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Marketing Channels: Direct Mail, Email or Telemarketing?

As an active member of the IDM B2B Council I get asked this question often. There are advantages and disadvantages to every channel of direct marketing because as a marketing manager you need to take into consideration a couple of crucial factors when deciding upon which path to take; cost, frequency, data, segment, desired results and timeline. All these factors can change the focus of any direct marketing campaign depending upon the weighting given to these six elements.

Direct mail can take many forms and in the large part is a cost effective channel to reach a target market but if you need to repeat the exercise or you send to a large and old database you are wasting your time and your budget. To gain maximum cut through DM needs to be highly targeted, segment your data, and I particularly like high end direct mail plus personalised direct mail. Like a mobile device that is set up with the targets details or a book printed with the targets name on the front, I think they are simple yet powerful DM pieces. I also believe that personalisation gives the recipient a greater desire to open the dm piece and read the contents, a) because it is nice to see your name in print and b) if they got my name right it might be worth reading their message. As a marketer that is what we are trying to achieve, to illicit a response from a target market that has the desire to purchase the product or service thus the call to action then needs to be strong enough to get us to the next level of response.

E-mail is a very cost effective and quick channel to market. With email you can achieve instant results, like opens and click through, which are great internal statistics to provide to support the launch of a campaign. Be aware of the relevant data protection laws and the opt in; opt out criteria that needs to be adhered to with email campaigns. Please ensure you work with an agency or database supplier that is regulated or a member of a recognised marketing body in the UK, like the DMA or IDM. Emails are easy to send but also easy to delete, where as a direct mail piece has a longer life in the hand of the target.

Telemarketing is an excellent marketing practise and can gain the best results as part of an integrated marketing campaign. It can also be used to clean data, invite people to register or confirmation participants for an event. I think the investment in TM will draw the best ROI when the campaign is planned and TM is used to follow up on the DM piece in the same language and message as the DM or Email piece, this providing both continuity and relevance to the target receiving the DM and the phone call. Plus you must think of the agent, make their job a little easier by trying to warm the target up for a call on the product or service in question. The call centre agent is a great testing ground but it also can be unforgiving, so plan the campaign and brief all the elements of the campaign to run like a smoothly greased wheel and then you should get the results you have promised the sales teams. 

Is Telemarketing Still Taboo?

In the world of integrated marketing plans and performance driven marketing is the practise of telemarketing making a comeback, but more importantly is it making a greater contribution than eMarketing or direct marketing. Telemarketing is a method of response to a marketing activity that involves a telephone call to try and solicit a request for a meeting or further information. In a Business to Consumer (B2C) environment the use of predictive dialling devices and recorded messages have given call centres and telemarketing companies a bad reputation, this has helped the growth of the telephone preference service which is a free service and the official central opt out register on which individuals can record their preference not to receive unsolicited sales or marketing calls.

While in the Business to Business (B2B) world telemarketing is making a resurgence as an essential tool in the modern marketers marketing mix. Telemarketing as one essential element in planning an integrated marketing campaign can really help drive up the return on investment (ROI)for selected activities. Targeted messaging, lead generation, appointment setting and even event registrations are all tasks that can be accomplished via a well planned and executed telemarketing campaign.

So my ‘Top 8 Tips’ for planning and running a successful telemarketing campaign are…

• Database – Ensure your data is accurate, the licence is up to date the target market is a match for the message  
• Data Protection – Be sure you know that you actually own the data or where the data was originally sourced, check local data laws to ensure you comply, or pay the price
• Briefing – Every marketing campaign should start with a brief that then creates the overall plan. As the agents are conveying your message, make sure they are fully briefed on every aspect of the campaign and the history of the business
• Training – The more information the agent has the better they will perform especially if the program relates to a product promotion or offer
• References – Provide Cheat Sheets, Emails, Case Studies or even real life examples to help the agent deal with any situation that may arise during a conversation
• Conversation – This leads nicely on to, don’t use a script, encourage your agents to have a conversation, they will be more successful and receive less resistance if it does not feel like a sales call
• Closed Loop Reporting – Success can only be judged if the leads go through this sales led process, this is where most campaigns fall over and the reputation for telemarketing not delivering is created and communicated by a weak link in the overall company chain
• Testing – Before launching the campaign, test every back-end processes and response mechanism, because once the campaign is live there is no going back and you may lose all your responses and dent your company’s reputation

Companies such as Astute or Tangible Results can help advise businesses of any size how telemarketing can help increase responses for their marketing campaigns. Remember, a successful telemarketing campaign is dependent on the quality of the target data.