So through the planning stage you know who you are targeting and how to get to them, you now need to create the tools, this could be an email campaign, direct mail, advert etc. The 3 core parts to this stage are design, delivery and data:

Design – By investing in professional, well thought out design you will increase your chances of success dramatically, this is the first thing a prospect will notice so you need to make sure it not only looks good and reads well but actually works commercially for your business – simply put it should be clear, compelling, concise and consistent.

“Design Council research proves that businesses that use design as a key strategic driver are consistently more successful. For example:
– A business that increases its investment in design is more than twice as likely to see its turnover grow as a business that does not do so
– Shares in design-led businesses outperformed key stock indices by 200 per cent for a decade
– Rapidly growing businesses are six times more likely than static ones to see design as integral to their business.” http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/about-design/

Delivery– Once the design is signed off you then need to make sure you use the right tools to distribute, for example there is no point spending £000’s on a great design if you then print it out in house on 80gsm paper in B&W. You also need to consider who the audience is and always make sure the delivery tool is suitable for them, afterall is email the best way to reach 80 year old females?

Data – Brilliant design and a fantastic delivery method are all almost useless if you don’t have the data or access to your market, The key, in our experience, to good data is to make sure it is accurate, specific, current and reliable. You also need to establish a good CRM system which enable you to maximise the use of your data in terms of reports and analytics.

So that’s the action stage complete, but the work hasn’t stopped there as you will see next time…