Small Business SMM

If you own a small business, it seems like everyone is trying to get you to use social media. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are pushing hard for small businesses to embrace social media marketing.

Digital marketing gurus are spending big money to try and get you to spend big money on their social media marketing services.

You’ve probably already dabbled with social media marketing. You might have a Facebook business page. But, in your gut, you also suspect that social media is a bit of a scam.

You’re wrong.

Social media marketing isn’t a bit of a scam. Social media marketing is a complete scam for most small and medium-sized businesses.

What Does Social Media Marketing Mean?

Social media marketing is built around the concept of creating free content to build an audience. This is a time-tested strategy. But, social media marketing breaks this otherwise effective approach.

First, when you build an audience on social media, you aren’t creating an asset for your business. You are creating an asset for the company who owns the platform. If the social media platform goes under next month, your audience goes down with it. Social media platforms can, and do, change policies on a whim. What’s free today is pay-to-play tomorrow. Facebook pulled the rug out from under businesses several years ago making it impossible to reach your fans without paying to boost your posts.

Second, social media isn’t a great vehicle for selling. Look at any think piece about how businesses should use social media, and you will find that you should do more than just share your own content. You should be seen as a trusted authority or source or entertainment. But, it’s hard to make money just by being social and leaving a good impression.

But, as a small business, you cannot effectively monetize any of those metrics.

Social media marketing won’t lead to more sales for your small business. It will suck up all of your available time and money, leaving your frustrated and ready to quit anything having to do with online marketing.

Social media marketing is about creating posts to try and drive likes, shares, comments, and follows. But, as a small business, you cannot effectively monetize any of those metrics.

Pay-per-click advertising on social media is an entirely different beast from social media marketing. Paid advertising can be effective, but paid or free content marketing on social media platforms is a horrible investment for small businesses.

How Big Consumer Brands use Social Media

Big brands like Arby’s, McDonald’s, Target, and Ford spend a lot of money on social media marketing. These are smart companies. Why would they invest in something that doesn’t work?

They don’t.

What big brands want and get out of social media is different from what you want and what you get as a small business.

One of the marketing strategies big businesses employ is investing in brand recognition. They want people to associate their brand with specific emotions, life stages, and decisions. Big consumer brands don’t care about generating sales from social media. They care about leaving an impression.

These brands can afford this strategy because of their size, the number of different markets they are in, and because they are mostly focused on consumers.

You’re Not a Big Brand

Your small or medium business is not a big brand. You don’t have the budget or timeline to slowly build a desire for your products and brand over several years. You can’t afford to invest in brand recognition because you will get squashed by the competition.

Your company isn’t a big brand. You shouldn’t waste money trying to use their marketing strategies.

You need to focus on marketing strategies and tactics that actually make a difference to your bottom line instead of focusing on metrics that flatter your ego.

Boost Profits by Making Sales Not by Leaving an Impression

How much is a like worth to your business? How about a share or a follow? Here are the results of some back of the envelope math:

Likes = $0

Followers= $0

Leaving a good impression doesn’t generate one penny of revenue. If you want to boost profits, you have to sell more stuff. That’s how small businesses stay in business. They sell enough goods or services to pay all their bills and generate a level of profit.

You don’t have VCs backing you. You aren’t going to cash out in an IPO. You are going to have to get your cash the old-fashioned way, selling stuff people need or want.

While this seems like common sense, most social media marketers forget this fact. Think about what would happen if you suddenly had 10,000 real Facebook fans tomorrow. How would that affect your business?

It wouldn’t

You would still have to try and sell to those followers. How are you going to reach them? You can write a bunch of posts, but you will have to pay to boost those posts to get more than 5% of your fans to see them.

If you make all of those posts sales posts, you’ll start losing fans.

You’re in a no-win situation with social media.

No matter how much time and money you spend on social media, you still have to do the work of making a sale.

Instead of wasting your time and money on social media marketing, you should invest in three different tactics instead:

1. Paid advertising on social media platforms

2. Long tail SEO

3. Direct response email marketing

The exact way you deploy these tactics will vary depending on the specifics of your business. Business to business companies have different sales funnels than consumer-focused companies.

But, these tactics will help you connect with people eager to buy from you, and not just people looking to fill their feed with interesting articles.

Paid Advertising on Social Media Channels is Different

The real social media gold for small and medium businesses is in paid advertising. Writing and boosts is a slow, expensive, and inefficient way to attract paying customers.

Paid advertising cuts right to the heart of the matter. You get to ask your ideal customer directly to do something. It might just be to click on a link, but, it gets them off of social media and onto your website where you control the terms of engagement.

The biggest advantage of social media advertising is you can micro-target. You want to appeal to a very narrow set of people. When you use micro-targeting, it’s easy to talk directly to their needs. The customer can feel that you speak their language. They are excited to see how you can deliver the one thing they most want or need.

Paid advertising should be used to send customers to a specific landing page, and not just your website. You want to send them to a place where they can buy a specific product or service, or you want to send them to a landing page where you can capture their email address in return for something of value.

Advertising leads to direct sales, or it allows you to build a list of contacts that you can continue to market to, through methods you control like physical mail or email.

Paid social media advertising is one of the best ways to rapidly drive sales. Most businesses can see significant results in spending as little as $5 a day in social media advertising. But, you will have to invest time and money into testing ads and audiences. Paid advertising isn’t a silver bullet, but unlike social media marketing, it does deliver real results and generates a measurable return on investment.

Using Long tail SEO

Paid advertising is excellent for driving traffic and generating fast sales in the short term. But, if you want to build your business for the long term, you need other tools.

Long-tail SEO can provide you with small, steady profits that gradually increase the longer you are in business.

The goal with long-tail SEO is that you are driving organic traffic from search engines to your product or service pages. People who are looking to buy what you’re selling will find you. Long-tail SEO isn’t sexy like social media marketing. It takes hard work and a lot of patience. But, it delivers.

Long-tail SEO is about creating thousands of sales pages on your website that each generates a little bit of money each month.

Advantages of Direct Response Email Marketing

Email marketing is the most cost-effective form of digital marketing. It costs almost nothing to send an email campaign. When done right, you can generate thousands or tens of thousands of dollars just by sending out an optimized sales sequence to your list.

But, for this tactic to work, you have to build a high-quality list of prospects and customers, and you need to master direct response marketing.

Direct response marketing means that you ask your prospect to take a specific, measurable action. It might be buying something. It might be signing up for a free webinar.

The goal is to persuade your prospect to take one action that brings them closer to making a purchase.

Direct response marketing is a multi-billion-dollar subspecialty of marketing. It works.

When you combine paid advertising, long-tail SEO, and direct response email marketing you turn your small or medium business into a selling powerhouse.

None of these steps are easy. But, they are all simple. You will see results with each one, even before you have mastered the tactic. Each of these tactics makes it easy for you to measure your results. You can easily calculate your return on investment.

This is critical because you need good data to run effective experiments.

You only have so much time as the owner of a business. Don’t waste a second of it on social media marketing.

Instead, focus on marketing that gets results you can measure. Focus on tactics that put money in your pocket through sales instead of tactics that give you a dopamine hit from likes and shares.

You can’t pay bills with dopamine.

Political Branding

Politicians immediately become brands (personal brands) when their campaigns kicks off  and this isn’t a new concept. Running for President of the United States means building a brand that at least 51% of the country is willing to buy on Election Day.

Logos + Taglines = a value proposition that drives voters to 1- differentiate the brands appeal 2- inspire them giving votes 3- and/or a few bucks in campaign contributions. 

"Make America Great Again", was designed to make white, working-class men remember when things were better for them or, at least, they thought they could remember.

Trump used this nostalgia to support his positions and tap into positive emotions in his supporters, further mobilizing them as evangelists.

Ikea's Magic Mittens

Insight

Ikea’s first iPad catalogue was no different to the paper version. The brand needed a USP.

Ikea’s catalogue is world famous and in Norway it was about to go digital for the first time. The launch of the new iPad version was good news for the brand as many of Ikea’s key customers were becoming less and less responsive to direct mail, the standard distribution method for the catalogue.

Tablet penetration was also growing massively fast in Norway with some 600,000 iPads in circulation (12% of Norway’s total 5 million population). iPads were especially popular among the brand’s key audience of urban females aged 25-45 – among this group 32% had a tablet.

The problem was that the iPad version would only be ready in the New Year, when most consumers had already had a paper version from last August. The content would have been exactly the same and the tablet version wouldn't have been interactive. Mediacom realised that Ikea could face a backlash from consumers if it tried to pretend that the iPad version was something new or innovative. It needed to find a way to connect with iPad users, giving them a new reason to engage, but had little money to promote the launch.

Mediacom’s solution would have to reflect Ikea’s reputation for smart simple design, while at the same time, resonate strongly with its digitally-savvy target audience of urban females.

Strategy

Norway gets cold in winter, very cold! So Ikea gave consumers a solution they could warm to: touch-screen mittens.

Mediacom’s insight was based around temperature. While tablet users would often use their device at home, they were also highly portable and few among the target group would leave the house without their iPad or iPhone. That was where the opportunity was spotted. Norway is cold in winter. In February, when the iPad catalogue was due to go live, temperatures can fall as low as -20°C. In this kind of weather, you have to wrap up warm and you have to wear gloves. Now, as everyone knows, fumbling with keys and phones with gloves on is difficult. But with an iPad, it’s downright impossible – with gloves on, they simply don’t respond to your commands.

This presented the agency with a unique opportunity to create something simple, functional and effective - and totally in line with Ikea’s design brand values. A brand new Ikea (mock) product was created: Beröra – literally meaning ‘to touch’. It consisted of conductive thread and came complete with Ikea packaging and the familiar cartoon instruction leaflet. By simply sewing the conductive thread through a pair of gloves or mittens, it would allow customers to use them with touchscreens. This would not only solve Norway’s winter touchscreen problem but also enable Ikea’s target of tablet users to sample the new iPad catalogue on the go.

Execution

Mediacom distributed thousands of touch-screen mitten kits via a zero-wastage, laser-targeted strategy. The agency created 12,000 mitten kits and distributed them to Ikea’s six stores across the country. Then they set about promoting the unique offer to the target audience. The message? ‘Ikea – katalogen er klar for iPad’ which translates to: ‘the Ikea catalogue is ready for the iPad! Are your mittens?’

Because the message was only relevant to tablet owners, Mediacom set out to reach them as precisely as possible. The agency worked with Norway’s two largest national newspapers to promote the new Ikea product via their tablet editions. This was backed up with web-TV advertising through the same media owners, targeting only the readers of tablet editions once again. Ikea and its PR agency, PR Operatørene, created buzz by sending the kit to selected relevant journalists and bloggers in advance of the product launch.

Results

The campaign was Ikea’s most successful launch anywhere in the world:

Consumers snapped up all 12,000 of the products in just 14 days.

Ikea gained massive buzz – reaching 22% of the target audience of women aged 25-45.

Click-through rates for ads were 8.95%, compared to a 2011 industry norm of 0.09% (CTR across all digital platforms).

The Ikea iPad app went straight to number one on the iTunes chart and stayed there for weeks.

Norway’s iPad catalogue is the most downloaded per capita on the planet.

BRAND:

Ikea

BRAND OWNER:

Ikea

REGION:

Norway

DATE:

January - February 2012

AGENCY:

MediaCom

Hey Mr. Email marketing .. this is not the 90's anymore..

My email client’s default setting is not to display images unless I choose to show them. So what that means to you ?


This how i see your communications....

"The garbage thrown on the sea returns someday. For everybody."

Script has created an action for Surfrider Foundation Brasil, called "Return". The action has as purpose to raise awareness and alert people about the consequences of the garbage left on Rio's beaches.

From a mailing list of surf shops and accredited NGOs, 10,000 boxes containing objects thrown on the sand were sent to people's houses.

Besides plastic cups, ice-cream packages, cans and water bottles, each box also contained a label with the following message:

"The garbage thrown on the sea returns someday. For everybody." -- leaving it clear that, even who never threw garbage on the beach, one day, may suffer the consequences of such act.

The action was also performed in bars in the city of Rio de Janeiro.



Technical profile:
Agency: Script
Creative Director: Ricardo Real e Marcello Mendes
Copywriter: Felipe Machado
Art Directors: Thiago Manhães & João Paulo Medeiros
Production Company: TCO Filmes
Executive Production: JP Braga
Director: JP Braga
DP: Nando Azevedo & Fernando Fernandez
Edit: JP Braga
Color Grading: Nando Azevedo
Soundtrack: Buena Musica (Daniel Medeiros, Leo Cruz, Marcelo Frota)

General Motors | The Book of Yes

Dulux :::Bright idea for paint brand

It’s quite difficult to get excited about paint – hence the English expression that describes a boring pastime as “Like watching paint dry”.

Brazilian paint brand Coral (known as Dulux in most parts of the world) wanted to promote its premium decoration line, “Decora” and encourage people to be experimental with the colour of their walls at home. Traditionally, paint brands sell small quantities of paint as colour samplers, so that people can apply small swatches on their walls to compare different potential colour schemes.

However, it is hard to envisage the effect of an entirely new wall colour from a foot-wide square patch of paint. Coral therefore created a range of light bulbs in Coral colours, which when illuminated and pointed towards a white wall would show people what their room would look like if painted in that colour. These were packaged up to look like mini paint tins and distributed and demonstrated in various shops.

"Here we see a humble promotional giveaway creating a really valuable consumer experience which truly highlights the benefits of the product in a way that doesn't require consumers to get their hands and clothes messy."

BRAND: Dulux

BRAND OWNER: AkzoNobel

CATEGORY: Household Goods

REGION: Brazil

DATE: Sep 2009

AGENCY: Leo Burnett

MEDIA CHANNEL

Caples Awards

The only direct marketing awards show judged solely on creativity. The only direct marketing awards show judged solely by more than 80 top-level creative directors. The only direct marketing awards show to enter if you're only going to enter one.

Entry deadline: Monday, september 28.

Download your entry kit here:
Caples Awards

Direct mail with embedded video

Glossary of Some Direct Marketing Terms

ABOVE THE LINE (ATL) COMMUNICATION: Communication that primarily uses high-profile (high visibility) mass media like print, television, radio, outdoors, etc.

ACTION DEVICES: Techniques or elements used in the message to elicit a response by the target audience. Also referred to as Response Devices.

ACTIVE MEMBERS: Members who are eligible to receive program or brand communication by virtue of having met certain pre-defined eligibility criteria. As opposed to Lapsed or Expired Members.

AUTOMATIC CALL DIRECTOR (ACD): Computer software that receives all incoming calls and directs them to call handlers in a pre-determined manner. If all call handlers are busy, the ACD plays a pre-recorded message to that effect, till a call handler becomes free to take the next call.

AVERAGE ORDER VALUE: A simple mathematical figure arrived at by dividing the total revenue generated from a program or exercise divided by the total number of orders received under the program or exercise.

BELOW THE LINE (BTL) COMMUNICATION: Communication that primarily uses low-profile (low visibility) media such as direct mail, telephones, single-venue events, the Internet or email.

BILL ENCLOSURE: Promotional material enclosed with a bill, an invoice or a statement.

BRC / BRE: Business Reply Card / Envelope: A response format that a customer or prospect can use to write back to the company in response to a mailer, where the company pays the postal department based on the number of responses received. The BRC / BRE is usually enclosed with the mailer to facilitate cost-free response from the target recipient.

BRP: Business Reply Permit: A permit that has to be procured by a company from the postal authority to facilitate use of the BRC / BRE reply format. The postal authority issues a permit to be issued for a specific post office at which the company can receive replies in the form of BRCs or BREs.

BURST: To separate continuous form paper into individual sheets. (High-speed printing systems designed to handle regular-frequency large volume print runs like credit card or telecom bills routinely have a “burster” to separate continuous stationery into individual mailable statements).

C/A: Change of address. A notification put on mail which may have returned to the originator with a revised address of the target recipient, or any communication received from a target recipient to the communicator to notify the same.

CLEANING: Refers to the process of removing, updating or altering contact details like a name or address in a database. This may be the result of data being out of date, or being incorrectly entered in the first instance.

COLLATE: To assemble individual elements of a mailer in a precise sequence for inserting into a mailing envelope.

COMPLETED CALLS: Inbound or outbound calls, where all the required data has been collected from the respondents, or a pre-determined decision point has been reached, and that does not requiring any further calls to the target.

CONTINUOUS STATIONARY: Stationery designed for high-speed computer printing, which can later be burst or trimmed to size and collated for mailing.

COST PER INQUIRY (CPI): A mathematical value derived by dividing the total cost of a mailing or a direct-response advertisement by the number of inquiries received.

COST PER ORDER (CPO): A mathematical value derived by dividing the total cost of a direct marketing campaign by the number of orders received. Focus on orders as opposed to inquiries.

COUPON: Portion of an advertisement or promotional mailer to be completed by the customer and returned to the advertiser.

DATABASE: A structured collection, storage or presentation of specific data. A direct marketing database provides a means to contact a group of prospects as well as a method to measure responses. A database is usually purpose-specific and contains qualifying information about its members, as opposed to a list which is just a compilation of names and addresses without any qualifying or unifying criteria. (See also: Relational Databases, RDBMS).

DATA CAPTURE FORM: A form designed to capture response data in a very specific structure and format, so as to make it easy to standardize data for entry into a database. It is essential to design data capture forms and databases in sync, to optimize the data structure for future enhancements as well as analysis. Specific care also needs to be taken to ensure that capture of crucial fields like

PIN / ZIP codes is done according to tightly controlled rules.

DATA ENTRY STANDARDS: A set of rules to be followed when creating, adding, deleting, arranging, or selecting records in databases, designed to ensure uniformity and consistency across all entries made by different individuals or over time.

DEAD MAIL: Mail sent to an intended recipient that is returned to the sender without any further information on where the same can be redirected in future. This can be due to incorrect / incomplete address, or target recipient having moved, or having changed names and the updated information is not available to the sender.

DE-DUPLICATION: Elimination of duplication in names, to make sure that no matter how many times a name and address appears on a list, it will be mailed to only once. The process involves intensive standardization of data before it can be effectively de-duplicated.

DEFAULT SALUTATION: Names on a database or rented list which are incomplete or incorrect, or do not have proper titles, need to be replaced with a common salutation such as "Dear Sir/Madam", "Dear Colleague", etc.

DIRECT MARKETING: A planned system of contacts seeking to produce a lead or an order. Using any media, direct marketing requires the use of a database for the responses to be measured. Key differentiators of direct marketing from conventional communication are: Communication is one-to-one (as opposed to one-to-many), interactive (allowing for two way communication), responsive (where next communication is a specific response to a previous one) and measurable (number of responses can be precisely computed).

DIRECT RESPONSE ADVERTISING: Mass-media advertising inviting targets to respond to a specific contact point by any means where the number of responses can be measured. Mass media advertising carrying coupons, call-back numbers, post boxes or website names are all examples direct response advertising.

DUMMY: A fictitious or “control” name and address that is deliberately inserted into a list to verify how the list is being used, or to confirm final delivery of the mailer. (See also Seed.)
DUPE: The appearance of identical, repeated information in a database. Dupe is short for "duplicate".

EXPIRED MEMBERS: Former members who are no longer eligible to receive program or brand communication by virtue of having ceased to meet pre-defined eligibility criteria.

FLOATING VARIABLE: "Personalised" information that can be placed anywhere within a laser text, usually within a sentence. Used to make communication content appear highly personalized.

FREQUENCY: The number of times an individual has purchased a company’s product or service over a certain period of time. One of the key measures of customer loyalty, along with “Recency” and “Monetary Value” (the three terms are collectively referred to as RFM).

FRIEND-OF-A-FRIEND: Friend referrals. The process of known target audience members referring or providing names of other unknown friends who might also be interested in a specific advertiser's products or services. Also referred to as Member-Get-Member approach.

FULFILMENT: The complete process of complying with a customer’s response, by way of supplying goods against an order placed, or providing complete and specific information asked for by the respondent.

GIMMICK: Any attention seeking device used in communication.

HOUSE LIST: An in-house or owned mailing list developed by a company over time, based on current or former customers or inquires; usually does not contain additional data on customer / prospect behavior relating to the company’s products or services.

INBOUND TELEMARKETING: Handling an incoming call from a prospect or customer, who calls in to a number publicized through various media.

INCOMPLETE CALLS: Inbound or outbound calls, where the caller is unable to speak to a target respondent, or unable to collect all the required data, and where further calls are required.

INFLUENCER: A person who is involved in – or has a major influence on – the buying decision process, but who does not make the final buying decision.

INKJET: A type of printing process that uses very fine and controlled jets of ink onto paper to produce text and graphics. Inkjet printing is a cheaper alternative to laser printing.

INQUIRY: Someone who has asked for literature or other information about a product or service, but has not necessarily made a buying decision. Also sometimes referred to as a Lead.

INSERT: Element placed in an outgoing mailer package or invoice.

INTEGRATED MARKETING: A combination of two or more forms of marketing used to sell a product or service (eg. a direct mail campaign combined with a series of television commercials).

MAILHOUSE: Company which performs the mechanical and operational details involved with bulk mailing, including addressing, printing, collating, sorting, etc.

LIFETIME VALUE: In direct marketing, this refers to the total amount of money that the customer is expected to spend on a particular product category in his or her lifetime. If this can be ascertained (and it can be, with some effort), the objective of a brand manager would then be to direct as much of that value as possible towards his or her brand.

LIST: (Mailing List) A set of names and addresses of companies or individuals with a common interest, activity or characteristic, but without any additional qualifying or classification data.

LIST MAINTENANCE: Any method which keeps name and address records up-to-date.

LIST RENTAL: An arrangement between a list owner and a mailer, where the owner provides a set of names and addresses, for which the mailer pays one-time “rent”.

LIST SAMPLE: A set of names selected randomly from a list, to evaluate the responsiveness of the entire list. Also referred to as a Test List.

LOYALTY PROGRAM: A program to track and reward customers who continually use a company’s products or services. Rewards are usually linked to the total purchase value.

MASTER FILE: A master repository of all data, from which sub-sets of data can be extracted for specific uses. A master file is usually not used for processes, since any corruption or damage to data can result in loss of valuable data gathered over time and at a high cost.

MATCHING: Ensuring that multiple personalized elements that go into a single mail pack all relate to the same person or member code. Matching usually involves comparing name, address or a unique identification number.

MERGE & PURGE: To merge one data file with another and de-duplicate the resultant file to produce a consolidated file with no duplicated records.

MONETARY VALUE: The total value of one or more transactions carried out by a customer during a specific period of time. One of the key measures of customer loyalty, along with “Recency” and “Frequency” (the three terms are collectively referred to as RFM).

NAME ACQUISITION: The process of soliciting a response in order to obtain names and addresses for developing a mailing list. Direct response advertising in mass media is usually employed to acquire names when no list or database is readily available, or when potential targets are widely dispersed.

NESTING: Placing one enclosure within another before inserting them into a mailing envelope.

NTH NAME: A selection for a list test mailing where names are selected on the basis of the size of the test sample in relation to the size of the list.

OFFER: The terms promoting a particular product or service.

ORDER CARD: Reply card used to initiate an order through the mail.

OUTBOUND TELEMARKETING: Outward calls made by a marketer to list of phone numbers, as opposed to inbound telemarketing where the customer calls in first.

PEEL-OFF LABEL: A self-adhesive label attached to a cardboard backing sheet in a mailing piece. The label can then be removed from the mailing piece and stuck to an order card.

PENETRATION: Relationship of the number of individuals or families on a particular list compared to the total number possible.

PERSONALISATION: Printing of letters and other promotional material with details that are unique to each individual recipient (like names, addresses, transaction details, etc) that are extracted from a computerized database. Personalization has been proven to increase response levels, since such mail is seen as personal communication by the recipient, and not as “junk mail”. PHONE LIST: Mailing List compiled from names listed in telephone directories.

PIGGY-BACK: An offer that hitches a free ride with another offer.

PIN Code: Postal Identification Number Code. Each Post Office is assigned a unique PIN code which – if properly written – will allow the postal department to route mail to the specific post office within whose jurisdiction the intended recipient is located. PIN Codes are usually composed of individual alphabets or numerals for State, District / County, City, Suburb and (for larger suburbs) neighborhood.

POLY-BAG / POLY-WRAP / PLASTIC WRAP: See through plastic bag used instead of an envelope for mailing.

POP-UP: A printed piece containing a paper construction pasted into a paper fold which will "pop- up" when the fold is opened. The "pop-up" forms a three dimensional promotional illustration.

POST BOX / POST BAG: A specific numbered box or bag assigned to a company at the local post office in anticipation of a large number of mail to be received. Companies which undertake large volumes of direct mail activities usually opt for a Post Box or Post Bag into which all responses received are stored, and from which an authorized representative has to go and collect the mail and periodic intervals (Postal authorities usually do not undertake to deliver bulk responses to companies, except as a specially paid for service).

POST CARD: Single sheet self-mailers printed on card stock.

PP: Postage Paid. Refers to an envelope which does not need a stamp because it has a Royal Mail imprint.

PROSPECT: A potential buyer for a product or service who has yet to make a purchase.

PROSPECTING: Sending mail to generate leads for further sales contacts rather than trying to get immediate sales.

PROTECTED MAILING PERIOD: A period of time before and after a mailing date a list owner will not allow the same names to be mailed by anyone - except the assigned mailer.

PSM: Pre-Sorted Mail. Post offices do not usually accept bulk mail for postage unless it is pre-sorted by the postal code of the receiving post offices.

PSYCHOGRAPHICS: Characteristics or qualities used to denote the lifestyles or attitudes of prospects and customers.

PURGE: The process of removing duplicates and other unwanted names and addresses from a list or lists.

RECENCY: The most recent recorded purchase information about a customer on a database. One of the key measures of customer loyalty, along with “Frequency” and “Monetary Value” (the three terms are collectively referred to as RFM).

RECORD: Name, address and other information pertaining to a single entity (equivalent to a row in a table).

RELATIONAL DATABASE: A database that shows the relationship between various pieces of information stored about customers. The information stored can include anything from names and addresses, to a customer’s buying habits. Relational databases make updating or altering records, as well as analyzing information of a particular type a much easier task.

RDBMS: A complex set of logic and rules governing the storage of related information across multiple databases, designed to facilitate ease of storage, ease of access and ease of analysis of large amounts of data across specific parameters, in order to ascertain effectiveness of a direct marketing program. Information across the various databases is usually linked using a key field or relational field

RESPONSE CODES: Unique identifying characters used on response devices to identify the mailing list, specific version of mailing, or other differentiation within the mailing exercise.

RESPONSE RATE: Number of responses received as a percentage of total mailers sent out.

RETURN MAIL: Mail which comes back to the sender undelivered, due to a variety of reasons. Unless the reason for return mail can be identified and rectified, the record is usually tagged on the database to stop further mailings being sent to that individual. (See also Tag.)

RFM: Acronym for Recency, Frequency and Monetary Value. RFM is a formula used to evaluate the overall worth and/or loyalty of a customer to a company. Depending on the company’s objectives and product category, specific values are assigned to each of the parameters to determine the loyalty of a customer.

ROLLOUT: To continue with the actual large-scale mailing after testing a portion of the mailing list.

SEED: A name and address that is deliberately inserted into a list to verify how the list is being used, or to confirm final delivery of the mailer. (See also Dummy.)

SELECTION CRITERIA: Refers to characteristics used to identify segments or sub-groups within a list.

SELF-MAILER: A mailer designed to form an envelope when folded, thus not requiring a separate outer envelope.

SEQUENTIAL PROCESSING: Information storage. Each item must be read one at a time, going through all the preceding records to get to the next record in sequential order.

SHEET-FED FORMS: Using a standard cut form in computer printing as opposed to continuous stationery. Also called Cut-sheet Forms.

SPLIT TEST: Representative samples from the same list, used for package tests, or to test homogeneity of the list.

STEP UP: Special offers designed to get a buyer to increase his units of purchase.

TAG: To mark a record with definitive criteria so it can be used or avoided in the future.

TEASER: An advertisement or promotion planned to excite curiosity about a later advertisement or promotion.

TELEMARKETING: Using telecommunications in sales and marketing efforts.

TELESCRIPT: Telephone conversation script which a telecaller has to follow in order to maintain a specific standard and quality of contact in each call. A comprehensive telescript takes into account all possible scenarios and responses that the target can give, and provides options for the telecaller to take in each scenario. A telescript also needs to have a data capture form designed in sync, so that the telecaller can capture responses easily and accurately at each instance.

TIP-ON: An item glued to a printed piece.

TITLE ADDRESSING: Functional titles used in compiling business lists, where no individual names are available.

TRAFFIC BUILDER: A direct mail piece used mainly as a way to attract customers to the mailer's place of business.

UNIVERSE: Total number of people who might qualify for inclusion in a mailing list; where all of whom fit a single set of eligibility criteria.

UPDATE: To add the most current information to a database.

VARIABLE INFORMATION: Data that relates specifically to each individual in a database.

VERIFICATION: Sending a questionnaire or making a call to a respondent to ensure genuineness or validity of an order placed or information provided