| |
| |
|
Online Advertising |
Guaranteed Targeted Website Visitors from just $0.45 per 1000. 24 Hour Unique Visitors, Online Stats, 30 Day Guaranteed. We offer Country Targeted or Mainstream Traffic at wholesale cost.: CLICK HERE |  |
|
|
How to Use Direct Response Post Card Decks as a Valuable Market Research Tool
Market research specialists have discovered a new tool which enables them to quickly identify target market cells, measure buyer acceptance, test new product or service concepts quickly and inexpensively and survey market characteristics...the Direct Response Card Deck. For two to four cents per contact, the researcher can now gather market intelligence from both specialized vertical markets (lawyers, doctors, etc.) or broad based horizontal markets (all marketing executives across industry lines). In addition, these same markets can now be tested in such confined geographical areas as business executives in Hawaii or professionals in Minneapolis. Not only does the marketer overcome one of the traditional problems in research--test sizes... he or she also reaps the huge advantage of accurate measurability and accountability. Since all responses can be directed back to the research organization, market feedback is both quick and accurate. Many firms have difficulty in obtaining statistically significant samplings through traditional channels because of budget restrictions. It's not uncommon for important strategy decisions to be made on the basis of sampling as few as 2,000 names out of a universe of several million potential buyers. This is risky at best. It could lead to marketing disaster based on serious sampling error, or wrong conclusions drawn from insufficient data. With direct response card packs, it is now possible to test or survey as many as 100,000 potential buyers for as little as $2,000 or less. For the direct marketer this results in meaningful figures which are both statistically significant and forecastable. Proper analysis of this larger sampling should result in strategy decisions which are more accurate, more meaningful, more valid, and more profitable for the direct marketer. The ability to order and conduct true A/B (or more) split run tests of offers, prices, etc. has important implications for the creative team. The marketing intelligence gathered through card packs can be a valuable road map to success. Critically important data, discovered through card deck advertising, can determine the answers to such questions as: ==> Have we targeted to the correct audience? ==> Is the audience responsive to the degree necessary to maximize potential profitability? ==> Do we have the right combination of offer, price, copy, graphics, headlines, terms, etc.? ==> Are the response/profit characteristics such that they justify testing such other direct response media as direct mail, space or broadcast advertising? ==> Is there potential for a variation of this product/service to be marketed to a closely related audience? ==> What is the potential for back-end profits from related item sales? ==> Are we barking up the wrong tree? Should we cut our losses now and thank our luck stars that we were able to discover, inexpensively, that we were wrong? While the advantage of card decks as a market research tool outweigh the disadvantages, there are some restrictions you need to be aware of: 1. The card itself is small (about 3"x5") and as such restricts your ability to test such things as long copy and multiple option offers. Some decks provide larger format sizes with the ability to do fold-over inserts which provide more space, but these options are at a substantial premium in price. The small space can work to your advantage because it forces you to limit your testing to those factors that have the most profound affect on response and profitability...i.e. offer and price, for example. 2. Color reproduction, if it is important to your product, is not always the best. The conventional .007 Hi Bulk paper stock normally used in card decks is not the best choice for color printing. Most deck publishers, however, offer a coated stock option and you may find it useful. 3. Response rates are,on the average, lower in card decks (1/4th of one percent to 1 percent) than they might be in a free standing direct mail package. On the surface this may appear to be a disadvantage. In fact it is not. Your goal in market research/testing is to obtain statistically significant data across the broadest sampling possible...consistent with budgetary limits. Card decks allow you to achieve this goal, precisely. It's much better to have a 1/4th of 1% response from a 100,000 name universe (250 responses) than to have a 12.5% (250 responses) from a small 2,000 name test cell. Although the total numbers are the same, the former example gives you a truer picture of market conditions and possible product/service acceptance. In summation, we have found that direct response card decks, if used properly, can be ideal market research tools. Card decks are inexpensive to use. They give quick accurate and projectable results. They reduce the risk of sampling error, and the resulting data is both statistically significant and inherently more valid. There's only one way to know for sure...test it! ©Copyright 2005 Thom Reece All Rights Reserved Thom Reece is the CEO of Online Marketing Group, a Hawaii based direct response marketing and web development firm. His primary website, the Online Marketing Resource Center [http://www.e-comprofits.com] is visited by thousands of marketers daily. For a free subscription to Thom Reece's Web Marketing Strategies & Techniques Newsletter go to: http://www.WMSTDirect.com mailto:thom@e-comprofits.com
MORE RESOURCES:
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Why Direct Mail Advertising Works And How To Lower Your Costs I met a lady who said she received a notice in the mail from a company offering plaques of various animals. She knew her daughter would love them as a gift and ordered them. Design Direct Mail Postcards Back-to-Front to Boost Response Rates Conventional wisdom says that the front of a direct mail postcard is for the picture and the back is for the address, stamp and a short message.But some savvy direct marketers design their postcards the other way around-and boost response rates as a result. Todays Definition of Marketing. Has It Changed? With the continued proliferation of the Internet, the meaning of the word "marketing" also seems to proliferate. Cyberspace has opened up a whole arena of new marketing technologies, techniques, and twists. How to Pick a Winning Business Name What's in a name?Think of your business name as an external mask for your business. If it's something your target audience like, they would consider checking it, if they don't, in most cases you have lost a customer even before you could tell them what your product or service is. Customer Retention with a Personal Touch Personal contact with customers is a crucial element in the success of any new business - and it's one of the most common casualties of growth. As a company grows, the president tends to fade away into his or her office. Marketing, Lead Generation, and Research: A 3-in-1 Solution I Hate Cold CallsLong before I started my business, I realized that I wasn't good at telephone sales and that I would need to generate leads in another way. I developed a sure-fire way to generate those leads, interest in me, and my business, through the use of telephone market research. Break Even On Your Next Direct Mail Campaign...And Still Generate Huge Profits With direct mail, you can break even and still claim success. The reason for this can be understood only when determining the lifetime value of each customer brought in and the likelihood of those customers responding to subsequent offers. Grow Your Business By Getting Your Customers Buying From You More Often - 35 Ideas 35 Ideas to Spark Your Creativity:There are 3 ways to grow any business. Just 3:- Get more customers- Get more from each sale- Sell to each customer more frequently. 7 Tips for Successful Postcard Marketing Simple low-cost postcards have become a valuable business tool for modern marketers. They can produce a surge of traffic to your web site or a flood of high-quality sales leads. For Market Breakthroughs, Put Timing on Your Side In today' s marketplace, the pressure for immediate bottom-line results forces many companies to give knee-jerk reactions to economic fluctuations. While this management style may produce some immediate short-term gains, it is self-sabotaging because it handicaps the development of creative inspiration, which is the cornerstone of long-term marketability. Effective Tips For Telemarketers I had a telemarketer call me recently. Here's a rough transcript of the conversation. Budget Your Branding It is very important to regularly monitor your advertising activities in the process of brand building, to realize how much they are contributing to the bottom line. Expediting marketing expenses wouldn't generally lead to a stronger brand name. Eliminate Your Competitors With 2 Simple Steps In business, having competitors goes with the territory. There's almost always someone selling the same product or service you are selling, or at least trying to solve the same customer problem you solve. How to Leverage Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool Second in a series of three articles:What if you could reach thousands of prospects, build fruitful, pro-active relationships with them, and stay top-of-mind with them on a regular basis?and not spend a fortune in the process?If this sounds too good to be true, then you've not mastered the art of leveraging your firm's online strategy. A web site is one of the most unique and powerful marketing tools you have, if you develop and use it correctly. Have You Tried Cause Marketing? To help promote your small business or professional practice, consider tearing a page out of the corporate marketing playbook. For years big companies have partnered with nonprofits to co-promote their brands. The M-Word (Marketing) Phase 2 Last month we looked at what you need to do before you spend money on marketing brochures, a website, advertising or even go out to network. During Phase 1, it's all about crafting your message. Postcard Marketing Done Right Say it with a post card. A well designed, colorful, high impact postcard in the mail box of your prospect is your best ticket to a new customer. Commercial Collections By Telephone The telephone enables a credit manager to make many contacts in the shortest period of time. A call permits you to present your case to the debtor for immediate response. Why Instant Gratification Marketing Condemns Businesses To Losing 90% Of Their Potential Customers Most businesses target only people "ready-to-buy". These hot prospects are "Now Buyers" because they've been inching closer to a decision for some period of time. Nine Must-Do Positioning Steps Every professional or consultant knows that clients typically hire people they know, like and trust. But how do you build trust with strangers?As Ralph Waldo Emerson's 150-year-old essay titled "Compensation" teaches, first you must give if you want to receive.
|
| home | site map | bad credit loans |
| SUBJECTS: Advertising Book Marketing Domain Names Email Marketing Ezine Marketing Ezine Publishing Internet Marketing
|
Article Menu:
Auto - Trucks :: Business - Finance :: Computers - Internet :: Family :: Food - Drink :: Health :: Home Improvement :: Kids - Teens :: Legal :: Marketing :: Online Business :: Parenting :: Recreation - Sports :: Self Help - Motivation :: Site Promotion :: Travel - Leisure :: Web Design - Development :: Women :: Writing ::