You see them every day on your mail and no doubt use them for your sat nav, finding a local plumber on Google, ordering goods via Amazon and for paying your bills - but what are they and why do we have them? The current postal code system in the UK was introduced by the Royal Mail over a 15-year period from October 1959 to 1974 in order speed up collection, sorting and to allow the introduction of automated sorting. A full postcode is known as a 'spostcode unit's and usually corresponds to a limited number of residential and business addresses or a single large delivery point. An earlier system of postal districts was implemented in London and other large cities from 1857. In London this system was refined in 1917 to include numbered subdivisions, extending to the other cities in 1934. These earlier districts were later incorporated into the national postcode system. The system breaks down the UK in various areas, districts, sectors and units (ie the 'spostcode's we use regularly on our mail and sat nav is actually the 'spostcode unit's) and within each postcode unit there will be an average 16 individual homes or businesses. There are special postcode units for Buckingham Palace, the Prime Minister and the Houses of Parliament amongst others ...... and even Father Christmas (ie SAN TA1)! Component: Postcode area - Example: YO - Numbers of UK codes:124, Component: Postcode district - Example: YO31 - Numbers of UK codes:2,971, Component: Postcode sector - Example: YO31 1 - Numbers of UK codes:10,631, Component: Postcode unit - Example: YO31 1EB - Numbers of UK codes:1,762,464, Component: Individual Postcode addresses - Numbers of UK codes:approx.27,000,000, Postcodes have been adopted for a wide range of purposes in addition to aiding the automated sorting of the mail: to calculate insurance premiums: designate destinations in route planning software; they are used as the geographic building blocks of the Census and other research. Postcode data is stored, maintained and periodically updated in the Postcode Address File database, along with the full address data for around 27.5 million delivery points. London Letterbox Marketing use the Postal Address Database every day for many clients and we can use it to help you deliver your messages and promotions accurately and efficiently. To find out more call London Letterbox Marketing on 0208 940 0666 or contact us on Sales@londonletterboxmaketing.co.uk
Wednesday 24 August 2011
Direct Mail Drives Digital Response - London Letterbox Marketing Delivers Letters, Leaflets, Newspapers and Magazines
Direct mail plays an important role in integrated online and offline campaigns, according to one industry expert. Writing on uktalkmarketing.com, Luke Griffiths, vice-president of client services for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at e-Dialog said that although future lies in digital marketing, print is still extremely effective. He went on to say that email marketing and other digital influences have encouraged advances in direct mail. A recent Mail Media Centre report backs this up with some encouraging figures on how direct mail works with digital activity. The report reveals that direct mail can help online search - 58% of people said they were more likely to click on a search link for a company if they’re received something in the post. And 67% refer to physical mail when searching for a new product or service online. One of the case studies in the report shows the role direct mail can play in integrated digital campaigns. A direct mail and email campaign by Waitrose to celebrate its partnership with celebrity chefs Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal, led to the upmarket supermarket selling 14 weeks worth of rhubarb in four days. Created by Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw, the campaign targeted 500,000 members of the MyWaitrose food club. They each received a hamper with a recipe for rhubarb and ginger brulée – 50% of the recipients posted feedback on MyWaitrose. Direct mail can also improve the performance of other channels. For example, the TV component of campaigns is 37% more effective when direct mail is in the media mix. In the report Tess Alps, Chief Executive of Thinkbox says: 'sDirect mail can satisfy those appetites that TV provokes.'s Direct mail has seen its ROI level rise steadily over the last three years, a trend credited to improved targeting. To find out more call London Letterbox Marketing on 0208 940 0666 or contact us on sales@londonletterboxmarketing.co.uk Source: Direct Marketing Association – 4 July 2011
Luxury Brands Find Value in Direct Marketing - Reach London's Affluent Households with London Letterbox Marketing
Luxury brands have traditionally steered clear of direct marketing in a belief that it is for the mainstream only. However, more and more now see the value of direct mail or targeted letterbox distribution. Premium and luxury brands are often accused of keeping consumers at arm’s length, with marketing focused on glossy print ads in high-end magazines promoting a glamorous lifestyle. But now several up-market brands are choosing to communicate with people on a more personal level, with impressive results. Last month, car company Land Rover and clothing brand Boden won Marketing Week Engage awards for their direct marketing and customer relationship management campaigns respectively. Land Rover carefully identified customers whose vehicle was about two years old and who might be tempted to upgrade to a new model. It assigned adventurous and well-known faces to critique the new vehicles, including survival expert Ray Mears, explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Olympic cyclist Victoria Pendleton. The direct mail pieces suggested to customers that the toughest test for the brand’s new model was earning their opinion, prompting them to book a test drive. Direct Marketing Association executive director Chris Combemale says high-end car marques are one of the sectors to use this type of personalised communication most effectively. 'Luxury car manufacturers have always built in very strong engagement with customers after purchase because if you get to know who has bought into your brand, you know that person is likely to buy from you again,' he says. Certainly this approach has worked for Land Rover: its DM campaign for the launch of last year’s range saw sales rocket - an average 174 vehicles per month, which is an 8.6% response rate. Agency Wunderman, which designed the mail packs, says the cost of the campaign per car sold was £59, and given that a new Land Rover sells for £40,000-plus, this is some achievement. How do premium brands use direct marketing? The jeweller Tiffany and auction house Sotheby’s, send out catalogues to customers. Sotheby’s also interacts with bidders personally and through an online system, according to Chris Combemale at the DMA. Other brands such as Scott Dunn focus on using catalogues and email marketing. Marketing Week’s Engage Awards judges were also impressed with Boden’s ’Love Story’ catalogue campaign that ran last winter and achieved a good return on investment. It worked well because each piece of mail sent out with the catalogue was tailored personally to customers and included product recommendations based on what they had bought before, using analytics by supplier Autonomy. Boden CRM manager Neil Warburton says it worked well because it was so targeted and featured founder Johnnie Boden talking ’directly’ to the buyer. 'People had got used to seeing a model on the [catalogue] cover, but when we were talking to them personally, it was much less likely they would assume it was junk mail and not open it,' says Warburton. But he is candid about how it was received once opened. 'People either loved it or hated it. We had much more positive than negative feedback although we definitely got some who said ’never darken my door again’. But we get that with every catalogue.' Warburton says feedback is very important to Boden and its ABC1 consumers are not scared of coming forward. The Love Story campaign went on to encourage them to contribute to the story by going online and 'sharing what they love and loath about Boden'. For smaller brands, direct marketing can be crucial for building client relationships. Luxury leather goods manufacturer Ettinger started selling via its website in 2008 and also sends out a newsletter six times a year Warburton is now working on the brand’s 2012 summer catalogues. The first group to be targeted will be its top-spending customers - about 10-20% of its customer base. 'No one wants to tell their customers that some are less special than others, but the truth is some of them are much more profitable. If we can spend a bit more to make sure these customers choose Boden over others, then we’ll do it,' he says. Using direct mail as a starting point has been effective for the brand, he claims. 'It worked well because people talked about it on Facebook. The only way to encourage that conversation is to follow up the DM with email and competitions on our community and Facebook sites.' While Boden might build its business model on direct marketing, it is less relevant for other brands in the premium sector. Victor Lanson, marketing controller, events and communication at First Drinks Brands, which distributes Piper-Heidsieck champagne, Rémy Martin cognac and Hendrick’s gin among others, is sceptical about DM. 'Because we are premium, I don’t really do emails or mail; generally people dislike them. We usually do event sponsorship, asking for exclusivity at events. Consumers won’t see us as people but they will see the brands and associate them with other partners such as Bremont watches, Porsche and Norton motorbikes,' he explains. For smaller brands, direct marketing can be crucial for building client relationships. Luxury leather goods manufacturer Ettinger started selling via its website in 2008 and also sends out a newsletter six times a year. It also makes small, co-branded leather goods for Bentley. Marketing and web manager Jerome Mackay explains that the brand is working on a new database of customers so it can send direct messages to people - but in a refined way. “We don’t want to hassle our customers. We are not here to get as much out of them as possible. We are there to be friendly and have less of a business relationship and more of a clubby relationship. There are some customers who feel proud to have found us,” he says. While Ettinger was founded in the 1930s, Mackay says it has only started seeing itself as a ’brand’ more recently. “Because we are a small company, we have to be very careful with anything we do. We are not a fashion brand, and we are not trying to emulate the marketing strategies that the larger groups can afford. We keep making [the same] goods year after year so it is a very different approach,” he says. As a result, the brand puts a face and name to every point of contact it has with customers, and has started marketing on a one-to-one basis, sending thank-you emails when someone has bought a product. For Combemale at the DMA, direct marketing is an activity that is somewhat unfairly maligned by some high-end brands. These brands might not categorise their activities as classical ’DM’ yet consider direct contact vital to their operations. He warns: 'The category has under-used database marketing, usually due to bias at the senior level. But I think that markets have changed. You have to build in activity that is right for the customer, not just bash out a sales message.' Scott Dunn is a direct-sell-only tour operator - we don’t sell through other means. Therefore, all our communication is direct. One of the big challenges for us being a high-end brand is to convey quality. Holidays are very emotive. We try to get across what a customer would get for £10,000 and how that makes someone feel. It is a challenge with a traditional paper direct mail. Acquisition DM is much less targeted, but you still want a quality premium feel. It is difficult to get the numbers to work on that, so conversion is lower. In the past, we have done very little acquisition marketing, it’s mainly been talking to our existing database of customers. Another challenge is that our high-repeat guests are saying to us that they want to hear from Scott Dunn on a personalised basis. They don’t want to be put on the mailing list with others. They might have spent £100,000 with us in the past three years and expect us to talk to them from a position of knowledge and understanding. We are focusing on that at the moment. We want our mailings to feel personal. When I have been sent a DM piece, I can tell if a computer has generated it, inserting three or four facts from a database. Particularly in the luxury sector, the guests are more savvy - you have to work harder to give that real, personalised feel. A big advantage of being 100% direct rather than through an agent is that we have our customers’ full details. All our outbound marketing is logged against each guest record so we recognise their phone number and can see their enquiry history, quotes, feedback, details of conversations and all the marketing that has been sent. Typically, travel brands are not as good at personalisation as other sectors. The bar is not set particularly high so it isn’t too difficult to wow people. There is a real opportunity to impress guests with all the information you have about them. At our end of the sector we send out book-style brochures, which might have coffee-table appeal. Some guests love them, whereas others sometimes send it back saying they object to us spending money on brochures when everything can be done on digitally. We have got to absolutely know the guests that don’t want the printed material and give them a choice, for example by sending a text beforehand asking them to let us know if they don’t want to receive a brochure. To find out more call London Letterbox Marketing on 0208 940 0666 or contact us on sales@londonletterboxmarketing.co.uk Source: Marketing Week – 16 June 2011
London Economy Set to Grow - Reach London's Shoppers and Businesses with London Letterbox Marketing
The latest 'London Economic Outlook' from the Greater London Authority indicates that the London economy continues its post recession expansion. Even during the recent recession it seems that London just outperformed the rest of the UK – a change from previous recessions. Recent economic indicators continue to show a recovery in the London economy, with positive public transport usage and business surveys showing activity picking up. However, consumer confidence remains extremely weak with real wage growth being squeezed by inflation and higher taxes dampening consumption. Employment growth is expected over the next few years with increases in private sector employment outweighing public sector job losses. Unemployment however is unlikely to come down quickly. The Government’s fiscal retrenchment is likely to dampen economic growth slightly in the short run but will rebuild market confidence in the country’s finances and will help to provide longer run stability. Fiscal tightening also puts downward pressure on market interest rates, which should encourage private sector investment. A large downside risk to the recovery remains the fragile nature of many developed countries public finances and the possibility of a worsening sovereign debt/financial crisis in the Eurozone that would trigger a huge fall in investor confidence. Sovereign debt defaults or even restructures would put great pressure on the still strained balance sheets of many banks. Inflation is likely to remain above the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target until 2012 due to the rise in VAT in January 2011, Sterling’s past depreciation and increasing commodity prices. There is a risk that at some point the Bank of England will have to raise interest rates sharply and quickly but still the most likely interest rate path is one of gradual increases towards more normal levels over the next couple of years. Sterling continues to remain weak and this should provide support to the economy from import substitution and improved export competitiveness. This will continue to benefit London’s tourism sector and encourage inward foreign investment. Overall this recovery will be led by private sector investment and trade rather than by public sector and household consumption. This rebalancing of the economy is required but will not be an easy one for consumers. To find out more call London Letterbox Marketing on 0208 940 0666 or contact us on Sales@londonletterboxmaketing.co.uk
Royal Mail Price Hike for Direct Mail - Switch to London Letterbox Marketing and Save Money
The Postal Services Bill passed by Parliament last week will lead to price increases for commercial mailers, says the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The Bill lays the groundwork for a restructuring of the Royal Mail in order to make it attractive for sale and was passed on 9 June. The Government intends to take on Royal Mail’s large pension deficit with effect from March 2012 as part of the preparations for a sale. It also intends to restructure the company’s balance sheet so that the Royal Mail’s level of debt will be reduced substantially. Work to establish a new regulatory framework for postal services is already underway with a transfer of regulatory responsibility from Postcomm to Ofcom alongside an overhaul to ensure restrictions are proportionate to the needs of the market. Ofcom will launch a consultation in the autumn with a view to establishing the new regulatory framework in spring 2012. Alex Walsh, Head of Postal Affairs for the DMA, says: “While the new legislation will render Royal Mail a more attractive proposition for interested investors, we’re concerned that competition will suffer. There’s also no incentive for Royal Mail to improve efficiencies or cut costs. So, it’s highly likely that commercial mailers will be saddled with price increases along the line. This year alone we’ve seen a 15 per cent hike in mailing costs. Increasing prices further will undoubtedly lead to many companies shying away from using mail to communicate with consumers and withdrawing business from Royal Mail, which it can ill afford to lose.” The ultimate intention for Royal Mail is to sell up to 90% of the postal operator to a private company with the rest handed to Royal Mail employees. London Letterbox Marketing holds a Postal Operators Licence and can handle your direct mail deliveries in London. To find out more call London Letterbox Marketing on 0208 940 0666 or contact us on Sales@londonletterboxmaketing.co.uk
Save the Planet - and Money - with Letterbox Marketing
Door to door marketing is already a very cost-effective and 'green' form of marketing. - Modern targeting tools take the guess-work and waste out of estimating the number of leaflets, letters, postcards or magazines required for your campaign - Printing and distribution costs are optimised so you print the right number of leaflets and reach the right homes and the right people - Nearly all these items are made from recycled paper These factors mean that your marketing works harder for your campaign and there is less effect on the environment as the carbon emissions from printing and delivery are minimised. In a further advance in environmentally-friendly marketing, the Direct Marketing Association has recently offered suggestions on how to make more improvements and savings. http://www.dma.org.uk/_attachments/resources/7127_S4.pdf To find out more call London Letterbox Marketing on 0208 940 0666 or contact us on sales@londonletterboxmarketing.co.uk
Letterbox Marketing - It's The Business ! - Local Leafleting Reaches Customers
The recent launch of the 'Start Up Britain' campaign saw the Prime Minister herald 'the decade of enterprise'. That is encouraging news for business, but that still leaves a lot of hard work - making products and services customers want, managing staff and resources, effective marketing and sales. For most small and local business, customers live within 2 miles of their location. The web and social media are great marketing tools, but what is the point of reaching customers 50 or 5,000 miles away? With letterbox marketing in London or across UK, you can door drop to the street next to your shop or to target boroughs around your office. Recent figures published in Marketing Week show that unaddressed mail marketing is actually growing - and fast. In 2010 the top ten biggest unaddressed advertisers spent £38.8m, up from £27.2m in 2009. The 43% increase compares with the 7% uplift widely forecast for the entire advertising market in 2010. The prime reason for this - as in the recession in the 1990s - is that unaddressed mail is one of the most affordable and effective forms of marketing available - especially to Small and Medium Enterprises. If you are a small business wanting to target consumers by demographic in London or anywhere in the UK why not give us a call for an informal discussion? To find our more call London Letterbox Marketing on 0208 940 0666 or contact us on mailto:Sales@londonletterbox.co.uk
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