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 :)

Direct Marketing Industry Continues to Grow Globally

In an interesting article today from Business Wire, it is reported that the Direct Marketing industry continues to grow, year-over-year, at an accelerated pace (over 15% in 2005 -- still calculating actual numbers for 2006).

This news bodes well for all of us Direct Marketers -- and the even better news is that with the expanding customer acceptance of receiving direct marketing messages from different sources/channels, this upward trend will most definitely continue.

While telemarketing and direct mail still are the bread-and-butter for most direct marketing campaigns, this article reports that "there is increasing spend in the channels that are able to deliver much more detailed customer data, which allows for more highly targeted, highly responsive campaigns. Many organizations have also invested in customer relationship management (CRM) software applications, which allow them to collect more detailed customer information."

Finally, the article points out the focus on database and data-management solutions. Utilizing smart database marketing and customer data integration practices will allow companies to build very detailed customer databases -- and more effectively track their customer relationships. It is in these areas that direct marketing will continue to deliver the kind of return on investment that is needed in today's highly competitive economic environment.

To review our white paper and some ideas on how to implement effective database and customer data integration tools into your business, please visit our website.

Integrating Customer Data

We loved this article by Balaji Yellavalli of Infosys, "CRM: Putting the Cart Before the Horse." It speaks about the challenges that large companies (in this case financial institutions) face in understanding the entire customer relationship. He cites typical CRM systems that wait for a customer to transact and then the system must reactively collect transaction data and is "continuously trying to catch up and build a 360 degree view of the customer." Quite the challenge...

Then, the next hurdle is to ensure that you are associating the appropriate transactional data with the right customer. This is where Customer Data Integration (CDI) becomes so very important. Yellavalli defines CDI as "the creation and maintenance of a centralized repository of core "master data" – the multiple facets (demographic, household, even updated credit-worthiness data) of information that identify a customer."

RRW agrees with his assessment that CDI is critical to successful CRM practices. We've even put together a White Paper that provides an overview of CDI tools, and relates some of our personal experiences building a 360 degree view of the customer. We'd be happy to share this with you.