Selling: do your ads need a superagency?
Corporations are spending less of their marketing budgets on advertising and more on promotions, public relations and direct marketing. Some ad agencies — most notably Young & Rubicam, Ogilvy & Mather and Grey Advertising — are responding by offering complete “integrated marketing”, which creates a unified, focused marketing campaign. Humana and Ryder have been extremely satisfied with the integrated marketing approach. Other firms are concerned about potential for client conflicts and loss of corporate control.
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Ramirez, Anthony
Full text: [Fortune] Apr 27, 1987
Outplacement en Masse: A Marketing Approach
Experience has shown that it is possible to bring about successful reemployment when an area has been hit by significant reductions in its workforce. The Twin Tiers area (the southern tier counties of Central New York and the adjoining northern tier counties of Pennsylvania) has undergone severe economic dislocations and reductions in manufacturing jobs for the past 7 years. In 1985, when 4 area manufacturers closed their plants, local government, business leaders, and representatives of the 4 companies developed a plan of action. A Talent Fair was staged to showcase the employees and to spur individual job search efforts. The basic strategy included: 1. developing a public relations campaign to promote the event, 2. designing a direct-mail campaign for regional employers, 3. communicating with and motivating those employees who had been separated from the 4 companies, and 4. producing a resources manual of resumes and skill summaries of participating persons. Attending employers were pleased with the Talent Fair, and a number of individuals received job offers.
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Krajci, Thomas J.
Full text: [The Personnel Administrator] May 1987
Feds Attack Misleading Direct Mailers
Speaking before the House Select Committee on Aging, Social Security Commissioner Dorcas Hardy spoke about deceptive mailings from a number of organizations to senior citizens. In order to encourage donations to their espoused causes, these organizations represent themselves as protecting the interests of the elderly. These firms greatly exaggerate and distort facts as part of their claims that the Social Security system is in grave danger. Currently, Congress is addressing the problem of misleading mail. Representative Andrew Jacobs, Jr., from his post as chairman of the Social Security subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee, addressed the head of one such organization that has raised $30 million since 1982. While the founder of The National Committee for the Preservation of Social Security and Medicare did not admit any wrongdoing, the Committee has printed disclaimers on some of its mailings and changed the design and color of envelopes that could have been mistaken for government mailings.
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Goldsmith, David
Full text: [Target Marketing] May 1987
Encouraging Complaints
Customer complaints are a valuable resource to direct marketers and attempts should be made to handle complaints successfully. For example, a recent study points out that, on purchases under $100, if complaints are handled satisfactorily, 70% continue to buy from the same company. On those over $100, 54% did further business with the company. Saks Fifth Avenue’s attempt to elicit complaints from customers via an insert sent with bills, received a 75% favorable response. Another method to encourage customers to voice their complaints is to offer an 800 telephone number. To provide better customer service and get customers to think of it as not just another large, faceless company, General Electric (GE) opened an Answer Center (Louisville, Kentucky) to answer customer complaints and inquiries. Since its opening, customer satisfaction has increased 93%, warranty costs have been reduced, and dealers and distributors are more content with GE’s products.
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Rossell, Christine A.
Full text: [Target Marketing] May 1987
Doin’ the Direct Mail Two-Step
Direct mail campaigns can be used to sell expensive products, but the approach is different from that used to sell less costly items. For example, Solar Additions (Greenwich, New York), a manufacturer and marketer of prebuilt sunrooms, glassed-in porches, and solar enclosures, uses mailings to sell its products, with an average order of $10,000. The company spends over $500,000 annually on advertising and direct mail. The selling process can take as long as a year and can involve 10 or more mailings. Readers must pay for further literature and promotional packages, assuring Solar Additions of a committed customer. An in-house telemarketing staff uses a computerized ranking system that helps the salesforce spot serious customers. The company goes so far as to invite prospects to visit its factory. A major factor in Solar’s advertising is flexibility. Originally advertised as an energy saving source of solar heat, as the energy crisis abated, the product was shown as adding space and value to homes. Solar is now planning to use the same type of marketing to sell custom-designed, energy-efficiency houses that could sell for $200,000.
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Anonymous
Full text: [Sales and Marketing Management] May 1987
What Else Is Left to Test?
There are several things direct mail marketers can do to improve direct mailings. Envelope corner cards are personal names above the company name, giving the illusion that the mailing was sent directly from a corporate officer. Meter ads use a separate plate on a postage meter to imprint a special message, such as a slogan or a sales pitch. Precanceled adhesive stamps also can be used; they look like first-class postage stamps except they have a double black bar across the face. Interior envelope surfaces slip in an extra sales point or instruction imprinted on the inside of a mailing envelope. Letters signed in blue ink still have an edge in direct marketing since they carry the aura of a hand signing. Direct marketers also should leave the date off letters because they may arrive as long as 3 weeks after the date indicated. Two-page letters in direct mail pieces are still more presentable; also, hot sheets, slips of brightly colored paper used to move a reader to action, should contain significant messages.
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Turley, Brian Christian
Full text: [Direct Marketing] May 1987
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
ROCKINGHAM*JUTKINS*marketing (RJm) used baseball as a theme for a lead-generation program. Baseball provides many characters to tell a story and relate a message. Employees at RJm had their pictures on baseball cards, and one by one the cards were sent to the list of prospects. The first mailing included an envelope, a business reply card, and a baseball card and offered a booklet of marketing ideas. Five times a year during the baseball season, a mailing was dropped, using a list built from publications, directories, and personal contacts. The theme garnered attention, made the select audience aware the firm existed, generated some interest, and offered an opportunity for the prospects to communicate. Other mailings included peanuts, a Baby Ruth candy bar, and even a box of Cracker Jacks. To promote the firm’s telemarketing expertise, some mailings offered a telemarketing booklet, and sometimes free tickets to baseball games or autographed baseballs were offered. Print advertising supported the direct mail efforts.
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Jutkins, Ray
Full text: [Direct Marketing] May 1987
Print Ads Boost Marketshare for High-Tech Company
Attachmate Corp. used a direct response advertising campaign to increase company awareness, leading to hundreds of telephone inquiries and a sales jump that caused an increase in production. Attachmate manufacturers and markets data communications products that link IBM and compatible personal computers to a host mainframe. Surveyed customers reported that the company had a technically superior product with excellent support. To position the product, Attachmate took a classical approach by first researching the market. Based on the results of its surveys, positioning statements, communications strategies, and advertising themes were identified. Attachmate’s first ad used a bold headline and offered a 12-page, 4-color guide to selecting IBM 3270 terminal/emulation products. Ads for the personal computer markets were scheduled in PC Week and PC Tech Journal and in other computer magazines. The company logo was refined as part of the new design for the ad, and product literature and data sheets were redesigned to fit the new corporate identity.
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Pettis, Charles R., III
Full text: [Direct Marketing] May 1987
Pa. Agent Deals ‘Magic’ Mktg. Cards
Harvey Leibovitz, founder of Leibovitz Associates (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), is entering markets with ”We Perform Underwriting Magic” postcard mailings. The first in a series of mailings will go to some 3,000 life insurance agents, 325 insurance company presidents, 325 underwriters, and 170 media people. A telemarketing campaign also is being set up to contact all the agents on the mailing list at least twice a year. The first card in the series shows an infant wearing a magician’s hat and holding playing cards. The copy on the reverse side carries through on the ”Underwriting Magic” theme and suggests that readers call collect to Leibovitz’s special risk hotline. The mailings are costing 40 cents a cart, which includes art, printing, and mailing costs. Leibovitz Associates has 2 major divisions: 1. a national life insurance brokerage agency, and 2. a marketing and communications division. The firm has marketed to the country’s top life insurance agents. The average premium per policy in 1986 was $25,000.
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Maher, Thomas M.
Full text: [National Underwriter] May 4, 1987
Sales Lead Program Must Be Sold: Expert
Speaking at the International Direct Marketing Symposium in Montreux, Switzerland, Andrew J. Byrne, an insurance marketing consultant, said a sales lead program must be sold and will not be accepted by agents simply because it is available. Firms must communicate to the agents the benefits gained from the program and the problems solved by the program. Points made by US companies to their salespeople in encouraging them to participate in sales lead programs have included: 1. Agents will sell more. 2. They will not have to start out ”cold.” 3. Agents choose what products are offered in the mailings, thus they can sell the products they like to sell. Byrne added that such programs build an image of professionalism, and the number of sales leads can be controlled by controlling the number of mailings. The best sales kit to sell an agent or broker will be complete. According to Byrne, a good sales kit will: 1. describe the need for a sales lead program, 2. explain the benefits the agent or broker gets, and 3. prove the program will work by describing successful case histories.
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Anonymous
Full text: [National Underwriter] May 11, 1987
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September 18, 2008 12:00 am | 
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