Thursday, June 7, 2007

Save the Environment--with Direct Mail?

Want to save the planet? Start by cleaning up your direct marketing
Marketers are realizing that by re-examining data hygiene, they can help their company reduce its environmental footprint


This is the title and description of a recent article in BtoB Magazine. Interesting take and rationale behind why direct marketers should ensure that their list is as clean as possible prior to mailing.

From the article: "Results of the 2007 ImagePower Green Brands Survey, released in May, demonstrate a shift in attitudes about environmental issues—in short, they're no longer on the fringe. Nearly all Americans display environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviors compared with a year ago. The online survey of more than 1,500 U.S. residents, conducted by WPP's Landor Associates; Cohn & Wolfe; and Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, also found that corporations are increasingly expected to ensure their business practices are sustainable.

In light of such evidence that "green" is moving mainstream, marketing's proverbial four "Ps"—product, price, place and promotion— may soon be joined by a fifth: protecting the planet."

Well, whatever rationale it takes--it just makes good sense to make use of the data hygiene and customer data integration (CDI) processes available to us today. It may be time to examine today's practices to make sure that your process is as up-to-date as possible, that you are using the latest technology that will result in the cleanest possible data.

Let us know if you'd like our white paper on data management. We provide an overview of tools and practical list cleaning advice.

And, heck, you can even pat yourself on the back--you're doing your part to save our planet :)

2 comments:

Emma said...

I totally agree....if we can divert some of our wasted mailings, we divert them ending up in the landfill.

On a similar vien, by analysing our cusotmer data and targeting our direct mail better we can also reduce our footprint. Get the mail to those that want it....

Suzanne Ortiz said...

Emma, we are huge proponents of targeting direct mail so that we're NOT mailing to people who don't want to hear from us (and, hence will never respond). Thanks for the input--great minds think alike :)