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By Dina Dvinov and Ellen
Daly
Whenever we develop a
proposal for a new prospect, our first two questions are usually the
same—“Who are your customers?” and “Who are you trying to reach?”
The reason for these should be obvious. Marketing is all about getting
out your message to the right people—the people who could use your
product or service. You need to know who they are in general–business
owner, consumer, male, female, young, old, etc.—but you also need to
know who they are specifically— your clients and prospects.
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TAKE HOME POINTS
• The quality of your
recipient database is just as important as the content or graphics that
go into a marketing piece.
• Marketing is all about getting out your message to the right people –
the people who could use your product or service.
• Having an old or misspelled name can turn off a client or prospect and
prompt a request for a removal from your mailing list. |
This is especially true when
you get to the direct marketing portion of your plan. Whether the mail
being sent is electronic— email broadcasts or e-bulletins—or
standard—direct mail, newsletters, postcards—you need to have in place a
precise database of the clients and prospects to whom you are targeting
your marketing offer.
The quality of your recipient database is just as important as the
content or graphics that go into a marketing piece. Sometimes it’s even
more important. Although you may have an eye-catching mailer with
winning copy, it will have little value if it does not reach your
audience in a timely manner. A poorly kept mailing list results in
additional costs from the mailing house for corrections, additional
postage for mail that never reaches its destination, or time spent
weeding through “kicked-back” undeliverable emails.
A clear and concise mailing list is more than worth the effort because
whether you’re doing your own mail merge or you’re using a mail house,
the file must be easy to open and should produce a neat, correctly
formatted list of mailing addresses without additional manipulation.
Here are some of the things you need to do in order to produce a
user-friendly mailing:
1. Be as consistent as possible when
creating your database. Do not spell out street addresses
such as Boulevard, Drive, Street or Suite in some entries and then
abbreviate them in others. Also, choose either a familiar or a formal
tone for names, for example, it’s either Robert J. Jones or Robert Jones
or Bob Jones, not “any of the above.” Same thing goes for company names.
Also, be consistent with capitalization. Proper capitalization is
preferred, but if for some reason “all caps” is needed somewhere, use
“all caps” for the entire list. (Companies whose names are generally
accepted acronyms, such as AARP or YMCA are exceptions.)
2. Be aware of proper addressing
nomenclature for post office boxes. We frequently see
things like POB 234, Post Office Box 234 or P.O. Box 234. Post office
boxes should be entered as: PO Box 234 or P.O. Box 234 with no spaces
between the letters. Again, whichever of the two formats you choose,
keep it consistent.
3. Data should be separated into as many
fields as possible; for example: Salutation, First Name,
Middle Initial, Last Name, Suffix, Position, Company, Address1,
Address2, City, State, Zip, etc. This will be particularly helpful in
the event you decide to do personalized letters since most mail merge
programs ask you to drop in each piece of information separately. Having
the first and last name separate also allows you to choose between a
familiar greeting using just the first name, e.g., Dear Helen, versus a
more formal one using the salutation and last name, e.g., Ms. Smith.
4. Do not put multiple entries in a single
field, such as “Bob Jones and Helen Smith” in the same
name field for “XYZ Corporation.” If your list requires two names for
one entry, regardless of the reason, you need to create an entirely new
entry.
5. The data in a field should always
correspond to the name or title of the field. Few things
throw off a mailing list more than having the city in one of the address
fields or the person’s position in one of the name fields.
6. Never use returns within a field.
Information in a field should always be one line—not multiple lines. If
the address is very long, create a second address field for the entire
list and move a portion of the address to that field. In fact,
regardless of whether you need it or not, you should probably create
your list with at least two or more address fields (Address1, Address2,
Address3, etc.) because businesses on your list may require street,
campus, suite, floor, mailstop or P.O. Box information to ensure proper
delivery.
7. Know the idiosyncrasies of the program in
which you are developing your mailing list. If you are
using Excel, for example, be sure that you have formatted the “Zip Code”
field for zip codes. This will ensure that the first zero appears in zip
codes for New England, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, FPO and APO addresses.
Failure to do so could result in mail sent to Stoughton, MA (zip code
02072) – winding up in Bowie, MD (zip code 20720).
8. Keep your mailing list accurate and up to
date! Having an old address is useless and winds up
costing you money. Even worse, having an old or misspelled name can turn
off a client or prospect and prompt a request for a removal from your
mailing list. Make sure you get the correct spelling of all contact
information and if you are notified of any changes—such as address, name
and position changes due to things like moves, marriages or promotions—
input those changes immediately. If the information has changed and the
item is returned without any updated information, move the entire entry
to an inactive file until the new address or contact information can be
obtained. Periodically cleanse your list through NCOA (National Change
of Address). This will make you aware of address changes in your list as
well as bring your mailing list in compliance with new postal
regulations that require a “move update” service be performed on your
mail list within six months prior to any first class mailing.
Taking a few moments to ensure the quality and consistency of your
mailing list prevents you from having to deal with a multitude of
problems when you use the information contained there. Furthermore,
having that information useable and up to date when you do a mailing
will ensure that you reach the people you need to reach.
Dina Dvinov is a communications associate and Ellen Daly is business
manager for Graham Communications in Quincy, Massachusetts.
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