In the article Scott explains the importance of accurate data in direct marketing and addresses the complex challenges of managing customer data to ensure you reach the right person with your communications every time.

Click here to read the full article.

To kick-start the New Year, we’re announcing the results of our first survey on print and digital integration: who’s doing it, how are they using it, and how can you generate more results from your integration methods in 2012?

The Results

We discovered that the majority (70%) of marketers are using print to drive interest to their digital content. The most common objective, stated by 61% of respondents, is to increase traffic to their website. None use print to drive people to mobile content – including mobile websites – and only 2% employ it to attract audiences to social media.

But while the emergence of QR codes and other tools have created new opportunities to integrate print and digital marketing, marketers are still using relatively simple tactics. The most common is a standard URL (83%), while more sophisticated tools such as QR codes (26%) and augmented reality (5%) are used less frequently.

Emerging Technologies

These tools may have been disregarded as mere fads in the past, but as brands get smarter, they are discovering how these can be used to add genuine value to the customer experience. Some innovations, like augmented reality visualisations of what products will look like in our homes, could fundamentally change the way we interact with brands for good.

According to the Panel, the reason behind this relatively basic approach to integration is a lack of clarity about the potential benefits of emerging technologies. Though marketers are yet to be convinced by these emerging tools, around half (46%) agree print is vital to driving interest in digital content and campaigns.

Plans for 2012

We asked the Panel about their plans for print and digital integration in the future, and there was enormous appetite to experiment more this year. Half (51%) are planning to use QR codes in the next twelve months – double the number that are using them now – and almost two thirds (59%) plan to link to social media content rather than their own websites. A small proportion (7%) even plan to integrate print and augmented reality in 2012.

So where do we go from here? Clearly, experimentation with new techniques is key to fuelling innovation. But it’s also important to study examples of best practice to ensure your print and digital integration delivers the best possible results.

Another salient piece of advice is, simply placing a QR code on print marketing to drive clicks to your homepage is not going to achieve significant results. The objective of linking print and digital should be to engage audiences with additional worthwhile content as part of a broader experience.

Ivan Skoric, Head of Digital Services at Charterhouse

In the news:
+ Mobile Marketing
+ Institute of Direct Marketing

A case study about how Charterhouse helped Which? to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of sending welcome packs to new subscribers has recently been published by UTalk Marketing.

Click here to see the full article.

The Old Street office puts all of Charterhouse’s digital capabilities under one roof, servicing clients including Sony, MINI, E.ON and Burger King.

Supporting rapid growth

The new digital HQ will act as a central hub for the company’s digital production offering across 35 European markets.

Ivan Skoric, Head of Digital Production Services at Charterhouse, will lead the London operation.

Ivan comments: “Our clients are beginning to reap the benefits of decoupling their digital production, as they have done with print production for many years.

“We have a very strong proposition in this area, and it is developing apace. Our approach helps clients to simplify their operations and deliver timely, crafted and cost-effective digital communications.”

Digital expansion

Charterhouse has doubled its headcount in digital services in the last six months. The growth is being driven by the increasing trend amongst large brands towards digital decoupling – where digital creative and production are split to increase effectiveness and cut costs.

Ivan Skoric adds: “We see a lot of opportunities in digital decoupling, with more big brands prepared to let agencies handle creative, while production partners concentrate on delivering communications across multiple channels.”

Gary Mahoney, CEO of Charterhouse, adds: “In the tentative economic climate, large organisations are carefully scrutinising where they can remove costs and increase efficiency.

“Our digital HQ is a sign of Charterhouse’s commitment to helping them achieve this.”

In the news:
+ The Drum
+ Creative Boom

Top companies wasting €716m on inefficient marketing procurement

Europe’s top 500 businesses* could be wasting a combined €716m when purchasing marketing products and services, according to a forthcoming study from marketing production specialists Charterhouse.  

David Fincham, Director at Charterhouse, comments: “There is a huge opportunity for big businesses to make significant savings on their marketing.

“Driving purchasing efficiencies will be vital in an uncertain economic environment and in light of shrinking marketing budgets.”  

The study is based on the responses of 200 procurement professionals from across Europe’s 500 biggest businesses. Full results will appear in Charterhouse’s upcoming report, The Marketing Maturity Matrix.

 A new hope

Such savings could be a lifeline for businesses, many of which have exhausted traditional procurement savings, the report finds.

Two thirds (65%) of procurement professionals agree that traditional procurement categories are yielding fewer savings than ever before.

Likewise, the vast majority (88%) say their existing procurement practices are becoming less effective.

However, only a fifth (21%) claim their organisations are already as lean as possible.

David Fincham comments: “Most large businesses have been furiously driving out inefficiencies since the start of the recession. As a result, procurement professionals are having to seek out savings in new areas.”

“These professionals rightly have their sights set on marketing procurement. Working with marketers to identify potential savings could help marketing budgets go further and create efficiencies for the organisation as a whole.”

Grasping the nettle

Marketing procurement appears to present a sizeable opportunity for businesses to drive new cost savings post-recession, the study finds.

Almost four fifths (79%) of procurement professionals claim that marketing products and services could be purchased more efficiently in their organisations.

Over a third (39%) agree that these potential efficiency savings are a significant opportunity for their businesses.

A similar proportion (35%) describes marketing as the last real opportunity for procurement to drive significant new savings.

David Fincham concludes: “The potential to identify new savings in an already squeezed environment is great news. But marketing procurement must be approached intelligently to avoid reducing its effectiveness.

 “We believe a closer relationship between the two disciplines can drive real savings, without sacrificing the vital creativity and innovation that effective marketing demands.”

Ends.

In the news:
+ Supply Management
+ Procurement Leaders
+ B2B Marketing

Yet the cost of not suppressing data is enough to make any marketing director’s eyes water. The need to improve the accuracy of databases is only heightened by increasing pressure on marketers to do more with less.

Incorporating data suppression into direct mail campaigns can achieve tens of thousands of pounds in cost savings per campaign. Most brands are using these files in one way or another, but if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Here are three tips to ensure you get it right:

1. Fully integrated lifecycle

Data management works best as a fully integrated component of the direct mail lifecycle. As well as consolidating the process into your existing direct mail activities, reducing account management and overheads, make sure you are capturing responses from new homeowners and other consumers to keep your databases up to date.

More and more companies are beginning to realise the benefits of consolidating their online and offline marketing production under one roof. By realigning agency roles and responsibilities, they can remove a considerable amount of duplication whilst greatly enhancing brand management.

2. Use up to date files

To give one example, 7.2 million people move house in the UK every year, equating to nearly 20,000 people every day. Databases need to be constantly updated to capture these details and ensure that mail is going to the right homes.

If you use industry suppression files, either in-house or through a third party, ensure you have the latest lists which are continually growing in size. Failure to do so will likely ramp up the cost of your campaigns and miss thousands of new updates.

There is also a legal obligation for some companies to inform customers of changes to their business or services, including banking terms and conditions. It is imperative that these mailings get to the right people on time.

3. Use the right files

Every company has a legal obligation to screen data against the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) a maximum of 90 days before carrying out a “cold” direct mail campaign. Existing customers must be checked for anyone who has opted out of receiving future communications via that particular channel.

There are numerous other files that need to be considered. We recommend using gone-aways, home movers and deceased as an absolute minimum. Doing so will avoid the greatest volume of and most sensitive errors.

Assess the relative importance of industry suppression files for your business and incorporate these into your direct mail lifecycle. This review of what’s necessary will ensure you are fulfilling your legal, environmental and moral obligations, as well as maximising the return on your marketing investment.

Data: a lesson in suppression – a Summing It Up article by Scott Evans, Head of Data at Charterhouse, November 2011

Click here to read the article.

David Fincham

Click here to read the article.

The five walkers raised £1,402 for Cancer Research UK (which is E.ON UK’s charity of the year for 2011), making a great contribution towards E.ON Nottingham’s total of over £8,000.

The inaugural Shine London event involved 10,000 participants walking (running not allowed!) a 26.2 mile marathon from the O2, through the streets and around the sights of London. Our team started their adventure at 8.30pm and completed the walk at 5.30 the next morning!