Direct marketing threatened by B2B junk mail |
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| Sales and Marketing | |
| Written by Gary Howes | |
| Thursday, 04 February 2010 | |
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SMEs accused of fueling junk mail epidemic. A lack of 'best practice' structures amongst SMEs with regards to direct marketing is leading to increasing levels of junk mail - and this is threatening the industry. A recent study by myb2bonline.com, the online business-to-business subsidiary of data asset management specialists, The REaD Group plc, has thrown up some 'shocking' results at a time when the Direct Marketing Industry is facing one of its’ toughest challenges to date.The study, which analysed the DM activities and attitudes of over 300 small to medium sized companies (SMEs), found that despite the well publicised best practice guidelines set out by the Direct Marketing Association, B2B marketers are not spending money on updating their company data and are opting to flood the market with tonnes of ‘junk mail’. These frightening statistics suggest that best practise sits at the bottom of their list of priorities; a risky and highly irresponsible strategy that could see tough legislation being imposed upon the industry as whole. This is particularly bad news for B2C direct marketers who are working hard to ‘up their game’ in response to government and consumer pressure. As consumers we have become highly vocal about direct mail in recent years, particularly when it is poorly targeted and has become ‘junk’, but UK businesses remain tight lipped on the subject despite receiving approx 1 billion items of direct mail every year, 184 million of which is being sent to companies that have moved or ceased trading. One reason for this is that incoming business mail goes through a more complex mail filtration process, which sees stern receptionists or disillusioned mailroom clerks binning incorrectly directed DM almost as soon as it has come through the door. Technology is one way to combat the problem and though fewer suppression products exist in the B2B market, the tools are available to assist companies in their bid to save cash and the planet. Marcus Oxlade, Business Development Manager of myb2bonline explains: “Using a suppression product like www.myb2bonline.com will deliver the same response rate whilst realising a greater return on investment. In addition there would be a drop in the amount of direct mail going to landfill and mailers would comply with best practice guidelines. B2B is a potentially lucrative market for those brave enough to make simple cost effective changes that could make all the difference to the success of a campaign." As well as cleaning their data, SMEs need to execute more dynamic DM campaigns that adopt a multi channel approach consisting of mail and email in a bid to eliminate waste and increase profits. “Single channel ‘economy of scale’ direct marketing campaigns are no longer sustainable” says Iain Lovett of Blue Sheep, a leading provider of marketing services including business data and market analysis. “clients of ours who have invested in the data to undertake a true integrated approach of email, mail and telephone have experienced performance uplifts as high as 300% and an overall cost reduction of 30%. The facts speak for themselves that this is the future of direct marketing,” says Lovett.
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