NextMark released a new campaign management feature just in time for Mother's Day. The new feature, 'Campaign Quick-Add' is available to all NextMark list research system users. Adding and removing lists from a campaign has never been easier. Check out the video demonstration below and you'll see how efficient your Mother's Day marketing can be.
If you are not currently a NextMark user, then we hope you'll check us out. You can learn all about direct mail and digital marketing by checking out the terms on our marketing glossary. You may also view the following data cards (from video above) using the Mailing Lists Search Tool:
But there have been a lot of questions, too. In this tutorial, I’ll try to answer the question many of you have been asking: “What should I include in my video?”
The purpose of videos is to enhance your data card in a way that creates more interest for your mailing list. Don’t simply regurgitate the facts on your data card because it’s easier to just read them and those facts will frequently change and make your video obsolete.
Instead, you should tell them some things about the list that they might not find on the data card or might miss when scanning the data card.
Before I get into some specific recommendations, I want to encourage you to use your creativity when creating your videos. You want your lists to stand out from the rest and you won’t do that by following the same formula.
But I do want to give you some ideas for creating a good video for your data card. First, you should describe the people on the list. You should certainly illustrate the typical profile of the list members.
But, whenever possible, try to tell a story.
For example, for a list of dog owners, you might say “These people love their dogs. They go to great lengths caring for them by feeding them the best food, keeping them fit with exercise, and socialize through doggy play dates with other dog lovers.” It’s a great idea if you can use pictures, videos, illustrations, sounds, or other media to help tell your story. For dog lovers, you might show pictures of dogs with happy owners or videos of them frolicking in the park.
Your list owners and everyone else will appreciate it when you treat the people on the list with great respect. You should honor them – don’t treat them like data.
Your video is a great way to tell others how your list is unique.
You should say why your list is different from all the other alternatives. On a doctors list, you might say “Unlike other doctor lists, this is a list of doctors who have specifically opted in to receive information on experimental cancer treatments.”
You should also say why it is better.
By saying something like “and because of the source method, results have shown these doctors are more likely to respond to relevant promotions.”
Your video can also advise the viewer on the best way to use your list. You should give information on how the list has been used most successfully through recommended uses, historical facts on usage, and you might want to tell some real life stories.
For example, you might say “In a recent promotion, Acme Corp tested this list in their widgets campaign and this list outperformed other lists by 15% in sales, 20% in ROI, 12% in response rate, and 20% in average order.”
It’s a very good idea to mention the controls on the list. Outside the list business, most people don’t realize how tightly controlled response lists are. Plus, your list owner will appreciate this.
You should mention the privacy policy. For example, you might say “Only those who have opted in to receive 3rd party mailings are available for rental.”
You should mention the approval policy. You could say something like, “Please note that any mailings to this list requires list owner approval. Your offer must be deemed relevant and in good taste to be approved.”
And you should mention how the data is secured. By saying something along the lines of “Your mailings must be delivered through a trusted 3rd party service bureau – you will not receive name and address data directly.”
Finally, and I probably don’t need to remind you of this, you should close with a call to action. Tell the viewer how to get more information or to place an order with you. One thing that’s often overlooked is showing your contact information on the screen because this will make it easier for the viewer to follow up.
If you have any special promotions, you should mention them.
For example, you might say “We’re offering a 25% discount on new tests to qualified buyers for all orders placed before June 30th.”
To recruit for his 1914 Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Sir Ernest Shackleton placed the following advertisement in a London newspaper:
"Men wanted: for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success."
Shackleton's offer was not very enticing, to say the least, but he certainly understood his target audience and his need for others to be equipped for the journey.
Although streamlining the mailing listacquisition process is not worthy of comparison with Shackleton's initiative, there is a leadership lesson to be learned from his recruitment effort — you don't go alone. Fortunately, for us and our clients, we have much better odds today than Sir Ernest did in 1914.
In addition to the 250+ industry leaders who recently joined the NextMark groupson LinkedIn and Plaxo, a select few also joined NextMark's advisory board to provide counsel and feedback on a present initiative to bridge the gap between data cards and data. This effort will also be focused on streamlining the count request process as shown below:
The group's responses are encouraging:
"Cross Country Computer is very excited to be part of the NextMark Select initiative. As data geeks and technology lovers, we always want to be on the forefront of innovation. NextMark Select will help the list industry improve communications, resources and turnaround — and ultimately improve ROI," said Nora Brophy, Vice President of Business Development at Cross Country Computer.
"NextMark is once again leading the charge to streamline the direct marketing process online. Their innovative bridge between data cards and data will allow marketing professionals to obtain pertinent information at lightning speed — thus saving time and money. Most importantly, this new technology allows marketing professionals to gain more control over the deliverability of data," said David Dotson, Managing Partner at ALC.
"NextMark is taking a leadership position on an initiative that has great potential for the direct marketing industry. It's great to do business with a company that places such high value on innovation, collaboration and customer service," noted Mary Miller, Director of Marketing at dm2 Decisionmaker.
"The list industry has been aching for efficiency for years. Cross Country Computer is proud to be a part of this initiative to provide an infrastructure that allows the brokerage community to serve their clients more effectively, and gives list managers the ability to focus more on cross/up-sell opportunities and less on paper-shuffling," said Greg Jarrow, Manager of Business Development at Cross Country Computer.
The following individuals added valuable, empirical insight to the development of an integrated count request enginefor next generation direct marketing:
Nora Brophy, Vice President of New Business Development, Cross Country Computer
David Dotson, Managing Partner, ALC
Denise Hubbard, Director of Sales and Marketing, Specialized Fundraising Services
Greg Jarrow, Manager of New Business Development, Cross Country Computer
Heather Maylander, Managing Director, Lake Group Media
Mary Miller, Director of Marketing, dm2 Decisionmaker
Joanne Petrone, Controller, Blue Hill Marketing
Mike Reckinger, Vice President, ALC DataCentrix
Jerry Reisberg, Vice President of Business Development, MCH, Inc.
Joe Robinson, Senior Vice President, Lake Group Media
The NextMark executive team would like to thank these individuals for their contributions towards bridging the gap between 60,000 data cards and the data. Check out the following video on the YouTube 'findlists' channel for a sneak preview of what is to come:
Over the years developing solutions for list brokers, I’ve been advised may times that we should figure out a way to compile and integrate list usage data into our list research system. One or two have gone as far to say, "usage is the Holy Grail of list data." I’m not so sure about that, but usage data is definitely some powerful information. So, we’ve been thinking about this for quite a while.
As it turns out, the hard part — compiling the usage data — was already started for us by Marketing Information Network. This has been an active project for mIn for quite a while and they’ve compiled an impressive database of 190,000 usage records. After joining forces four months ago, we made it a priority to enhance the NextMark software to enable you to capitalize on this powerful information.
Now, with access to the UDB, you can search for lists used by a given mailer, see usage on a given list, and create a usage analysis with a click of a button.
Usage has always been part of the list research process, but it has always been expensive and time consuming. The UDB streamlines this process to a point where "it’s finally feasible for every list broker to do a usage analysis with every list recommendation."
Moms, don't be surprised if you receive a handheld device for Mother's Day this year. Godiva mobile is thinking outside the box of chocolates "to provide Blackberry users with access to Godiva products anytime, anywhere." Kudos to the world famous chocolatier for thinking outside the box on this one — and added praise for program implementation.
What are list brokers doing to think outside the box? I've been thinking a lot about the highly correlated lists feature that is available in the public domain, and wondering how much it is being leveraged. If Godiva can find a relationship between the cell phone and the truffle, then I'm sure that we can find some pretty good matches within the data card universe.
Take a look at the Godiva mailing list and you'll see that there are a few highly correlated list titles that might work for you during a time when oil prices and economic concerns are weakening consumer confidence.
Names from lists that are highly correlated to 'chocoholism' may not be the answer for you, but this list peformance feature may help you replenish your creativity. Check out the marketing glossary for more information about lists and technology, and grab a truffle while you're at it.
