Direct Marketing articles from September 1998

Direct Marketing archives from September 1998

The park of the future. (DM41)
September 1, 1998... DM41 has a nice ring to it, don't you think? DM41 is big, big news. A real estate operation is going to bring together the entire industry in France. Direct mail companies, catalog publishers, home shopping channels, Internet shopping sites,...

Report on sweepstakes fraud causes backlash. (The New York Times article on fraud in the direct mail sweepstakes industry)
September 1, 1998... A report in the July 28th edition of The New York Times focused on fraud in the direct mail sweepstakes industry. The article, the first of a two-part series written by Douglas Frantz, concentrated on elderly citizens who are misled by...

Internet industry finds no solution to stop spam. (unwanted commercial e-mail)
September 1, 1998... Federal regulators and lawmakers from both parties warned companies that are doing business on the Internet to better protect the privacy of consumers soon or face new regulation. With surveys showing many Web sites collecting personal data...

DMA leads group opposing new proposal. (Direct Marketing Association)
September 1, 1998... The DMA is leading a broad coalition, which includes mail order marketers, postal labor organizations, and trade groups that rely on direct marketing, to call on members of the U.S. House of Representatives to reject a proposal that it says would...

The 10 worst mistakes in direct mail.
September 1, 1998... I made all these mistakes, so... you don't have to! Yes, I made plenty more, too. You can learn from my mistakes - and increase your chances of success. It's just as easy to succeed as anything else - so follow these few simple guidelines of...

The annual "monster" mail order guide. (1997 Guide to the U.S. Mail Order Sales)(Cover Story)
September 1, 1998... The Guide to U.S. Mail Order Sales is an annual study of the overall U.S. mail order business with broad coverage of all major demand and supply segments. As part of the overall Marketing Logistics Mail Order Marketing Management Library, the...

Great letters and why they work: "All about me? That's my favorite subject!"
September 1, 1998... The direct marketing business has a long and cherished history of using little white lies to make sales. But if a business finds that they cannot sell their wares in any other way but through sleights of hand, perhaps it should re-examine and...

The Internet: the ultimate relationship marketing tool.
September 1, 1998... Today, the Internet is giving direct marketers the opportunity to sell by understanding the needs of their customers, and by giving them the ability to customize orders and build personal relationships. When I talk to my friends in the Midwest...

Making marketing work.
September 1, 1998... The development and implementation of a marketing program are often lost amid daily business activity. While marketing may be second-nature in large companies, smaller firms tend to have a tough time implementing, managing and monitoring an...

What retailers learned at (Supermarket) College. (supermarket advertising, marketing and promotion)
September 1, 1998... Satisfying customers is not enough. You have to "delight" them. "All you have to do to be successful is find a niche and fill it." - Napoleon Hill, speaker, writer, motivator. America's biggest business is food. More than $400 billion is...

Negative option and mistaken identity. (review of mailings from Columbia House and baby products and services)
September 1, 1998... A review of mailings from Columbia House and baby products and services. Venerable mail-order giant Columbia House appears not only to have bitten the bullet, but swallowed it whole and digested it, based on a recent mailing that proclaims the...

Do you still accept cash here? (new business tools for the retail industry)
September 1, 1998... In this era of hypercompetition, some powerful new business tools for the retail industry are emerging - things like electronic commerce, data mining and electronic bill payments. When Satchell Paige gave his famous advice - "Don't look back,...

IT are from Mars, and marketing are from Venus. (information technology; database marketers)
September 1, 1998... For database marketers, these should be days of wine and roses. And yet, reality does not seem to be living up to all of this hype and promise. In a post-Jungian, post-Sexual Revolutionary Age, it would seem that all the tools for personal...

A significant part of the new marketing convergence. (direct response TV)
September 1, 1998... DRTV is an immediate help as a strategic component to many short- and long-term marketing strategies. Surely, all of us have seen our share of direct response television (DRTV) advertising. Whether we were "slicing and dicing," "clapping on...

What I learned at my seminars.
September 1, 1998... I learn something every time I give a seminar. In fact, it is one of the best ways l know to keep current on new techniques as well as what's working in direct marketing. Whew! They're finally over. In the past three months, I've done six...

Integrating telemarketing into your campaign.
September 1, 1998... Can you still make telemarketing work, even if you are not a full-scale telemarketing operation? Telemarketing in the '90s has become big business. Literally big business. Call centers the size of football fields have sprung up around the...

Before & after: ads made better.(Column)
September 1, 1998... In 1996, I wrote an article for Direct Marketing magazine that included this "Before and After" catalog copy for a doorstop: BEFORE: Adorable Brass Frog doorstop. This antique-looking brass frog will hold open any door in your home. His front...

Master your marketing with a clear, creative strategy.
September 1, 1998... A creative strategy is not your marketing plan. It's the part of that plan that directs all communications. How can you be sure your advertising, promotions, and PR are repeatedly on target? How can you be sure your message is consistent in...