Meet the Broker: Michael Natoli

Today we meet Michael Natoli, account executive for insert media brokerage at Leon Henry Inc. Natoli has a degree in geography from Syracuse University, and he uses that knowledge in a way he never anticipated. He landed his first job in direct marketing at Leon Henry eight years ago, after working a few odd jobs.

Insert media brokerage clients he works with regularly include Pitney Bowes, Paper Direct, Puritan’s Pride and several consumer publications.

A lot of his work involves cold calling firms that don’t have insert media programs on the market to convince them to accept package inserts for specific client. It won’t necessarily lead to a new program coming on the open market, but Natoli said if can find one advertiser, he can usually find a few more for ad hoc insert media programs.

“I like when the phone rings with a request for something I’ve never seen before. I like following campaigns from the beginning to the end results,” he said.

Away from work, targeting takes on new a whole new meaning for him. Natoli participates in a pub dart league.  He’s single and enjoys spending weekends in the Catskill Mountains of New York, where he likes fishing and bow hunting deer, elk and bear.

What’s your take on the state of the insert media business?

“I’m seeing an influx of business-to-business mailers wanting to test insert media and an increase in product sampling,” Natoli said.

B-to-B mailers are following in the footsteps of consumer mailers who have used insert media longer. Package insert programs are the most popular format, but interest in blow-ins, statement stuffers and the like have been growing as well, he said.

The medium is gaining broader acceptance, due largely -- in his opinion -- to scrapping the term “alternative media.” With the old name it was a more difficult to get the concept across. “It’s just easier to understand what insert media is,” he said.

Growth in the insert media is coming from packaged goods companies, especially from firms not already doing direct marketing, he said.

Newcomers accepting insert media are giving direct marketers access to hotline buyers as fresh as 7 to 14 days. “That’s about as recent as you can get,” he said.

How do you deal with clients whose ideas seem contrary to their own best interest?

Telling a client and especially a prospective new client that their idea seems destined for failure is tricky for any broker.

With established clients, Natoli said he feels comfortable being blunt, but directness doesn’t necessarily deter clients who want to try something against his advice.

He recalled how a European client recently translated a foreign language space ad into nonsensical English for an insert media offer. But that was only part of the problem.

“They wouldn’t back down. It was a horrible idea. I even got a consultant involved because they wouldn’t listen to me. I argued with them until I was blue in the face, but they were adamant,” said Natoli.

The offer went out with more than half a dozen references to a free premium on the card, which generated a large inquiry response, but a dismal backend conversion rate, just as Natoli suspected it would.

With newer clients that want to do something “crazy” it would be better to decline that order, because if it’s a major flop you might never get a chance for another order, he said.

Brokers need to establish a two-way communication with clients focusing on specific goals. This is how to determine whether, for example, to use a two-step approach to generate leads to follow-up later or try to sell directly via insert media with an appropriate offer and price point, he explained.

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