“You can’t improve what you  can’t measure.”

Everyone’s looking for results. Is there a sure-way method to find them?

Many companies think they’re practicing “Direct Marketing” without taking the time to measure and report the results… they enjoy the results, but they don’t try to figure out how they could do better. Like Direct Marketing, Lean Marketing is targeted, personalized, measurable, but most importantly, it’s improveable.

As consumers, We’ve all seen successful examples of Direct Marketing. You go to your mailbox, open your mail, and there’s a letter that stands out — it comes from a real person directly to you with an offer designed to delight you and make you want to respond.

As marketers, if you use Direct Marketing regularly, you know that for every $1.00 you spend you can get $20 back, or $24.00, or whatever. Predictable return on investment helps you with your budgeting, your cash management, and your profitability.

Quality Marketing

Lean Marketing is Direct Marketing with a commitment towards improvement, it’s Quality Management or Continual Improvement applied to Marketing, which can be illustrated by the PDCA Cycle that was popularized by Edward Deming, who is widely recognized as the forefather of improving design (and thus service), product quality, testing, and sales.

The PDCA cycle is designed to be used as a dynamic model. The completion of one turn of the cycle flows into the beginning of the next, creating a “virtuous circle of continual improvement”. The process can always be reanalyzed and a new test of improvement can begin. 

PDCA Cycle

PDCA Cycle

PLAN: Establish the processes needed to achieve an acceptable response rate and a cost-per-acquistion of new customer.

DO: Implement the processes

CHECK: Monitor and measure the processes and report the results

ACT: Take action to test new ideas and maintain and continually improve the response rate and the cost-per-acquistion of new customer.

By testing new ideas, i.e., New offers, new creative strategies, new package formats, you’ll continue to make improvements… and in the process you’ll acquire new customers, sell them more, get them to refer others to you, and ultimately you’ll be a stronger and more profitable company.

By monitoring and measuring the processes and reporting the results, you’re able to quickly see what’s working and what’s not working, which will then allow you to align your budget with achieving your company’s strategic objectives.

And that is why Lean Marketing is so powerful.

It’s Direct Marketing the way it’s meant to be practiced.

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Filed under: Big Ideas • Lead Generation and Nurturing

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