Meet the Broker: Barbara Henry

Today we meet Barbara Henry, executive vice president of Leon Henry Inc., an insert media and list broker specializing in the senior and children’s markets. She works at a branch office in Parkland, FL.

“The majority of my business—probably 85%—is with consumer marketers, but I keep my hand in other areas,” she says.

Henry’s brokerage duties include research, offering recommendations, and doing analytical work for Professional Cutlery Direct, Cooking Enthusiast, Uno Alla Volta, Ultramatic Sleep, Methodist Debakey Heart Center, the ISA and Automation Federation. “I don’t write orders. My assistants help me with that,” she adds.

She’s Leon Henry’s daughter. Although Barbara worked part-time in the family business as she was growing up, she initially had no intention of making a career in direct marketing.

After earning a B.A. in finance and marketing from Syracuse University and an MBA from Duke, she went her own way for a few years.

First she managed a T.J. Maxx store in Durham, NC. Next stop was North Carolina Direct Marketing, where she did list brokerage, database management and data services work. Henry was director of marketing and sales at Atlantic List Co. before she joined the family firm full-time in 1996.

She starts each day running—literally. “I run so I’m able to focus at work. I put in two to five miles every day that I can, but not during hurricanes,” she quips.

Henry is married and has three sons ages 18, 13 and 9, and a 7-year-old daughter. In her free time she enjoys gardening, swimming and the beach. She collects souvenir magnets when she travels. Hawaii was a recent destination.

How different is brokering insert media compared with lists?

“Lists are more publicly known and there are a lot more of them on the market. Established [online] search systems make it easier to find lists,” she says.

The number of lists in some markets has been shrinking, but according to Henry, growth in insert media markets has remained steady except for cyclical blips following postage rate increases.

“With insert media you really need a good broker, because many insert media programs are private. [These] programs aren’t managed like lists. One broker may know about a particular program and another might not.”

Obtaining approvals, clearances and mail dates for insert media is more difficult, because whether it’s a blow-in or an ad riding in a package, by its nature insert media implies an endorsement, she explains.

Unlike list owners who might approve orders from competitors only on an exchange basis, insert media programs are more often closed to competitive offers.

“These are ways that insert media can be more challenging for brokers,” Henry says.

What’s new or changing in the insert media market?

“Webserts, which involve no printing, are new,” she says.

This electronic insert medium is being tested and used by some mailers, but it’s still in the early stages. “Everyone who’s participating or thinking about it is trying to come up with the best way to do it,” she notes.

The basics involve inserting offers on Web pages after a customer has completed an online order. The ads can be clicked to redirect viewers to the advertiser’s Web page.

The market is still unsettled, particularly when it comes to pricing structures, which can be based on cost per thousand, clickthroughs or revenue sharing.

“It’s all negotiable, but there needs to be some meeting of the minds,” Henry says.

Know someone you'd like to suggest for Meet the Broker? E-mail Jim.Emerson@Penton.com.