David Shepard Associates Blog

As most direct marketers know, ZIP Code models are not new, but given this current economy this proven practice of targeting to improve results has taken on new importance. It is time to reconsider if the zip code modeling and screening techniques you are using are giving you optimal performance.  

Recently, I’ve had a number of discussions with other direct marketers who called after reading the Wall Street Journal’s article on how direct marketers like Williams-Sonoma, LL Bean, and Neiman Marcus have found new ways to use ZIP Code data to screen mailing lists and cut costs.
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Everyone agrees that optimal Data Driven Marketing involves promoting the right product with the right offer to the right person at the right time. Everyone also acknowledges that this is easier said than done.  Paying attention to seven critical factors will drive your success.

The concept of selecting the proper product to promote using the best channel makes considerably more sense to me than traditional product centric approaches which may degenerate into the senior product marketing manager getting access to the best customers.

That said, the way in which the optimization software is being marketed to marketing management, appears to dismiss some of the major factors that must be addressed in order to make its use successful. This paper is intended to identify these complicating factors so that they as they surface marketeers are at least aware of them and can work on solutions to address them.
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About two hours into our first meeting with a potential client we got around to asking The Big Question: what do you do when you get a new customer? And, the possible answers we were expecting to hear were:
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