Marketing Evolution

What if you could eliminate from your mailing list everyone who was unlikely to buy? Now you can, but back in the day, marketers’ initial strategy was to “spray and pray.” They mailed to their entire database (usually using their entire marketing budget), had no way to measure results, and prayed for a few phone calls. Later on, variable data and personalized URLs (pURLs) solved part of the issue as marketers could now speak to the customer directly, and also measure their response through pURL activity. Times have changed even further; our customers live fast paced life styles and will only buy if they are delivered the right offer, through the right medium, at exactly the right time. Every customer has different needs, and therefore they need to be spoken to individually. Segmenting has never been so important. A database can now be broken down into groups, tailoring each message specifically to the segment. But most importantly, a data analysis can separate those who are most likely and unlikely to buy. A marketer’s budget is now primarily spent on those who have the potential to be the most profitable, and the others are dropped from the mailing list (saving on print, postage, etc). You now have the resources to mail to those who will most likely respond. Why mail to an entire database ever again?