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In this issue:
Marketing Article: Top 10 New Rules Every Marketer Should Know (Part 1 of a 2 part series)
Marketing Article: How to Catch Your Customers' Attention

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As the nation’s biggest, most trusted multi-source data and database marketing solutions provider, AccuData America doesn’t just know the rules about direct marketing. We helped shape them.

With 15 years in the business, we at Accudata understand that some things about our industry will always remain true: after all, hard work and great ideas will never go out of style. But we also like to think of our industry as a work-in-progress. With every new technology and trend, the rules can shift. We love the challenge of putting brand new best practices to work for our clients.

We can help navigate the changing landscape of direct marketing. For starters, we offer a collection of golden rules for savvy marketers.

10) Calling first isn’t the golden rule anymore.

National Do-Not-Call legislation has changed the landscape of marketing in recent years. There was a time when “call first” was a standard marketing practice-but these days, that rule has changed to “call smart.”

Smart marketing means ensuring that your marketing campaigns are DNC compliant from start to finish. That includes establishing, monitoring, and enforcing a DNC procedure for your company; training your staff; and using a version of the Federal Trade Commission’s DNC registry that was updated no more than 31 days prior to the date the call is made.

9) Mass emails are a thing of the past.

As with so many other industries, marketing is looking toward personalization as the wave of the future. Experts agree that customers’ requests and behaviors should drive the emails they receive. Mass blasts on a weekly or monthly schedule area good way to get tossed in a customer’s “delete” folder.

Event-driven emails are easier to create and send than ever, thanks to technology solutions that allow companies to integrate customer histories, triggers and other data into their email marketing systems. In 2005 savvy marketers will begin to automate messages based on purchase dates, items purchased, customer segment and more.

8) Models aren’t just for fashion shows anymore.

“Modeling” is also a sophisticated selection strategy that allows marketers to analyze data and get amazing results. By using statistical models, marketers can identify new markets, predict customer loyalty, discover cross- and up-sell opportunities, retain current customers and pack more punch with every campaign. By drilling down into your marketing lists and databases, basic modeling solutions can show that the response rates for certain names and demographics are far higher that others. That information can be used to screen out the poorer performers.

Modeling can offer far more complex solutions, as well, and has been shown to increase response rates by an astounding 40 to 50 percent. And the best news of all? You don’t need a Ph.D in mathematics to harness this high-powered solution. All you need is a great a great data services provider, who can help you gain better insight and better response.

7) Resident Occupant data doesn’t have to be one-size-fits-all anymore.

Looking for wealthy Americans over 50? Internet-connected households with children? Pet owners or Hispanic families? Now you can find them, and increase your response by targeting the right audience.

Today’s Resident Occupant solutions don’t have to be just saturation mailings anymore. Now you can access more information regarding your target ensuring your mailer will have a higher ROI by helping you reach your most likely responders. The best data solution providers can offer virtually 100 percent coverage for ethnic households, laying the groundwork for culturally specific campaigns. They can help you choose data by individual lifestyles and hobbies. Or, you can access information by age, income, gender, occupation and much more.

6) Profiling isn’t just for the big guys anymore.

Do you know what your ideal customer looks like? If you don’t, it’s time to find out. Understanding and differentiating your current customers is the first step in making effective marketing decisions.

Luckily, determining your ideal customer and prospect target is simpler now than it ever has been. The industry’s best marketing solutions are amazingly precise and comprehensive, giving you more detail and insight into your file than was available even a few years ago.

Today’s profiling solutions allow you to identify key characteristics of the customers who matter most to your bottom line. Once you’ve profiled your customer base, you can use that information to choose highly responsive lists for every campaign you embark on. It’ll save you time, energy and precious budget dollars.

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About AccuData America
This report is available courtesy of Accudata America.
Accudata America, a PRIMIS company, is a leading provider of data and database marketing solutions. We help companies identify prospects, capture more new customers and retain and grow their existing customer databases. With real-time access to all major marketing databases, we offer extensive data solutions ranging from consulting and list rental to deliver strategies and solutions for every industry.

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Only a small percentage of people who see advertisements and receive direct mail will respond. Whether you write in-house, or use an agency, following some basic rules of successful advertising will greatly increase your response rates.

Multiply Your Odds by Targeting the Right People
People don't read ads. They read what interests them. This sounds obvious, but expensive advertising material is regularly blasted out indiscriminately.

So, do you advertise to the world at large? Or do you advertise to an identifiable person? Can you picture that person? Male or Female? Is that person a DIY expert, a business professional or retired? What do they read?

Keep asking questions until you can clearly visualize what that person looks like, and how he or she, spends their time. This vital image will help you reach out from your anonymity and write words to impact upon that person's life.

Doing this job efficiently will help you penetrate the hard shell we have all developed to avoid the constant bombardment of advertising messages, currently estimated at around 2,000 per day.

You will get a far better reaction from sending out a teaser campaign about (say) a stock market tip sheet, from a hot list of people who have already shown an interest in investments, than you would from a cold mailing to everyone in town. By selectively renting well qualified and recently updated lists, you will duplicate your ideal prospects. By using only recommended brokers, you will then be able to send less, and receive more.

Similarly, you should selectively place your advertisements in the media known to interest your typical customer.

Figure Out Your USP and Blow Your Competition Away
Whatever your product, you must establish a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Used effectively in your advertising campaigns, it will make you stand head and shoulders above the competition.

For example: Having lost the battle for supremacy with Hertz, Avis eventually realized they were number two in car rentals. However, their sales dramatically increased when they came up with the slogan "We Try Harder". This shift of focus allowed customers to perceive a real benefit.

Similarly, when Fairy washing up liquid, suggested that their product was "kinder to your hands" they created a USP, which set them apart from their many competitors. Likewise, your proposition must also be so strong that it will draw customers towards your product like a magnet.

It's the Words that Sell
Glossy photos look nice but add costs, and it's really the words that get the emotions going. Words do the selling every time.

Do you think an amateur investor who sees the headline: "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Stock Traders"; or "I could Show Homer Simpson How to Trade Shares", might just be intrigued ?

You will strike gold if your words draw vivid pictures in the minds of your targeted customers; spelling out how your product will help them do something more easily, or make them richer. If you can free up their valuable time, or make them feel younger or more attractive, you will whet their appetite and draw them in. Tell them how to achieve a desirable, but previously unobtainable, goal, and you will surely create buying interest.

Everything you promise must be true. Clever words can persuade people to buy inferior goods -- but only once.

Features Bore - Benefits Entice
Bland announcements like "We Stock a Fine Range of Wines", or "We've Been Established for 32 Years", will register an emotional zero with your customer. "Our management is highly experienced in all matters" sounds like self congratulation. There's nothing there for the customer. Turn these boasts into customer benefits. Get his pulse rate up and you have a potential sale.

Apply this to Your Business
No matter what line of trade or profession you are in, whether it's business consultancy, manufacturing or selling fruit and veg. If your advertising copywriting absorbs these basic rules, you will be more successful.

© smarterwork 1999 - 2005. All Rights Reserved.

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Simon Bailey is a freelance copywriter and editor. His previous career in international finance with American and European institutions, peaked in London and the Far East, as head of a Japanese treasury team. His broadening experience then took him to a number of contrasting trades and industries. Having enjoyed writing for work and pleasure all his life, Simon reinvented himself as a creative copywriter and editor. His list of clients now stretches from the Catering Industry to Formula One Racing. simon@nicewords.com