March 1, 2008
DIRECT Newsline
TUNE TOWN
The Branson Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention and Visitors Bureau is using a coordinated program of DRTV, radio, Web and print to invite both tourists and business travelers to hear its song....
What's Working, What's Not
With all the hype surrounding Web 2.0, skeptics might be quick to write it off. But I'm glad to report that some of these applications are already delivering real value for B-to-B marketers....
Success? It's in the Mail
Success magazine is hoping to see at least a 3% response from a subscription-building mailing tied to its relaunch this month....
Features
Calling All Students
DeVry University recently sent a mailing to 1.1 million potential students as part of an ongoing rebranding effort....
Listline
NEW LISTS OK! Magazine Eight segments from OK! magazine's circulation file are available from Northern & Shell North America Ltd. One is a list of 234,771...
Op-Ed Columns
Not So Fast
Oh, the joy. The U.S. Postal Service has announced a May 12 rate increase. But it's modest as postage hikes go. At deadline, the DMA's Jerry Cerasale...
The Great Brand Controversy
I know just when it was that I found myself in the midst of the brand-vs.-direct argument. Well, make that battle, because opinions and tempers blow hot....
Direct.com
Churn Away
All industries suffer from voluntary churn — the loss of customers to some other company. But some get hit worse than others....
Articles
War of Words
Ron Paul's (failed?) presidential campaign certainly demonstrated online fundraising prowess. But good old-fashioned direct mail played a highly unusual...
Swimming Upstream
Not sure whether to put in-stream ads in your online video content? Consider this: A recent survey by Burst Media found that 50.7% of respondents stop...
Channel Choices
These days marketers certainly don't have a shortage of ways to connect with their audiences: Blogs. Podcasts. Social networks. Search. But which channel...
Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder
On winter weekends when it's too cold, rainy or snowy to play outside, I'm constantly searching for places to take my kids so they can burn off some energy....
Run, Coffee Drinker, Run!
Dunkin' Donuts' online marketing is percolating this winter with the launch of a YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/dunkindonuts) and a loyalty program....
Get to KnowDMAA
WHAT Direct Marketing Association of Atlanta MEMBERSHIP Some 100 marketers and DM industry vendors WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN The group recently became an independent...
Love by the Book
So how was your Valentine's Day? If you live in Alexandria, VA, Cambridge, MA or Miami, chances are it was pretty steamy. Or at least well researched....
Oh, Oprah
Sometimes our mail just makes us laugh. Take a recent mailing we received from O magazine. What's the first thing we read on the letter? Market Development...
Jack's Facts
At the DMA's recent Catalog on the Road Day in Cambridge, MA, Jack Rosenfeld told the audience that decades ago someone asked him what direct marketers' three biggest challenges were. Simple, he said. “Postage, postage, postage.”...
Straight Advice for Tough Times
If you're a multichannel marketer in challenging economic times, it pays to think beyond your own four walls…or two covers…or URL…or whatever the case may be. At the Direct Marketing Association's recent Catalog on the Road Day in Cambridge, MA, speakers shared their ideas on cost-effective ways to build bonds (and sales) with existing customers and prospects....
Price Point, Price Counterpoint
What's a direct marketer to do when the CFO insists on raising prices to boost quarterly revenue? Assault is frowned on in most workplaces. So the best...
Database Spendthrifts
DMers may be spending less on some things this year, but not on database systems and analytics. A new survey from Alterian shows that 67% of the companies...
E-mail Opt-outs: An Uneasy Balance
Most direct marketers seriously mishandle opt-outs from their e-mail files, two recent studies show....
Stupid E-mail Watch
Recently I received what has to be one of the most ignorant e-mail campaigns in the short history of the medium. It came in the form of spam from Bing...
Divide and Conquer
When I talk to my Southern friends, my voices changes. I speak slower. I tone down my New York accent. I ditch the East Coast sarcasm. When I talk to...
Traffic Report
As an online marketer, what keeps you up at night? For a lot of us it's the debate over whether to invest our limited promotional budget in search engine optimization or pay per click to achieve the highest ROI....
And They'll Tell Two Friends
As the old expression goes, it doesn't matter what they say as long as they spell your name right. But in word-of-mouth marketing that isn't necessarily...
Blue Jean Buzz
Godes cited Lee Jeans as one company that generated terrific word of mouth for its brand. A few years ago the company connected with players on online...
What's the Message?
A big part of the pleasure of reading the latest New Yorker magazine each week has always been its great cartoons. And more often than not there's at...
Cold Call
For reasons that will soon be obvious, I'm hiding the subject of this column behind the name Susan Donym. On the evening of Jan. 2, Sue received a phone...
Letters to the Editor
If It's Audio Spam, It's Gone Ruth P. Stevens quoted several interesting people in her piece about voice-mail marketing (Start Talking, January). Unfortunately,...
