Direct Marketing articles from May 1997

Direct Marketing archives from May 1997

AOL likely bidder for Compuserve. (America Online; Compuserve Corp.)
May 1, 1997... Compuserve Corporation has acknowledged reports that it is in talks to be acquired. Observers close to the company say the most likely buyer is America Online (AOL), although both companies will not disclose any details as of press time. H&R...

Benefits and advantages. (catalog marketing)(How to Reap Profits and Avoid Pitfalls When a Catalog Is Only Part of Your Business, part 1)(Cover Story)
May 1, 1997... Each year, scores of businesses "add on" a catalog to their existing sales channels, joining the thousands of other U.S. businesses who are already enjoying the many rewards of this special type of direct marketing. Your core business is...

Targeting and reaching the right customers more effectively.(Special Report: Annual Computer Software Guide)
May 1, 1997... The Annual Computer Software Guide, a two-part series, focuses on advances in programs for direct response advertisers. Part one covers Business Management Systems, Desktop Publishing, Order Fulfillment, Interactive Programs, List/Database...

Which direct mail piece pulled best? (a planned, multi-phased testing program)
May 1, 1997... A planned, iterative, multi-phased testing program will reveal a great deal about what your potential prospects are interested in, and more importantly, what they respond to. A few years ago I had the idea of putting together a book on Which DM...

Yellow Pages copy: fighting the cliches. (Yellow Pages advertising)
May 1, 1997... No, you can't make an outright aggressive comparative claim of superiority. But you can rise above the no sell boiler-plate copy Yellow Pages representatives will too often try to foist on you. Remember where you are: In a totally competitive...

AARP: slaying the mail-order insurance dragon. (American Assn. of Retired Persons)
May 1, 1997... Far from being wanton swashbucklers of the mailways, AARP appears almost maidenly in its mail-order modesty. All I seem to get are insurance offers, about once a month. Two years ago, when I joined the American Association of Retired Persons...

O.K. You've decided to buy. What comes next? (customer satisfaction)
May 1, 1997... "Customer satisfaction" is the new, improved and best selling phrase today. Service is what you do to cars. Satisfaction is what you do to people. "How many in the room today are salespeople?" This is a tried and tested opening of...

Database marketing: fad, fantasy or reality?
May 1, 1997... True database marketing programs must balance both high-tech systems with creative innovation to produce the level of breakthrough results promised by the latest database marketing technologies. Everyone thinks they are doing database...

Direct response through "direct public relations."
May 1, 1997... The key to a successful public relations campaign is producing carefully defined objectives and a likelihood for a strong, favorable response. Someone once joked, "Without public relations, the Easter Bunny is just another rodent." That...

Please! Let me buy your product!: boosting response by removing the barriers to buying.
May 1, 1997... What I am suggesting is a reversal of our typically aggressive thinking that casts us as the hunter and our prospects as the prey. Instead, remove the barriers to buying and allow people to follow their natural inclination to make purchases....

Beyond personalization: when handwriting makes a difference.
May 1, 1997... While individual package costs increased due to the highly personalized nature of the package, the higher cost was much more than offset by significant response. The Union Gospel Mission of Seattle (UGM) is one of America's premier urban...

Star Wars comes to direct marketing. (data warehouse concept in direct marketing)
May 1, 1997... Soon, adept users of technology will be targeting just the right customers rather than extensive lists of "possibly" right customers. The recent New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA) annual conference was ostensibly devoted to...

Keep the privacy debate in context.
May 1, 1997... Whenever you read an article on privacy, always ask yourself: Is the speaker/writer trying to distinguish the past from the present with some contrast out of context? Last year I wrote "The 25-Year Privacy Debate Has An Institutional Memory.'"...