Direct Marketing News

A common cause of dismay among companies which use direct marketing is the high cost of mailing out stacks of full-color booklets and mail, to gather only a small percentage rate of response. It’s enough to make one wonder, ‘Is there a better way to reach my customers?’

However, savvy marketing people understand the type of person that makes their best customer, and then hone their effort in on companies and people who have a similar demographic profile, thereby attaining optimal results.

To be able to do something similar, the primary step is evaluating and ranking current customers in several categories:

My clients have learned that by answering the questions above they are on their way to changing their marketing strategies for the better. They begin asking themselves, ‘What makes a good customer?’ The businesses that appear on the tops of all three lists are your best customers - next we’ll want to go after others who match the same profile.

To do this, we’ll need to identify these ‘best customer’ traits, and understand the similarities. How big are these companies? Where are they on a map? Who’s making the purchase decisions, and what are their titles?

We can find similar companies by evaluating and using the info above. Then we can start to integrate them into our direct mail marketing lists. At times, paying for additional targeted lists of companies which match our preferred profile can be worthwhile.

It’s particularly important to remember which companies purchased in the past, but not recently. Sometimes it just takes a little effort to extend communications and get these old customers back on board. By showing gratitude for their past purchases, even mentioning that you realize it’s been a while, can help to get them active again. At times by giving a discount for returning customers you can tip the decision-making in your favor and close the sale.

Another great group to contact are those who have inquired about your goods and service offerings, even if they never did go through with a purchase. Almost three-quarters of companies who make an inquiry of this nature are looking to satisfy long-term business needs. It is critical to maintain communication with these contacts as they progress along the purchase process, maintaining and developing a strong relationship in the process.

Direct marketing doesn’t necessarily need to be overly expensive. One software company I know of keeps in contact with potential customers by sending out postcards to all those who make inquiries. The cards reap a high rate of response, especially from those who are prepared to take the purchase process to the next level.

Marketers, let’s focus our efforts by implementing these strategies, improving the quality of our direct marketing campaigns.

M. H. “Mac” McIntosh is described by many as one of America’s leading business-to-business sales and marketing consultants and an expert on the subject of sales leads. He is president of Mac McIntosh Incorporated, a sales and marketing consulting firm specializing in helping companies get more high-quality sales leads and turn them into sales.

Visit: http://www.sales-lead-experts.com for more info.

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