Target Marketing articles from May 1995

Target Marketing archives from May 1995

Lead generation: controlling the flow.
May 1, 1995... How you phrase your offer determines the quality of the leads you get. If your goal is to pull as many leads as possible for your gales force or your product's cost requires prospects' lengthy consideration, using a soft offer. However, if you...

From birth to maturity: what to test when your product is brand new, later on and down the road.(More How To's of ... Testing)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1995... Every once in a while, an intrepid mailer will throw caution to the wind and attempt to capsulate, in a set of rules, his experience in product, list, price, offer, seasonality and creative resting. An even more daring exercise is to interpret...

Guess the winners. (direct mail tests)(More How-to's of ... Testing)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1995... IN THESE ACTUAL DIRECT MAIL TESTS, ONE PACKAGE BEAT THE OTHER AND BECAME CONTROL. CAN YOU PICK THE WINNERS? Editor's Note: This article represents the first two installments in a series by Tom Meyer titled "Guess the Winners." Look for more...

The mechanics of the A/B split. (magazine and newspaper advertising tests)(More How-to's of ... Testing)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1995... . . . AND OTHER SECRETS NORDICTRACK, FRANKLIN MINT, KARRASS SEMINARS, SHARPER IMAGE AND LYMAN WOOD KNOW Who's Lyman Wood? He's a fellow who's sold hundreds of millions of dollars in products and services over the last 60 years, better known as...

Better-informed list decisions. (direct mail lists)(More How-tos of ... Testing)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1995... CAREFUL DATA SELECTION AND ANALYSIS LETS YOU CREATE A MAIL PLAN THAT BENEFITS FROM OPTIMUM SCHEDULING, SEASONALITY AND PRICING Greater productivity in direct mail is a function of gathering, understanding and using information. It's...

The quick way to test: telemarketing enables marketers to get a test out fast and efficiently.(More How-tos of ... Testing)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1995... The best direct marketing program starts with a good test. Telemarketing as a test vehicle offers direct marketers the unique advantage of being able to structure the offer and then listen to the customer's response. With a telemarketing test,...

Six mistakes catalogs make.(More How-tos of ... Testing)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1995... Testing in catalogs is a "piece of cake." It takes very little thought or effort and the reading and tracking of results is one of the simplest things in direct marketing. If you believe this, I have several defunct catalogs I'd like to sell...

Beating the control. (creative marketing strategies)(More How-tos of ... Testing)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1995... IT MIGHT TAKE A REDESIGNED MAILING, DIFFERENT COPY OR A TOTALLY NEW OFFER, BUT YOU'LL NEVER KNOW UNTIL YOU TEST Your job is to create the direct mail package or direct response ad that sets the new standard for your company - in other words to...

Reading test results.(More How-tos of ... Testing)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1995... OR, HOW TO MAKE SURE YOUR TEST IS STATISTICALLY VALID At what point can you believe test results? If your minimum allowable response to meet your profit objective is 15 orders per thousand (1.5 percent) and your test mailing of 5,000 pieces...

Salvation on the Internet. (direct marketing via computer networks)
May 1, 1995... HOW CAN DIRECT MARKETING SURVIVE AND FLOURISH IN AN "ANYTHING GOES" ENVIRONMENT? DON'T LET YOUR COMPETITION FIND OUT BEFORE YOU DO I just returned from the annual Direct Marketing to Business Conference in San Antonio. For the first time,...

Pushing the envelope. (handling personal data collection)
May 1, 1995... FOUR EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATE HOW - AND HOW NOT - TO HANDLE PERSONAL DATA COLLECTION IT'S A GIVEN: To function efficiently, direct marketers need information about consumers. The two key questions: 1. Is the information obtained honestly - or...

Going 'green' step by step. (environmentally-friendly catalogs)
May 1, 1995... NOT ALL CATALOGS ARE ECO-FRIENDLY, BUT MOST HAVE MADE NOTABLE EFFORTS In an ideal world, every cataloger would print on recycled paper using vegetable-oil ink and the most earth-friendly printing processes. Welcome to 1995. While most of the...

Database marketing revisited.
May 1, 1995... As more marketers focus on customer retention, they're taking a second look at database-driven programs To be successful in the '90s requires new sales strategies and far more demanding use of customer information. Profit and growth are...