19 Principles of Success from the Father of Direct Marketing

In case you’ve been too busy to check the calendar, Father’s Day is this Sunday. Hold on; before you rush out to mail a card, be sure to read this post.

Last week Mike Dietz described a few best practices for direct mail copy and design. That got me thinking about best practices we employ. In honor of Father’s Day, it seems appropriate to salute Lester Wunderman, who is widely considered the father of direct marketing and who invented many of the techniques we take for granted today.

Wunderman outlines these 19 Principles of Success in his book, Being Direct: Making Advertising Pay:

1. Direct Marketing Is a Strategy, Not a Tactic
2. The Consumer, Not the Product, Must Be the Hero
3. Communicate with Each Customer as an Audience of One
4. Answer the Question “Why Should I?”
5. Advertising Must Change Behavior, Not Just Attitudes
6. The Next Step: Profitable Advertising
7. Build the “Brand Experience”
8. Create Relationships
9. Know and Invest in Each Customer’s Lifetime Value
10. “Suspects” Are Not Prospects
11. Media Is a Contact Strategy
12. Be Accessible to Your Customers
13. Encourage Interactive Dialogues
14. Learn the Missing “When?”
15. Create an Advertising Curriculum That Teaches as it Sells
16. Acquire Customers with the Intention to Loyalize Them
17. Loyalty Is A Continuity Program
18. Your Share of Loyal Customers, Not Your Share of the Market Creates Profits
19. You Are What You Know

These considerations can guide not only your next direct marketing campaign, but your overall direct marketing strategy. OK, now you can rush out to mail that Father’s Day card.