So, I get a lot of catalogs. I mean a lot of catalogs.
I didn’t request any of these catalogs that pile up in my mailbox. And, to be honest, most of them I throw away. Some I read. Very infrequently I might even actually place an order. But, I don’t do it enough to warrant weekly mailings. I am not a good use of these catalogers’ marketing dollars.
This incredible influx of unwanted mail has been on my mind as I plan my own catalog and postcard mailing here at the office. A vice president recently came to us with an edict for the endeavor: “Print less, mail less and sell more.”
As the catalog sits at the printer, we’re going name by name through our list. Our direct mail investment will be towards a much smaller audience that we know is a legitimate customer for these products. They buy from us, they like us and we know when they get this catalog they will actually use it
But what about developing the brand? That’s where e-mail comes in. While our print direct mail will be zoomed in to a very specific group of actual buying customers, our e-mail pursuits will go to a much broader segment of our customer universe.
Rather than sending an entire catalog filled with products they may or may not use, we’ll utilize e-mail to target specific products out of that catalog to specific lists pulled from our master customer universe.
We sat down and looked at the product and came up with three audiences who could use it. Within hours of our first test e-mail a few weeks ago, we had orders.
Traditional direct marketing
Network
