Everything I’ve read or heard about direct marketing emphasises the importance of having good quality data; if you don’t have accurate information about your target prospects then you’re simply firing off blindly, more in hope than any real expectation of striking sales success. At the very least, DM campaigns should aim to get the names and addresses of the recipients correct as nobody likes seeing their name misspelt; when it comes to making a good first impression with potential customers, not knowing what they are called is a big handicap.
On that score, this brochure that came in the post from a linen retailer is a massive fail. I’m not sure how we ended up on their list nor when but, regardless, their marketing collateral keeps turning up, the name of the addressee hopelessly misspelt, not even close. Moreover, the fact that these items keep on arriving, regardless of whether or not we respond to them (ie there are no coupons or individual offers to track response rates) suggests the retailer has no way of determining whether or not the DM is actually working, or if it is, which parts are more successful than others.
But you know what? It doesn’t really matter. That’s because all the money and the effort has gone into producing the collateral. And it shows. It looks gorgeous; precisely sculptured pictures of pillows and doonas, all swooningly still and serene. It makes me feel sleepy just looking at it. Apart from a couple of pages of colour, most of it is in white, along with about fifty shades of grey, against a backdrop of the deepest pitch black (pretty impressive for what appears to be a digital print job).
I’m continually amazed that items such as this turn up in the mail box, unbidden, unpaid, seeking my attention; 16 pages in total, nice stock, beautifully printed, full bleed, stapled, great photography – all free.
People talk about how ‘print is dead’ but really this is a golden age of print; 10, 15 years ago, something like this simply wasn’t possible – or if it was, it would have been prohibitively expensive. Now they’re giving it away.
Some DM items tick all the right boxes, making sure the data is accurate, including some sort of response mechanism, maybe linking to a PURL, ensuring the offer is relevant and targeted to my needs etc (I don’t buy many beauty products, for instance, but can’t get enough wine offers) but, in the end, all this work is let down because the actual print item is crap – boring layout, dull photographs, written by the work experience kid and cheaply printed on shit stock.
The print still matters, even if it is instantly recycled and forgotten. Just assuming that it will be thrown out is a guarantee of failure. Creating something that people might actually want to look at from an aesthetic, not just a commercial, perspective is a good place to begin.
And yes, we do still go and buy our soft stuff from this store even though they don’t know who we are.
