When I was first told by Charlie (boss) that I should go to conferences/seminars to get some more training, I immediately knew that I should brush up on my marketing skills with the Direct Marketing Association.
After signing up for my first conference, Advanced Copywriting, I noticed that the DMA offered a Certificate in Direct and Interactive Marketing. To complete it, I just needed to complete two required courses (the Direct Marketing Institute and Database Marketing) and two electives (Web Marketing and Advanced Copywriting).
Well, after finishing up the first 3 courses, I’m spending the first half of this week participating in the Direct Marketing Institute. Since it’s sort of a cover-it-all marketing course, it would have been better if I could have done this one first, but things didn’t work out that way. Even though it’s only introductory, I feel like I’m walking away with a few very important points:
- Customers who opt-in or subscribe to your organization in one way will often want to renew in that exact same way.
- For any direct mail, the offer itself is 40% of what determines its success, the list is another 40%, and the creative elements constitute the final 20% (the 40-40-20 rule of Direct Marketing).
- Names rented from magazines or newsletter return at rates 5 to 10 times better than compiled names (based on credit and census data).
I’m excited to almost be done with my certificate, but enough about marketing. Here are some photos from my trip so far:
