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Integrated Direct Marketing: The Ten Minute Solution

By Stephen Webster
Mar 15, 2005 - Over the past five years, marketers in many industries have experienced a dramatic assertion of the maxim “the customer is always right.” Tantalized by the seemingly limitless possibilities of e-mail marketing and blitz telemarketing, marketers using these tactics have been pulled up short by consumer-driven anti-spam and “do not call” campaigns. Chastened by consumers, sophisticated marketers have been forced to re-focus on less intrusive marketing tactics. One tactic in particular is making a serious comeback: welcome to the new world of direct marketing.

The vital signs of direct marketing are healthy again, to say the least. Advertising agency Universal McCann predicted that direct mail spending alone reached $51.5 billion in 2004, up from $48.4 billion in 2003. And a September 2004 survey of marketers conducted by Kern Direct, a direct marketing advertising agency, found that 56% intend to increase spending on direct marketing this year.

Marketers’ return to direct marketing has not come without technology advances and new expectations. Today there is less tolerance for traditional direct marketing, which at its worst was costly, took too long to develop and execute, and delivered dubious ROI. Centralized marketing organizations now need integrated direct marketing solutions that are fast, flexible, targeted and measurable. And if these organizations are marketing products and services through franchises, distributors and/or sales representatives, they also need direct marketing solutions that provide brand control.

In response to these needs, and with strategic input from its brand name customers, Tactician has pioneered the development of a dynamic Internet-based direct marketing solution called Tactician Direct. This system, designed for use by marketers in a wide range of vertical markets, can be used to launch direct marketing campaigns in less than 10 minutes and with very few mouse clicks. A wizard-based interface walks users through the entire direct marketing process, sequentially asking them to identify who they are mailing to, select what they are mailing from a library of current branded literature, indicate where the pieces will be mailed, and then decide when the campaign should be mailed. The final step of the process is a single keystroke to order the execution of the customized campaign.

By integrating the entire direct marketing process in this way, the system provides a single tool for marketers to translate complex market intelligence into the efficient execution of segmented direct marketing campaigns. The system’s simplicity and elegance was articulated recently by independent consultant and Directions Magazine columnist Hal Reid, after seeing a demonstration of its capabilities.

“Tactician has created some very good things in the management of direct mail,” he said. “Click and you have a lifestyle variable and geographical level you want to mail to. Click and select the collateral. Click and adjust the piece for the target audience. Click and get the total cost and production, fulfillment and mail costs. One more click and it’s done and in the mail.”

Reid went on: “Needless to say I was impressed. All of this is now on a new platform common to the web and the desktop, making the movement of data, maps, etc. and the collaboration between the desktop and the web almost seamless.”

Tactician customers in retail, real estate, franchise and media markets are using the system to solve five primary challenges.

Increased Sales Revenue
Targeted marketing campaigns can be executed at low cost, increasing sales revenues over time through increased activity in customer marketing.

Brand Control
Corporations using the system as a centralized marketing resource can ensure complete brand control while giving franchisees and sales agents the means to develop geo-targeted direct marketing campaigns within minutes.

Co-Op Management
Franchisees and sales agents using the system can go online to access their co-op credit balance to help them manage direct marketing campaigns and materials.

Order Automation
With the ability to automatically manage the entire direct marketing process for hundreds of users, the system eliminates the need for manual production and complex program management.

Increased Response Rates
Tactician Direct is designed to provide higher direct marketing response rates by combining segmentation and geographical targeting in one solution. Companies that are able to pre-qualify targeted segments and appropriate collateral can ensure the delivery of increased marketing impressions to the right prospects.

The system’s power is illustrated by its use as the platform for OSRAM Sylvania’s online direct marketing system. Together with parent company OSRAM GmbH, OSRAM Sylvania is the second-largest lighting and materials enterprise in the world. In the hotly contested U.S. lamp market, the company has a proven track record of innovation in distributor marketing programs. One of its newest marketing innovations is SYLVANIA LeadsOnline, an easy-to-use integrated online target marketing service available to its distributors at mySYLVANIA.com.

SYLVANIA LeadsOnline brings together all the elements of a direct marketing program in one online service. OSRAM Sylvania's LeadsOnline program won the 2004 Ted Magazine Direct Promotion Best of the Best Award for suppliers larger than $250 million. In about 20 clicks, usually taking less than 10 minutes, the wizard-driven service enables distributors to target new business opportunities and quickly schedule entire direct marketing campaigns. This includes the identification of a target market segment, the choice of an appropriate, professional direct mail piece from a menu of options, the ability to co-brand and personalize the message or offer, and the selection of a date for a direct mail marketing campaign to commence.

Key OSRAM Sylvania distributors have already experienced success using SYLVANIA LeadsOnline. One top-twenty U.S. electrical distributor has reported that it saw a significant boost in leads and sales in three of five initial test markets.

The bottom line, according to Sharon Clement, marketing manager for OSRAM Sylvania, is simply stated: “Tactician’s system has helped us streamline our direct marketing efforts with consistent and professional mail pieces while saving valuable time for our business partners.”


VOIP Drives Expansion @ Iowa Direct Marketing Company TMONE

"The VOIP industry is energizing local economies around the country."

"Leading VOIP companies such as Vonage are proving that one day broadband phone service customers will out number traditional wire line customers."

Iowa City, IA (PRWEB) June 17, 2005 -- (http://www.tmone.com) TMONE announced today the expansion of its call center services division. This marks the fourth expansion in three years for the burgeoning Iowa Direct Marketing Company. The division"s ability to help companies generate new incremental revenue streams facilitated the expansion. The augmentation increases TMONE"s capacity to acquire new customers and service its growing client base.

TMONE is an all inclusive direct marketing company that caters to CLEC"s, ISP"s and VOIP providers looking to make their marketing more accountable for acquisition. "Branding is a secondary objective for most of TMONE"s clients," states John Burchert, TMONE Chief Operating Officer. "Our success is the result of our ability to deliver new business and residential customers." The company capitalizes on the increasing consumer response to cutting edge telecom offerings such as digital phone service. The focus at TMONE is on acquiring customers by supporting multiple direct channels that propagate through its state of the art contact centers.

The companies" call center services division (http://www.tmone.com/ccs) has a reputation as a telecom acquisition specialist. Boasting superior inbound conversion rates and fully integrated outbound tele-sales, TMONE delivers an overarching marketing message via multiple high response direct marketing channels to ensure maximum penetration into its client"s target market. TMONE"s contact center services are complimented by its list marketing (http://www.tmone.com/data), and project management divisions (http://www.tmone.com/pm).

"VOIP (voice over internet protocol) is an electrifying emerging technology that possesses a need for customer acquisition" says Director of Sales Andy Cecil. "Leading VOIP companies such as Vonage (http://www.vonage.com) are proving that one day broadband phone service customers will out number traditional wire line customers." VOIP customer acquisition will continue to advance TMONE as the company is called upon to assist in acquiring new persistent VOIP customer bases. "The VOIP industries rapid development is stimulating innovation and employment growth for eastern Iowa. TMONE is elated to have already added 75 new marketing positions to its staff. This has a positive impact in the community as well as boding great things for TMONE." Says Anthony Marlowe, President of TMONE. "The VOIP industry is energizing local economies around the country."

About TMONE
TMONE is a leading provider of call center and direct marketing services. Specializing in new customer acquisition, the company consults and provides services to CLEC"s, ISP"s and VOIP providers in search of new customer acquisition. The companies" project management division is unique in its ability to execute and coordinate mass marketing efforts utilizing database marketing, inbound and outbound tele-sales, opt-in e-mail, organic and paid inclusion internet marketing and direct mail. The marketing list division maintains demographic and behavior files on over 230 million American consumers and can isolate patterns for 110 million US households. It also boasts a comprehensive business database that incorporates information from both public and privately held companies. Rare and response files round off the list division"s product mix.

TMONE's first class contact center technology ensures that TMONE has the technological reach necessary to execute a multitude of contact center approaches. TMONE's contact center capabilities include, Outbound, Inbound, Voice-Over-Web Call Routing, Voicemail & Fax Management, Web-Chat, Integrated Push Technology, Web-Collaboration/Form Sharing, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Call Routing, Unified Messaging, E-mail Analysis with Automated and Semi-Automated Response, Browser-Based Multimedia Interaction Management with Inbound/Outbound Cross-Media Call Blending, and a Customer Service Platform. Building a solution with similar functionality would require integrating no fewer than 18 different applications from multiple vendors which is an approximation of what TMONE delivers. TMONE is located in eastern Iowa with multiple locations spanning from Iowa City to North Liberty. For more information please visit www.TMone.com or call 1-877-TOTAL-TM (1-877-868-2586)

# # #

TMONE
Ethan Davis
1-877-868-2586


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