Tip#19: You Are What You Know

The future of direct marketing will be dependent on knowledge.  "Data is an expense, knowledge is a bargain."  The more you know about your audience, the more relevant your marketing will be.  But knowledge comes at the expense of data.  Data is either purchased from a data source company or is collected during the course of direct marketing for a price (or both).  Only collect data that will give you knowledge you can use in future communications by segmenting audiences.  Then use that knowledge to constantly build towards more relevant conversations.