Today we meet Elisa Klatt, senior account executive at Lake Group Media Inc. Klatt's a circulation marketing specialist and a statistical modeling enthusiast.
"What I do is niche targeting. I've always been on the consumer side, mainly, but I dabble in business-to-business too. I work with catalogers and magazine publishers. I focus mostly on publishing, but part of the year I work with catalogers and fundraisers," says Klatt.
She started as an assistant broker with Lake Group in 1995 and has worked her way up the corporate ladder. Her current client roster includes Conde Naste Publications, Nestle Food Corp., Morris Communications Co., Graphic Press and National Relief Charities.
"When you've been in this business for as long as I have, you can see how things have changed," she says. "Brokers have to do more multi-tasking. Our work now involves more than placing tests and orders for lists."
"You cannot get by anymore by just recommending lists. Brokers need to know about list modeling, merge purge and mail planning, because there's always someone else who will know," Klatt continues.
Clients' attitudes have also changed in recent years with respect to their willingness to share information and response data with brokers.
"I think they realize that brokers now understand more about their business than in past years," adds Klatt. "Though, of course, brokers have to sign confidentially agreements."
When she's not taking care of business, Klatt's favorite pastime is just being a "beach person." She and her husband visit the Jersey Shore with their 5-year-old boy during the summer and weekends through October.
Klatt enjoys "Caribbean island hopping" whenever she can during wintertime. "I've been to Aruba three times, the Bahamas, St. Thomas and the Cayman Islands. We never go this time of year though—hurricane season."
How can brokers help clients with list modeling?
The quality of data matters more than the quantity for generating a good response. Depending on the client response rates from list models can typically range from 1.2% to 3%, according to Klatt.
Regardless of who's building a list model it's important to know who to go to for list information and the data sources. Brokers can help select lists with appropriate affinities and negotiate pricing.
Modeling is often a good opportunity for testing because it's often possible to have models built for free—for testing, she adds.
How important are dollar selects?
Commercial mailers for a long time have set specific revenue benchmarks for list response, but this is becoming increasingly common among fundraisers now too.
"I won't even look at a donor list if the people gave less than $24," says Klatt. "Fundraisers are looking for a net income per donor."
Know someone you'd like to suggest for Meet the Broker? E-mailJim.Emerson@Penton.com
