In the past, one of the most significant issues with advertising, especially mass consumer advertising, was just how uncertain the results were of any tangible return on investment. Traditional media advertising such as television commercials or print ads for signage on buildings or billboards worked on the most common laws of averages. In effect, advertising was based on hope; if enough people saw a product or service being marketed, the statistics indicated that out of a random sampling of people, there was likely to be at least a small percentage for whom the advertising was relevant. From that percentage, there would be a smaller percentage who would act on the advertising and seek out the product or service offered.
In other words, traditional advertising operated on hope eventually; someone who found a piece of helpful advertising might act on it. But aside from seeing a bump in business after advertising went out, there was no way to measure the results. And because of the mass media nature of this advertising, there was no way to know how many people in a given advertising campaign would have found the marketing relevant to their interests.
Direct Marketing Goes Next Level
There’s the old saying “knowledge is power,” and in the world of business, knowledge can mean profit. While mass-market advertising hopes to hit as many people as possible, relying on a small percentage to respond, direct marketing is a more precise, targeted form of advertising. Rather than try to hit everyone, direct mail marketing—either in a physical letter or digital email form—prefers to hone in on people with a specific interest in a product or service being advertised.
So, for example, while a billboard advertising medical services for cancer treatment is unlikely to be applicable to 50% or even 10% of the people who drive by that billboard during the day. However, the same type of marketing would have a much higher rate of interest and response if it was sent only to people who have been diagnosed with cancer and are actively seeking treatment. But this kind of marketing, while highly effective, is only viable if people have access to lists that indicate what type of demographic or marketing disposition people have.
Data Needs Context
Information is always a good thing, but information truly comes into its own if you know what to do with it. In the past, direct mail advertising wasn’t much different from mass-market advertising. Businesses that paid for direct mail advertising would get access to a general consumer marketing list. So now, the marketing effort, rather than being broadcast on TV, or put on a billboard, was mailed directly to a person’s home. However, businesses still didn’t know who these people were, demographically speaking, or whether they would be interested in the offered product or service—general consumer marketing lists were just that; too broad.
Modern direct mail techniques, however, are about more than compiling addresses. Relevance is a crucial issue for direct mail marketing, ensuring that a person sent this type of marketing will find it relevant to their needs or interests. When someone is presented with a product or service they find helpful, there is a much higher chance of getting a response. The real work comes in collecting that relevant data, to begin with, and keeping it current.
Today, there are many more ways to measure and categorize engagement. People who take surveys, people who interact with marketing online, and people that consent to have their interests added to lists are all ways that more precise, market-relevant data can be collected and curated. This is what Sprint Data Solutions Worldwide Marketing has been committed to for years.
Making Strides In The Digital Era
Sprint Data Solutions Worldwide Marketing can help any business with an interest in accessing general consumer lists. But for those that want to take things further, those general consumer marketing lists can be refined according to demographic or marketing interest metrics. It’s a methodology that Sprint Data Solutions Worldwide Marketing has perfected for years, from its humble beginnings as a direct mail service serving only Las Vegas, Nevada.
Today, the company serves the entire United States and clients with businesses interests in other countries, such as North American nations like Mexico and Canada, as well as markets across the Atlantic, like France and other European countries. It has achieved this steady growth through a commitment to good data, and more importantly, maintaining that data’s relevance.
Constant Curation
Marketing data is not a static thing. Simply collecting someone’s address or a one-time response to a piece of marketing is no guarantee of continuing relevance. The most obvious example of this is that people move all the time, and eventually, they die. So without curating mailing details for relevancy, marketing sent to an address may be going to someone who no longer lives at that location or is deceased. In either case, the direct mail effort is wasted because it is not current and, therefore, not relevant.
Sprint Data Solutions Worldwide Marketing doesn’t just compile lists but rigorously curates them and maintains them with verification systems. NCOA/CASS certification on lists, for example, means that clients have the confidence to know that lists include people who have responded to surveys and marketing material in multiple instances, encouraging a high rate of interest and engagement.
More importantly, however, these general consumer marketing lists are meticulously categorized. This means that businesses interested in approaching a specific demographic, such as the Christian market, won’t inadvertently be sending material to Jewish or Muslim households. In the same way, retirement or elderly medical-related materials will go to the right senior demographic rather than be sent to college students with no means or interest to respond. The same goes for specific marketing demographics, such as those interested in charities, technology, commercial, or industrial applications.
If you want to find out which people are the most responsive to your product or service, Sprint Data Solutions Worldwide Marketing is here to help. Contact us and let us help you reach out to the markets that want what you offer.
