Direct Marketing articles from February 1998

Direct Marketing archives from February 1998

Privacy takes another hit. (incompetence of law enforcement and violations of privacy)(Editorial)
February 1, 1998... It was the Sunday after New Years and during dinner "Dateline" came on TV. The topic was the sale of body armor through the mail. My ears perked up quickly. (Body armor is the protective gear the police use to protect themselves against gunfire.)...

The DMA urges FCC to give toll-free marketers pay-phone relief. (compensation fee for pay-phone service providers disputed by Direct Marketing Assn)
February 1, 1998... The DMA has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reconsider its imposition of a 28.4-cents-per-call compensation fee paid to pay-phone operators for calls placed to toll-free numbers. The new fee is tied to the implementation...

The future of loyalty marketing in the supermarket industry, part 1. (assessment of electronic discount and frequent buyer programs)
February 1, 1998... Supermarkets hope to gain crucial information about their customers' purchase habits and increase profits by smart marketing and reward programs. The supermarket industry is in a marketing transition. This transition to database marketing...

10 ways to joggle you out of your direct marketing doldrums.
February 1, 1998... If you let a campaign go on too long without changing it, customers may start to "glaze over" when they see that old familiar package arrive in the mail. Here are 10 ways to shake things up and increase response rates. Has your direct...

Delusions of loyalty: where loyalty programs go wrong.
February 1, 1998... Alan Rosenspan is fiercely loyal to his friends, his family, his country and his clients. However, he shamelessly takes advantage of every available loyally program and switches when a better one comes along. He may be more like your customers...

The myth of database marketing. (future of database marketing)
February 1, 1998... The only thing the U.S. News & World Report's article gets right is that direct mail is big and getting bigger, and that privacy is a compelling issue. Other than that, it's a wonderful gloss to the hyperbole and self-delusions that infest the...

How Gabriala's blows their horn with direct mail.
February 1, 1998... I first wrote about this business in this space four years ago. Today's column updates his tremendous growth and success since then because of direct mail. Okay. Here is the scenario: You want to be a retailer on the main street of your...

Four sure-fire ways to ensure your direct mail doesn't work.
February 1, 1998... You would not build a house without a foundation, would you? So why would you design a direct mail campaign without a strategy? It really is the foundation for your program. Face it, no one starts a direct mail project with failure in mind....

Direct marketing - a new strategy in the sports industry. (Rice University in Houston, TX, combines telemarketing and direct mail strategy)
February 1, 1998... The sports industry generally has been a poor and light user of direct marketing. Direct is a rare thought - and most often a back-seat thought at that. A long time ago I met Pam Lockard. Pam is based in Houston, TX. Her "agency" - Direct...

Sight, sound and selling: the power of customized video.
February 1, 1998... Since customized videos are only sent to prospects and customers who have already expressed interest in your company's products or services, both the response rate and conversion rate increase dramatically. The challenge for most marketers is...

"Poor-mouth" direct mail brochure nets $3.5 million in contributions. (Young and Laramore does brochures and handouts for WFYI in Indianapolis)
February 1, 1998... Collateral's duct tape construction and copious red ink unflinchingly reveal that WFYI could use the money. Outpacing all internal projections, a pair of startlingly graphic support pieces created by advertising agency Young & Laramore for...

Four critical steps. (steps to realizing your creative potential)(Achieving Creativity, part 1)
February 1, 1998... (Part One Of A Series) To sit around and think up ideas, no matter how earth shattering, and not act on them is not creativity. If you do not act on such thoughts, your creativity dies. Defining creativity in all its subtlety is an...

The rule of social proof "Everyone is doing it. I'll do it, too."(How to Trigger the "Yes" Response, part 3)
February 1, 1998... All of us look to others to help us decide how to act, to guide our behavior, to determine whether something is right or wrong. The more people doing it, the more correct it seems I am not a big sports fan. However, my wife decided to invite...

The Yellow Pages delivers through the Direct Delivery Network.
February 1, 1998... Direct Delivery Network piggy-backs on the reputation of the Yellow Pages as one of the most trusted sources of business information and advertising. If they can fit it in a package roughly the size of a phone book, advertisers now can get...

Automating the marketing environment & transforming data into insight: the data warehouse and database marketing datamart. (includes related article on database marketing)
February 1, 1998... Unfortunately, even with the extreme level of interest in customer relationship marketing programs (CRM), there is a low level of understanding of the components, the costs, and the expected return on investment; subsequently there is little...

Write to sell. (steps in the selling process)
February 1, 1998... The other day I was talking to my friend, Joan-e, who owns a small advertising agency. She was excited about a conversation she had had with one of her clients. The client had received a piece of mail she thought was unusual. In fact, it was so...

The Fourth Wave. (socioeconomic implications of Internet use)
February 1, 1998... The trade press is agog over the Internet - only the most marketing friendly device of the larger information revolution. The Internet will greatly extend direct, targeted relationship marketing. It will finally end the debate over privacy that...

E-mail overload. (barring unsolicited e-mail)(Editorial)
February 1, 1998... The direct marketing community needs to take action to curb the flow of unsolicited e-mail on the Internet. No, let's not lobby to outlaw unsolicited mail. Let's find a way to make it very expensive to violate some carefully crafted rules....