Using Address Validation Software For Your Direct Marketing Campaigns
In many ways, marketing has never been easier. At the same time, it has also never been more difficult.
There are an unprecedented variety of outlets for finding and reaching very specific target markets, but people have never been more wary, cynical, or unreceptive to advertising.
Even if you have a product or service you know your market will be interested in, it can be and often is difficult to reach an audience through formerly effective marketing methods.
However, there are ways around the challenges of modern marketing. And the most effective marketing solutions are actually borne out of the same thing that created these challenges to begin with: technology.
The Evolution of Direct Marketing
Direct marketing predates modern technology, as well as modern technological mass media. In fact, it can be argued that direct marketing is as old as advertising itself, and dates back thousands of years. With the invention of the printing press in the 1400s, direct advertising began to evolve along with the ability to reach people, especially after the advent of photography in the 1800s.
In the 19th century, catalogs were invented, and direct marketing became increasingly common in the United States. This type of marketing had advantages such as the ability to accurately measure results of a campaign. Starting in the late 1960s, direct marketing really began to evolve into a full-fledged, multi faceted industry with the introduction of 800 numbers, magazine subscription cards, and customer loyalty programs. Of course, all of these programs were reliant on having accurate customer contact information.
However, when internet access became common with the launch of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, direct marketing began to take on new, previously unimagined dimensions – as well as unforeseen challenges.
Direct Marketing in the Age of Modern Technology
With marketing strategies such as magazine subscription cards and mail order catalogues, an accurate address is necessary on both sides of the equation. A business needs the correct contact information in order to market and send out products correctly, and customers need to provide the correct address in order to receive their products and maintain any sort of relationship with the business.
However, the concept of the „address” has changed quite a bit over the past two decades. The number of ways to reach potential customers through marketing has increased dramatically, including direct marketing. And an address is no longer simply a home address.
At first, people began getting email addresses. Generally, it was just a single address per person, but of course this has changed. There are business email addresses, school email addresses, social networking addresses, and often multiple personal email addresses, including email addresses used for „junk” mail.
Since many people are wary of even giving out a regularly used email address to marketers, home addresses are even more closely guarded. For common marketing events like contests, it is not only not unheard of, but indeed fairly common to attempt to use a fake address.
Combating the Use of False Addresses
Most fake addresses used for things like contest entry forms are just that: fake. This means that the addresses might be loosely based on reality, real towns, zip codes, and even streets are commonly used, but a falsified address generally does not exist.
Accurate customer addresses are crucial for marketing purposes, and there is a way to ensure that the addresses received are indeed correct. Address validation software is available, and becoming used by an increasing number of marketers who want to guarantee an accurate customer database. This software is extremely useful and even necessary in today’s marketing environment.
