Direct Marketing articles from October 1996

Direct Marketing archives from October 1996

8 strategies for cost savings and efficiencies. (catalog mailing)
October 1, 1996... Few catalogers have reaped the high levels of response and cost savings promised by better targeting. We've all heard about "mailing smarter." So why aren't we seeing smarter results? So far, few catalogers have reaped the high levels of...

"Infomercial King" Mike Levey discusses success secrets. (founder and board chairman of Positive Response Television)
October 1, 1996... Almost from the beginning, Mike Levey and his team have held a different philosophy about how to do direct response; specifically the infomercial. "The writers and creative people here know we have a real responsibility to the viewer if they...

Where are the champions? (database marketing)
October 1, 1996... What stops organizations from successfully implementing database marketing - and being more effective in its use? "Good advertising is a fight. And Round One starts with the client." This somewhat pugnacious why of stating the obvious was...

Creative continuity brings results. (the visual identity system marketing program developed for the Church Extension Plan in 1993)
October 1, 1996... In direct marketing a number of design elements can be used as part of the message to entice the reader to see and respond to the message. Design in all of its forms is an integral part of all of our lives. Yet many of us are not conscious of...

Customer base management: leverage telemarketing and call center environment.
October 1, 1996... Organizations now have the ability to track and retain extensive customer data and micro-segment the market through the use of new technologies. There is a dramatic evolution that is occurring in today's business environment. It's so radical...

"Tell me what you want and the answer is 'Yes.'" (managing customer service)
October 1, 1996... An unhappy customer can be turned around if you listen to them first and then do whatever they want in order to rectify the situation. In the past ten years, I've stayed in about 500 hotel rooms around the U.S. and internationally. I always...

How I created one of America's greatest direct mail businesses. (founder, Chmn. and CEO of Lillian Vernon Corp. Lillian Vernon)(excerpt from the book 'An Eye for Winners')
October 1, 1996... The following is an excerpt from Lillian Vernon's new book An Eye For Winners. My early experience convinced me that finding the right catalog merchandise is the key to all mail-order businesses. If your merchandise meets the needs of the...

How to market and sell in a cyberworld.
October 1, 1996... The fact that today there's no place to go may express the far-reaching impact of technology on business. Place is past. The fact that today there's no place to go may express the far-reaching impact of technology on business. The eradication...

New choices for familiar lists.
October 1, 1996... The bulk of a compiler's time is spent researching information, creating new files by matching or enhancing with other sources, and updating. During a recent visit to the Museum of New York, I came across a handwritten directory of nineteenth...

99 easy ways to pump up the pulling power of your direct mail package. (part 2)
October 1, 1996... The first part of this article can be found in Direct Marketing's September, 1996 issue. As a copywriter and direct marketing creative consultant, I'm always looking for ways to help my clients succeed. Of course, lists and offers come first,...

East meets west: uncovering the Asian market in America.(Cover Story)
October 1, 1996... Sensitive to the cultural changes defining America, many marketers are finding new ways to speak the Asian American's "language." As we approach the 21st century the complexion of America's consumers continue to change. The African American...

Roots and hoots: genealogy as a mail-order art.
October 1, 1996... Mail order has forever excelled in selling the invisible to the unknown. Not only does my family lack a coat of arms, I suspect that my grandparents didn't even have coats when they escaped the pogrom-ridden shtetls of Eastern Europe and made...

Database maintenance planning: house-breaking the monster. (part 3)
October 1, 1996... To most multi-business corporations, integration of any major business activity or anything that attempts to change a once successful way of doing business, will be seen as a monster. This article is part three of a series on database...

I'm glad I'm involved in direct marketing ... and here's why!
October 1, 1996... The gap between conventional advertising and direct marketing seems to be widening. More and more ads defy both logic and the concept of perceptive marketing, replacing them with a nasty cult: "That which is different = that which is effective."...

A non-commodity approach in a commodity industry. (telemarketing)
October 1, 1996... DialAmerica Marketing has established itself as one of telemarketing's premier service agencies by taking a value-added approach to what is generally considered a commodity. Mention the word commodity and most people immediately think of...

For interactive action, just slip me a disk. (the usage of diskette in interactive marketing)
October 1, 1996... Despite far greater capabilities of CD-Rom and the Internet, the diskette continues to serve the basic needs of many interactive marketers. In this series of articles we look at the way new technologies are overcoming practical database and...

Direct marketing legislative review.
October 1, 1996... The final hearing on legislative reform of the Postal Service was taken September 25, 1996. The bill, H.R. 3717, the Postal Reform Act of 1996, is very lengthy and contains 10 titles which I will try to overview for you without being too lengthy...

Quality of legal infrastructure is a key indicator of economic potential. (part 1)
October 1, 1996... The former third world (now "emerging markets") rarely has sustainable breakthroughs. For all its material wealth, Russia won't make a go of it either until it convinces the world it has a system which will support the effectuation of...