10 Prospecting Ideas to Test this Year
Each year we recommend that catalog and ecommerce companies be prepared to test up to 10 customer prospecting ideas, with the understanding that only one or two might be home runs. Expect to have some failures and learning experiences along the way, and that’s ok. It’s important to test several ideas – even if some of them seem a stretch – because the goal is to...
Marketing Trends We’re Watching
There’s a marketing trend underway that's worth watching and trying if you're looking to grow brand awareness and acquire new customers. It's called micro influencer marketing. It can provide a new and valuable source for customer acquisition. Micro influencer marketing represents a way to work with small, but more authentic, influencers. Even Amazon.com just started a beta program recruiting them, according to TechCrunch. Read more....
How Frequently Should You Reprint Your Catalog?
This is a common question and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. It really depends on the type of business you run (B2B or B2C) and several other factors including catalog productivity, customer segment, and merchandise. Let's take a look at some examples. B2B catalogers typically mail one large annual catalog and supplement with smaller specialty titles throughout the year. The annual catalog serves as a...
Your Many Marketing Dashboards
Twenty years ago, if you wanted to know what data your company was collecting on marketing efforts you’d have to search for it. You’d likely be making your way downstairs to an interior office in the basement. There you would have found an analyst who would be happy to tell you all about the numbers. The problem? You probably wouldn’t have understood a word of...
Four Low-Cost Strategies for Acquiring New Customers
Acquiring new customers at an acceptable cost is becoming a huge challenge for many catalog companies and eCommerce retailers. A common complaint among catalogers that are accustomed to leveraging co-op databases for low-cost prospecting is that their models are performing less effectively and response rates have decreased, driving up their customer acquisition costs. And even in digital marketing, brands have found that increased competition in...
Three Ways to Convert Hot Prospects
You have worked hard to build your list. You’ve captured email addresses, leveraged partners, run sweepstakes and rented names. Long gone are the days when a sizable list of names and addresses are, in and of themselves, a great asset for a catalog company. These days customer reactivation is no longer enough to sustain a business. We need to maintain and grow customer buyer files...
Three Ways to Acquire New Catalog Prospects
Customer acquisition is the lifeblood of a catalog business. Without a steady inflow of new customers, how will you grow? In this digital world, competition is fierce. How do you grow your “hot prospect” customer file? In the world of Amazon Prime and competitive shopping, how can a cataloger compete? Today’s article focuses on three strategies to capture hot prospects. Next time, the focus will...
Catalog Circulation: The Secret to Your Success
What is a Catalog Circulation Plan? In a nutshell, a catalog circulation plan is a blueprint for your catalog mailings. Driven by your data and a clear understanding of past catalog results, it’s a plan that addresses who you should mail, how frequently you should mail, how many catalogs you should print and how to accurately track results, so you can design and refine catalog circulation...