From my observation, companies that are doing well in their marketing at the moment are diversifying the media that they use. For example, those who moved into email a few years ago are now adding direct mail back into the mix.

Companies that focussed on buying in lists of possible clients are now also working on building and developing lists of current clients, and those people who have shown some sort of interest in the past year or two.

The fact is that some firms will pass on emails sent generally to an address, but most won’t which is why many companies have abandoned buying in ready made email lists and are instead researching small, but exactly targeted lists that meet their own needs. While the cost is higher at the start, it pays for itself within a month or two.

Such an approach makes use of the fact that getting a list of companies is not very hard – you can buy a list of anything from abattoirs to x-ray machine makers. But primarily what you get are the postal addresses of these companies. So what you then have to do is to research the email addresses – and through that the names of the people you want. You then write to them, and email them, on regular occasions and through that work out the best way to communicate with them. The list becomes yours, and you can use it whenever you like.

Of course if the need is for promotion now, rather than promotion in two months time, that’s no good – but where you can plan, it is an approach that really does work. The route in summary is…

  1. Buy in the direct mail list
  2. Research the email addresses from that
  3. Add the email addresses and names from your research to the database
  4. Alternate between direct mail and email – always remembering to couch your promotions in the conversational style. Bullet points and announcements really don’t work any more.

If you would like to talk about any of these points, please do get in touch. You can call Hamilton House on 01536 399 000, or email me at Tony@hamilton-house.com