A Guide To Distribution
By Harry Hull, SVP, Experian
Before launching a custom publication, you need to have a solid understanding of your customers. What do they care about? How can you address their needs and preferences? By knowing the answers to these simple questions, you can be sure that your custom publication is having the maximum impact on the right customers, namely, the ones you have targeted.
The best marketers approach custom publishing in highly targeted and specific ways, driven by understanding gained from the strategic use of information. They are taking full advantage of the power and flexibility of today's marketing databases and analytical services, aiming at optimum retention, higher acquisition rates and improved profitability.
Think Small
Before database marketing, many companies tried to generate sales success simply by flooding the market with messages. Their offers went to everyone, including plenty of consumers who had no interest in the product being pitched. The idea was that marketing is basically a numbers game, meaning that the more people you reach, the higher the likelihood of encountering someone willing to buy. The process was random, wasteful and expensive. Targeted marketing coupled with custom publishing changed the rules by proving that it's more important to reach the people who count than to count the people you reach. By targeting far fewer people, you can actually boost sales cost effectively. In essence, less is more—profitable, that is.
Decide Who Before What
Determine who you want to reach before you decide what you want to say, and with which publisher to say it. "Custom publishing really got going in the mid-'80s because marketers figured out that of all the consumers reached by mass marketing, only a relatively small cross-section were their actual customers," says Jim Palmer of C-E Publishing in Detroit. Instead of developing a custom piece in virtual isolation and then mailing it to a million strangers, you can identify top prospects who are clearly interested in your type of product or service and send them material that speaks to their needs. Although you reach fewer people, your response rate will be significantly higher, and your costs to obtain the customers, significantly lower.
It's OK to Label People
Defining your audience means lower printing and mailing costs, more targeted promotions, increased sales and stronger customer loyalty. Value and relevance are the key motivators for consumers, and your publication needs to provide both. "We're able to look at our database of 45 million names in a variety of ways to find the consumers who best match the needs of our clients," says Rich Wilkie of Rodale, publisher of health-related custom communications. "For example, we can look into the database and come up with lists of people who enjoy a very active lifestyle, people who are interested in herbs and vitamins, and people who drive particular cars."
Build a Base With High-Tech Help
Effective custom publishing requires a comprehensive profile of your customers. You can build these profiles from your own database, and from external sources, too. Data enhancement services create marketing insights that are not possible with transactional data alone. You can attach hundreds of additional bits of information to your current file, discovering spending patterns, for instance, or analyzing the characteristics of your typical customer. Use this information to profile your top customers, and then apply this profile to others who most closely resemble your best customers. "We're able to deliver someone who is a very logical 'next consumer' for a particular product, or someone who has purchased a similar item," says Wilkie. "For example, if someone buys a book like Rodale's The Green Pharmacy, which discusses herbal remedies for diseases, we can zero in on that particular consumer because they've already expressed a significant interest in natural health."
Turnaround Triumph
Working hard to emerge from Chapter 11 reorganization, Continental Airlines set a tough course and an even tougher time line to turn itself around. Its inflight magazine Profiles, a product of Pohly & Partners for more than six years, was a perfect forum in which to set forth the airline's new philosophy and re-establish its reputation for customer service.
Pohly & Partners set out to make Continental's publication even better. It turned Profiles into a direct, targeted marketing vehicle that exemplifies Continental's new image, values and rapidly growing success. According to Diana Pohly, president of Pohly & Partners, her staff redesigned, restructured and even renamed the magazine, calling it Continental.
"We seized the opportunity to rethink inflight magazines altogether," Pohly says. "Now, in place of articles with varied subject matter that play to a variety of audiences, Continental features destinations, customers and corporate partners with in-depth travel and business stories that reflect the airline's renewed focus on service." Pohly & Partners accomplished Continental's goal of speaking directly to the needs and concerns of busy travelers. Among those surveyed, 71 percent said Continental's information and advice were helpful. Even more telling, 66 percent of respondents said that Continental was superior to other inflight magazines.
No Need To Guess
There is so much valuable consumer data now available that a customized communication campaign has no excuse for being off target. Corporate marketers who want to send specific messages to specific audiences depend on database marketing techniques such as list enhancement, segmentation and analysis. When it comes to successful custom publishing, you have all the tools available to you to hit the target right on.