Category: Creative

By Alan Rosenspan, President, Alan Rosenspan & Associates Remember how much direct mail you used to receive? How much time it took you to sort through it, see what was interesting or relevant, and select the envelopes you wanted to open? Not anymore. Direct mail volume is down significantly in the last quarter of 2008,…

By Rick Rover, senior vp of operations, Streamlite When customers open their holiday purchases this year, most won’t think about the supply chains that produced and delivered their gifts. But, those of us in logistics know that the impact of efficient product flow and management–from manufacturing to delivery–is more important than ever during the holiday…

By Karen J. Bannan, freelance writer & editor List hygiene has been a concern as long as email marketing has been around, and the basics are just that–basic. Opt-outs and opt-ins should be processed quickly, while internal lists should be synchronized so you don’t miss anyone and risk a spam complaint. Inactive addresses or those…

Andy Cutler, chief strategy officer, Mercury121 In the early days of Web marketing, the promise of the new channel’s potential was over-the-top. In fact, many optimists argued that, in the future, the Web and e-mail were going to make direct mail obsolete.  A funny thing happened on the way to the Web. Not surprisingly, the…

By Jeffrey Dobkin, marketing consultant, author, and professional speaker Here’s why I like postcard marketing campaigns: Short, crisp, and to the point, direct mail postcards are one of the fastest and lowest cost ways to make your phone ring. Postcards are not necessarily a good marketing campaign for the straight-up, out-and-out closing of a sale,…

By Susan Plonkey, VP of Sales, USPS® As marketing budgets improve, now is the time to add mail to the mix. The nation’s economy continues to gain strength, and we’re seeing marketing budgets start to rebound. That’s good news for us all. As you plan where to allocate these increased dollars, don’t overlook direct mail.…

By Craig Huey, president of Creative Direct Marketing Group They arrive in the mail and, because of their large bulk, always stand out. A card deck is a package of individual cards wrapped together and mailed to either a business or consumer. These decks vary in quantity, often containing up to 60 cards or more,…

By Joe Pulizzi, founder of Junta42 & Content Marketing Institute Print can still play an important role in your overall content marketing mix. Okay…there, I said it. You’ll find no greater supporter of online content marketing than me, but marketers and agencies are talking up print for 2011. Yes, in the era of iPads and…

By Dean Rieck, direct mail copywriter Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra is a 15-time All Star. He won the American League Most Valuable Player award three times, played in 14 World Series, and set a number of baseball records–any one of which would assure a lifetime of fame and fortune for most people.  But, what is…

By Dean Rieck, direct mail copywriter “Why do you cook with the oven door cracked open?” It seemed like a logical thing to ask, but my wife gave me one of those “that’s a stupid question” looks, as if I was wondering why she breathes or shops. “Because, that’s the way I’ve always done it,…