Posté par admin le September 1, 2009 – 1:47 pm
Soup, sand, and rancid cheese: The craziest direct mail test in history
via directcreative.com The idea was simple: mail a bunch of silly, outrageous objects and see what gets delivered and what doesn’t. What kind of objects? One was a can of Progresso Classics Split Pea Soup with an address label on the side. That one didn’t make it.
How Green Is My Media?
via printceo.com First of all, we need to disabuse ourselves of the notion that pixels are somehow pure and and holy and that that paper is the spawn of Satan. (Although some mills do have a grade they refer to as Satan Uncoated, used for printing really evil documents like insurance forms and Ayn Rand novels.)
It’s cool to be uncool on Facebook
via blogs.forrester.com Health insurance isn’t cool, government agencies aren’t hip and medical equipment isn’t very social. However, many companies that pedal these products and services work with me on a regular basis to understand how they can make social media work for their marketing needs.
Posté par admin le March 30, 2009 – 11:41 am
Video In Email
via thedirectmarketingvoice.com I was reading this fantastic post over at email-marketing-reports.com, about using video in email marketing. I was under the impression that email marketing is not really ready for embedded video, and the post corroborates what I thought, but the post reminded me that there are other ways to get video into emails, and very good reasons for doing it.
Why You Should Never Rely on Intuition to Assess Your Campaigns
via www.delivermagazine.com DELIVER: Why do you think so many marketers remain reluctant to embrace real measurements for their campaigns? CUNO: One reason is the thing we call denial. It’s very human of us. Think how many parents prefer to think their kids aren’t using drugs, no matter where the truth actually lies.
Banks increase direct marketing to customers – DMNews
via www.dmnews.com Although the bulk of banks’ direct marketing spend is still devoted to acquiring new customers, banks are paying more attention to existing customers via direct mail and e-mail, according to a new report from Mintel Comperemedia.
The Direct Mail Blog: Working out What Promotional Action to Do
via theaddressers.typepad.com You know one thing about these promotional materials – THEY DID NOT DRIVE BUSINESS AWAY. The period of increased production or income may have had many explanations (success tends to generate many claims of causation from a variety of sources), and many of these explanations are just so much opinion.
Greening Print Marketing: Do You Really Want to Purchase That Imported Paper?
via inspiredeconomist.com In this economic environment, it’s tempting to succumb to the temptation to purchase on price. Two products may seem comparable in quality and performance, so why not go with the less expensive one? When it comes to paper, the reason is environmental impact.
Posté par admin le March 18, 2009 – 1:03 pm
Green Day 2009
via TheDirectMarketingVoice – From the look of things out there on the wild wild web today, you’d think everyone and everything has gone green (okay maybe it’s not that widespread, but I’m trying to write a relevant & timely post here). It is, of course, St. Patrick’s Day.
Printers Get Sociable – Using Social Media for Marketing
via PrintCEO – More and more businesses are experimenting with social media as a marketing channel; and there are quite a few printers dabbling in it. I took the opportunity to ask a number of printers how they have been using applications like Twitter and Facebook. Read what seven of them had to say about their experiences and results.
Geo Segmentation: Add ZIP To Your Email
via MediaPost – Geo segmentation is an advanced email segmentation tool that enables you to segment your opt-in list on a geographic basis using ZIP codes. Using a filter, you can target all subscribers who fall within a specified ZIP code range.
What’s in Your Junk Mail is Changing the Climate
via The Paper Planet blog – These battles on Capitol Hill are sure to drag on. Meanwhile, there’s one choice we can make right now that requires almost no debate: getting rid of Junk Mail! More than 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered in the United States each year, which comes out to 848 pieces per household.
Posté par Eric Welch le February 17, 2009 – 2:37 pm
We’re all looking for ways to cut costs, go green and boost efficiency these days, but the folks over at Design Can Change have really elevated this to an art form with their Green Paper Guide (PDF file… hmm, it’s actually red), Sustainable Design Checklist (PDF file… ooh, this one’s white!), and many other handy dandy downloads that can help you achieve your sustainability goals. But whatever you do, for Mother Nature’s sake don’t print them! Save a tree and view them on your screen… you know, the one with the big carbon footprint from leaving it on standby all night. The one that was made at that toxic chemical-spewing electronics manufacturer overseas. Energy Star® my eye. More like Death Star!
And speaking of outer space…
Once we clean up our act on the ground, we need to figure out what to do about the thousands of pieces of space junk orbiting our planet and stop those mysterious flaming objects from raining down on Austin, Texas. Anyone want to come up with a low-cost, sustainable cleanup operation? Wait, I know! We could build a fleet of space garbage trucks and call it the United Galaxies Sanitation Patrol! Get it?
Aw, come on! Am I the only one who remembers that show?
Posté par Eric Welch le February 3, 2009 – 2:11 pm
When I was young (and my heart was an open book…), I had not one, but two favorite colors; orange and green. As the years passed, I publicly switched my allegiance to blue—dumping orange completely, but always maintaining a secret fondness for green. Sometimes I’ll go for a nice teal as a compromise. Anyway, it got me wondering about how all those green initiatives are faring in the current economic climate. And more to the point, as marketers what should we be doing to lessen our environmental impact while preserving our financial sustainability? Hilary Bromberg, Strategic Director at egg, a brand communications agency located in Seattle, had this to say in her article “Ten Steps to Sustainable Marketing in an Uncertain Economy“:
People who have incorporated sustainability into their identities feel great about touting products in this space – it’s still so difficult to find great “responsible” products and services out there that conscious consumers tend to do a lot of talking within their networks about what they’ve found. And a great find reflects well on a person’s sensibilities and, crucially, their values – unlike purchases in the vast unsustainable space, which merely identify a person as a consumer. So master the digital space – start Twittering, develop a Facebook fan base, keep a transparent two-way conversation going with your core consumers (and cultivate evangelists whenever possible)…
Do yourself a great big favor and read her entire article. I’ll wait… hum da dee doo dum… All done? Good. While you’re at it, check out “Tools for designing green print” by Gail Nickel-Kailing, Managing Director of Business Strategies, Etc. Of course, my personal idea of going green has less to do with print and more to do with domes. Stick-frame homes are sooo last millennia.
