managers (up to 50) per category; a minimum of 50 mailing list titles per company is required to be ranked. The categories are based on the number of managed titles per company as indicated below:
"Your list owners and everyone else will appreciate it when you treat the people on the list with great respect. You should honor them – don’t treat them like data."
But there have been a lot of questions, too. In this tutorial, I’ll try to answer the question many of you have been asking: “What should I include in my video?”
The purpose of videos is to enhance your data card in a way that creates more interest for your mailing list. Don’t simply regurgitate the facts on your data card because it’s easier to just read them and those facts will frequently change and make your video obsolete.
Instead, you should tell them some things about the list that they might not find on the data card or might miss when scanning the data card.
Before I get into some specific recommendations, I want to encourage you to use your creativity when creating your videos. You want your lists to stand out from the rest and you won’t do that by following the same formula.
But I do want to give you some ideas for creating a good video for your data card. First, you should describe the people on the list. You should certainly illustrate the typical profile of the list members.
But, whenever possible, try to tell a story.
For example, for a list of dog owners, you might say “These people love their dogs. They go to great lengths caring for them by feeding them the best food, keeping them fit with exercise, and socialize through doggy play dates with other dog lovers.” It’s a great idea if you can use pictures, videos, illustrations, sounds, or other media to help tell your story. For dog lovers, you might show pictures of dogs with happy owners or videos of them frolicking in the park.
Your list owners and everyone else will appreciate it when you treat the people on the list with great respect. You should honor them – don’t treat them like data.
Your video is a great way to tell others how your list is unique.
You should say why your list is different from all the other alternatives. On a doctors list, you might say “Unlike other doctor lists, this is a list of doctors who have specifically opted in to receive information on experimental cancer treatments.”
You should also say why it is better.
By saying something like “and because of the source method, results have shown these doctors are more likely to respond to relevant promotions.”
Your video can also advise the viewer on the best way to use your list. You should give information on how the list has been used most successfully through recommended uses, historical facts on usage, and you might want to tell some real life stories.
For example, you might say “In a recent promotion, Acme Corp tested this list in their widgets campaign and this list outperformed other lists by 15% in sales, 20% in ROI, 12% in response rate, and 20% in average order.”
It’s a very good idea to mention the controls on the list. Outside the list business, most people don’t realize how tightly controlled response lists are. Plus, your list owner will appreciate this.
You should mention the privacy policy. For example, you might say “Only those who have opted in to receive 3rd party mailings are available for rental.”
You should mention the approval policy. You could say something like, “Please note that any mailings to this list requires list owner approval. Your offer must be deemed relevant and in good taste to be approved.”
And you should mention how the data is secured. By saying something along the lines of “Your mailings must be delivered through a trusted 3rd party service bureau – you will not receive name and address data directly.”
Finally, and I probably don’t need to remind you of this, you should close with a call to action. Tell the viewer how to get more information or to place an order with you. One thing that’s often overlooked is showing your contact information on the screen because this will make it easier for the viewer to follow up.
If you have any special promotions, you should mention them.
For example, you might say “We’re offering a 25% discount on new tests to qualified buyers for all orders placed before June 30th.”
As reported in DM News, Fox Business, and others, San Francisco became the first American lawmaker to pass a "do not mail" resolution. Although non-binding, the measure that passed by a 9-2 veto-proof majority in the San Francisco Board of Supervisors calls for the creation of a do not mail program.
I've got to believe there's some middle ground here. It's not that people want "no mail." They just want better control over the mail they get. They call it "junk mail" because they don't want it and feel powerless to stop it. But they want to continue getting catalogs and other mail that is relevant and interesting.
A "do not mail" program is a blunt instrument that serves nobody well. Can't we put some bright minds together to give people control over their mailbox without further destroying the economy?
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