2009 marked the first year that Digital Color Imaging (DCI) participated in being one of the sponsors for  InterAction, which is a marketing conference held once a year in Akron, OH by the Taylor Institute for Direct Marketing. In the past, mailers were sent out to marketers of Ohio and beyond in an attempt to inform them about the conference so that they might attend. Due to the wide array of InterAction 2009 sponsors, the conference was supplied with more tools and resources than ever before. Teaming up together, the sponsors began developing a strategy to not only increase conference attendance, but to demonstrate the effectiveness of a direct marketing campaign that would be seen firsthand.

All direct marketing campaigns begin with a solid foundation of targeted data. The databases and spreadsheets from each sponsor were cleansed and combined to create our master database.

Our master database lacked some recipients’ email addresses which inspired us to use traditional mailers as our first mode of communication. The mailer stirred curiosity, offered essential information regarding the conference, and ended with a call to action that directed recipients to a webpage personalized for them. In order to keep all of our marketing efforts in sync and consistent, we developed a conference theme that spanned across all of our marketing efforts, including this mailer.

Using XMPie’s variable data personalization suite and a Xerox iGen 3, we were able to easily include unique content throughout every mailer that we printed as well as every webpage that we created. The personalized URLs (PURLs) that facilitated the conference registration process allowed us to update our master database with ease.

As visitors arrived to their PURL they were immediately presented with dynamic content directed specifically at them. “Hi Joseph, You are only 4.2 miles from InterAction 2009 where the focus on Direct Marketing is May 19, 2009.” Along with the name of the recipient, we dynamically pulled the distance from each recipient’s location and the address to InterAction 2009 held at The University of Akron.

Being that our theme revolved around zodiac signs, we decided to have a little fun with it and ask each visitor for their birth date. This data allowed us to determine what zodiac sign they fell under so that we could provide them with typical traits that correspond with their sign. Next, after providing visitors with a famous person that shared their sign, they were given a quick and easy online method of signing up for the conference.

Visitors who went through the registration process had an opportunity to update their mailing address, select their conference workshop track, and were required to submit an email address. All of this information was retained in our database; some records were updated and others were newly added. All of the collected information was retained, even the registrants’ birth dates. While the PURLs seemed like a short entertaining web experience, they served a much larger purpose in helping us cleanse and add to our database, allowing us even more opportunities for future campaigns.

From our database we were able to determine which recipients never went to their PURL, which ones had visited their PURLs, and which ones had both visited their PURL as well as registered for the conference. Everyone in our database, that had an email address associated with their contact information, received an email not long after the initial mailer was sent out. We dynamically generated two different types of emails that were populated with variable data content. The first email blast went out to those who had not registered for the conference and gave them notice that they still had time to sign up, directing them again to their personalized URL. The second email blast went out to those who had registered; thanked them; provided registration confirmation and a map link in real time.

In the end, the combined energy and resources put into the conference by all of the sponsors proved to pay off as conference attendance dramatically increased nearly three times from previous years. One to one marketing that put an extra focus on being personal and fun with our audience proved a success. The incredible power of creating dynamic media for marketing easily allowed us to personalize content such as text, images, personal URLs, and interactive flash. Our registration process not only provided us with the functionality of registration, but allowed us to cleanse and update our audience’s information.

To experience InterAction 2009’s PURL, please visit http://interaction2009.com/JoeLookabaugh. Note that this page will not be personalized for you but is an example targeted at a different recipient.