CMS Direct and The Rimm-Kaufman Group Establish Strategic Alliance
to Increase Catalogers’ Web Effectiveness Partnership leverages RKG’s advanced web search
capabilities with CMS Direct’s catalog expertise
Friday, 10 February 2006
CMS Direct has announced a new strategic alliance with search engine marketing firm, The Rimm-Kaufman Group. By sharing information and best practices amongst their shared client base of almost 20 catalog companies, this new alliance leverages CMS Direct’s expertise in database hosting, consumer co-op data, modeling services and advanced list processing with the Rimm-Kaufman Group’s strengths in paid search marketing and web site effectiveness.
Working side by side with their existing client base, CMS and Rimm-Kaufman can align direct mail campaigns with web traffic advertising, helping clients meet theirnew client acquisition goals.
Catalogers everywhere are experiencing an increase in business via the internet. Whether it’s a new prospect searching and finding you online or a returning high value multi-buyer, the trend toward internet shopping is growing. Unlike the early days of the web, where online shoppers had different demographics and shopping patterns from catalog shoppers, today the web has fully reached the mainstream: today’s web consumer has the same profile and tastes as the traditional direct response consumer.
“Just about every cataloger today drives a significant portion of their revenue from their website, ranging from 15% to 60% of total sales,” noted Alan Rimm-Kaufman, president of The Rimm-Kaufman Group. “Customers have moved to the web, and catalogers are doing more and more of their business there. The good thing is, the web is highly trackable, making it possible to evaluate your marketing efforts precisely.”
For each client, The Rimm-Kaufman Group monitors tens of thousands of paid search ads daily, effectively producing mini profit and loss statements for each ad every few hours. Clients are able to determine whether particular ads, shown on particular sites at particular times, are paying for themselves. The Rimm-Kaufman Group’s proprietary ad management platform can ensure winning ads receive more advertising funds, while lackluster ads receive less.
“The point is not how much per click you are paying for an ad,”noted Alan Rimm-Kaufman.“But whether those clicks are resulting in sales. Some ads are a bargain at $3 a click, others are overpriced at a nickel. Ongoing optimization of the ad portfolio is a key ingredient to paid search success.”
As a multichannel catalog services company, CMS Direct connects sellers with buyers via information technology and consumer data. Clients are able to improve their business processes and grow their customer bases through CMS Direct’s services. As a partner, The Rimm-Kaufman Group will be able to help CMS Direct’s clients optimize their web site sales with trackable, documented paid search marketing and web site consultation.
“We are always looking for ways to enhance our clients’ success,” said Pat Minton, president of CMS, a division of CMS Direct. “By developing a strong alliance with The Rimm-Kaufman Group, we’ll be able to take them several steps further in the process of optimizing their lists, their processes and their web marketing efforts. Put simply, direct mail synchronized with advanced web search capabilities is just a better multichannel customer experience.”
“I have great respect for the unique and effective work that CMS Direct and Prefer Network do,” Alan Rimm-Kaufman said. “We’re looking forward to helping our mutual clients grow their online businesses, so they can keep their houseflies strong and growing and meet their customer acquisition goals.”