Sourcing, using, cleaning and enhancing lists

MarketingFile - List selections
MarketingFile - List selections

Because of the increasing demand for smaller lists for niche markets and localised campaigns, and because rapid delivery is becoming more important, lists are now also being sold online, sometimes with no minimum order, as is the case with MarketingFile.

About lists

There are thousands of lists on the market. Traditionally, lists have been obtained either direct from the list owner, from a list manager or from a list broker (see below for an explanation of each). You should allow a few days to a few weeks to obtain the data from these traditional sources and you will probably be obliged to purchase a minimum value of data – £500 to £1,000 is not unusual.

Because of the increasing demand for smaller lists for niche markets and localised campaigns, and because rapid delivery is becoming more important, lists are now also being sold online.

Elsewhere on the Internet, you can obtain details on specific lists (in the form of a data-sheet) on list owners’, managers’ and brokers’ web-sites. In some cases you can obtain rough counts, but very few web-sites allow you to actually purchase and download the data.

What is the difference between a list broker, a list owner and a list manager?

List owner

The person or organisation with proprietary rights in the list. This could be a publisher, a mail-order company or almost any type of business that has built a large database of contacts.

List manager

A person or organisation appointed by a list owner to market or sell its lists and to be the recipient for all enquiries and orders. The list manager receives a fee from the list owner.

List broker

A person or organisation that works on behalf of the purchaser of the list. They are responsible for recommending suitable lists and negotiating on their client’s behalf with the list owners and/or list managers. The broker’s income is normally derived from a brokerage commission based on the base rental value of the list(s) supplied.

Where do lists come from and how are they compiled?

There are several different types of lists available. They are created in a variety of ways and come from a number of different sources.

Business lists:

Compiled/researched lists – originate as publicly available information (e.g. Companies House data) and are further researched by the list owner.

Publisher lists – contain readers of magazines / books / publications. They may be subscribers (who pay for the magazine) or controlled circulation (who fill in the registration card and qualify for a free copy).

Mail order buyers/enquirers – These are buyers of products by mail order or from a newspaper advertisement. Generally these do not offer many selections, but you do know that these people are used to responding to offers.

Exhibition attendees – people who have filled in registration cards at exhibitions. The card tends to hold a varying amount of information about the individual but interest level in the subject area is known to be high.

Consumer lists:

Compiled lists – names of individuals taken from publicly available sources. Examples are professional registers or shareholder files.

Geo-demographic lists – are based on Electoral Roll data overlaid with census data, credit data and household classifications. Some information may be imputed by statistical means. These lists can supply large quantities of data in small geographic areas.

Lifestyle lists – are built from questionnaire information. Consumers give details of their homes, family composition, finances and interests. Typically the surveys collect up to 2,500 separate pieces of information about an individual. These are therefore the most highly selective lists.

Affinity/transaction & response based lists – are compiled as a result of a purchase, subscription, response or enquiry by a consumer, indicating an active interest in that product / service area.

How much does a list cost and are there any hidden charges?

The actual price of each list varies but the pricing principles tend to stay the same for traditional list owners, managers and brokers. There is usually a base rental per 1000 records (usually expressed as £x/000) – this can range from £50/000 – £500/000, plus any of the following;

  • Selection £x/000 per selection made – e.g. £10 for each of age, income, etc
  • Email address and other additional data items cost £x/000
  • Delivery / Format charge – depending on whether you want an email, cd, etc
  • Additional costs of Mailsort, keycoding and flagging (for a glossary of these terms please see the Royal Mail web-site at www.royalmail.co.uk).

Another example of list pricing is the way in which MarketingFile structure it. With no minimum order and an online, instant download data tool, MarketingFile can cost per record.

What sort of response should I expect?

Many factors will affect your response rate, including the list used, the offer, the creative work, the copy, the timing of the mailing and so on.

The Direct Mail Information Service (DMIS) publishes figures on response rates to different campaigns on its web-site. However many of these campaigns will have been done by large marketing departments using top advertising agencies and copywriters.

Rather than spending your entire budget on a large campaign that delivers a poor response, it is best to test your campaign first on a smaller quantity.

What is a reasonable level of gone-aways?

Some level of undeliverable addresses or gone-aways is inevitable. People and companies move or die and even the most up-to-date list will contain some inaccuracies. Your list supplier should make you aware of their policy for the reimbursement of goneaways.

After you have used the list

You must return any gone-aways to the list-owner. This enables the list to be updated and may entitle you to a refund if gone-aways have exceeded the warranty level. Ensure that any further use of the list is allowable under the terms of the licence.

Buying a list

Consider the following when buying a list;

What is the source of the data? Is it liable?
Is the list appropriate given your product / service and target market?
What is the frequency of updating? When was it last updated?
How selective is the list? Does it allow you to accurately target your best prospects?
What is the cost of the list? Are there any hidden or additional costs over and above the base price?
Does it contain email address, telephone / fax numbers if required?
Have addresses, telephone and fax numbers been checked against the most recent Preference Service lists?
Does the list owner require that the list is only handled by a registered fulfilment house or can you do this yourself?
Is there a minimum quantity or value?
How long will it take to be delivered?
What is the policy relating to gone-aways?
Does the allowed usage of the data fit your requirement (i.e. single-use, multiple-use)?

Cleaning your lists and databases

It is your responsibility to ensure that you do not contact people who have indicated that they do not wish to hear from you. In the UK, your list must therefore be cleaned against the various opt-out files;

  • The Telephone Preference Service (TPS & CTPS) is a list containing numbers of individuals – i.e. consumers, sole traders and (except in Scotland) partnerships, and businesses who must not be called unsolicited.
  • The Fax Preference Service (FPS) list contains the numbers of companies that must not be faxed. Individuals (as defined for TPS) must never be faxed unsolicited.
  • The Mailing Preference Service (MPS) list contains the details of consumers that should not be mailed. This is an industry guideline rather than a legal requirement. The file is updated every 3 months.
  • Additional costs of Mailsort, keycoding and flagging (for a glossary of these terms please see the Royal Mail web-site at www.royalmail.co.uk).

In addition it is good practice and commercial sense to clean your lists against the lists of people who have either moved or died. It is very distressing for the bereaved to receive mail or calls for a deceased relative. Consumer lists should therefore be cleaned against one of the commercially available lists of people who have died.

Finally, the deliverability of a mailing depends on the accuracy of the addresses. Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF) is the definitive database of every deliverable address in the UK. It can be used to correct partial or inaccurate addresses in your list or database.

Enhancing your lists and databases

Would you like to know more about the people or companies on your customer database?

Using sophisticated matching techniques, all sorts of information can be appended to the names and addresses in your file, from simply adding a contact telephone number or email address to building a complete profile of your customer;

  • Key business metrics such as turnover, number of employees, years in business and type of company activity can be appended to business lists.
  • Socio and geo-demographic information such as income, home and car ownership, life-stage, family size and other lifestyle characteristics can be appended to consumer list.

Direct marketing legislation

There are a number of laws and self-regulatory guidelines covering various aspects of direct marketing that you should be aware of;

  • The Direct Marketing Association publishes Best Practice Guidelines for all UK direct marketers.
  • Certain types of promotion should always be checked with the DMA before implementation (e.g. tobacco, gifts, premiums and awards, network marketing, cosmetics, slimming products). Advertising to minors is not allowed.
  • The Data Protection Act requires companies and other organisations holding personal data to register the type of data held and its intended use.
  • The Telecommunications Regulations enshrine the right of consumers and some organisations not to receive direct marketing calls or faxes.
  • The Advertising Standards Authority. Is your marketing material “legal, decent, honest and truthful”?
  • Some industries, e.g. Financial Services, are also regulated by their own bodies.

How direct marketing can help you

MarketingFile - Email marketing simplified
MarketingFile - Email marketing simplified

Obtaining new clients is essential to the success of any business. Direct marketing gives you the opportunity to target the most relevant audience for your products or services. Because it has the ability to send targeted niche campaigns it is more cost-effective than other forms of advertising as you only invest in contacting just those people you want to communicate with. 

MarketingFile have been working with business for the last 15 years supplying high quality direct marketing data for clients’ campaigns, we therefore understand the benefits it can bring to businesses looking to communicate with their client base.

Three key benefits of direct marketing:

It is more responsive. The message can be tailored precisely for each target group and each contact can be followed up individually. Personalised messages have become popular over the last 5 years, this can be by using the respondents name or, more effectively, using their shopping or lifestyle habits. 

It is measurable. The response rate from each campaign is easily measured. Whether you use direct mail, email or SMS each channel can be measured easily for its response rate. Use promotional codes or referrer ID’s to identify what channel new customers come from. 

It is controllable. You decide exactly how many businesses or consumers to contact at a time. You can send mail, email or SMS to as many or as little as you need for your campaign. Sending niche campaigns is suggested as the most viable method for direct marketing, as long as you have the correct targeting.

How to use direct marketing effectively

The success of a direct marketing campaign depends upon a number of factors;

  • The suitability and relevance of the product or service to the target group
  • The quality, accuracy and relevance of the list of prospects used
  • The attractiveness of the offer
  • The creativity of the approach
  • Timing and other factors

You should consider the product or service you wish to promote, the type of audience for which it is most suited and then select your list based on a wide range of options. When targeting businesses these areas include, industry type, turnover, size of company, job function etc. When targeting consumers these include area, income, age, marital status, home ownership, investment potential, interests and lifestyle attributes.

The quality of the list is the single most important success factor in a DM campaign. The more thought put into its selection, the more accurate the targeting will be and the more responsive the campaign. The prospect must understand how they will benefit from what is being offered and the message should close with a clear “call to action” (e.g. complete the enclosed form, phone a number, visit a web-site etc).

Prospects should be targeted in manageable quantities. If the campaign is too large it carries the risk of the response being too great to cope with. A smaller campaign may be easier to handle and responses can be followed up more efficiently and professionally.

Speak to our team on 0845 345 7755 to see how your business can use direct marketing to both existing customers and prospects!

Sourcing your prospect marketing list

MarketingFile - Sourcing your prospect marketing list
MarketingFile - Sourcing your prospect marketing list

There are thousands of lists on the market. Traditionally, lists have been obtained either direct from the list owner, from a list manager or from a list broker. You should allow a few days to a few weeks to obtain the data from these traditional sources and you will probably be obliged to purchase a minimum value of data: £500 to £1,000 is not unusual.

Because of the increasing demand for smaller lists for niche markets and localised campaigns, and because rapid delivery is becoming more important, lists are now also being sold online.

Elsewhere on the Internet, you can obtain details on specific lists (in the form of a data-sheet) on list owners’, managers’ and brokers’ web-sites. In some cases you can obtain rough counts, but very few web-sites allow you to actually purchase and download the data.

What is the difference between... A list broker, a list owner and a list manager?

  • List owner: the person or organisation with proprietary rights in the list.
  • List manager: a person or organisation appointed by a list owner to market or sell its lists
  • List broker: a person or organisation that works on behalf of the purchaser of the list. 

Where do lists come from and how are they compiled?

There are several different types of lists available. They are created in a variety of ways and come from a number of different sources.

Business lists

  • Compiled / researched lists: originate as publicly available information (e.g. Companies House data) and are further researched by the list owner.
  • Publisher lists: contain readers of magazines / books / publications. They may be subscribers or controlled circulation 
  • Mail order buyers / enquirers: These are buyers of products by mail order or from a newspaper advertisement.
  • Exhibition attendees: people who have filled in registration cards at exhibitions. The card tends to hold a varying amount of information about the individual but interest level in the subject area is known to be high.

Consumer lists

  • Compiled lists: names of individuals taken from publicly available sources. Examples are professional registers or shareholder files.
  • Geo-demographic lists: are based on Electoral Roll data overlaid with census data, credit data and household classifications. Some information may be imputed by statistical means. These lists can supply large quantities of data in small geographic areas.
  • Lifestyle lists: are built from questionnaire information. Consumers give details of their homes, family composition, finances and interests. Typically the surveys collect up to 2,500 separate pieces of information about an individual. These are therefore the most highly selective lists.
  • Affinity / transaction & response based lists: are compiled as a result of a purchase, subscription, response or enquiry by a consumer, indicating an active interest in that product / service area.

How much does a list cost and are there any hidden charges?

The actual price of each list varies but the pricing principles tend to stay the same for traditional list owners, managers and brokers. There is usually a base rental per 1000 records (usually expressed as £x/000): this can range from £50/000: £500/000, plus any of the following;

  • Selection £x/000 per selection made: e.g. £10 for each of age, income
  • Email address and other additional data items cost £x/000
  • Delivery / Format charge: depending on whether you want an email, cd
  • Additional costs of Mailsort, keycoding and flagging
MarketingFile are unique within the market as we can be categorised as brokers, however we differ as we hold all of our list owner data in-house. Giving us instant and direct access to all of our marketing lists, meaning we are able to run data counts and send prospect lists immediately. 

If you have any queries about sourcing your prospect marketing list please call our team on 0845 345 7755. We will be pleased to assist you in any way we can.

Improve your response rate

MarketingFile - Improve your response rate
MarketingFile - Improve your response rate

A huge number of factors affect the response rate to your campaign. This tip-sheet is designed to make you aware of the main factors and give you some ideas for how to improve the response of your next campaign.

The list

The quality of the list is the single most important factor affecting response rate. Also consider that people who are not inundated with offers are more likely to respond so you may increase response by using lists that are less frequently used, or by targeting so as to avoid the inundated.

The offer

If the product or service you are promoting is lacking the basic features expected or your price is too noncompetitive, your response will inevitably be poor. Assuming these fundamentals are OK, you may consider the following to help to boost response;

  • Offer a free sample or trial to enable your prospects to experience your product or service 
  • Offer an incentive. Be careful with the economics here. Ideally link the incentive to purchase rather than simple response. The gift itself should be relevant to your target audience, or failing that, of universal relevance. 
  • Offer a discount or special price. Again be careful with the economics. A 20% discount may increase response to cover its cost but a 30% discount fails to pull the extra response needed. Experiment with different ways of describing the discount – “buy one get one free” usually works better than, “2 for the price of 1”, “half price”, “50% off”.
  • Always set a limited time to respond if providing an incentive, discount etc. This encourages the recipient to actually respond rather than putting it aside until later – and stick to it!

The Mail-piece

Try not sacrifice clarity and response generation in favour of cutting edge creative genius. Relevant photographs increase response more than drawings or diagrams. Keep your mail piece to the point, you need to explain the benefits of your product or service but not ramble on, include testimonials and try to answer the reader’s questions. 

Use a strong headline (repeat this on the envelope if possible) and make use of headings, sub-headings, indents and bullet points as most people will scan the piece before they read it properly. Use plain English and short sentences. Don’t crowd the page – leave plenty of white space. This all makes your mail-piece easier to read and increases response. Consider using an easy to read font such as a serif font. Research suggests this is more likely to be read and remembered. 

Personalisation of the mail-piece can improve response dramatically. However personalisation is not simply scattering the prospect’s name throughout the mail-piece. It is tailoring the text of the offer to the recipient and demonstrating the benefits to them personally. Thus a short piece promoting events local to the recipient will generate a better response than a huge tome covering all events nationally. 

If you are mailing to a named individual, make sure you get the name right, but do not be afraid to mail without a name (or without a salutation if it cannot be derived). “Dear Reader” is acceptable – or better, replace the salutation completely with a bold heading. Some business mailers claim to improve response by not mailing to a name at all, preferring to mail to a job title, which can be exactly the person you seek to reach e.g. The Network Security Manager.

Timing

Obvious really – make sure you time your mailing to drop at a time when your prospect is most likely to buy.  For business mailings try to avoid times when your prospect is likely to be away or manically busy (e.g. industry trade fairs). There is some evidence that business mailings arriving mid-week are more responsive than those arriving on a Monday or Friday. This is particularly true for email campaigns.

Many believe that consumer mailings are more likely to be read thoroughly at weekends. Many mailers avoid the holiday period altogether but a growing number have realised that not everyone is away at the same time and that those that are at home are more likely to read a mailing when there is less on the doormat

Follow-up

Very important. To increase your response rate consider contacting each prospect more than once – and at least quarterly. Increasing the frequency normally increases the response rate and many direct marketers now prefer to contact prospects monthly. Consider following up your mailing with a telephone call. Particularly in business to business, a follow-up telephone call 3-4 days after the mailing has landed can significantly increase your response. A call-mail-call pattern can produce even greater results.

The response mechanism

The simple rule is to make it as easy as possible to respond. Different people will prefer to respond in different ways so make sure you offer all the options (mail, fax, telephone, email, web-site). Do as much of the work as possible for the prospect. If you provide a reply card, fill in the prospect’s details – this can increase response by up to 15%. Always repeat the main points of the offer on the reply-card – people may just keep the reply-card and wonder later what it was about. Repeating the offer may just get it sent back to you. 

Consider paying the costs of response. Use reply-paid postage (you only pay for the replies that are actually mailed). Use a free-call or local-rate telephone number. If your prospect must pay the full call charge, use a non-geographic number to avoid the “not local – too distant” argument. Always tell your prospects how much (or how little) the call will cost – many people confuse 0945 (local rate) with 0898 (premium rate) and will assume the worst.

Test, Measure, Improve

If you are considering a large volume mailing, do a test-run initially to a smaller number to ensure the response is acceptable. You may even try two or more different lists, letters or offers to see which works best (make sure you can tell from the responses which campaign they came from). 

Beware of mailing to very small volumes as you may get a very low or zero response and conclude (wrongly) that the campaign does not work when the same campaign sent to 1000 or more would deliver more statistically significant (and acceptable) results. 

Direct marketing is part science, part art. You will not get everything right first time. You will need to refine your campaign over time to maximise your response. The crucial thing is to measure the response from each campaign and learn from the experience, thereby improving your response rate over time.

For more information and for your free data count, get in touch with our team on 0845 345 7755.

Marketing Strategy week 4: Measurement and Control

MarketingFile - Marketing Strategy week 4: Measurement and Control
MarketingFile - Marketing Strategy week 4: Measurement and Control

We are now on our final week of our marketing strategy tips focusing on the part of the strategy which normally is forgotten, the measurement and control of the project.

Get Control

Once you have planned, discussed, implemented and managed your strategy you need to know if it’s achieved your original objective. To do this effectively using a Gantt chart at the beginning of the project will help keep your plan on track. 

However, don’t feel like you have to stick to the plan 100%. Your business environment can change, internally and externally. Therefore your strategy needs to take this into account with contingency plans ready if certain situations occur, i.e. a competitor releases a similar product a month before you’re launch date, or your head of sales goes on maternity leave – your business should have plans in place to manage these changes effectively. 

We’ve included an example of a Gantt chart below, each task will be given a time frame it has to be completed by and include slack time (amount of time a task can go on for before effecting other tasks). Planning in this way gives a visual display of how long each task will take, because of this it is sometimes useful to write your Gantt chart whilst producing your marketing plan to give yourself realistic time frames.

Gantt Chart

Measure Results

At the end of your project your shareholders or board of directors (or even for your own sanity) will want to know if you achieved what you set out to do. To do this you need to measure how well your marketing plan was implemented and to what level did it achieve its goals.

Your measurement will depend on your objectives, for example increasing website traffic can be measured by volume of traffic, page views, time on site, bounce rate etc. Or to increase social media engagement can be measured by reach, participation and number of followers. 

Document your results in an easy to read format so everyone involved understands the final outcome of the strategy. Don’t forget to produce a formal report to indicate the project has come to an end which should be distributed among all teams involved and shareholders/board members.

A final note...

We hope your business will find our four weeks’ of strategy blogs useful for your next marketing project. If you would like more information or hints and tips please call our team on 0845 345 7755. Plus why not get in touch for your free data count to find prospects for your next direct marketing campaign.

The Marketing Plan: Week 3

MarketingFile - Key questions for your multi-channel marketing
MarketingFile - Key questions for your multi-channel marketing

We are now in our third week of marketing strategy tips focusing on the marketing plan. So far you would have completed your market analysis, understanding your current situation, and have a clear idea who your customers are. The next step is to write and execute your marketing strategy to achieve your overall goal. 

Below we have outlined the basic marketing plan template, however you can make yours as detailed as you require. Some businesses can find an in-depth marketing plan doesn’t suit their needs as it can take too long for all the relevant departments or teams to read to understand what the plan of action is. Therefore, it can be useful to have a brief plan outlining the key points indicating which team is responsible for a particular section, within each part a more detailed plan can be delivered. 

If the marketing strategy includes different departments or teams remember to keep communication open, clear and flowing in all directions. Ensuring each department involved in the marketing strategy is informed of how the overall strategy is progressing is important for everyone to be aware of. 

So below the important sections to include in your strategy:

Executive summary

  • A 300-500 word summary of the whole marketing plan, gives direction to the reader 

Audit

  • This you have already carried out through your customer and market analysis

Objectives

  • You may already know your objectives and key goal so here you need to document them (keep to the SMART acronym!)

Marketing strategy

  • Overview of your chosen strategy, there are many to choose from; growth, introduction or innovation to name a few.

Marketing plan

  • Here is when the famous 7P’s in marketing come into their own, each one has to be considered to implement a successful strategy.

Product

  • Do you have a product or service which fulfils a client’s needs?

Price

  • What pricing strategy suits your market and product, skimming, premium, penetration?

Place

  • Also known as distribution, how are you going to get your product or service to your customers? Do you have an online or offline presence?

Promotion

  • How are you going to communicate your offer to your audience? Are you going to use a multi-channel approach with digital and direct marketing?

People

  • Consider everyone who is involved in this strategy and will come in contact with your customers, they will have an influence in their purchasing decisions, so make sure they are well trained, motivated and have the right attitude.

Processes

  • Ensure your processes which involve the customer are running smoothly at all times and have contingency plans in place. Make sure customers can get in touch with you, your purchasing process is easy to use and give them a positive experience!

Physical Evidence

  • Are you service based? Everything tangible in your business needs to be portrayed in the manner that reflects your service. Give your customers a good reason to you over competitors.

Don’t feel as though your marketing plan has to be 100% accurate, the best marketing plans are fluid and can change with the internal and external environment. 

Next week will be looking at the final stage in your marketing strategy which is measurement and control, focusing on once your plan is underway how do you keep it on track to achieve your original goal. 

If you have any questions please contact our team on 0845 345 7755

Marketing strategy week 2: Market Analysis

MarketingFile - Marketing strategy week 2: Market Analysis
MarketingFile - Marketing strategy week 2: Market Analysis

We started our 4 week help guide to outline the key areas to producing a successful marketing strategy, last week we focused on customer and prospect data. This week we are looking into analysing your market and current situation. A vital part of a marketing strategy is to identify where in the market your company is positioned compared to its competitors to determine your customers (if you don’t know this already), find appropriate pricing and discover competitor vulnerabilities. To do this carrying out a full market analysis will provide your business with the information required to move your strategy to the next stage.

Target Market

Part of the market analysis has already been covered in last week’s blog, however the market analysis takes the data you’ve segmented to identify a target market. Your audience will depend on a two key factors; your overall strategic objectives and who your product or service is targeted at. 

Understanding your perspective customers buying habits and interests will give you an idea if you’re product or service is going to meet their needs and expectations. Carrying out market research at this stage (if budgets allow) will also determine their reaction to the introduction of your product or service.

Competitor Analysis

This is a vital area to thoroughly research and investigate into, why will depend on your marketing strategy and its objectives. For example if you are introducing a new product or service your business will need to identify if you’re competitors have a similar offering and then establish if there is enough market share for your new entry. 

However, if your strategy is aimed at growing your existing business in its existing market you should already have competitor information available. If you are entering a new market completely then extensive research will be required to understand whether it is a financially viable option. 

Identifying your competitors marketing strategies will also give insight into what marketing approach has been successful, or strategies which possibly haven’t been attempted or tried before.

Your own SWOT Analysis

As part of your market analysis you also need to evaluate your own strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. To identify the possibility of entering a new market, introducing a new product or diversifying your offering, your marketing strategy will investigate into your current situation and evaluate if there is the opportunity to progress with your strategy. 

Part of your research already carried out on your customers will be used in your SWOT analysis, additional research will be required to produce an honest picture of your situation. Once this is achieved (and you might not 100% like the results) this is when you decide if any changes need to be made to your overall strategic objectives. 

Now you have two key aspects of your marketing strategy complete, next week will focus on the marketing plan and implementing your strategy. 

If you would like expert marketing advice please contact our sales team on 0845 345 7755.

Marketing Strategy and Data

MarketingFile - Marketing Strategy and Data
MarketingFile - Marketing Strategy and Data

Over the next 4 weeks we will be covering the 4 key areas of producing a successful marketing strategy. These are just the basics to follow as all businesses will have their own objectives and goals to achieve which will all be different. Our first week focuses on the key essential to any strategy – your data. Customer or prospect, both are equally important to grow your business either to increase sales, registrations, engagement or raise awareness. 

The very first step which we are not focusing on, as this will be personal to your own business, are your objectives for the strategy. The ultimate question of “what do we want to achieve?” is vital to produce a focused strategic marketing plan.

So for this first week we are focusing on data and showing you how important it is to your marketing strategy.

Week 1: How important is data?

Well very…

A fundamental requirement of any successful marketing strategy is to know who your customers are to understand their needs and behaviours. This is rule number one, you could have the best product or service in your market but if you don’t know who is going to use it you will not know where to advertise or who to target. 

With this is mind, ask yourself “how much do you know about your existing customers?”

Do you know:

  • Where they live or are located?
  • Their lifestyle habits or business type?
  • How many children or employees do they have?
  • What they purchase and how often? 
  • How do they like to be contacted?

Fairly simple questions any business should be aware of when analysing their customer database. Once you know this information you will have taken a big step to achieving your successful marketing strategy. 

Unfortunately for your business to be successful in this area takes time, knowledge and communication. Keeping regular contact with your customers will tell you a lot about them and give you the ability to segment them into their own niche areas, making your job of marketing to them a lot simpler.

Segmenting your customers

To segment your customer data for targeting purposes you will need to find similar characteristics to group your customers together. For example, this might be by the products or services they purchase, so you can target with specific product messages, alternatively you might group them on their financial situation or lifestyle habits. 

How you segment will depend on what you want to achieve (going back to your objectives), so to increase sales in a specific area you would identify customers whose characteristics fit into the product area you are promoting, then send specific targeted messages.

Prospect Data

Once you have clearly identified who your customers are and their characteristics this then gives you the knowledge to duplicate this across a prospect marketing list. 

Whether you are looking for business or consumer data, you will be able to select prospect data based on specific characteristics, such as business size, turnover, location or if you use consumer data then financial situation, number of children in household or what car they drive. 

Buying in similar data to your existing customer database works well when increasing your sales, however if you are expanding into new markets testing small volumes of prospect data can help you identify new customer segments who respond to your marketing activity.

Get in touch

Call our expert team on 0845 345 7755 for your free prospect data count or start your search now by answering our homepage questions.

How to choose your marketing list

MarketingFile - How to choose your marketing list
MarketingFile - How to choose your marketing list

When deciding to carry out prospect marketing there are a few factors you should have already considered; who is your target audience, how are you going to contact them, what is your budget and the return you need to achieve.

MarketingFile have been helping businesses of all sizes with all budgets select their prospect marketing lists most suitable for their direct marketing campaign, so to help even more businesses we’ve rounded up our top tips for your next prospect list.

The importance of the list

In terms of the factors effecting response, the quality of the list is by far the most important element of any direct marketing campaign and even more important than the offer, the creative, the timing or the response device. The amount of time you’ll put into creative should be replicated in the targeting – or your efforts will be wasted on the wrong people.

Who should you be targeting?

In simple terms you should target the people who are likely to be the most profitable to you.

Profile your most profitable customers

Analyse your sales figures by customer and identify the most profitable. This is the audience using your products or services the most, therefore is a good example to base your prospect list on. Often you will find 80% of profits come from just 20% of your customers, known as the 80:20 rule.

Building a profile based on existing clients is an excellent method for growing your customer base and increase revenue. For business customers look at business activity, geographic location, business size, HQ or branch, job-title and any other factors relating to your specific product or service. For consumers consider their age, sex, marital status, where they live, number of children, occupation and income, home and car ownership. If you don’t have this data available you can be creative, keep reading!

You may find that there is more than one definable group of “best” customers – possibly buying different products or services from you. In this case you may need a different offer, creative or response mechanism for each group.

New company or new product launch?

You may not have relevant sales data to analyse, although you should have an idea who your product or services are meant for (and should be carried out in the market research stages). Alternatively you can test the response to your best guess with a small volume campaign before committing to a major investment.

Choosing which database to use

MarketingFile.com gives you access to a huge range of databases. Deciding which one to use is key to the success of your campaign. Consider also that your best prospects may be found in more than one of the databases. In this case you may choose to test the responsiveness and return on investment of each in turn.

Business databases

Deciding which business list to use will depend on your targeting, if you need businesses within a particular industry such as education or health care use a Business Sector List. Or if you are targeting a specific job title such as Marketing Managers then use one of our job function lists. Alternatively, if you’re targeting a large number of businesses in a specific area then consider a general business list.

If we have the job title you want then great, but don’t dismiss the companies where we only have a default contact. These are usually smaller businesses where the default contact is the boss and is actually the person you need to reach for most purchasing decisions.

Choosing a consumer database

To target particular types of people identify what characteristics or behaviours of existing customers you believe are your most profitable. This may be their financial status, what they are interested in, how many children in the household, what car they drive and much more. If you are not sure then use our general lifestyle database and base on a specific area.

Include the targets you want - exclude those you don’t want

Your targeting should also account for the people you don’t want to reach, this is sometimes more difficult to define but will reduce waste and save you money.

Look down the list of selection criteria and whenever you catch yourself saying things like “age doesn’t seem to matter” or “we don’t have any data on company size” pause a moment to consider if you shouldn’t be including or excluding at least some names based on this criteria, e.g.

  • When using an international database – exclude the countries you don’t / can’t service
  • When using a general business database – you may wish to exclude public sector organizations or not-for-profits
  • Large businesses and small businesses have different buying scenarios – you are unlikely to appeal to both with the same offering
  • When mailing consumers – you may wish to exclude the very old

Geographic selections

Think about the area(s) you wish to target. Is it a territory that is defined by postcodes or counties? Is it defined by the distance your customer is prepared to travel to your premises? Is it a number of scattered postcode sectors?

If you don’t have detailed knowledge of your target area you are best to limit your geo-selections to include only a single type of selection, e.g. postcode, town or county.

If using distance from a point, bear in mind that this is “as the crow flies” and may include areas you do not immediately consider to be “close” to you, e.g. Kent is only a few miles from Essex geographically but is rendered distant in travel terms.

Be creative - think laterally

Some of the most successful campaigns result from slightly lateral thinking at the targeting stage. For example;

  • Selecting people who have credit cards is an obvious choice if that is your preferred payment method, but it is also a good indication that they take credit and may be swayed by an attractive credit deal
  • If your product is a people carrier, consider targeting families with large numbers of children (rather than the usual conquest make/model combinations)

What if your count is too big?

You can always reduce your count by taking only records 1 to 1000 but far better to select the 1st 1000 by company size (or whatever is relevant), or even to focus your targeting on a smaller defined target group. If you want to target segments individually, select a number of postcodes at a time. This way you can be sure there are no duplicates in later purchases, even if the list is updated.

Telephone numbers

Not all our records have telephone numbers on. In fact we are deleting numbers every day as more people opt out of receiving telemarketing calls by joining the Telephone Preference Service. So if you want to ensure all your prospect records have telephone numbers, make sure you select “has tel no” as a selection criteria and then buy the “tel no” field at output.

Single-use or multiple-use?

MarketingFile.com enables you to purchase data for either single-use or multiple-use. The actual license-to-use varies slightly depending on the list-owner who supplies the data (please read the license terms carefully).

Why buy for multiple-use?

To increase your response rate we would recommend you consider contacting each prospect more than once – and at least quarterly. Increasing the frequency normally increases the response rate and many experienced direct marketers prefer to contact prospects monthly.

It makes sense to contact your prospects frequently for the same reasons that companies run a long series of advertisements in magazines or on television. Prospects often require multiple exposures to an advertisement before they buy. Making multiple contacts increases your prospects’ awareness of your company and also increases the likelihood that your message is received at a time that your products or services are needed by them.

Talk to us today about your marketing list needs and who you are targeting and we will find the perfect list for you!

Call our team on 0845 345 7755 or email [email protected] with your request, alternatively, use our search tool on our homepage!

How to boost sales on a budget

MarketingFile - How to boost sales on a budget
MarketingFile - How to boost sales on a budget

You may or may not have a limited marketing budget, either way you still want to grow your business. What can be done to ensure your business develops, growing your client base and increasing your turnover on a monthly basis on a limited budget?

Growing your business will consist of a mixture of retention and acquisition techniques, yet to do both on a budget requires skill and dedication.

Some people tend to do business with others they either like, trust or have a loyal relationship with. And as we know, it also costs considerably more to get a new client than it does to keep an existing one. So what should you do to promote your business on a budget that won’t break the bank yet can still be effective and fruitful?

MarketingFile have produced the following 10 tips which may just make the difference you are looking for.

Know where to sell

Define your market. It’s no use trying to appeal to a market sector that doesn’t want to buy from you. Who is a typical client and what service does he/she want? Get the demographic right.

Companies such as MarketingFile will be able to offer a profiling service where they can determine the common characteristics of your customers, and offer you marketing data that matches that criteria. Always keep a close eye on your competitors. Always know your strengths and play to them. And always stay up to date with trends in your industry in general.

Know what to sell

Are you sure the product or service you are offering is the product your clients want to buy? Or can you make adjustments that would expand your market reach? Is your product the right price for the market you are targeting?

Write a simple marketing strategy

This may even be a ‘back of a postcard’ scribble that says “make 5 cold calls every day”. Once you have done this, stick to it and keep sticking to it. Write down all the things you can do to market your business and form a monthly strategy. Look at the strategy regularly and if you can improve on it do so, whilst increasing your marketing budget in proportion to your profits and growth plan.

Everyone can be a salesman

Your budget is tight, set incentives for your employees and clients, rewarding them if they bring business to your company. Use word of mouth to your advantage – everyone knows somebody who may want to do business with you.

Clients can be your opportunity to reach a wider audience without breaking the bank. Offer your clients a referral fee, like MarketingFile, for every new client they bring to your business. The cost of this can be significantly less than paying for advertising.

Know your audience and keep in touch

Build a database from your current client base and add your new registrations/customers to it, collecting important and useful information for future marketing messages. Understanding your audience will allow you to send regular and relevant communications offering products or services they are more likely to purchase.

Use a multi-channel approach

Although you’re limited to a certain budget, your marketing communication strategy should include a number of marketing channels. Keep it cheap but relevant, if you’re B2C use Facebook and Twitter, grow your social media audience, the channel is free but remember to allocate internal resources to managing social media accounts – it can be a full time job! If you’re B2B LinkedIn is a fantastic channel to target businesses suitable for your products. And don’t miss out on the opportunities PR can bring, its free but time consuming to write an enticing piece for media to pick up.

Other channels such as email and direct mail can be carried out relatively cheaply, for example we can send a colour A4 letter from 53p per letter, including the data record, printing and postage.

An integrated approach using a mix of them all gives your message the best chance of getting through. Keep at it. Target the same audience repeatedly through multiple channels to maximise exposure and drive the message home.

Test, test and test again

Experiment with different messages & methods so you know which works best for each part of your business, and which ones particular customers respond to. Measurement is vital – gather as much response data as possible to measure your campaign. Email marketing is brilliant for measurement. The ability to track click through’s, email open rates and to test everything from responses to subject lines gives you great ammunition for next time.

Join a business-networking organisation

Build a network of business referrers that can recommend you and potentially bring new business to your door. There are many such organisations around, such as: Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Small Businesses, the Institute of Directors, Business Link and so on. Such business networks are relatively cheap to join and can quickly return high levels of good quality work.

The ’80:20 rule’

80% of your business will come from 20% of your clients. This is true. Don’t be afraid to lose or ditch a bad client that doesn’t pay well or won’t deliver. It means you now have room to bring on board new and more profitable business to take the place of the culled clients. It is possible to work too hard for too little return.

Don’t leave home without them

Never, ever, ever leave home without your business cards. Be prepared to give them out, even at social functions (but do tread the fine line between being a business bore and an innovative networker). Those cards that you are given, write on the back where you met that person, and a memorable point about them. Put them onto your new customer database, and remember to follow them up.