direct-marketing-target-marketing

name	direct-marketing-target-marketing
description	WHAT: Dan Kennedy's list selection and target marketing principles WHEN: When applying direct marketing target marketing knowledge

Direct Marketing Target Marketing

No B.S. Direct Marketing: List Selection & Target Marketing

The Principle

In direct marketing, the LIST is more important than the CREATIVE.

You can have the best-written sales letter ever created, but if you send it to the wrong list, you'll get nothing.

The right message to the wrong people = failure. The right message to the right people = success.

List Selection Criteria

Who to Target

1. Prior buyers of similar products — These people have proven they buy
2. Subscribers to related content — They've shown interest in the space
3. Members of relevant groups — Aligned with your market
4. Referral sources — People who connect buyers to products

Who NOT to Target

• Broad "interested in X" audiences
• Cold audiences with no buying history
• People who consume but never buy

The RFM Model

Factor	What It Measures
Recency	How recently did they buy?
Frequency	How often do they buy?
Monetary	How much do they spend?

Best customers: High R, High F, High M

Target Marketing vs Mass Marketing

Mass Marketing	Direct/Target Marketing
"Everyone should see this"	"Only the right people see this"
High waste	Low waste
Hard to measure	Easy to measure
Brand building	Direct response

Application

1. Identify who has bought similar products/services
2. Build lists of people who consume related content
3. Use multiple targeting criteria together
4. Test small before scaling
5. Double down on what works

Rule: In direct marketing, the quality of your list determines the ceiling of your results.