Identifying Direct Marketing Talent --- The Production Manager

Written By Ted Grigg

Just as with the artist and the copywriter, the direct marketing production manager offers unique contributions to the success of a campaign. This is particularly the case if the company this person works for produces large volumes of direct mail and Direct Response TV (i.e. DRTV).

The typical production manager in an agency or on the client side possesses a good knowledge of printing, print production or broadcast advertising. But for the direct marketing discipline, this is just the beginning.

Budget and deadline control mark the expert production manager, but knowledge beyond printing and print production are required of the DM production manager. Listed below are some of those traits I look for in DM production people.

-A thorough understanding of database list hygiene processes
-Background in lettershop work such as inkjet and laser personalization, tracking codes, insertion restrictions and postal regulations
-Skilled in uncovering savings opportunities such as mail co-mingling
-Breadth and depth of direct mail formatting options that are available on the market
-Great production managers in the direct field assist the creative team in creating affordable, breakthrough concepts
-For DRTV, the production manager knows how to keep the budget well below the average and still achieve the brand requirements   

You may have noticed that many of the qualities that are required of each direct marketing role contain overlapping skill sets. This is intentional. Each team member walks comfortably from one role to the next fully appreciating the need to share the glory of beating controls as well as the discouragement of defeat when the sales goals are not achieved.

The bulk of the accountability for beating controls often lies with the head marketers and account managers. But everyone shares the responsibility for the results whether good or bad.

As unusual, this list of skills is incomplete. I hope you will have the opportunity and desire to comment filling in any blanks. What other skills do you look for in a production manager?

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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