e-Tip #3 January 14, 2008
Dear Friend:

In Tip #1, the brand was the focus; in tip #2, copy was the focus. This week, we turn our attention to the prospect, the buyer; your customer.

Selecting the right demographics is one of the most critical aspects of direct response marketing. Campaigns and brands succeed or fail based on the selection criteria you establish when beginning your campaign. All the positioning, branding and creative will be a wasted effort if you don’t reach your target audience(s). This is true for a new launch or a sustained campaign

e-Tip #3 is basic. Build a carefully crafted profile of prospective customers you want to reach. The rules of the game change depending on where the brand is in its product lifecycle.

A NEW INTRODUCTION

Some experts will tell you to begin a new product launch with a blank whiteboard. We don’t. That’s because you already have a wealth of knowledge from the moment the brand or product is first conceived. The product or service would not have been created if someone thought there was not a basic need that the product/service would fill.
  1. If you have any experience with the product or service from past brand history or competitors selling a similar entry, draw from that experience.

  2. If you don’t have your own experience or competitive experience, DO RESEARCH. Surveys and focus groups are the first place to begin. Expand your research beyond traditional research avenues and into social and private networks, blogs and anywhere on the Internet that will open a stream of information to add to your knowledge base. When the General Motors Asia Pacific Design Center team was re-engineering the Buick LeSabre for the Asian market, they decided to target the younger market and visited clubs to study fashion trends they could incorporate into the car.
When the General Motors Asia Pacific Design Center team was re-engineering the Buick LeSabre for the Asian market, they decided to target the younger market and visited clubs to study fashion trends they could incorporate into the car.
Once you have built a profile of your potential customer base, test your plans with more focus groups and surveys to insure you are on a success curve. Do not be too hasty in targeting your primary demographics. It’s actually good to have several key groups identified for your product/service. Multiple groups always overlap in both B2C and B2B marketing arenas. They may not all perform well initially and one will usually rise to the top. By focusing on just one or two “primary targets” you might miss a sleeping giant that, with the right segmentation, will deliver additional sales that boost your ROI.

In this process, it is very important to never exclude any potential segment from your marketing mix because it does not look like a promising group. Remember e-Tip #2 about focusing on benefits rather than features. Your copywriters may have a challenge to develop creative that varies by segment but that’s why you pay them the big bucks.

EXPANDING AN EXISTING CAMPAIGN

The strategy is the same as a new product launch with a major variation. You have a history and it is critical that you maintain a very clean database of prospects and actual buyers with updates performed after each campaign and after each sale is made. This is vital to the success of the next campaign.

Always analyze and re-analyze your results, measuring actual results against expected results and refine your next campaign to reflect historical results. Keep in mind your targets may be correct but your messages may not be driving sales in certain segments and that’s why demographic profiling is a continuing effort to maximize your direct response results. However, as you evaluate segments, after testing two or more copy and offer variables, if you do not get a desired ROI, abandon the segment. Throwing good money after bad money is not a profitable strategy.

Database strategies are often complex and changing. How you organize your next campaign will determine the media, content and offer. It all begins here with your prospect lists. You can do it alone, but we recommend taking advantage of outside resources that understand strategic planning and in-depth knowledge about direct response marketing and how to identify potential buyers.

The investment you make in creatively organizing your key target groups will pay handsome dividends in the future.

Eric Sims and Willi Abbott
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