Don't Forget Your Catalog Basics
I recently had a conversation with another catalog consultant about a client proposal we’re jointly working on. The conversation worked its way to a discussion on the basic fundamentals of direct marketing. In essence, what's the most basic fundamental of direct marketing that we need to present and our clients need to follow?
It came down to this: the 40/40/20 rule.
This rule states that in order to be successful in direct marketing, you must do the following:
- Concentrate 40 percent of your efforts on lists. That means list analysis and planning, selection, RFM, and, most importantly for catalogers, circulation.
- Concentrate an additional 40 percent on your offer. For catalogers, that means merchandising. That requires expert attention to detail, including but not limited to product selection, pricing, presentation and analysis. By analysis, I'm referring to square-inch analysis, the most powerful tool you can use to manage your catalog merchandising — aka "squinch." Understanding the wants and needs of your customers is part of this function, as are the offers you make to them to stimulate response.
- Tie it all together by spending 20 percent of your efforts on creative execution. Literally, creative execution is only one thing: the bringing together of your list and offer/merchandising efforts in such a way that it speaks “buy now” to your customers.
As a consultant, I almost always see this in reverse.
If I had to quantify what I see in clients as they apply the above core competencies, it would be these three:
- 50 percent merchandising, with less emphasis on analysis and more on product development and presentation;
- 30 percent on creative. The creative (i.e., the catalog) is the brand’s calling card; and
- 20 percent on lists.
In the catalog business, lists and all that circ stuff are just as important (some would even say more) than offer and creative.
- Companies:
- Gilbert Direct Marketing
- People:
- Jim Gilbert
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
