We’ve given you a lot of information to digest, so here’s a quick review. Use this checklist as part of your planning and during your campaign execution to ensure success.

Strategy

•  Campaign objectives are clear and measurable
•  Target market is identified
•  We understand behaviour and motivations of the target market
•  Budget is sufficient and approved
•  Direct marketing tactics (communication channels) are identified
•  Process is in place to update database with customer insights and new data
•  Tracking tools are in place to measure success

Database Management

•  In-house customer database has been updated recently and the data has been cleansed
•  In-house database has removed low-value customers and prospects
•  Modeling and customer profiles have been developed
•  List acquisition is based on target market and profiles
•  List acquisition has been made with a reputable firm that has timely and accurate data
•  Special requirements of the data are identified

Creative

•  Creative brief was developed at the beginning of this direct marketing campaign
•  Direct marketing piece is aligned with brand standards
•  Target market will identify with direct marketing piece
•  Functional specifications and mandatory information are clearly identified
•  Approval process is in place
•  Timeline is agreed upon
•  Approved budget is in place

Relevance

•  Creative is relevant to target market
•  Copy is relevant to target market
•  Offer is relevant to target market
•  Response mechanism is convenient and accessible to market

Fulfillment & Production

•  CASS Certification and NCOA completed
•  Visual audit conducted to check folding, inserting and sealing
•  In compliance with IMB (Intelligent Mail Barcode), Flat Sequencing regulations and Move Up  equirements

Measurement

•  Tracking code applied to offer or reply
•  Process in place to collect results
•  Ability to calculate ROI
•  Post-campaign analysis tools in place

DIRECT MARKETING GUIDE

Direct marketing is a highly effective way to acquire and develop a steady stream of qualified sales leads in both consumer and business markets. It is also an efficient way to grow customer loyalty and expand sales among your current customers.

Our direct marketing guide is designed to enable you to maximize your direct marketing campaigns. We can help you reduce waste and unnecessary expenses while increasing response rates and leveraging customer data to grow your business.

DIRECT MARKETING OVERVIEW

Direct Marketing Benefits:

• Exact targeting of specific prospects or customers
• Personalized messages with exclusive and relevant offers
• Ability to create an emotional connection
• Create relevant follow-up communications through data validation
• Campaign tracking to measure response rates and your return on investment

Common Direct Marketing pitfalls:

• Poor quality customer data or misuse of data
• Designs that require extra postage fees
• Non-compelling offer or lack of customer engagement
• Non-compliance with Postal Regulations
• Lack of ROI measurement tools and tracking

STRATEGY

 
The most critical component of a successful direct marketing campaign is having the right strategy. By developing a strategy, you will be able to generate qualified leads and convert those leads into profitable customers to generate a higher ROI.

It’s easy; just ask yourself these key questions:

• What is the desired outcome of the direct marketing campaign?
• Who is your target market?
• What is your budget?
• What communication channels will be most effective to reach the target market?
• How will any new information be uploaded to your CRM or customer database?
• How will you know the direct marketing campaign was effective?

The bottom line of the strategy is to create a plan and execute it. Measure and analyze the results, then make adjustments and continue developing a closer relationship with your most valuable customers or prospects.
 

DATABASE MANAGEMENT

 
Effective database management includes frequent updates and cleansing.
This will enable you to reduce costs and increase effectiveness.

Here are a few tips to help you manage customer data:

• You will have the most success with your current, in-house customer list
• Profile your current or prospective customer based on behavioural and demographic characteristics
• Identify and score your customer base to determine the most profitable and least profitable customers

CREATIVE

 
As part of the creative process, the best place to start is with a creative brief. This is an overview of the direct marketing purpose which enables a designer or art director to develop a creative piece based on your objectives. It is a vital part of the design process and a tool to build consensus, align expectations and stay focused on objectives.
 

RELEVANCE

 
Depending on your strategy, you can choose to send the same message to everybody, or send a highly relevant message to each individual.

Relevant creative and copy is also based on understanding your target market and properly segmenting your customers. Refer to your creative brief to make sure you are on target regarding imagery and headlines that are identifiable with your market. For copy, review the demographics and psychographics of your customer and write copy that is clear and concise, but also reflects the tone of your brand.

Another item that is often overlooked in direct marketing is the reply mechanism. Be sure the response channel is also aligned with the target market.
 

FULFILLMENT AND PRODUCTION

 
Producing Canada Post compliant direct marketing pieces is critical to retaining your mailing discounts and ensuring delivery of your campaign pieces. Be sure to deal with firms that have experienced staff managing your projects.
 

MEASUREMENT

 
Once you’ve defined a strategy, the next most important planning element is how you will track and measure your campaign. Below are a few options that can be applied to your direct marketing to efficiently track results:

• Code the response devices to be able to track effectiveness
• Utilize a personal website, which also includes real-time tracking

Tracking tools will enable you to also calculate your ROI and cost per acquisition. Always conduct a post-campaign analysis to evaluate the overall success of the campaign.

Welcome to the 3rd installment of the Marketing Monday “Lunch & Learn” Series by Allegra Marketing. Each Monday, we share a post from a 4-part series of marketing information and ideas. This series will discuss non-profit marketing strategies and will provide solutions for non-profit companies looking to improve the frequency and amount of donations and participation. The topics that will be covered include segmenting donors, investing unequally, engaging donors and increasing the average donation of donors.

We hope you enjoy Part 3 of 4 of Non-Profit Marketing Strategies and Solutions!

Engaging Donors

Engaging donors is the most effective way to ensure that your donors will continue to support your non-profit financially. The most effective way to figure out how to engage donors is ask current donors why they donate. You may be surprised at the reasons your donors have for donating. Once you determine why your donors are engaged in your non-profit you will have a stronger understanding of what motivates them and how you can use this information to motivate other potential donors.

The next step is determining how to properly engage this target audience to drill deeper into the group of able and willing donors. If you can engage this group properly then you can put together a list of characteristics that can then be used to develop strategic marketing methods to connect with new prospects that exhibit these same characteristics.

If non-profit marketers are able to redirect some energy to accomplish their goals by following these steps they will waste less time and effort and their return on investment should increase significantly. Ultimately, getting more for less in the long run. In tough economic times this is exactly what a non-profit needs to achieve success, they must increase funding while keeping a lid on spending.

Start thinking about how you can use marketing materials to engage individuals and keep them actively involved in your non-profit. Employ social media, mailing campaigns and E-mail blasts to keep potential donors aware of your organizations and its activities. Think of ways you can allow individuals the opportunity to invest in your organization while instilling them with a sense of meaning and achievement. The best way to engage donors is to keep them aware of your organizations latest news and allowing them to be active in you non-profit.

Welcome to the 2nd installment of the Marketing Monday “Lunch & Learn” Series by Allegra Marketing. Each Monday, we share a post from a 4-part series of marketing information and ideas. This series will discuss non-profit marketing strategies and will provide solutions for non-profit companies looking to improve the frequency and amount of donations and participation. The topics that will be covered include segmenting donors, investing unequally, engaging donors and increasing the average donation of donors.

We hope you enjoy Part 2 of 4 of Non-Profit Marketing Strategies and Solutions!

Investing Unequally

Investing unequally in your donors is based on the core principle that not all donors are created equal. There is a large difference between a donor who donates thousands of dollars a year and a donor who buys a handful of raffle tickets. Many non-profits feel that any previous donor has the potential to be a large donor and they invest a significant amount of time and money.  Recognizing that this is the exception and not the rule can help make your non-profit marketing more effective.  Non-profits should consider investing more in those donors who are most likely to donate rather than diluting their marketing budget to market to all possible donors.

Non-profit marketers should target their mid-range to high-end donors with a full court press of marketing materials. You do not want to ignore individuals who are not regular donors but it makes sense to increase your marketing efforts to those individuals who are more involved financially in the non-profit. You most likely want to send everyone on your donor list a monthly E-mail regarding the non-profit but you may also want to send out direct mail information to your mid-range and high-end donors to keep them actively engaged in the non-profit.

It is also important to craft messages that resonate with your most desirable donor base because this is the segment that is generating the most income for your non-profit. Keeping donors actively engaged in a non-profit is the most effective way to guarantee that they will continue to donate. Investing more in a message that will resonate with these donors makes sense from a business standpoint because these individuals are the most important to the non-profits success.

Welcome to the 1st installment of the Marketing Monday “Lunch & Learn” Series by Allegra Marketing. Each Monday, we share a post from a 4-part series of marketing information and ideas. This series will discuss non-profit marketing strategies and will provide solutions for non-profit companies looking to improve the frequency and amount of donations and participation. The topics that will be covered include segmenting donors, investing unequally, engaging donors and increasing the average donation of donors.

We hope you enjoy Part 1 of 4 of Non-Profit Marketing Strategies and Solutions!

Segmenting Donors

Segmenting donors is a good tool to implement if your non-profit marketing wants to focus on specific segment or sector of your target audience when providing them with information about your non-profit organization. Segmenting donors refers to creating groups or segments by placing individuals who share similar characteristics into groups.

Segmenting allows your organization to divide your database into smaller segments and treat each group as a separate audience and provide them information that directly resonates with them. By creating a more relevant message your marketing efforts will engage both current and potential donors at a deeper level.  There are numerous ways to segment donors the most common of which include the following:

• Segmentation according to the size of donation
• Segmentation according to the frequency of donation or last donation made

However, more sophisticated methods are becoming more common.  Other things to consider when segmenting donors include:

• Demographic segmentation: donor’s age, gender, occupation and nationality.  Based on their demographics will they value different aspects of your cause?
• Psychographic segmentation: donor’s personal values, interests, hobbies and the like.
• Interest/Identity segmentation: Is there one particular area of your cause that a particular donor is passionate about?  Often these areas will have deep personal meaning to the recipient.

Non-profit marketing segments should be big enough to allow for cost-effective non-profit marketing solutions. They should also have key differences relative to other segments, if segments are overly similar, segmentation will be a waste of time and money. Segments should also be able to be evaluated, targeted and stable in order to properly be marketed to.