Direct Marketing Association

At the recent Young Professional Day hosted by the Direct Marketing Association’s Catalog and Multichannel Council in New York City, former longtime list broker at Mokrynskidirect and current professor of marketing in New York University’s graduate program in direct and interactive marketing Steve Tamke covered a broad array of catalog-related topics. Stressing the most successful direct marketing companies are the ones that use the techniques that set direct marketing apart — taking advantage of interactive one-to-one communication, generating a measurable response, using one or more databases for customer acquisition and retention, and making use of a variety of media — he provided ways to

When general merchandise cataloger Fingerhut was re-formed in December 2002 after being liquidated earlier that year by former owner Federated Department Stores (now Macy’s), the company’s foundation was its legacy file of customers who were active with the company prior to its closing. Over time, however, as the company grew to more than $300 million in sales as of the end of 2006, Fingerhut had to replenish those names with new ones. Realizing its housefile would dry up fairly quickly, over the next few years Fingerhut actively prospected building predictive models off its legacy file. “Fingerhut had a wealth of information available on

During a presentation of his firm’s new B-to-B co-op database, LexBase, at last week’s Direct Marketing Association (DMA) 2007 Conference in Chicago, Edith Roman Associates President Stevan Roberts presented a case study involving a 20-year-old (unnamed) cataloger that mailed 10 million catalogs per year and was looking to mail companies with more than 250 employees. “We took records from its file and matched them against our e-mail database,” Roberts explained. As a result, he claimed the cataloger increased orders by 26 percent within the first year. The cataloger sought out LexBase, which has been operational but not fully rolled out to all B-to-B

In a session held during the DMA07 Conference last week in Chicago, copywriting expert Herschell Gordon Lewis encouraged attendees to focus on more active, more modern-day word and phrase choices in writing catalog and direct marketing copy. In a session that carried an anti-“this is the way we’ve always done this” mantra, he punched out the following points. First, he reeled off several passive words he urged copywriters to replace with more active, and sometimes more contemporary, words: * commence (replace with begin or start); * utilize (use); * receive (get); * large (big); * circular (round); * donate (give); * fortunate (lucky); *

Dick Goldsmith of The Horah Group says that 81 percent of consumers like getting the mail, according to U.S. Postal Service figures. “They’re not all going to opt out of getting it,” he said. But he cautioned that he once bought his daughter something from J.Crew and continues to get a J.Crew catalog every week, “which is a waste.” He discussed the momentum of the “do-not-mail” movement during last week’s DMA07 Conference in Chicago. And you can hear the podcast interview (http://www.catalogsuccess.com/download?sid=80440) with Goldsmith and Meta Brophy from Consumers Union, as well as other on-the-scenes commentary by findiing our exclusive Best of DMA07 coverage

I’ve always been pretty good at networking, but I have never been a big schmoozer — I’m kind of a straight-to-the-point person and not big on small talk.
I had the opportunity to hone my networking skills a few years back working for Under the Canopy, then a start-up apparel cataloger that sold fashion-forward clothing made of organic fibers. The CEO of the company is one of those natural-born brand evangelists who is amazing at networking, creating contacts, getting press for her company and having its products featured in magazines. I learned a lot from her in my time there.
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For as long as I can remember, legislation that would either lead to a law similar to the “do-not-call” law or that would require mailers to get consumers’ approval before sending them catalogs has been like one of those disasters you only see in the movies or TV. It could never happen in real life, no way. There often have been flashes of “do-not-mail” bill proposals, but nothing has ever become of it. Such a law is one of the biggest reasons American catalogers don’t try to mail in countries like Italy and parts of China, both of which specifically require prior consent

Increased multichannel sales and catalog circulation highlighted the findings of a recent Direct Marketing Association report, Multichannel Marketing in the Catalog Industry. Focusing on 2006, the report, based on surveys completed online by 474 catalog marketers, revealed that successful multichannel marketers have consistent and integrated standards across all channels — catalog, retail and e-commerce. Here’s the report’s findings: * Nearly 70 percent of respondents reported increased multichannel sales over 2005; * 59 percent reported increased catalog circulation in 2006; * Of respondents who have catalogs, 44 percent of their total sales came from the Web (vs. mail and telephone), up from 39 percent in

The Direct Marketing Association last week kept up its aggressive scrutiny of states-led use tax collection efforts by opposing the new “Alternative Sourcing Proposal” issued by the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. Finding the proposal a “complex, tiered taxing protocol that would further complicate interstate commerce for businesses and customers,” the DMA protested the proposal in a letter to the board’s Executive Director Scott Peterson. The principal objective of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project “was to achieve simplicity, consistency, and greater uniformity in the administration of state sales and use tax laws,” said Steven K. Berry, DMA’s executive vice president for government affairs and

A recent Direct Marketing Association (DMA) survey on multichannel marketing in the catalog industry shows that all catalogers use both their catalogs and Web sites to generate sales. Nearly nine out of 10 also use e-mails to reach customers. E-mail provides them with an easy method for order confirmation, shipping notices and customer service follow-up. But are you sure your e-mails are making it into customers’ inboxes? Is your brand protected from criminals who send fake e-mails in your name and use your company’s good reputation to defraud consumers? Strides Made, But Problems Persist While enormous strides have been made in recent years to combat the