University of Washington MBA Program

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University of Washington MBA Program

• Managing Customer Relationships
• through Direct Marketing
• Creative Strategy
• Instructor Elizabeth Stearns

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• One great, relevant, powerful creative idea,
  executed with rich style can build a clients
  business.
• The better the creative idea, the greater the
  effect of the campaign in persuading the consumer.

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Strategy Definition

• Strategy is having a plan aiming
• Knowing exactly who the customer is
• Knowing exactly what effect we want to have
• Knowing exactly how we are going to try to
  achieve that effect

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• The clue or secret of good direct marketing
  strategy is customer perspective.
• i.e., approaching it from the customers point
  of view, NOT the manufacturers, the clients

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From Product Driven to Customer Driven
Communications

• Product Driven Approach
• Analyze competitive products
• Produce a functionally superior product
• Use advertising to tell consumers about your
  products superiority
• Consumer buys your product
• Consumer Driven Approach
• Analyze consumer needs
• Make a product to fit those needs
• Use advertising to persuade consumers that your
  product is relevant
• Consumer buys product

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Strategic Possibilities

• Out of the multiple possibilities a strategy
  should be selected which
• Offers the best opportunity in terms of a balance
  between sales potential and risk
• Is able to deliver or surpass the marketing
  objective
• Offers the potential of developing superior
  creative product

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Situation Analysis

• People
• Product
• People/Product Relationship
• People/Direct Marketing Relationship
• Environmental Trends
• The objective is a complete understanding of
  todays marketplace.

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Situation Analysis

• People
• Once target is identified
• Know everything you can about them
• Know them in life not just as a post code
• Meet them, talk to them, listen to them, watch
  them
• Recognize them and respect them
• Find out how they feel about the product

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Situation Analysis

• The Product
• Check frame of reference
• Point of difference
• Features and benefits
• Incentivise or not

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Situation Analysis

• People and Direct Marketing
• How does the target feel about direct marketing?
• Receiving direct mail
• Web vs Telemarketing
• Effects of incentives
• Add value or not?
• Personalized vs. non-personalized
• Frequency of contact

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Program Development

• The proposition
• Has to be single minded
• Can be rational or emotional
• Has to differentiate from competition

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Program Development

• Features and Benefits
• All the points that must be mentioned
• Features What the product does
• Benefits Why the feature is important to you

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What is positioning?

• A products positioning is the way in which we
  want the consumer to think about our products
  the place we hold in our customers minds.
• It is not what you do to a product its what you
  do to the mind of your prospect.
• Most basic of all strategic statements.
• Not a slogan or tag line.

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What is positioning and why is it so important to
creative!

• Provides a blue print for marketing and
  development for the brand/product/company.
• Focuses efforts of all those involved.
• Essential to the marketing strategy, and must
  precede development of sub strategies.
• States the reason for brands existence and once
  successfully established, it should rarely be
  changed.

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Traits sought when selecting a product position

• Believable and consistent with product
  performance.
• Directly linked to as large a frame of reference
  and market target where the product can still
  deliver a meaningful point of difference.
• Targeted as delivering the most meaningful
  benefit and/or correcting the biggest problem in
  the frame of performance chosen.
• Unique from competition.
• Capable of enduring the life of the brand.
• Consistent with market targets knowledge and
  behavior experience.

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Steps to take to uncover potential positions

• Analyze your perceived position and those of
  your competitors.
• Study the marketing environment for trends
• Trends in the marketplace
• Consumer research
• List the reasons people buy the generic product
  (and the problems they may have with overall
  performance)

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Steps to take to uncover potential positions

• Discuss anything and everything your
  product/service delivers that competitors do not.
• Compare generic reasons for buying (or problems)
  against your unique benefits.
• Remember Even if competitors can deliver a
  similar benefit, saying it first, with credible
  support points can be pre-emptive.

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Strategic Development Process

• The Client Brief
• Step 1 Situation Analysis of the market, the
  produce, the consumer
• Step 2 Examination of clients marketing
  objectives and strategy
• Step 3 Agreement of role of direct marketing
• Step 4 Analysis of target audience
• Step 5 Analysis of the target audiences
  thoughts and feelings towards the brand and their
  behavior
• Step 6 Analysis of points of difference between
  our brand and the competition
• Step 7 Agreement, positioning and key point(s)
  of difference
• Step 8 Agreement of what we want the target
  audience to think and feel and do as a result of
  our communication
• Step 9 Executional guidelines

These steps lead to an agreed direct marketing
strategy and creative brief.
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Strategy

• Marketplace
• Marketing Objective What is the client trying
  to achieve?
• Market Environment What is the competition
  doing? Attach samples, trends, facts/figures
• Previous Marketing What has the client done
  before? Why should this be changed? Attach
  previous work results.

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Strategy

• Product
• How will the produce help the customer? What
  will the product do? Attach samples.
• What makes the produce different? What is
  interesting about the product?
• What makes the product better? Why choose this
  product?
• What restraints are there on what we can say?
  What legal/other restrictions?

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Strategy

• Target Market
• Description With whom are we talking?
• What do they currently think and feel? (about
  the category/product/brand/direct mail, etc.)
• What do we want them to think and feel? (having
  seen our communication)
• What do we want them to do? Call to action.

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Strategy

• General
• Main Thought/Proposition One sentence if
  possible.
• Supporting/Selling Points Features and benefits
  that support the proposition
• Personality/Tone of Voice/Creative Guidelines

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5 Key Questions Every Strategy Statement Should
Answer

• Whats the single biggest reason your prospect
  wont want to do what youre asking him to do?
• How do you overcome the prospects big objection?
• What is the competition doing?
• Does the client have any mandatories or
  expectations?
• What will the customer think after reading your
  piece?

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The objective for smart marketers

• Own the loyalty of consumers, not the advantages
  of products.
• Lester Wunderman, Wunderman Y R

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The 7 Rules of Creation

• If the ideas tired, imagine the reader.
• Talk fresh.
• Remember fear, sex, and greed.
• Looks should kill.
• Show and tell.
• Business doesnt mean boring.
• Play with your mail.

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10 Myths that Will Limit You from the Start

• Myth 1 Everything must come in an envelope
• Myth 2 Selfmailers just get thrown out
• Myth 3 A 10 envelope will outpull any other
  size
• Myth 4 Letters must look like business
  correspondence
• Myth 5 Your target is a man
• Myth 6 Your copy must be short
• Myth 7 Your tone must be all business
• Myth 8 Humor doesnt work
• Myth 9 Promotional executions arent
  effective
• Myth 10 Personal bribes dont pull

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Proven Formats

• The unexpected (plastic fish, air sickness bags)
• Oversized or undersized (shout or whisper)
• 3-D (boxes, tubes promise valuable contents)
• Letters with unusual return addresses (famous
  names or titles)
• Serious-looking mail (western union, kraft
  envelopes)
• Personal stationery (even in a business
  environment)
• Postcards and selfmailers (no envelope to open)

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OEs that Get Opened

• Good offers
• Free stuff
• News or information
• Serious, official notices
• Smart propositions
• Personally relevant information
• Provocative/intriguing statements

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Checklist for Judging Creative Execution

• Does the execution carry out the creative
  strategy?
• Will the execution appeal to the target audience?
• Would you say this to a prospect in person?
• Is it written from the prospects point of view
  or from the marketers point of view?
• Is the execution clear, concise, complete, and
  convincing?
• Does the execution get and hold the prospects
  attention?
• If time or space is limited, make the message
  single-minded.

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• Make sure management knows exactly what the
  creatives have in mind.
• If there are several creative pieces, make sure
  they all work together effectively.
• Does the execution overwhelm the message?
• Is the request for action clear and specific?
• If a reply device is used, is it simple and easy
  to use?
• Do let the cost of the proposed execution
  influence you.

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Strategic Possibilities

• Possible Roles of Direct Marketing
• Fulfillment to advertising
• Provide greater access to the product
• To raise awareness
• As a loyalty builder
• Direct selling
• As a research tool