It’s no secret that direct marketing can drive millions of pounds in new business straight to your door. In fact, new research published by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) shows that the UK’s direct marketing industry generates £205 billion in sales annually.

Traditionally, the most common form of direct marketing has been direct mail. However, according to the findings of a recent Marketing GAP Report, 51% of consumers now state that email is their favoured means of being contacted by companies, pushing direct mail into second place. That being said, direct mail has grown 137% in the last 10 years. Which begs the question, when it comes to direct marketing which is best?

Let us give you some Insight…

One of direct mail’s biggest advantages is its ability to make personal one-to-one contact with your prospect. Other direct mail advantages include:

- Highly targeted - using carefully developed lists, you can target your mailings more selectively than you can with most other media
- More personal - not only can letters be personalized but you can use more informal language in writing your letter and direct it to the specific interest of the reader
- List of loyal customers - direct mail allows you to build and maintain a list of prime prospects for your future direct mail campaigns
- Quick to produce - you can prepare and mail a small promotion within days or weeks.

Then again, e-marketing can help you deliver the right content to the right prospect at the right time and continuously achieve high response rates. Perhaps that would explain why Microsoft sends out over 20 million email marketing pieces every month.  Other advantages of email marketing include:

- Lower cost – costs incurred in designing, executing, testing, sending and receiving an email campaign can be up to 78% less than a paper-based direct mail version
- Measurable results – special tools are available that accurately measure open rate and click-through rate, enabling you to assess the success of different email campaigns
- Opt-in or unsubscribe options – emails contain opt-in and unsubscribe options which help you to shortlist your prospects and reach only the ones genuinely interested in your offerings
- Faster response – time to receive responses through email is one to three days, while a direct mail campaign would take minimum 7 to 12 days to generate any responses

So what’s the verdict? Here at Insight, we have found that our clients get much better results when they combine direct mail and e-marketing. The best tactic is to send out direct mail and follow up with an email campaign a few days later. This way, you don’t put all your eggs in one basket and give yourself a much better chance of gaining a response.

To discuss your marketing strategy call us now 01934 808293, email info@insightdata.co.uk or visit http://www.insightdata.co.uk/insight-data-marketing-services.htm

 Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/insightdata

Like many other sectors, the window industry has seen a barrage of new regulations, tighter controls and new standards to maintain in recent years. While some perceive this as political correctness gone mad, many forwardthinking companies are implementing “Best Practice” policies to embrace these standards and improve their business in an increasingly competitive market place.

Until now, Marketing Best Practice has been widely overlooked in the window industry but this is set to change. Insight Data is the first and only data supplier in the industry to be awarded membership of the Direct Marketing Association – the UK’s leading authority for direct marketing. Only 900 of the UK’s 10,000 marketing service companies are members of the DMA. Membership involved a rigorous application process over several months; and we feel it clearly demonstrates our commitment to the highest quality data, regulatory compliance and Best Practice which we believe is vitally important to our customers and the industry as a whole.

After all, you wouldn’t consider using an accountant without any qualifications, so why carry out marketing using data from non-accredited suppliers? Insight can advise customers on every aspect of direct marketing and how to use the Insight database to maximise results, whilst complying with the latest regulations.

For more information visit www.insightdata.co.uk or contact Insight Data on 01934 808293

A chocolate bar? A packet of crisps? Or how about £10,000 worth of new business?

With direct mail starting from just 55p per item – including postage – using Insight Data’s direct mail service could be the best investment you will make all year.

As the industry experts in direct marketing, Insight Data know that nothing generates more response than direct mail. It is personal, exclusive and demands attention. Great visuals, powerful headlines and a call-to action will drive response, while adding a personalised, individually printed sales letter can increase response even further.

Insight Data has in-house digital printing and mail-room equipment and can print, fold, insert, and mail your campaign quickly, easily and cost effectively, whether it’s a simple postcard campaign, personalized mailer or corporate newsletter. Insight can segment and target your ideal customers precisely and carefully time the campaign to arrive at the right moment.

Whether it’s small regular mail-outs or a major national campaign, Insight Data have the resources in-house. You can get on with running your business while Insight target your potential customers and drive the responses direct to your door. What’s more, you’ll benefit from great postal discounts.

To find out more about Insight’s direct mail services call 01934 808 293 or visit www.insightdata.co.uk

As leading aluminum conservatory fabricator Europa Conservatories knows all too well, if you really want to generate leads quickly and cost effectively you need to use direct mail.

Europa was looking to promote their aluminium portal frame system and used Insight Data to send out a direct mail campaign targeting potential customers in the Midlands and South East region.

“Insight took care of the whole process and I was delighted with the service” comments Glenn Upton, Europa’s MD. “We got a stream of quality leads and turned many of these into customers. Sales of the portal frame system are very strong and I will certainly be using the service in the future.”

Insight Data’s Commercial Director Helen Costeloe-Hughes comments “we have our own fulfillment centre capable of personalised laser-printing, collating, folding, inserting and franking several thousand items in hours, while our creative team designs eye catching fliers and writes powerful sales letters that will grab your prospects’ attention. Direct mail is the most effective form of direct marketing and I would urge any companies looking to win more customers to get in contact now and find out how we can help them grow.”

For more information please visit http://www.insightdata.co.uk/Directmail.htm, email us on info@insightdata.co.uk  or call 01934 808 293.

Research recently published by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has highlighted the fact that consumers continue to rate email as their preferred channel for receiving regular communications. According to the findings of the 2009 Marketing GAP Report, 51% of consumers state that email is their favoured means of being contacted by companies, pushing direct mail into second place with the support of 38% of consumers.

Evangelists of digital marketing will probably cite this statistic as confirmation that online channels are overtaking the more traditional modes of direct marketing. However, dig a little deeper into the GAP report and you’ll find that the rise of email is most certainly not the death knell for direct mail. The overall popularity of email has actually dropped 5% since 2008, but direct mail’s popularity has risen by 6% over the same period of time.

 So what does this mean for companies in the window industry? According to Justin Ball, Insight’s Business Development Manager, these figures suggest that an integrated approach, combining both digital and offline direct marketing channels when prospecting for new business, will create the best return on investment (ROI).

 “This study may highlight the rise of e-marketing, yet with a 6% increase in the popularity, direct mail should not be underestimated” explains Justin. “We have found that our clients get much better results when they combine direct mail and e-marketing. The best tactic is to send out direct mail and follow up with an email campaign a few days later. This way, you don’t put all your eggs in one basket and give yourself a much better chance of gaining a response. I would urge any companies who want to use direct marketing to win more customers to think carefully about their ‘marketing mix’ and use a combination of both digital and traditional methods.”

Follow us on www.twitter.com/insightdata or to discuss your marketing strategy with any member of the Insight team, call 01934 808 293.

 For more information on E-marketing, please visit http://www.insightdata.co.uk/Emarketing.htm or for more information on direct mail please visit http://www.insightdata.co.uk/Directmail.htm.

Direct mail has increased 137% in the last ten years yet according to a recent study by the Direct Marketing Association – the leading authority in direct marketing – the percentage of people binning direct mail has risen from 63% in 2008 to 74% in 2009.

“It is clear that many companies are trying to save money by using old, out of date or inaccurate data” explains Insight Data’s commercial director Helen Costeloe-Hughes. “Recieving a letter addressed to the wrong person will ensure your mail-out is binned while leaving the recipient with a negative view of your company.  It is a completely false economy to save money by using old data while wasting thousands of pounds on postage. Using accurate, meaningful data will dramatically increase your response rate.”

Meanwhile, other sources state that a 5% “returns rate” is acceptable in direct mail.  So, for every 1,000 mail-outs you send, 50 undelivered is reasonable. “We think this is a poor show and wastes a great deal of time and money” continues Helen; “companies do change management and move premises and both of these result in “undelivers”.  But again, if your data is accurate, this won’t happen.”

Insight Data’s fabricator and installer database contains details of 14,123 companies and the database is updated live in real-time by a full time team of researchers.   Users of the data access the information live via SalesTracker, Insight’s online database. 

“Unlike any other data supplier, we actually mail our full database on average every week via our own direct mail division.  This helps us monitor and control data quality so that our clients have the most accurate information.    Our “delivered” rate is 99.8%,  which means just 2 out of every 1,000 mail-outs are “undelivered” explained Helen; “and these are often simply a postal mistake by the Post Office”.

The result? A notable increase in your “return on investment”, as more people will respond to your mail-out.

To help improve your direct mail response further please read some of the other articles on this website.

For more information on direct mail please visit http://www.insightdata.co.uk/Directmail.htm or call 01934 808 293.