Tuesday, April 28, 2009

A weekend with the trees

On Friday afternoon, our Alan Yu, Debbie McLain and Mike Kertelits skipped town to spend the weekend on the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City. According to Mike, the farm was "very inspiring," it looked "like Arbor Day took 260 acres of woodlands, and plopped them down right in the middle of the corn fields in Nebraska."

The plan was to attend the 2009 Arbor Day Awards Ceremonies & Banquet and tend to some business - but the photos show they ended up doing a lot more: tree climbing, playing a marimba, sawing a log, touring Hero Gallery... (why wasn't I invited?)

They also had the opportunity to visit Laura Smith's Pioneer Elm Tree, planted last year in her honor. We've been told it will grow to be very big and very beautiful some day...

Until next year, it's out of the trees and back to selling and mail planning for this trio. Maybe next year they'll invite me too.

Labels: client, employees

Cat & Carlos tie the knot

It is wedding time again at RMI and I had the pleasure yesterday of returning the favor to Catherine. Six months ago she brought me to my "surprise" shower (even though I wasn't surprised :) and finally we were able to pull it off for her. A few minutes after 3:00 Catherine and I were talking and I struggled to find a way to get her in the conference room, where everyone was waiting to surprise her. So I just came out and said "I have to deliver you". She looked at me like I was crazy, so I repeated it again, "I have to deliver you". Finally she said "Today? Oh man, I look terrible". HA! Such the bride!

Siobhan did a great job of organizing the shower and making another delicious home made cake! Catherine was very happy but embarrassed since she doesn't like to be the center of attention. She only has 2 more days to get over that! On Friday her and her long time friend, now fiancé, Carlos are tying the knot. We are all hoping and praying to the sun gods that they get a gorgeous day.

Congratulations to Catherine and Carlos - all those years of being friends finally paid off :) We wish you both the best life has to offer!

Check out the photos and videos of the surprise here.

Labels: employees

Friday, April 24, 2009

Arbor Day

I think the acclaimed author and noted ecologist Anne Labastille summed it up well:

"I feel this communion, this strange attunement, most readily with large white pines, a little less with sugar maples, beeches, or oaks. Clearly white pines and I are on the same wave-length. What I give back to the trees I cannot imagine. I hope they receive something, because trees are among my closest friends."

On this day, we celebrate trees, the Arbor Day Foundation, and remember our friend Laura Smith who loved trees and nature and whose spirit inspires us every day.

Links:

http://www.arborday.org/arborday/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_LaBastille

Labels: green, nonprofit

Top 10 digital marketing tactics of 2009

Lee Oden at Online Marketing Blog posted the results of a recent poll he ran to see which baskets their subscribers are putting their digital marketing eggs in for 2009. 1559 votes were cast with Blogging, Twitter, and Search Engine Optimization coming in as the top 3 tactics.

Here are the top 10 (out of 45):

• Blogging (34%)
• Microblogging (Twitter) (29%)
• Search engine optimization (28%)
• Social network participation (Facebook, LinkedIn) (26%)
• Email marketing (17%)
• Social media monitoring & outreach (17%)
• Pay per click (14%)
• Blogger relations (12%)
• Video marketing (10%)
• Social media advertising (7%)

Lee offers that if you don't have a Social Media strategy or road map in place now, you'll most likely fall behind in Q3 or Q4. He also suggests that digital marketing tactics should match the needs of the situation, company resources, the target market and end consumer preferences.

Labels: digital marketing, SEO, social media

Monday, April 13, 2009

DMers are liars, thieves and tree-haters

At least that’s the message SNL portrayed in their parody on direct mail this past weekend. I always like a good spoof but the problem here is that when you’re spoofing on a subject that the average consumer knows little about, there’s no telling the difference between fact and fiction.

Personal information, identity theft, deforestation - even the made up name, “The Alliance for Direct Marketing” seemed believable. Wrong, but believable.

What I was most upset about was the reference to the type of sensitive information they speculated we, as DMers, use. And the lack of security checks between transactions.

Let’s hope most of America had already gone to bed before this skit was aired.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Coincidence? I think not.

I watched a program called Children of the Mountain on ABC’s 20/20 at the beginning of March. I was so overwhelmed by how little these people live with everyday that I felt compelled to do something. So, I sent an email out to the office saying that if you are doing a little spring cleaning in your closets consider donating them to a clothing drive RMI is sponsoring for our client Christian Appalachian Project. I figured we could get a box or two of clothes to send to their offices.

Well… the response has been tremendous. The RMI staff, and a few friends Martin notified of our drive, collected over 20 giant boxes of adult and children’s clothing. That is over 2 pallets worth of goods to be transported.

While we considered our options for shipping such a sizable donation to CAP, Tally came across a story on MSNBC about a mom in Old Greenwich, Amy Guerrieri, who was inspired by the same program and created a partnership with CAP to distribute supplies.

What are the chances? Amy and her husband Rob’s company, Rockin Water happened to be planning a May delivery and was gracious enough to take our donation in their next shipment.

A big thanks goes out to the RMI Staff, and Martin’s friends: Pam Lucchesi, Karen Mullen, Lori Ylagan and Kristen Briody for their contributions to our clothing drive.

Check out Amy and Rob’s company website to find out more about their amazing product, and what they’re doing to help people in Appalachia.

Labels: client, nonprofit

Jesus on Twitter

Here's a new one. For three hours, beginning at noon today, Wall Street's Trinity Church is using Twitter to perform Passion of Christ. @_JesusChrist, @Mary_Mother_Of, they're all there. You can follow the play here: http://twitter.com/twspassionplay

Apparently, Trinity is one hip church and has been webcasting events, services and concerts for about a decade. And if nothing else, today's Twitter performance has been a great move by the church to generate some wide-spread PR.

Labels: Twitter

Friday, April 3, 2009

Is it summer yet?

You would think it must be based on the number of people who went running into Lake Mahopac last weekend. Unfortunately, the water was a tad colder then one would hope, but the cause was far greater then just a refreshing dip. About 250 divers, jumpers, walkers, took to the frigid waters in a showing of solidarity in their fight against Cystic Fibrosis.

Yes, March 28th, was the date for this years Freezin for a Reason. The 8th year of the local event, to raise money for research for Cystic Fibrosis, was held in Mahopac. I participated for the second year, and although my outfit was toned down a bit this year, from last, my enthusiasm certainly was not.

The event is coordinated & planned by the Stack family and some phenomenally dedicated volunteers, who work tirelessly to raise money that will find a cure for this horrible disease. The actual jump only lasts for about a minute, but the effects can be felt by many for a lifetime.

CFF is a long time client of RMI’s, and a wonderful organization who makes sure that 90 cents of every dollar that is raised goes directly to research. New developments are being made every day. It is rewarding to know that in some little way we are helping to provide more birthdays for children in our and other communities.

I am happy to report that monies in excess of $75,000 were raised this year. The jump was followed by a reception at the Mahopac Golf Course.

Labels: employees, fundraising, nonprofit

Thursday, April 2, 2009

YouTube overlay raises $10,000 for nonprofit in one day

This is great news for nonprofits. YouTube has released a new "Call to Action overlay", available to all fundraisers who are registered on the site as a nonprofit. (If your organization hasn't already, you can apply for free here).

The overlay is a way for nonprofits to add a translucent footer to their video which prompts viewers to contribute with a link to the donation site. This past Sunday, a video for charity:water was overlayed and promoted on YouTube's homepage - resulting in over $10,000 raised.

Thanks to Darryl at Brandflakes for pointing this out.

Labels: fundraising, nonprofit

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

RMI adds videos to 90 datacards on NextMark

If you know RMI, we've always been on the cutting edge of video marketing - not to toot our own horns - but we've had some great success with it. And today, we're on a mission to take our initiatives a step further.

In a press release and blog entry posted by NextMark this week, the company announced the addition of a new platform to host videos on its datacards, along with RMI's comments and level of involvement.

"To the brokers' advantage, datacard videos provide an additional stream of information on demand. Determining factors such as limited time offers, mail packages and seasons, and market penetration will aid in the research and selection process," noted Becky Terhaar, Marketing Director at RMI. "From a client's perspective, this is an excellent opportunity for our sales force to connect with brokers during the peak of their interest - increasing the likelihood that the list will be included in a recommendation."

You can check out some of the videos produced here on NextMark's free search site, which simulate one-on-one presentations with the account manager: Easter Seals, Guideposts, Time Inc Corporate Database, VFW Non-Member Donors*, Active and Affluent American Political Donors, Alaska Sportsmen Anglers and Hunters.

*The VFW Member List is not available.

Labels: datacard, video

Nonprofits feel the economic pinch too

In an article published by The Non Profit Times reporting from the AFC in New Orleans, we learn that, not surprisingly, nonprofits had a terrible year in 2008. Not only compared with 2007 but since 2000/2001.

The number one culprit: the economy. And it was not just felt in one area of giving but in all channels. Major gifts, annuities, online, offline and direct mail all saw a drop off. Is anyone surprised at this?

What we are seeing is a decline in the quantities of names to be mailed. Mailers are mailing less due to greater postage costs. Yielding fewer new names for others to rent or exchange profitably. The fewer the profitable names to mail, the smaller the mailings.

Time for the broken record... role back the postage rates.

Labels: fundraising, nonprofit

Follow up to e-mail fraud post

Ken McGill's article further highlights the pitfalls of e-commerce. 2008 showed a great increase in fraud and fraud related issues of the Internet over 2007.

My opinion... the Internet, as it is now, is one of the most useful tools ever developed. But that does not mean that it automatically translates into a great selling vehicle. We see the obvious problems. Even traditional DMers find it hard to monetize there own housefiles using the Internet.

Let's face it, the Internet is a great way to stay in touch with your customer and its great to get information into their hands lightning fast, but people are still wary about identity theft and scammers. Until we come up with a more secure method of assuring the consumer that we can safeguard their personal property maybe we should keep email to an added value and return to the good-old, traditional MOB's.

Labels: e-commerce