Catalog Doctor: The Amazing, Portable, Low-Cost, Handheld Device for Delivering Sales
PATIENT: "Wow! To replace my catalog?"
CATALOG DOCTOR: "No. The device I'm referring to is your catalog."
Your catalog is one of the best devices available for delivering sales and return on investment — by phone, mail and online. Here are some of the ways it delivers:
Catalogs Can Beat PPC for Prospecting
Really? Yes. Pay per click (PPC) was once magical for prospecting, just like list co-ops originally were. Now, however, each is simply another tool in the prospecting toolbox. One catalog brand I know did careful testing: If it mails 50,000 catalogs, prospecting via PPC is cheaper. However, if it mails 250,000 or more catalogs, its per unit print and postage costs are driven down enough that the prospecting cost per new order is cheaper with a catalog than it is with PPC. With this knowledge, the company has set limits on its PPC budget, including when to prospect with PPC and when to prospect via catalog. Its total prospecting budget now minimizes cost while maximizing return on investment and conversion of new buyers to its file.
Susan J. McIntyre is Founder and Chief Strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy in Portland, Oregon offering complete creative, strategic, circulation and production services since 1991. Susan's broad experience with cataloging in multi-channel environments, plus her common-sense, bottom-line approach, have won clients from Vermont Country Store to Nautilus to C.C. Filson. A three-time ECHO award winner, McIntyre has addressed marketers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has written and been quoted in publications worldwide, and is a regular columnist for Retail Online Integration magazine and ACMA. She can be reached at 503-286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.
