Direct Marketing Campaign Planning - Our 6-Step Process
At EWA our direct marketing campaigns follow a 6-step process, refined over time to consistently deliver valuable data, improved customer relationships and increased revenue. The elements of this process are not accidental, but the result of considerable experience in the field and a proven, successful approach to direct marketing campaign planning.
If you want to discover how we could implement this process for your company, please communicate with us today.
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1. Planning
- Before starting any campaign it’s important to identify your Company’s USPs and the products/services on offer.
- Identify the campaign’s primary objectives. Do you want to:
- Increase Brand awareness
- Build an ongoing channel of CRM focussed communication
- Deliver a consistent flow of high quality, well qualified opportunities
- Proactively increase the number of leads you have
- Stimulate the market
- Identify the target audience. Can you specify:
B2B
- The size and type of company you would like to target
- The job titles/positions within those companies
- Any businesses with similar profiles to current customers
- The geographic area of interest
B2C
- The target demographic
- Appropriate Mosaic segments
- The Gender/Age
- Their Interests
- Any geographic ‘hot-spots’ to target
- Finally, if the data is available, consider using customer insight to identify the ‘ideal’ target profile and search for ‘look-a-likes’ in any data you have purchased, thereby increasing the chance of a successful campaign
2. Data Management
- Identify the available data based upon target profiles.
- Contact relevant data brokers to purchase the campaign data
- Ensure all DMA data best practices are adhered to i.e. TPS/MPS and only use opt-in data
- Manage the data by...
- Developing an appropriate campaign database to be used for all campaign activity and response handling
- Only loading cleansed and segmented data sets
- Including business/consumer profiling flags
- Running campaign extracts for DM, Email and Telemarketing which match the target segment
- Integrating any web enquiry forms for automated data capture
- Using campaign/channel response codes so response rates can be tracked and measured
3. The Message
- Refine the message by...
- Addressing the target’s challenges
- Offering a solution to their (perceived) needs
- Differentiating messages for various target segments
- Using a solid brand positioning statement to set the perception
- Establishing a dialogue capable of building trust
- Creating an enticing call to action
- Consider the ‘think, feel and do’ approach ...
- Thinking - what do you want them to think when they receive the campaign?
- Feeling - what do you want them to feel?
- Doing - What do you want them to do?
- Decide how to get the message out there (integrated campaigns ALWAYS work best) ...
- Online advertising (PPC) and advertorials
- Campaign website or landing page
- Direct mail
- Telemarketing
- Assess the benefits of...
- A multi-channel, phased approach
- Testing combinations to target segments (if volumes permit)
- Proactively following-up for non-responders via email or telemarketing.
4. Response Handling
- Define a means of collecting the responses across multiple channels ...
- Inbound phone calls
- Dedicated email address
- Campaign specific website or landing pages - enquiry forms
- Social Media
- Create a way to manage responses, considering...
- In-house capability and the capacity to manage responses
- Outsourcing opportunities
- The importance of qualifying each opportunity
5. Measuring Success
- Methods of measuring success include...
- Direct Mail (total responses)
- Website - (Google Analytics and web-tracking technology)
- Online advertising (interaction and click-through rates)
- Email (successful sends, opens, interactions)
- Telemarketing (quantitative and qualitative feedback) and the call-to-lead ratio
- Cost of acquisition (campaign costs vs attributable revenue)
- Ultimately, new customer revenue
6. Assess and Improve
- Learn from the campaign by identifying...
- Which target segments have responded and why
- What the channel preferences were
- Any trends within the data
- Which calls to action were most effective
- Which combination of communications worked best
- The Optimum window for proactive follow-up
- Improve the campaign by...
- Using analysis of campaign responses to build propensity models
- Targeting audience segments statistically likely to respond
- Refining the message and call to action by segment
- Continuing to build relationship with target audience
With such an approach to ongoing CRM, it is possible to optimise the resources and budget of your marketing efforts and improve the ROI for future marketing campaigns.
If you would like to discover how this process can be applied to your business’s marketing plans, please contact us today for a more in-depth consultation.
