Create A Successful Circulation Plan
Step 3: Estimate the number of names you will have in each segment for each mailing, and do the math. Continue to do this for all the data starting with the previous year’s summer book. The challenging part in step one is to estimate the number of names in each segment. To do this, you can make broad assumptions that the name counts have increased or decreased from the counts in the previous year, in the same manner as your business changed for the total last year or during the period from which those names were derived. Or, create a name flow model. I prefer using a name flow model, but to explain how I do it would take another whole article.
- Companies:
- Lett Direct Inc.
Steve Lett graduated from Indiana University in 1970 and immediately began his 50-year career in Direct Marketing; mainly catalogs.
Steve spent the first 25 years of his career in executive level positions at both consumer and business-to-business companies. The next 25 years have been with Lett Direct, Inc., the company Steve founded in early 1995. Lett Direct, Inc., is a catalog and internet consulting firm specializing in circulation planning, plan execution, analysis and digital marketing (Google Premier Partner).
Steve has served on the Ethics Committee of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and on a number of company boards, both public and private. He served on the Board of the ACMA. He has been the subject of two Harvard Business School case studies. He is the author of a book, Strategic Catalog Marketing. Steve is a past Chairman of both the Catalog Council and Business Mail Council of the DMA. He spent a few years teaching Direct Marketing at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
You can contact Steve at stevelett@lettdirect.com.
