It’s a problem that every marketing manager faces: How to make your housefile more effective. For catalogers, your housefile is the air you breathe. If its quality is not properly maintained, your profits could decline as a result. Some leading authorities offer tips to freshen up your list and keep it working at an optimal level. 1. Know How Often to Mail to Your List This may not seem to have much to do with the quality of your list, but it all starts here. If you’re not mailing often enough, even the best list in the world won’t bring maximum profit.
Jason Van Steenburgh
Cool design and real-life models keep the Journeys catalog on the cutting-edge of teen fashion Taking a cue from MTV, the networks are filling their schedules with reality-based TV, especially after the success of “Survivor.” It’s easy. You don’t have to pay actors, write scripts or spend for big-time special effects. Just turn on the cameras. Viewers seem to have great interest in seeing real people in front of the lens. And one company has taken that ball and run with it into the catalog space. Officials at Journeys, a retail chain with more than 400 locations, launched their catalog during the 2000 holiday
Some companies are so effectively branded that to say their names is to speak of quality in the minds of many consumers. Mercedes, Armani, and Rolex are a few. Bose is another. For buyers of audio equipment, the name virtually guarantees top sound quality. According to catalog consultant Tony Cox, Bose’s brand may be one reason so many catalogs are prominently featuring the audio-equipment manufacturer’s Wave CD player. Says Cox, “Catalogers ride on the fact that Bose is a branded product with a great reputation.” Buying audio equipment without hearing it is similar to buying a car without driving it: You’d better have
While catalogs are worth more than the paper they’re printed on, there remains a continuous drive among catalogers, especially in this day of rising postal rates, to decrease paper costs. Indeed, reducing the basis weight is an easy way to shave hundreds of thousands of dollars off a catalog’s bottom line, says Jean O. Giesmann, vice president of creative services at Plow & Hearth. But as with any change in the look and feel of your catalog, changing paper is not something to be undertaken lightly. Following are some of the factors and their possible consequences to consider. Why Change? Two independent
