By now you know that on April 1^st, AccuData issues the world’s first data card of known vampires.  We made this announcement via email to our customers and on Twitter and Facebook.

I’m thrilled to say the response has been tremendous and we are busy processing counts and orders.  Visit Born Into Darkness for more information on the data card, or The Big Fat Marketing Blog, which features a post by Beth Negus of Chief Marketer about this sultry list.

Now anyone in the data business will appreciate the challenge of locating this file.  Let me tell you, travel to Transylvania isn’t cheap (especially from Miami via Rio), easy (our vampire friends over there put the “C” in customs) or convenient (night flights only at Transylvania International Airport).  But we got ‘er done.

What is it about vampires?  How did they get to be so cool?  Before New Moon and the recent vampire renaissance the most popular vampire was “The Count” on Sesame Street, or maybe “Count Chocula” cereal character from General Mills.  I guess I’m just not cool!

Oh, well – you want specialty data?  You got it!

April Fool's!!!

Consider a general store from the 1800s – the kind of store you might have seen on the Frontier in early 1800s. In those days, this was virtually the only place you could buy supplies. When you walked in, you’d find piles of blankets, bags of wheat and bottles of “snake oil.”

The shopkeeper would know you because it’s the only place in town. He would know what you bought, how much you bought and how you paid — he even knew your family. In fact, the clerk knew ALL about you because you lived in a small town and bought everything you needed at the store; furthermore, the shopkeeper was a prominent figure in town, right in the middle of all the town gossip.

Of course, there were no computers but he DID have a ledger book, which held the account balances for everyone in town — in those days, folks were able to buy on credit just like we do today. But this was a smart shopkeeper and there was much more in the ledger. I’ve seen several 1800s-era ledger books. One held a variety of notations about customers, like their likes and dislikes, their children’s birthdays, even a notation about a customer’s horse that had died (“might need new tack”).

In essence I was looking at a 1800s-style customer database and a really comprehensive 360-degree customer profile. But more importantly, the shopkeeper was able to interact with each customer on the shop floor, using all the information available in real time.

Three points:

1. What many of us are trying to do today — craft personalized communications and understand our customer — is literally a concept and practice that has been around as long as merchants have been doing business.

2. What changed over time was the scale of commerce and hence the complexity of what we now call “database marketing” or “CRM” across thousands and even millions of customers.

3. Although the technology needed to collect and manage data at this scale developed, particularly since 1995, marketers have generally NOT been able to make the data usable on the shop floor. The “marketing data” was typically not made operational because of a missing link between the data in the back-end marketing database and the shop floor. In the case of the general store the linkage was there - because the shopkeeper managed the data in the ledger and interacted with the customers.

Here is an example of how this linkage can work today, although VERY few companies are doing it:

I recently boarded a plane, as I’ve done hundreds of times. The flight attendant approached me just after takeoff to offer me a small bottle of champagne and thank me for attaining elite flight status. Wow! Now of course I had received a mailing from the airline — the direct marketing team had done their job well. They knew I achieved the flight status, ran a “trigger” campaign, and mailed me a nice thank-you note. I was able to board early due to my flight status, which of course is great. But emotionally, these benefits paled in comparison to that little bottle of champagne and the in-plane thank you.

In this case, the airline extended its customer data, and my flight status in particular, to the airplane and created an in-plane program to make the data operational. This is hard to do and I only had this experience once. But some companies are all about developing real-time, operational database marketing programs. Casinos for example (maybe I’ll talk about this in another post).

How do you do it?

In most cases, the marketing database exists, as does the customer facing POS and other systems. What’s missing is simply the linkage between the two and this is where web services come in. Today it’s quite straightforward to develop web services that link “back-end” customer databases to front line systems.

This approach allows data-enabled operational programs like:

1. Distributing coupons online or through the mail and then monitoring redemptions in real time, providing data to yet other real-time CRM trigger programs

2. Creating data-enabled experiences on planes, hotel rooms, restaurants

3. Linking to social media campaigns, like recording Facebook enrollments and reacting via email in real time.

This is really fun stuff.

The economy is turning around. How do I know? My mail told me so. Maybe not in so many words but it certainly insinuated a recovery. Of course I won’t hold the mail or the mail carrier responsible if this prediction falls flat but yes, I do believe all signs point to better days ahead. So you may be asking, “What on earth could have brought about such an epiphany?” Was it a vision? A dream? Nah, it was a piece of direct mail. But not just any direct mail – it was a piece offering timeshares.

The direct mail in question, for The Hilton Grand Vacations Club, was beautifully done and very high quality. It showed – and spoke to – all of the right things and it certainly stood out amongst the mounds of mail I received.

So how does this signal a return to prosperity? Simply by the fact that the timeshare market, Hilton in particular, feels that some people are at a better place, a point where they may be willing to invest in a relatively expensive discretionary purchase.  Let’s not forget that timeshares, along with real estate in general, are big reminders of the banking and mortgage crisis. If a brand like Hilton is comfortable selling timeshares to audiences again, things must be getting better…even if just a little bit, right?

The other thing that stood out was the medium itself – direct mail. During a time when email and digital technology are heralded as the best bang for your direct marketing buck, it is proof once again that direct mail does have its advantages. When done properly, it informs and generates a positive emotional response, which makes a huge difference in prompting a buying decision or developing customer loyalty. Plus, direct mail is tangible – a piece can lay around a home or office for months, garnering numerous views from the recipient or passive viewers, making your messaging shelf-life a long one.

So, things are looking up. Let’s keep our minds moving forward and an eye on the future – in the meantime I’ve got a Hilton Mini-Vacation to book…

Wow, 2010! The New Year has always been my favorite time of year for business –it’s a time of renewal and excitement for the future.  We all get a fresh start on January 1^st.

Or do we?

The boom is over – and boom-time companies, executives and marketers are done if they don’t have what it takes to survive in the new economy.

Most economists believe the country is out (or nearly out) of recession and that we’ll see some growth this year.  But recovery isn’t the only story we’re likely to hear about in 2010.  If you are a student of business history you know there is something very interesting going on – something that has already reshaped industries across all sectors and will continue to do so all year long.

Frankly, for some companies it wasn’t hard to make money during the boom.  While some companies and executives certainly did better than others, success was evident in abundance.  New ideas were easily embraced by investors and consumers.  The bar for marketers was low – everything worked and delivered sky high ROI!

Not anymore.  Now it’s time for the real stars to emerge.

Companies without a clear competitive advantage and sound management won’t make it.  Marketers can’t just throw money at the problem; products and services must have compelling value, quality marketing and delivery to succeed.

If you don’t believe me think Pontiac or Circuit City and countless other mid-sized and small businesses whose storefronts were shuttered all over America.  I’ll wager that many of the superstar CMO’s from the past decade won’t make it in the next.  Now it’s about strategy, planning, sharp pricing, distribution, etc. and these things are hard.

Now is the time to get smart – while you still can.

There are a host of great service companies, including AccuData that can help.  Now is the time to reach out, challenge your thinking and see if you can find better services at better prices.  If you don’t use services, you should seriously consider it.  Service companies can spot trends across industry sectors well in advance – they deal with hundreds, even thousands, of companies.  It’s sometimes easier to spot opportunities from this vantage point.

I promise that your competition (and your colleague down the hall) is thinking hard about this.  They are making a move.  You don’t want to be standing still when they run past you.

The AccuData team is home after a very productive week at the DMA and I have to say that this year’s show was a great success.  This seemed to be a far more serious crowd than last year.  Perhaps it was San Diego vs. Vegas or maybe CFOs simply didn’t approve non-essential travel.  While the reason is a mystery, the floor and the sessions were filled with a healthy crowd looking for solutions and to learn.  Good stuff.

The Brain enjoyed the show as well and several hundred t-shirts and Twitter followers later he’s developed quite a following.  Next year we may have to provide a bit of security for him - there were some unruly groupies and a couple of reporters that tried to sneak into his hotel room.  I just saw his last Tweet - I guess the show was a bit much and he’s tired.  So no new Tweets for at least a week I’d guess.  We’ll see.

Booths are always fun to evaluate.  On the “what were they thinking” scale, one company bought a 10×20 space and had only a chair and small round cocktail table along with minimal signage.   But this company DID hire an actor, dressed and painted to look like a bronze statue, to jab people as they passed by the booth, scaring some of them, amusing others and baffling me.  But this company’s booth traffic seemed good and I hope the show went well for them.  None of the booths really wowed me but there were many good ones and it was clear that most companies put a good deal of effort into their show presence.

AccuData certainly did and while we’ll see how leads and deals play out, the show went well.  I just wish The Direct Marketing Association would allow show exhibitors to do more direct marketing pre-show.  The delegate list was released late, email and telemarketing are prohibited and there are relatively few DMA-sponsored mechanisms for selling.  I don’t get it.  Perhaps this is why the DMA is facing so much emerging competition for mind share and marketing dollars from other associations and companies creating new forums for learning and selling.

DMA09 opened last night.  AccuData is a sponsor this year and it was nice to see the AccuData logo on large banners around the hall as well as the conference notepads.  This year we have a redesigned booth, smaller than last year’s and we believe it is much more effective at communicating with clients and prospects and is less expensive as well. 

Keeping costs down is really important for AccuData because we are one of the most cost-effective providers of database marketing services out there and to keep our prices down we must constantly think about our expenses.

Today is the day we’ll find out if the show is going to be a win or not.  Will we have a show filled with vendors staring at each other or will there be delegates looking for solutions? 

San Diego, the show venue, is an amazing city.  Clean, sleek, easy to navigate - San Diego was a good choice for the show’s venue.

I’ve written about see-through envelopes and a general deterioration in the level of effort many companies are putting into their direct mail efforts.  But not all companies are letting their direct mail languish - and they are still generating very strong results despite today’s poor economic conditions.

How are they doing it?  Sharp targeting and (increasingly) variable digital printing. 

Regarding the latter, I received a mail piece a few weeks ago that illustrates the level of customization some direct marketers are now achieving in their direct mail.  The piece offered an extended warranty for my vehicle.  I’ve been receiving a number of these lately but this one was different. 

Beyond the usual “Dear Mr. Goff”  the piece included a list of the top 5 repairs I could expect over the next 36 months with their corresponding costs (for my vehicle) and a map showing the location of three nearby garages that not only accepted the warranty company’s coverage, but also waived the deductable.  Impressive.

The information was important because it gave me specific information that I could weigh in my decision making process.  In fact, I even visited one of the listed garages to get a reference on the warranty company.

Out of curiosity I tracked down the direct marketing manager for the warranty company and she was quite open about their approach.  The company had been sending out increasingly less expensive pieces with generic offers and (yes!) see-through envelops.  After some internal debate and experimentation with prospect email, the company decided to double-down on direct mail and address the fundamental issues that had been limiting their response - the lack of “monetization,” that is the lack of data that enabled a consumer to weigh the cost of the warranty against the cost of repairs and the lack of specifics around garages that accepted the coverage.

After building the databases powering the cost and garage data and fully taking advantage of variable digital printing (and upgrading their paper stock), response rates had almost doubled and direct mail became the companies second most effective channel…(can anyone guess what was always and still is their most effective direct response channel?).

The truth is, this example doesn’t come close to illustrating the amazing things possible with variable digital printing, but it does illustrate how a company with a common product can use data very surgically to drive very impressive direct mail results and economics - and it was not all that hard to do.

Last time I talked about Direct Mail, a passion of mine and a marketing tactic some think is dying. 

Despite record postage and the state of the economy, direct mail is still extremely effective.   How do I know?  Hundreds of AccuData customers as well as the direct mail I personally recieve tell me so.  If you are reading this and thinking, “not mine” then it’s time to think hard about how your company funds, develops and executes your direct mail.  It’s time to look inward, not outward at the economy or the USPS.

I recently received a direct mail piece from one of the nation’s largest insurance companies.  To my amazement, I could see through the outer envelope, could see the offer through the paper.  I wondered at the time if this was intentional, after all this company is a large, sophisticated marketer.  Surely every aspect of their direct mail must be tested thoroughly.  Well maybe this was, but I don’t think so.  This was an attempt to shave a fraction of a cent from each mail piece.  Paper is expensive right?  Let’s save some money by reducing paper weight! 

“Boss, maybe we should move our budget to pay per click, direct mail isn’t working anymore!”  As my good English friend and marketing guru Doug Bewsher might say “Bollock”!

First things first - what is the purpose of an outer envelope?  To convince the recipient to open it of course!  Now I have received mailers that were designed to be see-through and a few of them were fantastic.  Not this piece.  This was just lazy.  If I can see through the outer envelope to the content within, if I can see the offer then I don’t have to open the package.  I won’t read the letter, won’t read the brochure,  won’t give the company a chance - particularly if the offer is just so-so.

Large insurance company - you know who you are.  Put on some weight please.  I like em’ heavy!

This week AccuData launched a new product called Snapshot.  It’s a big deal around here.  What is it?

Snapshot is an ecommerce application on our leads site, www.acculeads.com.  Snapshot allows a user to upload a customer list (b2B, B2C) at which point the system automatically appends data (demos, lifestyle, SIC division for B2B lists, etc.) and produces a profile report or a “Snapshot” of the uploaded customers if you will.  Beyond producing the profile, Snapshot automatically scores a target geographic area for prospects that statistically look just like the customers uploaded into the application - leads that are available for purchase online.

For many of our clients Snapshot is a big step-up from simple selects or heuristic targeting methods.  The Snapshot approach applies statistical rigor and can improve lift while at the same time providing a good deal of information helpful in channel selection and in the development of creative and offers.

What really excites me about Snapshot is that we’re offering what was formerly a time consuming analytics process on the web with extremely attractive economics.

Amazon.com made a smart move several years ago when Steve Shure (my former boss at Amazon.com) was hired from Time Inc. to lead Amazon Prime, and then again when Steve was subsequently asked to assume global responsibilities for driving traffic to Amazon’s web properties (some might call this marketing).  Steve had been with Time Inc. for over 20 years overseeing consumer marketing for People, Sports Illustrated, Popular Science and other top publications.  He was (is) a world-class direct marketing expert among other things.

In hiring Steve, Amazon made an explicit choice to bank on Steve’s classic direct marketing skills and not his online marketing experience per se.  I  believe that Steve would be the first to tell you that there were candidates with more impressive online credentials than he had at the time.

Coming from an extensive web background (peoplefirst.com, capitaloneautofinance.com, attwireless.com, amazon.com) I get as excited as the next guy about web 2.0 (hence Letters@!), cool new web technologies and jazzy online advertising advancements.  But the more I talk to our ecommerce clients and help them think about their next set of opportunities, I’ve realized that the industry needs to go back — call it “web 0.5″ — and think about the classic issues of segmenation, good copy writing and creative, disciplined testing.  Has anyone designed a good online version of a Johnson Box?

Of course we’re all going to move forward.  I have no doubt we’ll be talking about web 3.0 and 4.0, and so on, in no time. But at the same time AccuData helps our clients move forward with innovative new strategies, we’re also going to spend a lot of time helping them go back to basics.

By the way, where is Bill Toohey?