Marketing One:2:One

Not enough understanding exists of how and when market research can be used to minimise risk and optimise sales and profitability, contends Brian Fine. Here, he looks at some of the tools available to put you on the path to DM glory. Are your campaigns minimising wasted creative and reducing your cost of sales? Good ...

DM is often overlooked in the context of channel planning. But, as Mike Chunter points out, it’s not above or below the line that really matters, it’s the bottom line. So why is a pointy-headed, number crunching ‘direct guy’ talking about channel planning in the one-to-one section of Marketing? Well, the first ...

Jacqueline Burns explores why the new breed of CRM solutions is finding favour with marketers. Customer Relationship Management is back. Though CRM had not disappeared per se, until recently it had diminished in priority and profile since the turn of the millennium. The initial hype did not live up to expectations ...

It’s evident that as an increasing number of brands shift their marketing spend from traditional to digital methods of communication the allure of mobile marketing continues to grow. Interest in mobile marketing is driven by the fusion of pinpoint targeting ability and the very personal nature of wireless devices. ...

Direct marketing is an important communication tool for marketers. Andy Pontin explores how marketing principles are guides for developing DM, not definitive rules that guarantee success. There I was, sat staring at my blank PC screen, wondering what to write for this column. So, like everyone nowadays, rather than ...

A growing number of FMCG brands are discovering direct mail as a way to cut through the media clutter, writes Jane Hogan. While direct mail has seldom been used within the FMCG sector in the past, evidence shows that it can be an effective channel for FMCG brands, particularly in the current environment. More and ...

It’s easy to get bogged down in data in the current climate of accountability. But there’s no point biting off more than you can chew, says Tessa Court. In today’s increasingly data-driven world, insights and information on your own business, competition and customers are everywhere; with marketing departments rapidly ...

Most of the sales staff I have worked with could use the telephone more effectively. I guarantee you there are hundreds of prospects in your territory who may never have heard from you and could quite easily have a need for your product or service. Alternatively they may have heard from you or your company a long ...

SMS has finally found itself a firm foothold in the mobile marketing landscape, but are consumers ready for what’s beyond? At the IAB Engage conference in London last year, global Yahoo! chief Terry Semel forecast that by 2010 most people accessing the internet will not use a PC but a mobile phone. A bold prediction? ...

Firing off a barrage of misguided emails is simply a waste of your marketing resources, says Paula O’Connell. As all email marketers understand, deliverability continues to be one of the biggest challenges faced today. That being said, it is also the one area where marketers are still in control. Email deliverability ...

Planning your marketing strategy for Christmas? Just because it’s the silly season it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go silly with your in-store promotions, writes Norrelle Goldring. Ah, Christmas promotions. So much fanfare, so much cardboard, so much waste. It’s the marketer’s Catch-22 – damned if you do, ...

Andy Pontin explores digital direct marketing as a discipline and as a communication channel I know what you’re thinking – another article on how digital is going to gobble up all other marketing channels, destroy your business model and hand over marketing control to bloggers. Now that may all be true, but that’s ...

Shorter ads, punchy promise, weird but memorable taglines, strong website and telemarketers to take calls. You’d be puffin muffins to do it any other way. I’m in the office, it’s 10.03am. Mat walks in, tosses my mail at me, walks on doing the same for the rest of the crew. Some people get half a dozen letters and ...

As marketers utilise email as an effective communication tool, they must be increasingly cautious in their planning and execution phases to ensure that messages are correctly interpreted. From a marketing perspective, there is little doubt that an image-rich email generates a better response both emotionally and ...

As the Do Not Call Register enters its third month of operation, there are still some wrinkles that need to be ironed out, says Darlene Richard. On 11 March 2003, the President of the United States signed a bill to create a Federal Do Not Call List and empowered the Government to enforce the mandate. By 27 June of ...

Are you still bombarding your customers with irrelevant communications day-in, day-out? If you are, it may be time to think about a trigger-based marketing strategy, suggests Tami Dower. Several years ago, signing up for an American Express Card was an express route to DM deluge. No sooner had you signed on the dotted ...

Each year the Caples Awards celebrate the best of direct marketing around the globe. Australia’s country chair for the awards, Douglas Nicol, shares some tactical insights gleaned from this year’s winning entries. Today’s one-to-one marketing is driven by a business environment that is fast and furious, which means ...

Think promotional products are all about throwing money towards unquantifiable objectives rather than cold hard results? Think again. Tami Dower shares some insights gleaned from judging this year’s Australasian Promotional Products (APPA) Awards. Promotional products were once considered a cheap and cheerful way ...

The automotive consumer demands value, aesthetics, timing, personalisation and a brand that that can satisfy for at least two years. Sam McConnell speaks with those in the slick business of automotive marketing. Few industries are tougher or more competitive than the automotive industry. With intense competition between ...

We are all guilty of becoming myopically attuned to our industry, but when speaking directly to the consumer, the concepts and language must persuade rather than alienate. Douglas Nicol looks at this deceptively simple marketing aim. One of the occupational hazards of being in the direct and digital marketing business ...

Are agencies dead? I’ve worked in a lot of agencies. Most of them don’t exist anymore. That probably says more about me than the agencies – I have the inverse Midas touch! I went into a DM agency straight out of university (oh, OK then it was a polytechnic – I wasn’t smart enough for uni). It was a great little ...

Organisations have typically left email marketing to individual departments, often leading to inbox overload. But a new ‘best practice’ is emerging, with centralised email marketing the way of the future, writes Paula O’Connell. Many marketers for both big and small brands know the ‘right things to do’ yet fail to ...

We all use data to dictate marketing decisions, yet the subject leaves many of us glazed over, yawning and pitying those with the word ‘data’ in their job title. Andrew Stone dispels this perception, showing why you shouldn’t be down on data. At times my excitement about data leads to some embarrassment. Yet, it’s ...