At last, some good economic news: The downturn is not as bad as it's cracked up to be. Yes, sales are flat for some companies, and costs are rising. But there's a bright side. You can easily do what you should have been doing anyway-that is, market in a smarter, more cost-effective way. For example, you can tighten up your targeting and improve your customer database. You can build brand loyalty with an e-mail program. And you can eliminate trial and error and find out what your customers want with a survey. We cover these disciplines-and more-in this issue of Information Intelligence from infoUSA.
Savvy Surveying
When you think about it, there are very few things in this world that are really dual-purpose – things that really do kill the proverbial two birds with one stone. (Make-up with sunscreen added in is one exception to the rule.) But did you know that customer surveys are multi-purpose? Not only can they provide valuable feedback, but they also let customers know that their opinion matters? And, in some cases, customer surveys can shed some light on the competition....
The Best of the Best
Yeah, we know—you have to cut expenses. But your database is the last thing you should touch. Direct mail costs are skyrocketing, and this is no time to waste money on mailing to the wrong people. How do you identify your best customers and find similar prospects? By investing in data overlays and analysis....
Looking for Loyalty
Some marketers have the wrong idea about e-mail. They know it’s cheap, but they fail to realize just how much it can do for them. E-mail is quick (responses taking more than 24 hours are below the industry standard). It’s intimate (you can lock in customers with personalized welcome messages and one-click interactions). And it delivers the best ROI of any channel (no small thing in a faltering economy). The result? E-mail can help you build customer loyalty....
Datran Media 2008 Annual Marketing & Media Survey Results
