I feel so sorry for Gerry Harvey
Marketing
Avid readers of my ezine for online and offline marketing will know that I have written about "Know Thy Database" before and you may find the concept pitifully obvious.
I'm sorry but many of the marketing concepts I'll put to you are.
But the fact remains...
although we may know things, far too often we don't do them.
Harvey McKay said in his book
Swim with the sharks without being eaten alive:
"Something you know about your customer may be more important than anything you know about your product".
Peter Drucker said:
"The perfect advertisement is one of which the reader can say, 'This is for me, and me alone'."
Drayton Bird said: “Even if you say something dull and unimaginative like "As an accountant" when writing to accountants you will get them reading. As a matter of fact I have seen exactly those words increase response by 200% in a mailing to sell business loans”
Let me ask you... Hands up who immediately tunes out when those Harvey Norman commercials blast from the television?
I know I do... and the reason is that mass advertising simply cannot be that personal and relevant in contrast to direct marketing where “know thy database” really works.
Now unlike most mumbo jumbo about databases, here are 5 deadly database sins you never want to commit:
1. Thinking you have an Average Customer
2. Not contacting your best customers more often
3. Not tracking and measuring your contact history with individuals... remember,
companies are groups of individuals
4. Not continuing to question “Why did they do that?”
5. Not asking “What was the 20% of action that gave 80% of the results
Keep your powder dry,
Warren