Remember when you were a little kid and you had something you thought was really, really important to say but no one would listen? You couldn't get the attention of the decision-maker (Mom) who made the decision (get you a cookie). As a direct marketing professional, do you ever feel like that today? “Hey, over here! Got a great deal, just what you need, great price…deadline…limited time…” Sometimes we just can't get our target's attention.
In the early days of direct marketing, maybe around the time of the Eisenhower administration, someone worked out a ratio of relative importance among the three primary elements determining the success of any direct marketing effort.
According to that formula, for any direct mail package, the list is responsible for 40% of success or failure, the offer is 40% responsible, and creative accounts for 20% of the effort's effectiveness. The ratio was anecdotal, of course, but seemed to be about right, because no creative execution was ever able to compensate for a bad list or an offer inappropriate for an audience. Wise direct marketers heeded that formula for decades, because it worked.
It may be time to re-examine that ratio.
Consider the exponential improvement in technologies for segmentation and data manipulation over the last two decades. They have had a profound effect on our ability to precisely close in on a target using a significantly larger number of data points. No one who has access to database marketing technologies should ever need to use a shotgun approach. At least theoretically, almost all direct mail communications should be addressed only to individuals or households who have a need for the product or service offered, and the offer should be relevant to that need.
Why, then, are response rates falling? It's getting harder to make direct marketing work. Even e-mail, ballyhooed as the “big fix” for the response rate problem as recently as a year ago, is declining precipitously in its ability to produce a cost-efficient response. While we don't believe e-mail is headed for the same tactical dustbin that holds banner advertising and pop-ups, the day of double-digit responses to e-mail has just about passed and it will only get worse as the novelty wears off.
It's not that effective list selection and the creation of relevant offers are less important, it's just that DM practitioners are better at accomplishing those tasks because we have better tools for the job. So actually “reaching” targets appears to be less a matter of identifying who they are and where they live than it is about assessing — and addressing — what they believe, care about, think and feel.
Recent research confirms that the American consumer is on sensory overload when it comes to advertising and marketing communications. Every day, we are exposed to a minimum of 3,000 advertising impressions of one sort or another. Even worse, most of those impressions are delivered in an incredibly cluttered environment.
The next time you're planning a mail campaign, try this: Imagine you are the target and picture the setting in which your message arrives. Chances are, they are sorting through multiple direct mailings received that day. One or more children are probably demanding attention. Quite possibly, your target is also sitting in front of a home computer checking e-mail or riffling through a stack of papers from the office, and it's a good bet that at least one TV set is blaring within earshot.
If you are a business-to-business marketer, the situation may be even worse. Because of corporate belt-tightening, your target is probably struggling with inadequate resources in an increasingly complex environment. Your mail package is competing with meetings, dozens of voicemail messages, 100 or more e-mails (at least half spam), cell phones and a “to-do” list to rival President Bush's — not to mention other B-to-B direct mail.
Is it any wonder your target isn't very likely to devote quality time to considering your offer?
Creative execution that's simply relevant is no longer enough. The presentation of the selling message must compensate for your target's probable distraction, as well your competition's access to the same technology you're using and their experience in developing equally compelling offers.
Fortunately, there is something you can do. While copywriters and art directors have been doing that for years, data has not typically been considered a weapon in the creative armory. Get your creative and database folks together and broaden your overall approaches.
Here are some tested and successful techniques for communicating in the Age of Distraction.
Get your heads together
Arguably the best examples of right- and left-brain thinkers around, database analysts and creative directors can think out problems and opportunities together. Sometimes when 2+2 adds up to an obvious“4” to a database analyst, the creative department might see something that multiplies it to 400. And the “whole-brain” insights that come about when the two disciplines interact can be true breakthroughs.
Tailor creative to demographics
Communicating with health-conscious young men is a far different task from addressing the needs of mature women. Demographics are central to communication, and your marketing database is what your creatives need to assess the makeup of target audiences.
Share the tools
Put creative and account planners in touch with the segmentation tools you have to identify interest in the database. Then add primary research such as focus groups to determine why they're interested. Feed those insights to the creative directors to develop selling messages.
Crawl inside their heads
That's the goal of getting the database, creative and strategic disciplines talking. Learn how to think like your target. Read the magazines they read. Find out what they care about and address these needs.
Personalize
The most powerful way to get anyone's attention is by engaging them individual ly, but avoid coming off like those annoying salespeople who use your name in every sentence. To create a positive effect with personalization, you need real content and a meaningful reason to use names and information in the copy.
Don't just personalize, be personable
Describe your offer in human terms, the way people talk and think.
Cop an attitude
Don't be afraid of a little edge in your creative execution. Irreverence is not the “way out” tactic it once was. Sure, you need to think about what's appropriate for your audience. A judicious use of unexpected words, unexpected reference or irreverent visual can work wonders.
Stay in touch
Many of the DM creatives we see are in that fabled baby boom generation. Younger people think differently and respond to different benefits and appeals. On the other end of the age band, remember that many of today's “seniors” grew up with Elvis, not Glenn Miller.
Give your art director more to do
Back in the '50s, it was a given that “Copy is king.” Today, the copy/art relationship is a partnership. Present your selling message in a way that demands attention visually.
Keep it short
The universal maxim once was “The more you tell, the more you sell.” But that was when people took the time to read, spending as many hours with the daily newspaper as they now spend watching TV. Listen to your art director's persistent plea to trim text. Well-crafted words won't sell anything if the reader skips over them because the page looks too time-consuming.
Be visually rich…no matter what your budget
Arresting visuals don't have to be four-color, die-cut or embossed. Use extreme close ups, create a Photoshop montage in duotones, use type imaginatively. A striking page layout can still make a B&W job look like a million.
Be single-minded
Elevate the likelihood your offer will resonate with the target by focusing on a single key benefit you can build a compelling story around. You can have multiple subplots but there's only room for one primary idea.
Brand, brand direct or pure direct?
Everyone has a friend or acquaintance whose daily conversation is just confusing. You listen, but it's simply hard to tell what he wants you to do. Don't fall into that trap. Keep clear on the differences between branding messages and direct. It's all too easy to cloud a communication, confuse your target, and get a “Huh?” in response.
Keep big ideas in big type
With all the distraction, important copy points in body type are often overlooked. Saying “that's in the body copy” doesn't help if no one's going to read it. If you want people to “get it,” put it in a head or subhead.
Push the envelope in B-to-B
In a B-to-B environment where the objective is to reach the top suite, dimensional mail can be a winner. Value-added elements like enclosures, oversized formats and creative use of personalization can get your hard work past the gatekeepers.
Tug those heartstrings
In the final analysis, every purchase decision is an emotional one. Even in B-to-B, prospects don't just act to save money. They want to feel good about making the right choice, being decisive, accomplishing more with less. Use words that evoke an emotional response, especially in headlines.
Bill Spink (left) is chief creative officer and Richard N. Tooker is senior vice president of database/interactive marketing at DMW, Wayne, PA.
