I Choose a New Star This Day

NeuStar is a sophisticated vendor to communications companies and to business customers of communication services (see their 10-K, Our Company Section). They just started a direct response campaign to direct marketers, an audience interested in efficient corporate communications with the world. Here is their online ad.

Please notice, this is a NeuStar ad (logo is at bottom right). I found it at DM News Online. For fear the ad will not be in rotation when you view the page, I made a picture of the page for you, so you can see and it is here - the DMNews Page.

The ad immediately grabbed my attention with “270 Million Customers,” while I was on the DM News Web site. It kept me engaged with “Free Nielsen White Paper.” Spiller and Baier (2005, p 126) tell us that words like free and new are attention getting. In addition, Nielsen is a name I know and trust. Finally, as Kostermans (2007, p 4) recommends the ad uses “fonts that are easy to read.” Okay, so I click the download link and this pops-up.

This quick registration, before getting the free gift, separates prospects from muffin men. It also gives permission to be contacted by the Common Short Code Administration, which I know, and/or NeuStar. Kostermans (2007, p. 2) says that we should make it clear what action we want readers to take. In this case, we want them to register with us to get the Nielsen report. Vanides (2009, p 2) reports using a similar technique in a Hughes 500D campaign to register interested prospects for follow-up, in her case at a later conference.

If I am interested in mobile marketing, I should know short codes and the CSCA. As Spiller and Baier recommend, the NeuStar body copy gives the benefits and ends with a call for action. The sentences are short and active. I type and submit. The Nielsen report appears and I save it (here at Nielsen Mobile Marketing).

Not surprisingly, the report mentions NeuStar. After the download, I have the option to connect to the NeuStar Web site, which I do. Here it is: their snazzy Web site Although, I have never heard of NeuStar, they have partnered with names I do know and trust. Moreover, I am interested in Nielsen’s views on mobile marketing, which is a free gift (if I register).

I watch the NeuStar produced video and its quiet clarity is professional enough to direct market to direct marketers. I now believe that NeuStar is an important player in corporate communications. I’d be willing to talk with them about Mobile Marketing as well as communications infrastructure topics.

In summary, I find this NeuStar direct response ad to direct marketers to be effective because as Kostermans (p. 6) recommends, it is “solving a problem for them – not touting how great your product is.” The solution is for mobile marketing. Helped by big names, Nielsen and CSCA, NeuStar registers prospects with an interest in the NeuStar mobile marketing, short code solution.

References

Kostermans, J (3/12/2007).Lead Generation Top Tips: 28 Ways to Optimize Direct Mail Design. LeadGenesis. Retrieved from WVU IMC 626 Week Four Readings on September 9, 2009.

Spiller, L and M Baier, (2005). Contemporary Direct Marketing. Pearson/Prentice-Hall

Vanides, Alexia (2009). Lesson 4: Proven Creative Strategies for B-to-B DM Implementation. Retrieved from WVU IMC 626 Week Four Lesson on September 9, 2009.