Big Obama Campaign Victory Attributed To List Testing

November 23, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy 

These are some quotes from today’s Wall Street Journal and many professional Direct Marketing journals attribute much of Obama’s Campaign victory to extensive testing of campaign letters and the understanding of deep database analytics.

Demographic Segmenting

Who got which email depended on direct marketing data base marketing techniques about each fundraising prospect and how different people react to different messages. In this year’s election, it looks as if the Obama team’s use of such data was one of its biggest edges over the Romney effort.

Extensive Testing is the Secret

“Campaign manager Jim Messina pledged to “measure every single thing in this campaign” and built an analytics department five times the size of the 2008 effort. A Time magazine reporter got access to the data scientists in the campaign’s Chicago headquarters on the condition that the reporter would keep mum until after the election. “What they revealed as they pulled back the curtain,” Time recently reported, “was a massive data effort that helped Obama raise $1 billion, remade the process of targeting TV ads and created detailed models of swing-state voters that could be used to increase the effectiveness of everything from phone calls and door knocks to direct mailings and social media.”

Obama Campaign Strategy

Big Name Geeks to Analyze The Data

“The campaign’s “chief scientist,” Rayid Ghani, had been at Accenture, where he co-wrote an academic paper describing work helping companies that “analyze large amounts of transactional data but are unable to systematically ‘understand’ their products.” For example, Mr. Ghani helped grocers figure out why people bought orange juice by reducing the product to attributes that could be analyzed by algorithms—”Brand: Tropicana, Pulp: low, Fortified with: Vitamin-D, Size: 1 liter, Bottle type: plastic.”

The Obama campaign focused on data showing the “persuadability” of voters. Multivariate tests identified issues and positions that could move undecided voters, ProPublica said: “The persuasion scores allowed the campaign to focus its outreach efforts—and their volunteer calls—on voters who might actually change their minds as the result. It also guided them in what policy messages individual voters should hear.”

Big data give incumbents a big advantage, Romney never knew what hit him!

“Which seems to have surprised the Romney team. The Obama campaign has used cookies to track its supporters online since the 2008 election. It spent the past 18 months creating a new, unified database, factoring in some 80 pieces of information about each person, from age, race and sex to voting history. (The campaign denied reports that it tracked visits to pornography sites in its outreach algorithms.) The Romney campaign says it tried to match the Obama campaign’s collection and analysis of data but had to start from scratch and had just seven months after the primaries.”

Why did the Republicans allow Obama to best them twice at the exact same game. Direct marketing analytics wins again!

Tags:

Direct Mail Tracking

September 19, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy 

There is a great  free e-book entitled “Pitney Bowes Small Business Survey” compares the different marketing strategies run by small businesses.

In this free e-book is a shocking truth about direct mail is that 80 percent of the participants do not track down the results produced by their direct mail campaigns. Any direct mail marketer can tell

There is still a sizable number of businesses that primarily employ direct mail for marketing purposes (22 percent), a segment that values customer response as a metric to determine the success of their direct mail campaign.

The biggest advantage to using direct mail is how simple it is to measure the results and testing lists, creative, envelopes and premiums and this is only the start of the analysis. This study indicates only a few measure or test the usefulness of direct mail.

How to Measure Direct Mail

The number of respondents to your call to action featured on your direct mail campaign is what matters. This can be measured by foot traffic of customers that enter your store, or responses to a mailing for a paid subscription.

Below are the kinds of mearurement tools for your direct mail campaign:

If you have an e-commerce website you can mail direct mail lists that leads them to a page on your site using s short URL. Coupons can be used for holding s sale, print out brochures or postcards to be sent through the mail each piece can be tracked by a unique code. Toll free numbers on.

How do define success and how to measure it Revenue, Income or ROI

  • Revenue – Sum of the total earnings of your campaign
  • Income – Difference of revenue and cost of goods or profits after expenses
  • Rate of Investment (ROI) – Difference of gains and cost of goods divided by the gain.

The higher the better!

More Articles on Direct Mail Tracking

Tags:

Planning for Marketing ROI

August 1, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy 

The best marketing programs should have measurement strategies planned in advance. So as part of planning any program, you need to answer these questions:

1.What will you measure?
2. When will you measure?
3. How will you measure?

You need to take steps to make your marketing programs measurable. This often includes doing the cumbersome tasks of setting up test and control groups or varying your spending levels across markets to measure relative impact.

Without variance in your marketing, unless you have a large bud get and a technical staff for SAS programming you may not be able to use modeling to tease apart the incremental impact of your marketing programs and improve your marketing precision and mix.

Data Collection

A key part of planning for measurement is simply tracking the appropriate attributes for all your marketing programs (and their variants). This may include target audience, message, channel, offer, investment level, and any other relevant attributes.

Project Management Meeting

Even if you don’t use the data right away, it will become invaluable down the road when you attempt any of the more sophisticated approaches towards measuring program effectiveness. These attributes can be stored in anything from your marketing automation system to a simple spreadsheet hosted on a share drive – what matters the most is that you start to build the history as early as possible.

You’ll deliver the best ROI and get the best benefits when you move past backward-looking measurement to forwardlooking
decisions.

This is the difference between marketing measurement and marketing management.
It is the difference between data, intelligence, and knowledge.

An integral part of your planning process is identifying up-front what decisions you need to make to drive company profits, and then building your measurements to capture information that facilitates these decisions.

This means you must measure things not just because they are measurable – but because they will guide you towards the decisions you need to make to improve company profitability.

Isn’t it time to swap your over-the-shoulder stance, which prevents you from moving forward efficiently, for strategic, objective.

Each measurement should seek to focus your understanding of how to make the program better and align it with your
company’s strategic objectives.

The reason is  even if you don’t meet all of your program goals, you can still figure out why and how to improve the program.

This is almost always better than launching a new program you don’t yet know anything about.

Author Bio: Tim Little – Direct Marketing My marketing process allows me to identify business problems, formulate marketing plans, initiate change, and implement effective solutions that deliver profit and returns on investments, efficiencies, and cost reductions systems.

I analyze competition to find their weaknesses and optimize my strengths. My experience includes finding leads, testing landing pages with Google AdWords, WordPress Web development and offline with list procurement, database marketing and direct mail expertise.

More Articles About Planning for Marketing ROI

 

Tags:

Lead Generator

April 4, 2012 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy 

Give your website visitors the opportunity to build a mutually satisfying relationship with multiple testimonials, case studies, and the like. You will grow your digital model by adding written and video testimonials, you significantly improve your lead generation efforts.

The information seekers
These people are looking for information Your website helps educate prospects by calling attention to their information hunger using a yellow call-to-action button that highlights the precise information that will feed there hunger.

Don’t forget the offer stupid! — one low risk, one no risk Providing a variety information seekers content in a variety of formats is also critical. For example, video content has proven to be an effective conversion enhancement mechanism.

Get your prospects involved!

Know you customer by past purchase history, gender and niche. They are getting to know their visitors and their customers to provide a very personal website experience. But you don’t need to have access to the kind of customer data those big players have to deliver a personalized homepage experience.

Arm yourself with personal information about your website visitors, offers and lead nurturing content can be better personalized. You can also offer content targeted to specific roles, vertical markets, or product applications. Adding profiles that customize the visitor experience and provide personalized content delivery based on the stages of the buying cycle are they tire kickers or do they need it now? Will have a significant impact on your visitor-to-lead conversion process as visitors begin to feel that you know them, understand their needs, and as such are the best-equipped company to help them.

Be Social

If your site isn’t social sharing-friendly, you are missing out on a lot of additional traffic and a lot of potential leads.

Viral sharing modules…to all aspects of your interactive marketing program, including home pages, landing pages, email campaigns, and blog posts. This includes not just the modules that allow visitors to share your content, but to also become your fans and followers on your social media accounts.

Recent data shows that there are more people using smartphones to access your website than personal computers. In the next two years, Mobithinking reports that 1 billion people globally will access the internet on a mobile device. ”

EXPERTISE

  • Ability to perform all list brokerage duties for clients, including providing thorough list research and recommendations
  • Back-end analysis, marketing metrics Google Analytics, Market Samuria generates revenue & interest via email marketing, SEO, SEM and social media
  • Can target local business landing pages on Twitter, Facebook, Google Places, Google AdWords and other social networks and track results from coupon offers
  • Accelerates sales by tying email campaign and website tracking to CRM system data
  • Creates and executes marketing strategies that support business goals
  • Lead generation and capture and marketing plan development

    • More Lead Generator Ideas

    Tags:

    Local and Mobile Direct Marketing

    December 28, 2011 by · 3 Comments
    Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy 

    With more than 300 million mobile phone users across the US

    They access their mobile web from their devices and this creates a new opportunity for marketers this is bigger than SEO, Google or Facebook since the growth is even faster.

    If you are looking to leverage your advertising dollars across new mediums. Whether the mission is sell more products, increase brand awareness or beef up an existing customer database, mobile marketing is proving itself as a viable option for companies of all sizes and across all industries.

    Many companies are still trying to figure out the Internet while their competitors are stealing market share.

    Few have a focused plan when marketing cell phones and many marketers are missing the boat – text messaging is the foundation of mobile marketing, but it’s certainly not the only option.

    Few companies can afford to ignore these new technologies and they include:

    Mobile Marketing: Incorporate a call to action or brand banner ad into a mobile application and you’re using mobile advertising. Develop a mobile website along with your regular make a compelling offer to get them to like you call or email.Many marketers have tested that these perform about five times better than Internet ad placements do, making them especially attractive for companies looking for better response rates from their mobile efforts.

    Location-Based Mobile Foursquare is one of several companies that are making inroads in the location-based mobile media field. Foursquare allows users to collect points, prize “badges” and coupons for going about their everyday business and for letting other people know exactly what they’re up to. Users link those activities to Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets, but location-based mobile is also applicable for businesses.

    Companies use the service to offer promotions, build brand awareness, attract new customers and reward their top clients.

    Real estate firms are using QR codes to advertise their for-sale listings and retailers are using them to offer mobile coupons. Home Shopping Network (HSN) recently started using this mobile marketing technique by placing QR codes in the corner of the television screen during its sales pitches.

    Customers who used their phones to scan the codes were delivered to a product page on HSN’s mobile website, and were able to link to a checkout page, enter their credit card numbers and close the deal.

    Google Adwords Marketing: When you type in keywords into your mobile web browser and generated a pop-up ad from a local car dealership along with the search results, then you’ve been exposed to the concept of proximity marketing.

    Proximity marketing works well for marketers looking to target current, past and prospective customers in specific geographical locations.

    One of the newer mobile marketing options, proximity marketing relies on transmitters that are installed in select public locations and target the exact spot where the customer is standing.

    Sent to the user’s phone, the marketing message includes a request for permission for content to be delivered to the device. A longtime entry on every marketer’s “wish list,” proximity marketing is expected to gain ground over the next few years as users become accustomed to being marketed to via cell phone and mobile device.
    As mobile marketing continues to mature, expect to see more ideas and approaches proliferating. Considered affordable and fairly easy to implement, mobile marketing serves as yet another viable option for companies looking to squeeze the most ROI from their advertising dollars.

    Local and Mobile

    Tags:

    Facebook Testing Coupons

    December 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
    Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy 

    Facebook is joining the direct marketing wagon by testing coupons in their display ad starting December 15.

    The Facebook ad unit will enable consumers to click to receive a coupon via email that can later be redeemed online. Companies will be able to attach coupons to posts on their Facebook business listings and followers will be able to share the coupons with friends and family.

    Users who see the ad or the page post can click “Get Coupon.” This action can be posted to a user’s Wall. Users then receive an email from Facebook with the coupon and an option to share it with friends. Facebook tells us that pages who are part of this limited test can offer discounts that customers can redeem in-store or online.

    This type of coupon promotion differs from Facebook Check-In Deals, which is a self-serve promotion tool that allows businesses to offer coupons to people who visit a location and check in with Facebook. Facebook Check-In Deals are only available through mobile.

    This test is complementary to the other products we offer businesses and we hope to learn more about how this might work for both merchants and customers,” Facebook says.

    More Articles Testing Coupons

    • Corrosion Coupons – Accurate monitoring of corrosion rates in any environment is critical when viewed in terms of the maintenance and repair costs associated with corrosion and material failure. Test coupons provide an inexpensive means of on-line monitoring that will allow you to effectively measure the corrosivity within your system. By observing the mils-per-year corrosion rate of an exposed coupon, valuable information can be provided regarding the material’s life expectancy.

    • Facebook testing coupons as premium ads | ZDNet – Gadget gift ideas and product recommendations from ZDNet editors. The Great Debate series aims to emulate an Oxford-style debate, with a dash of Fight Club mixed. After years of development, Microsoft takes the wraps of its next-gen operating system.

    • TEST COUPONS AND CASTING PROPERTIES – tion, test coupons may be cast integrally with the castings, or … when

    Tags:

    Top 10 Apps

    November 27, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
    Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy, Uncategorized 

    The top 10 Apps was submitted by Molly Cunningham my guest blooger..

    I included a YouTube demonstration since the Editors at CNET rate Evernote as the app of the year in 2009 “Evernote goes beyond its architecture and is also interesting. It’s a true three-platform play: it works very well, and somewhat differently, on desktop computers, mobile phones, and over the Web.”

    Top 10 Apps for Marketing Professionals

    1. Surveyor – Although there are many market research and survey apps out there, this one is constantly rated as one of the best. You can create a survey from a number of different formats. Participants access the survey with a 4-digit participation code from wherever they are, which means that you’re more likely to receive responses. You can view the results in real time and filter them by date or person. Although the app is free, you must purchase credits to administer a survey. (Free)

    2. EverNote – Although this app is not specifically designed for business professionals, it will change how you do business. Record notes in text, audio, or photo formats in an instant so that you don’t forget a new contact name or notes from a meeting. Evernote syncs your information up with your computer so that you can access it when you get back to the office. (Free)

    3. Encamp – Those who are familiar with the Basecamp software will find this app to be a breeze. It does all the same things as a Basecamp account – you can create accounts for employees, assign tasks, and manage all aspects of a project. This app is generally preferred over other Basecamp apps because of its similarity to the original software. ($9.99)

    4. Hootsuite – Monitor all of your company’s social media outlets with this management tool. Update profiles or statuses, track stats, and search keywords so that you can stay on top of your social network.

    5. Mindjet – This app is perfect for visual thinkers. Map out your ideas, tasks, and notes into visual maps to help you organize and manage all of your marketing priorities. Your maps can even be synchronized to DropBox so that you can access them from anywhere. (Free)

    6. Analytics Pro – If you already work with Google Analytics, this app allows you to review accounts, reports, statistics and graphs while you’re on the go. Data is presented in a useful way so that you can quickly find the information that you need. ($5.99)

    7. Creative Whack Pack – We all have those moments when we struggle for inspiration. This app provides 84 creativity strategies based on Roger van Oech’s bestselling card deck of the same name. Stimulate your brain by thinking about what you’re doing in a new way. From finding new information to generating new ideas, this app will help you put ideas into action. ($1.99)

    8. Things – Organize all those To-Do lists you have in one easy app. You can organize tasks by priority and due date, as well as group tasks related to a single project. The app even keeps track of your old To-Dos in case you need to access them later. ($9.99)

    9. Dragon Dictation – This app is a favorite among busy professionals. It uses sophisticated voice recognition software to turn what you say into text or email messages. You can even speak updates for Facebook and Twitter. It claims to be up to five times faster than typing, which will certainly save you time in your busy schedule. (Free)

    10. Keynote – Make elegant presentations right from your mobile device. This is perfect for making last-minute edits or reviewing your presentation before a meeting. Keynote easily integrates with PowerPoint software so that you can import presentations you create on a computer. ($9.99)

    Author Profile

    This article was submitted by Molly Cunningham. She has been in business her whole life and owns the site Business Administration Degree.

    More Top 10 Apps For Marketing Professionals

    Tags:

    Local Marketing

    November 21, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
    Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy 

    Can your customers find you online?

    When was the last time you looked up a business on the Yellow Pages?

    Today, more than ever, people are on their smart phones (Droid and iPhone) when they want to make a Christmas purchase or research a purchase and you need to be found where they are looking.

    The reality is that the Yellow Pages are rapidly dying as an advertising medium.

    Their revenue has fallen dramatically whin the last ten years and it continues to fall.
    People have come to see the printed Yellow Pages as a waste and there is even a website were you can now opt out of receiving the Yellow Pages.

    People today

    use the search engines to find what they are looking for and with the advent of smartphones and tablets.

    Google has created over 50 MILLION business “Place Pages” and posted them on the web. Since only 10% of these pages have been claimed by business owners, chances are your business has a page and you don’t even know it !

    The New Mobile Local Movement

    Tim Little-Direct Marketing Consultant


    My professional direct marketing experience began in magazine circulation management from this I honed my skills in list purchasing, testing, and analyzing.

    I learned the importance of direct response planning and budget forecasting and most importantly, providing a follow-up with back-end analysis, fulfillment of orders and inquiries. I also gained some valuable job experience with Jackson National Life Insurance as Marketing Database/Direct Mail area.

    Allow me to help you implement your next strategic marketing plan focused on your niche. I will make the most of what you already have by analyzing your biggest strengths and exploiting your competition.

    Timothy Little – Direct Marketing Consultant

    Tim Little
    1 (888) 889-0552

    More Articles on Local Marketing

    Tags:

    The Art of Debt Collection

    October 18, 2011 by · 2 Comments
    Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy 

    Perfecting Target Marketing with Predictive Modeling

    Purchasing a billion dollars worth of credit card debt becomes an art for larger debt collection companies.

    When you employ an army of inbound/outbound customer service reps, large legal staff and analytical purchasers you can perfect your competitive advantage with…

    Predictive modeling techniques and have a staff of SAS programmers that mail millions of letters each month based on pre-statue strategies and Trans Union credit scores appended to model.

    The mailing list model is based on credit scores that are appended to massive numbers of debtor accounts.

    Databases are sorted into buckets based on age and credit scores with the highest scores and the freshest debts being the A Segment through E Segment.

    Hot accounts

    ….are any accounts that have been contacted by anyone on staff by phone or email or private message during the last 30 days.

    Direct marketing strategy

    begins with predictive modeling, crafting of the message/envelope and rotating mailings based on a monthly diminishing ROI. This is calculated and ranked by revenue increase or decrease.

    There is some seasonality with January and the colder months being more responsive than the summer months.

    How do you determine success?

    The success is determined by a breakeven point or ROI that is greater than 2 and a response rate that is greater than .74% on the entire mailing.

    Online Mailing Lists

    I can help you with call me at 313-268-9951 for free consultation or email at timglittle@charter.net

    About The Author

    Tim G. Little has a BS in Business Administration, and has worked in the magazine publication and circulation management for the past 20 years. As an Internet Publisher and Entrepreneur, he has developed a website to help small business entrepreneurs find the best mailing list and marketing programs ps: I would like to recommend a tool to you to help find Boost Sales… Gain Market Share.. . With Focused List Selection, 

    More Debt Collection Strategies

    When analyzing this model you look at numbers month over month, 6 month analysis and over 12 months.

     

    Tags:

    Mobile Coupon Direct Marketing

    June 8, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
    Filed under: Direct Marketing Strategy 

    Musical manufacturer Fender…

    is running a mobile coupon direct marketing campaign allowing consumers who purchase select amplifiers to register for a free product rebate via SMS.

    Fender is using SMS as a redemption channel, in addition to mail-in and online forms this tactic is being tested to appeal to the teen market since they are heavy users of SMS. They know few teens open emails. They’re using SMS marketing. They know that mobile coupon direct marketing is a new direct response market that is worth testing out.

    This is a promotion that they will be using in July to find out if prospects have an interest in “Hot Rod Series” amplifiers. Consumers who buy the Hot Rod Deluxe, Hot Rod DeVille, Blue Deluxe or Blues DeVille models receive a free messenger bag and instrument cable. Consumers who purchase the Pro Junior or Blues Junior models receive only the messenger bag.

    To redeem the rebate via SMS, consumers must respond to a series of six text messages by submitting their name, street address, ZIP code, email address, purchased product serial number and purchase location. Mauck said the company will use that information for market research.

    This will be an opt-in permission based promotion and Fender will not use the data collected via SMS for remarketing, but that the online rebate form features an email opt-in the SMS inclusion will broaden the rebate’s reach.Allow me to help you implement your next strategic marketing plan focused on your niche. I will make the most of what you already have by analyzing your biggest strengths and exploiting your competition.

    Timothy Little – Direct Marketing Consultant

    Tim Little
    1 (888) 889-0552

    Service Description

    Let me use my researched methods that have been proven to work, implementation know-how, and optimization expertise to boost your company’s marketing ROI and sales performance.

    More Articles on Mobile Coupon Direct Marketing

    Tags:

    Next Page »