The goal of multichannel marketing is to drive improved response and greater return on investment.  The best way to accomplish this is by delivering highly relevant communications to each recipient.  One of the key elements in delivering a targeted experience is to develop visually captivating creative.

One way to design a piece that resonates with the recipient is to make sure the information in your database drives the creative.  This data driven approach to communication will deliver significantly better results than a static piece.

Let’s assume you are a financial planner that is trying to get prospects to attend your dinner seminar.  You may design a campaign that would include both variable direct mail and a Personalized URL for a response mechanism.  Let’s also assume that you know your target market is people who have a higher net worth and are over 45 years of age.  You could easily purchase a list of prospects using geography, age, income, net worth and marital status.

Now let’s think about how this data may drive the creative elements of the direct mail piece.  By using the database you can automatically change images on the print run.  Perhaps the people in their 40’s would get a picture of a younger couple with their teenage children and messaging that talks about paying for college.  Conversely, a widowed prospect may get a picture of an older women enjoying life with messaging that talks about protecting assets to ensure they last long enough.

As you can see each of these scenarios has creative that would speak to the individual recipient.  When planning a direct mail campaign think about how you may be able to segment your list to provide a more relevant experience for each recipient.

~Ted Raymond