A B2B marketer asks: How do you prevent factory mail rooms from blocking your mail?
Good question. It still happens despite the decline in paper mail volume. We consulted our mystery guru, and he offered this suggestion: Make sure you have titles on your direct mail list.
“Corporations may have anywhere from 30 to 100 or more separate and distinct departments, each one with a head bearing a title,” he noted. Read the rest of this entry »
Claude Marada gave an unusual answer when asked to name his most important mentor. It wasn’t someone in the marketing business—it was his father Claude Sr., a printer by trade.
What has he learned from his dad? “His work ethic,” Claude says. “He’s one of the hardest-working guys I’ve ever seen in my life.”
That lesson has served Claude well as a senior account manager for Edith Roman-ePostDirect’s list management team. Whatever it takes, he always goes the extra mile for his clients. Read the rest of this entry »
Michael Castello
Michael also helps clients solve their creative challenges. For example, one firm was getting declining direct mail response rates but doing well on conversions. Michael asked to see the piece, and found that, among other things, the offer wasn’t highlighted enough.
“The following mailing they received one of their highest response rates,” he says.
He also helps with copy.
“People tend not to read things that have a lot of verbiage on them—they scan for the high points,” Michael says. “That’s what I look for. If there are eight bullet points, I suggest that they cut it down to three main ones.” Read the rest of this entry »
The news just gets worse about direct mail. The Direct Marketing Association has revised its forecast that volume would fall by 1% this year, and is now predicting a 10% decline, according to an article in Brandweek. Read the rest of this entry »
Try this exercise—if you can stand it. List the top ten items in your marketing spend, then rank them in order of effectiveness. Are the lists the same? Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Chef Uniforms, the catalog that sells everything a professional chef could want, has awarded management of its buyers list to Edith Roman Associates. We’ve also been named as list broker. 
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Engineers are the designers, creators, builders and inventors of daily life from the smallest microchip to the largest skyscraper. There are many types of engineers: aerospace/aviation, automotive, civil, design, development, mechanical, and electrical-to name a few-and they work across all industries.
When you target engineering and electronics professionals, you can be sure you’re reaching respected decision-makers who control much of the spending for their departments and organizations. This sector has traditionally responded extremely well to direct marketing offers, and spending has remained strong during times of economic instability. Read the rest of this entry »
Want to reach a market that is sure to grow over the next five years? Target the government. Now is an excellent time, especially with the passage of the Government Stimulus Package, to be the first to reach key contacts within the federal, state and local governments responsible for most purchasing decisions. President Obama’s stimulus plan contains $120 billion that is being allocated to “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects, for such things as transportation, road-building, improving the power grid and renewable energy installations.* According to senior White House aide David Axelrod, 75% of what has been appropriated will spend out in the first 18 months after the bill is signed. That’s in addition to the $5,552.42 billion already slated for this year’s budget. Read the rest of this entry »