Project:
DYNAMIC MUTUAL FUNDS NEWSLETTER

Type:
Personalized-Content Newsletter

Segment:
Vendor-Driven/Push Marketing

Program Objective:
Provide relationship-building support for mutual fund wholesalers in their effort to influence financial planners in the make to clients

Significant Results Reported by User:
• 15% response rate to the offer for a personalized newsletter
• Client plans to expand program to reach six to ten times more brokers

Participants

Client:
Dynamic Mutual Funds, Canada

Print Provider:
Launch Direct, Toronto, Canada — an Agfa Chromapress was used to print the newsletter

Creative Agency:
Relationship Marketing Resources

Other:
INTOUCH Marketing Corp. — a marketing company specializing in the financial community

Program

Target Audience:
5,000 brokers

Time Period:
Throughout 1999

Distribution:
Three runs of 5,000 each. Dynamic plans to roll this program out to more brokers (30,000-50,000) and to increase the number of mailings from three to six.

Description:
Dynamic Mutual Funds has an internal sales force that promotes the company's products to investment advisors or brokers. These sales agents, or wholesalers, encourage brokers to recommend Dynamic Mutual Funds' products to their clients. To support these wholesalers Dynamic and Relationship Marketing Resources developed a personalized print campaign designed to strengthen the relationships between the wholesalers and brokers.

A letter was sent to a segmented group of brokers informing them Dynamic's new informational newsletter. Of Dynamic's 20 wholesalers this program was tested with half of the broker list for 7 wholesalers. The announcement invited the brokers to complete a survey regarding the type of information they would like to see in the newsletter so that the newsletter could be personalized to meet their needs. The survey also requested information on the broker's level of satisfaction with Dynamic. The first issue of the newsletter, Wholesaler's Insight, was also included, highlighting sections that would contain customized information in future issues. The transactional data of each financial planner was then analyzed to learn more about each broker, such as whether the broker focused on asset growth or redemption. Based on the transactional data and the feedback form, from the financial planner, a personalized, four-color, 11" x 17" folded newsletter, was built. The newsletter contained articles based on the broker's feedback and contained personalized graphs based on the broker's activity with Dynamic. Brokers who did not respond to the first survey were sent a second issue along with another survey.

Variable Information:
High: Picture of the wholesaler, personal comments from the wholesaler, graph customized for each financial planner showing the planner's quarterly sales and his or her aggregated asset base with the funds, articles selected based on the financial planner's feedback.