1

Developing a Successful Direct Marketing Plan

Bonus:10 Key Questions

2

38 percent of marketers say new marketing campaigns are rushed to market based on the limited intuition of a few people.

“Marketing ROI and Measurements Benchmark Report,” Lenskold Group & MarketingProfs.com, 2005

3

Counterproductive top management pressure

Overloaded line operating staff

Lack of experience in strategy development

4

ENOUGH

5

‘Good ideas’

Media

Ad concepts or Copy approaches

6

The plan identifies concrete strategy and corresponding direct response tactics developed to overcome specific obstacles that would otherwise block agreed-upon objectives.

7

This type of plan development, valuable to any form of marketing, is crucial in direct response marketing.

8

Identification of each project's specific objective, market segment to be penetrated, and priority, is essential.

9

Background

Objectives

Obstacles

Strategy

Tactics

Financials

10

Customer Profiles and Buying History

Buying Process

Description and Benefits of Products

Market Position, Sales History & Competition

Distribution and Sales

Financials

11

Be Precise

Be Thorough

12

Obstacles

Threats

Weaknesses

13

Program Scope

Basic Offer

Concept and Theme

Versioning and Personalization

Media Selection

14

Packaging

Media Mix

Implementation Plan

Process and Procedures

Timing and Schedules

Cost Estimates

15

Break-even Calculations

Yield Potentials

Response Tracking

Analysis

Reporting

16

10 Key Questions to Guide your Success

17

1. Did we use, and stick with, the task method?

18

2. Have all major direct marketing disciplines participated in creating the plan?

19

3. Have you established one final decision maker as a Project Leader responsible for overall development and completion of the marketing plan?

20

4. Has sufficient marketing plan development time been allocated for the planning group?

21

5. Has the entire marketing plan been committed to writing?

22

6. Did you address major plan elements in strict sequence throughout the planning process?

23

7. Did we stop the planning process whenever essential data was not known?

24

Customer Profiles and Buying History

The Buying Process

Product Benefit

Sales History

Competitive Situation

Market Position

Distribution and Sales Methods

Manufacturing and Marketing Margins

25

Stopping the market planning process does not mean 'scrapping' the project.

26

8. Did we complete predictive yield analysis and format our yield reports as an integral part of our written marketing plan?

27

9. Has each individual involved in creating the plan (plus some who were not) reviewed, studied, and critiqued the entire written plan?

28

10. Did we meet, as a group, for final review and agreement on the entire plan?

29

Summary

30

About DWS AssociatesSince 1982, DWS Associates has helped clients in a variety of industries increase sales by improving sales and marketing performance.

A solid foundation in direct marketing, database management, business intelligence and analytics drives our lead generation, lead management and nurturing, customer relationship management, offer optimization, retention and referral efforts.

The bottom-line is that our work consistently delivers highly profitable results. And our fee is always a small percentage of the results we produce for our clients.

To learn exactly how DWS Associates can help your organization generate profitable sales, call 651-315-7588 today.

651-315-7588info@dwsassociates.comwww.dwsassociates.com

CONTACT INFO