Acquire Customers With Alternative Media

I’ve been in direct marketing for 40 years. I got into the business when direct mail was king and off-the-page advertising was queen. Little telemarketing was done. Certainly there was no DRTV. And e-mail was just a gleam in the eyes of a select few.

Today, direct mail is still the workhorse of direct marketing — the most efficient way for a marketer to reach those potential customers with the right demographic and behavioral patterns.

As a result of our starting the newsletter WHO’S MAILING WHAT! (now Inside Direct Mail) and running it for 15 years, I’d estimate that more than 200,000 mail packages and catalogs have passed through my hands.

Today, when I hear the dog attack the mail as it comes through the slot in our home’s front door, I immediately drop what I’m doing to see who cares enough about me to mail me something.

We recently received catalogs from which we’ve never ordered — French Country Living, Cuddledown, Garnet Hill, Seton Identification Products and Soft Surroundings. Other catalogs that we may have ordered from in the distant past include Saks Fifth Avenue, Ballard Designs, TravelSmith and Paul Frederick.

I found it distressing that they’re still mailing to us; I hate inefficiency and waste.

How can a cataloger acquire new customers without blowing a wad of dough on cold mailings of a big book to absolute strangers? Following is a checklist of testable ideas to try.

SkyMall

Catalog Success readers know of my fascination with this huge book containing the best-selling items of dozens of catalogers who present them with their very best copy, design and pricing. The audience? Millions of travelers who spend hours cooped up on airplanes with the book.

SkyMall is the ultimate co-op vehicle and should be looked into by most catalogers. The beauty of having your products featured in SkyMall is that you don’t waste money mailing expensive catalogs to disinterested prospects. Rather than trying to select the prospects, they select you!

Space Ads

I can think of three catalogers who got their start running small ads in relative media:
- Richard Thalheimer of The Sharper Image offered a wristwatch for joggers.
- Lillian Vernon launched her empire with small black-and-white ads for personalized belts and handbags.
- Mel and Patricia Zeigler started Banana Republic with small ads for surplus French army shirts.

Today, many catalogers use space ads. TravelSmith has advertised The Indispensable Black Travel Dress™, and The Sharper Image is all over the media with its proprietary air purifier.

Following are four rules of the road for space advertising:
1. Go in media where your competition goes.
2. Come up with a great offer at a great price.
3. Never pay retail for an ad.
4. You’ll probably do better selling an item than offering a free catalog.

Solos

The Sharper Image turns out 12 catalogs per year in addition to eight flights of four solo direct mail pieces (a program started in March 1999) for prospecting and encouraging orders from those on its housefile. These solo pieces feature one or two individual items from the catalog — such as the ionic air purifier (pictured at left) — and are far cheaper than sending a full-dress catalog.

Mini-catalogs

For years I’ve been attending direct marketing conferences and have stopped by the booth of WEB Direct Marketing, printers of mini-catalogs — little eight- to 24-page, full-color versions of big catalogs. (Get a sample kit by e-mailing webdm@aol.com.)

Mini-catalogs, like those pictured at right, can be inserted into or used with the following media:
- cable billing statements;
- first-class statement
- enclosures;
- cellular phone bills;
- newspaper subscriber statements;
- package inserts;
- card deck windows;
- suburban free-standing inserts; and
- local consumer co-op mailings.

For information on all of these media, check with your regular broker or visit Leon Henry Inc., www.leonhenryinc.com.

The advantage of mini-catalogs: They cost as little as 10 cents delivered (vs. 75 cents or more for sending a full-dress catalog to a rented list).

The disadvantage: They’re small, usually 3.5˝ x 5.25˝ to 5˝ x 7˝. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. For example, rather than shrinking their full-sized catalogs, merchants such as Figi’s, Lab Safety Supply and Staples put two or three items on a page with good-sized illustrations and readable copy.

Tactic to try: You can expand your catalog’s online presence by participating as a merchant partner on the CatalogCity.com site.

Lifestyle Change/New Movers

A catalog for furniture, home decor, landscaping, kitchenware and electronics that gets into the hands of a family that has just moved into a new home should generate sales. The trick is to beat out your competitors.

To do that, test a telephone company co-op — a bag of goodies that’s delivered with the white pages when a new resident’s phone system is hooked up. An example is Verizon; it reaches new movers within five to eight days of the move in 800 markets in more than 37 states. Visit http://verizon.superpages.com/prodserv/dirprods/newmovers.jsp.

E-prospecting

With so many Americans now online, especially in the workplace where they can shop during the lunch hour, it makes sense to have a Web presence. Visit http://catalogsite.catalogcity.com where you’ll find hundreds of catalogs under dozens of categories.

Scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click on “Become a Merchant,” and study the deal. My advice: Before signing on, talk with several participating catalogers to see if they like the service.

Radio

This may be an off-the-wall idea. However, David Oreck — with his 8-pound hotel vacuum cleaner and air purifier — is all over radio, making his one of the most recognized voices in America.

DRTV

Direct response television (DRTV) is expensive up front, but nothing shows off products in action like a television commercial or infomercial.

A leading proponent of the infomercial prospecting method is our old friend Richard Thalheimer of The Sharper Image.

If you’re interested in DRTV, one place to start is to call Andy Cohen of Direct Resources in New York City, (212) 226-0060. This company is the premier producer of DRTV infomercials.

Co-op Databases

If you’re not a member of a cooperative database, look into becoming one. The Abacus Alliance, for example, is made up of more than 1,800 catalogers with data on more than 3.5 billion transactions in 90 million households — virtually everyone in America worth reaching.

Add your name to the Abacus pot and get back not only a profile of your customers but access to hundreds of thousands — up to millions — of prospects that match their characteristics.

And you get the names at a big discount from what you’d pay for a straight rental, thus making the cold mailing of your catalog more cost effective. Check out www.doubleclick.com.

Good luck, and happy prospecting!