Monday, October 29, 2007

List Day on Capitol Hill

Wednesday, October 31, 2007 is List Day on Capitol Hill. This is an event organized by Mark Micali, Vice President Government Affairs for the DMA, to give list executives the ability to speak face to face with members from the Congress, both Senate and the House, about important industry issues. The ability to get "face time" with the people who make legislation concerning our industry is invaluable. To be able to grab 10 or 15 minutes with a Senator or Congressperson may just be one more way to insure that when the time comes for an important votethat could be very detrimental to our industry, they may have a better understanding of what is at hand.

You are also able to realize just how busy things get on The Hill. It's a constant flow of meetings and people moving here and there. I wondered last year just how anything really gets done. Everyone's always in meetings, going to meetings or scheduling meetings. And of course speaking to list people.

Labels: DMA, legislation

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Speaking your prospects language

There was an article in this week's issue of DM News about conversational copy. Author Bob Bly gave a few great tips about how to produce copy that speaks clearly and in a tone your audience can relate to. It reminds me of some food for thought I picked up from a recent seminar: "Do onto others as they would want done to them."

PS: I'm loving DM News' redesign!

Labels: copywriting, DM News

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Wise tips for e-mail marketers

Vertical Response's Email Marketing Blog had a great post today about how to best use images in your email promotions. Sometimes less is more.

Labels: email, marketing

A boon to the list industry

In case you haven't heard, the new Chairman of the DMA Board of Directors is Donn Rappaport, CEO of The American List Council. The newly elected Vice Chairman is Kelly Browning, EVP and COO of The American Institute for Cancer Research. With a nod to exiting Chairman, Markus Wilhelm who did a great job making us all more aware of our duties to self policing.

For those of us directly involved with the list business the new Chairs of the DMA are quite a boon. They know our business inside and out as they are totally immersed in it on a daily basis. We will have voices at the highest board level who"speaks our language". In return, it's up to use as list professionals to get behind them and make sure we take active roles in furthering their vision for the next year. I've often heard from other list company owners that the DMA doesn't understand us....well not anymore. No more excuses. Get involved.

Labels: DMA

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

More from YouTube

It seems that more and more non profits are finding the value of viral marketing. VFW has launched a DRTV campaign now available on YouTube. National Wildlife Federation has launched a few video spots as well. Non profits have long been looking for a way to tap into the younger market. This appears to be the best way yet. If not for actual donations, at least to build awareness of the organization's mission. Tremendous value there. Building for the future.

Labels: DRTV, fundraising, nonprofit, viral marketing, YouTube

It's time to get serious

John Greco is right on the money. For those of you who missed his opening speech at the Fall Conference a great recap is on Direct Newsline today.

This is a scenario that happens all the time. At industry functions the conversation moves to "what's the DMA doing about 'X'" ? And no one has the answer. Well John Greco gave us all the answers. And did it quite passionately.

Now it's up to us as members of the Direct Marketing community to get behind the initiatives laid out by the DMA and make sure our clients are at least aware of what needs to be done. I've already heard people say this is just a lot of inflammatory rhetoric. Maybe it is. But I'd rather prepare for the worst and be pleasantly surprised than suffer the consequences. We can't afford to be wrong on this one.

Labels: chicago, conference, DMA, legislation

Friday, October 12, 2007

Off to Chicago

Gonna be busy for the next few days. Not unlike other companies, we start planning for the Fall DMA Conference immediately after the prior one. So, our meetings are all set up, our schedules are full and we're psyched to go. An interesting point; so many people I speak to about this Conference immediately bring up next year's in Las Vegas. Hmmmm? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Be back next week.

Labels: chicago, conference, DMA

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

How quickly your dance card fills

Direct marketers are about to face the same problems our potential customers face daily. We are going to descend on Chicago to our annual conference in hopes to accomplish whatever our predetermined goals are. The only obstacle: so is every other direct marketer. The next problem is time. We only have about three days to do it in.

Broker/manager, mailer or data service provider, we all want to make that contact who will seal a deal or promote our business or our client's business. It's hard! It's like trying to be at every one's wedding on the same day. Or mail box clutter.

We need to take a tip from our own play book. Make sure you stand out in the crowd. Then above all make sure you deliver what you say you will.

See you in Chicago and... have a good and productive show.

Labels: chicago, conference, DMA

Thursday, October 4, 2007

YouTube for non-profits

You gotta love YouTube. They just announced a program where non-profits can set up their own channels and produce their own programs for fundraising. If your organization is a 501 (c) (3) it appears to be free. All you need is a wonderful agency to produce your Internet videos for you - which RMI has by the way. Just give us a call.

Labels: fundraising, nonprofit, video, viral marketing

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

A wealth of great ideas

The Hudson Valley DMA held it's Meet the Master program today. It's special guest was Kelly Browning, Executive Vice President and COO of The American Institute for Cancer Research. He spoke on many various topics of great interest. Initiatives the DMA is involved with as they pertain to advancing benefits for members and legislation. How the Internet can impact non profits. How to make sure your offer slices through mailbox "clutter". An hour's worth of ideas seemed like five minutes.

I always like to leave these sessions feeling like I took at least one thing away that I can either use or share with others. This was just one of the many that were noted: If the Hudson Valley DMA, or any other local or regional chapter, organized a special meeting and invited their Congressperson or Senators to the event this would be the best forum to, one on one, give legislators a better understanding of our industry and how many constituents we represent in their own home state. There are enough local DMA members in the HVDMA where sponsorships would be a viable avenue to look at for this type of an event. I thought it was worth a second thought.

Labels: fundraising, HVDMA, legislation, nonprofit

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

ECKO hits it home with Bonds' 756th

If you haven't yet heard about Marc Ecko's 3/4 of a million dollar purchase of Barry Bonds' 756th home run baseball, come out of your cave and read up. The hip-hop fashion guru, and founder of ECKO Unlimited, let America decide on the fate of the ball via a week long online survey. By popular demand, Ecko branded the ball with an asterisk and gifted it to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Everyone seems so enthralled with the fact that he spent over $752k on a prank. But the amount of publicity? Priceless. What an absolute ingenious marketing strategy! Not only has his face (and clothing line) been plastered in newspapers, magazines and television internationally, but he drew thousands to his website - targeting consumers both in and out of his typical demographic. I wonder how many middle-aged men were surprised to find nice button up shirts and polos by ECKO. I also wonder how many Bonds haters purchased a clothing item just in support, and how many of those people will become loyal customers.

And talk about the campaign that keeps on giving. Thousands of people visit the Baseball Hall of Fame every year and will be constantly reminded of ECKO Unlimited. And to top it all off, as a business expense - it's tax deductible! So hats off to Marc Ecko. Coming from both a marketer, and a die-hard Yankee fan.

Labels: marketing, public relations, retail

Best day to email

We've often wondered if our email promotions were hitting at the optimum time to get the most attention. Becky Terhaar, our marketing and advertising director, came across this article from ClickZ.com.

Labels: email