Optimism and opportunities.

Posted Thursday, October 8th, 2009 in General

I wanted to take a minute to discuss what seems to be on everyone’s mind these days… the economy. I would like to try to put a positive spin on a bad situation if I may. A bad economy is painful for just about everyone at some level. You may have lost your job, or, you may be required to wait longer for someone to answer the phone at tech support because they have “restructured”. The latter is not nearly as inconvenient as the prior but still frustrating. So where is the silver lining in all of this you say? Opportunity! It might be harder to find these days but I promise you it is there. Now more than ever marketing and advertising can pay big dividends.I know I have noticed the number of direct mail pieces in my mailbox dwindling over the last several months and that means less competition for my attention and ultimately my dollar. It is very easy for organizations to tighten the belt on their marketing dollars but I would argue that now is the perfect time to ramp up your marketing efforts.However, I would encourage you to be as selective as possible on who you market to and to be more creative with your messages. Take the extra time and effort to be selective with your mailing list. Try to segment the likely buyers from the unlikely. Now would be the time to send fewer pieces but more personalized. With todays technology it is easier than ever to be specific with your message. Make that potential buyer feel like you are talking to him/her alone and not their entire county. If you have specifics on past buyers now is the time to leverage them. Craft messages and designs for your female audience and then do the same for your male audience. You could segment further by age if you have that information available. I bet that if you spent a few minutes, you could quickly come up with 3 or 4 different segments for your current mail list. As a designer I find it much easier to design for a specific group of people and not all age and gender ranges. It is easier and quicker than you think.

Next time you are ready to do a mailing give personalization a thought and if you have questions you know where to find us.

Until next time….