Integrate Emerging Tech into your Direct Marketing Strategies

People are more influenced by peers and web than traditional media than they used to.
User participation, openness, network effects.

More watch video, more read blogs. More use Wikis

Contextual and Behavioral targeting
Upcoming - advergames, ads within online video
Social networks, mobile text messages

Social networks - great for testing new messages before exposing a broader market

Technology helps here:
personalizing, transpromo (transactional with promotional marketing -- like a bill or invoice), mobile marketing, social technologies

4 tenes of online personalization
1. Build and manage a real-time visitor profile
2. Apply biz rules and predictive analytics to determine best offer/content/whatnot to visitor
3. Learn in real-time from visitor for future predictions
4. Automate it

Direct marketers should use data and analytics to personalize

Direct mail when the postage is expensive

Multi-channel buyers-

They buy online, in store, as well as call center. They are the best.

Alternatives to cutting direct mail
1. Data (your own) is the most effective driver of strategy
-purchase activity, and what drove it there
-relational database - to see strengths and weaknesses of the plan
- know your competition in all channels... price, merchandising, etc.
2. Understand your media effectiveness
- what is their path to purchase? Get a source code...
- test to find the right media mix
- catalog buyers that then ordered on the phone or online
3. Increase top-line performance
- revisit/update merchandise - give reason to come back
- make every book (direct mail item) count - shift to mailing those with the best near-term value, because must break even on mailing within a year
- use matchbacks to know your true results
- improve housefile selection
Develop contact strategies based on channel preference and offer relevance
- and how likely they are to respond
Align circulation to category peaks
- Mail later for Xmas
- know when your competitor picks up orders, whatever
4. Decrease bottom line costs
- trim size, be more on target, co-mailing (!)!)!)!)!)!), make sure your list is clean
- optimize your list... if people are not responding, stop sending... may find 10-15% that you can drop out of circulation
- ability to spend in your financial area -- don't send catalog to poor people

If you block a competitor access to your info, then you're blocked from their info, too. Got it. This is for co-op, but may be going away.

How to tie in with the news

Annie Jennings PR... how to tie in with the news

How to know if your press release is for real... try out the product beforehand, or talk to people who have used it.

Comment on the latest reports coming out.
Need to be very familiar with the news itself, before talking to the journalist. This is called a pre-interview, or test.

PRE-INTERVIEW
Be direct and to the point. No tangents. Sound bite quality.
Look at statistics.
Apply wisdom, situation and knowledge, to what's in the news.

They will want you to choose a side in issue. Know why you choose your side. Wisdom, knowledge. Your points have a logical flow:
1. Yes, there is a problem. How did this happen? Who is it happening to? 4th thing. 5. How do we solve the problem?
That's a complete segment.
Sometime's the person interviewing misplaced notes, will lob something to you, hopes you'll take control of the segment.
I'm an economics professor, I teach here, which is why I feel strongly about this topic... etc. etc.

Need media website, that showcases you. Don't need to put "Buy my book" kind of stuff. Make sure there is a demo on your website that is easy to get to. No new software program to download. Professional, clear-cut, to the point. 3-minute demo.
Bullet point list of topics you can talk about. ie, grief, child psychology, etc. break it down.

Read stuff, then file it away. Cut and paste into folder. So you have nutrition stories, children stories. File it away for future reference.
You will be able to write a good book, because you have all the information, and you'll be a futurist.

Is there a psychopath in your life?
Do something topical, then move it into social relevance. Celebrity addiction is good, because many are addicted, and this is how to deal.

Learn to be a host-style million dollar expert. They are hard to find.
-Look like the host...
-looking sparkly... bright white teeth