MARKETINGAdVents - The Lukens Company

MarketingAdVents
May 2013
Publication of the Direct Marketing Association of Washington
Inside Direct Mail Design:
Part I, The Gestalt
by Steve Fleshman
Editor’s Note: This first in a three-part series
by master DM designer Steve Fleshman offers a peek into what is probably the most
misunderstood of all direct mail components: package design. If you think that
little mail piece looks like a child could have
designed it, think again. There’s a strategy
behind every stroke on the paper and an underlying process that’s integral to direct mail
mastery.
L
et me tell you how I typically approach designing
a mail package.
I read the package . . .
Vol 52 | No 5
WHAT? The designer reads the package?
I actually do. It helps me pick images and figure
out design techniques, even font selection, to
match the strategy.
Thumbnails
+ Color
= ROI
Imaginative + Attractive
Copywriter In
put!
Thumbnails
I spend 15 to 20 minutes
doing a rough sketch of the
package on paper. Yes, with a
pen on paper. That gives me a
general direction and a cohesive approach to all the components. I’m not fussing over
typefaces, colors, etc., but I
am always pleasantly surprised when my postagestamp size sketches seem
to balance well at full size.
continued on page 14
Better Copy, With a
Little Ketchup
Kathy Swayze, CFRE
H
ow do you get great
copy for your fundraising and marketing appeals? Simple. Just hire
a great copywriter and you’re
off to the races. Right? Well, not
so fast. No matter how good a
writer you hire, your success will
also depend on how you engage
with that writer. Here’s a good
example.
For the past few years, Impact Communications has partnered with Mal Warwick Associates on direct mail fundraising for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry Campaign.
We meet regularly with the Mal Warwick account rep to
brainstorm ideas, and attend creative meetings with the
agency and Share Our Strength staff. At one of those
meetings, the staff shared a remarkable story about a little boy
who was found stuffing ketchup
packets in his pockets at a summer meals site. The boy said, “I
hope it’s ok. When we don’t have
any food, my grandma and me
mix these with water and make
soup.”
As soon as we heard that story,
we knew it was a winner. Then
the Mal Warwick team came up
with the idea of attaching an
empty ketchup packet to the
reply form for acquisition. And
thus, the ketchup package was
born. We’re still working with
one of the client’s corporate
partners to secure the ketchup
packets, but the package went in
the mail this spring with an image of the ketchup packet showing through the outer envelope.
continued on page 6
What's New?
Self-Quants. See page 2.
Creative / Copywriting
Design / Content Marketing
Beyond Direct to Talking Mail......... 2
President's Perspective..................... 3
A Meta Data Template for SEO....... 4
DMAW Calendar................................. 4
Where Do Ideas Come From? ........ 5
Data-Driven Marketing Wins........... 6
Production........................................... 7
Direct Marketing Associations....... 8
Effective Donor Landing Pages...... 9
Outside the Walled-Garden...............10
Envelopes Count..............................11
News Notes........................................12
Positive Team Collaboration.........13
DMAWEF........................................................14
Member Spotlight............................15
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
Beyond Direct to
Talking Mail
by Steve Belmonte
T
he margins on
traditional print and mail
service offerings
have been pushed
to the point where
cost can no longer
be the only way a
business creates
its “niche” and
differentiates itself. We’ve got to come
up with our bulls-eye target customer
base and position our business to meet
customers’ specific needs. This market
segmentation, if done right, will improve
profit margins and win market share.
Now that the U.S. Postal Service is getting
heavily into providing tracking data from
the mandated Intelligent Mail barcode
on every mailpiece receiving postal discounts, mailers can help their clients generate valuable reports on how their mail is
moving through the system, as well as direct communication with their customers
while mailpieces are en route. They can
diagnose problems in almost real-time
and forecast delivery times and patterns
very accurately for their clients.
Businesses that adopt and invest in new
technologies and services are able to create better partnerships with their clients
by suggesting new and more effective solutions to answer their needs. Fortunately,
customers today can expect nothing
less than a mailpiece that directly communicates with both the sender and the
mail recipient long after reaching its final
destination.
For example, imagine this:
1. A mailpiece that communicates with
both mailer and recipient during its
journey.
2. A mailpiece that sends and receives text
messages, emails, text-to-speech, or prerecorded phone messages.
3. A mailpiece that records and listens to
voice messages and receives emails and
text messages sent by mail recipients.
4. A mailpiece featuring a secure, personalized QR Code, scanned by recipients, that
can convey a text or pre-recorded voice
message, a specific video, a Facebook page,
or an email with a special coupon offer.
Such services will change the way businesses and consumers think about direct
mail and its potential forever. Imagine that.
Steve Belmonte is CEO/president of Accuzip located
in Atrascadero, CA. AccuZip offers the patent pending
LIVINGMAIL® service which can bring a mailpiece to life,
communicating with mailer and recipient by sending
and receiving text messages, emails, text-to-speech, or
prerecorded phone messages. LIVINGMAIL® can record and
listen to voice messages, as well as receive emails and text
messages sent by the person you are mailing to. Contact
steve@accuzip.com or call 800-233-0555 (sales) or 805461-7300 (Support). Visit www.accuzip.com.
What’s New? Self-Quants
The Washington Post featured an article about Finnish-born Sami Inkinen, co-founder of real estate
mega-website, Trulia. The story exemplifies the growing trend of individuals to gather personal data
about their lives -- so-called “self-quants.”
Inkinen is a top-ranked amateur triathlete, which pretty much makes him a cyclist, too. For peak performance -- and Inkinen is determined to keep improving -- his personal data offers an edge in the rigors of cycling.
Inkinen’s “self-quantification” tactics put him among a growing group of number nuts who gather and
analyze their own data for their own purposes. In Inkinen’s case, data about his heartbeat, power output,
average speed, caffeine intake, sleep and mood patterns, meditation time, happiness, productivity, fitness
patterns and more -- all recorded in his personal 27-column spreadsheet -- are part of the triathlete’s
plan to improve his performance on the bike. He’s been collecting such data for over a decade, beginning with handwritten notes from “back when.”
So what do Inkinen’s proclivities have to do with marketing? For one thing, your own organization’s data
folks may well be self-quants. For another, any number of products and services appeal to obsessive enthusiasts
competing with themselves and others.
“Inkinen is part of an expanding universe of self-quantifiers who collect megabytes of personal data
seeking an edge,” The Post notes. Sportswear manufacturers like Nike have taken note. For example,
consider the launch of Nike+FuelBand and, more recently, Nike+Basketball, a digital experience that
tracks, records, and analyzes every aspect of the player’s game through a sensor in the shoe.
Michael Buteau and Aaron Kuriloff, authors of the article, suggest that self-quantification is related to gamification
-- a growing trend that features online game participation driven by competition, executed among strangers, and
incentivized by immediate feedback (think FarmVille or becoming the “mayor” of a FourSquare site).
2
Executive Committee
President—Mike DeFlavia
Lautman Maska Neill & Company
202-296-9660 ext. 211
mdeflavia@lautmandc.com
Vice-President/President-Elect—Pete Carter,
Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey
703-248-0025, pcarter@ccah.com
Secretary-Treasurer—Kathy Calta
Barton Cotton, 410-565-5040
kathy.calta@bartoncotton.com
Board of Directors
Dennis Ashcraft, Colortree Group
804-358-4245, dashcraft@colortreeva.com
Elise Buck, MMI Direct
443-539-2676, elise@mmidirect.com
Jim Chmielewski, Public Interest Communications
703-847-8300, jim@pic1.com
Carol Dixon, Concord Litho Group
443-691-5525, cdixon@concordlitho.com
Mikaela King, Defenders of Wildlife
202-682-9400, mking@defenders.org
George Lizama, Production Solutions
703-734-5700, glizama@psmail.com
Peter Maaseide, L&E Meridian
703-913-1654, pmaaseide@l-e.com
Kristin McCurry, MINDset direct
703-538-6463, kmccurry@mindsetdirect.com
Jamie Natelson, Avalon Consulting Group
202-429-6080 ext. 106,
jamien@avalonconsulting.net
Sean Powell, The Engage Group
443-539-2650, sean@engageyourcause.com
Alan Rich, Nova Label Co.
301-386-4433, alan@novalabel.com
Liz Richardson, Infogroup
202-973-5400, liz.richardson@infogroup.com
Jeff Thomas, ProList
301-924-4545 ext. 1022, jthomas@prolist.com
DMAW/EF Liaison—Syma Mendelsohn RCM&D
240-482-1898, smendelsohn@rcmd.com
DMAW Educational Foundation
Karen Depew, Executive Director
301-652-7074 kdnorthwood@gmail.com
Karen Rice-Gardiner, President
gardinerk2@si.edu
President's perspective
by Mike Deflavia
"T
he only way of finding the limits of the
possible is by going beyond them into the
impossible.” -Arthur C. Clarke
In real estate, everything boils down to
location, location, location. And maybe
that one thing—or is it three things?—is
true. But in trying to acquire new customers and donors, it comes down to copy,
creative, and content.
Creative needs to catch the attention of
the recipient; copy needs to emotionally
connect them to the organization or offer; and the content has to be appropriate
to the recipients. Without all three, you
might as well flush your money down the
toilet of that perfectly located “real estate.”
There is a wealth of information and myriad resources to help you in each of these
areas. From copywriters to agencies that
specialize in strategy and/or creative, help
is available.
This issue of AdVents, for instance, is filled
with articles that offer guidance and tips.
Kathy Swayze’s article on page one extols
the virtues of working hand-in-hand with
your copywriter and, on page five, check
out DMAW Past President Hilary Baar’s
article on where ideas come from. For the
best kept secret of all, read the beginning
of Steve Fleshman’s three-part series on
direct mail design…and stay tuned to the
June and July issues for parts two and
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
DMAW Executive Committee
& Board of Directors 2013
three. Few grasp the complexity of this
deceptively simple part of the creative
mix, where every tiny decision counts.
To dig in and delve deeper, plan now to
attend the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, July 31
– August 2 at the Gaylord National Hotel
and Conference Center just outside of
Washington, DC. Learn more and register
at www.bridgeconf.org.
I’m sure once you’ve read through AdVents
and followed-up with other resources,
you’ll be filled with ideas for your next
campaign. So go ahead; work with your
agencies or in-house specialty teams to
create your next successful package. Go
beyond the impossible!
Last month I wrote that spring is just
around the corner, and with it, warmer
weather. Now that it’s May, I hope you’re
enjoying the weather and making preparations for your summer vacation (which
should be planned around your Bridge
Conference attendance, of course).
Cheers,
Mike
DMAW Executive Director
Donna Tschiffely
donna@dmaw.org
703-689-DMAW, fax 703-481-DMAW
Postmaster: Send address changes to DMAW
Marketing AdVents, 11709 Bowman Green Drive,
Reston, VA 20190-3501; email info@dmaw.org •
website www.dmaw.org
DMAW Marketing AdVents: (ISSN 0896-4742) is
published monthly by the Direct Marketing Association
of Washington, Inc., 11709 Bowman Green Drive,
Reston, VA 20190-3501. Periodicals postage paid at
Herndon VA and at additional mailing offices.
3
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
Getting Organized:
A Meta Data
Template for SEO
by Elizabeth Amorose
P
rocess
and organization are important
ingredients in a
successful professional services
firm—and essential to being
set up for future
growth. In one of
my favorite business books, The E-Myth
Revisited, author Michael E. Gerber states,
“A Mature [sic] company is founded on a
broader perspective…a more intelligent
point of view. About building a business
that works not because of you but without
you.” Thus, it’s been Thinkso’s mission from
day one to put processes in place that
institutionalize individual knowledge and
ensure consistency and best practices for
every aspect of our projects.
I’d like to share one small example with
you in hope that it is helpful to your web
marketing process and, more specifically,
that it helps you take the first step toward
SEO.
The Thinkso Website Meta Data Template (which you can download from
www.thinkso.com) is a simple form we use
to ensure our designers, developers, and
clients are all on the same page with nomenclature, URL naming, title tags, and all
the other metadata associated with each
page of a website. We’ve put examples
and guidelines for writing each of these
items right on the spreadsheet so that no
matter who in our studio is tasked with
the assignment, as well as clients reviewing the form, understand and follow our
methodology.
A note about this data and SEO: The page
title tag, URL, and meta description tag
are important to SEO. Meta keyword tags
are less so. But having the keywords in
your page code puts them in a handy
place to reference when creating content
for that page; keyword use in page content is important to SEO.
Elizabeth Amorose is a partner at Thinkso Creative, a
design and marketing agency based in New York City.
Thinkso creates compelling brands for businesses and
nonprofits, large and small. Website design, including
content strategy and SEO, is just one of the many services
Thinkso provides.
Calendar
Deadline for registration is 24 hours
before the event, space permitting.
Cancellations must be received 48 hours
in advance. No-shows will be billed.
Register online at www.dmaw.org or call
703-689-DMAW (3629)
DMAW Monthly Lunch & Learn
12 - 2 pm
SEIU
1800 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC
Metro: DuPont Circle
Thursday, June 20
Postal Forum – USPS New Products
and Innovation
Gary Reblin, VP of New Products &
Innovation, USPS
DMAW 2013 Education Programs
Registration is Open!
Thursday, May 9
9 am – 4 pm
List Bazaar
Waterview Conference Center
Arlington, VA
Wednesday, May 15
9 am - 3 pm
DM 201
Gannett/USA Today Headquarters
Thursday, June 6
8 am – 10 am
Sustainer-Telemarketing Breakfast
Karen Kirchoff, Senior Vice President,
MINDset Direct & Sarah Birnie, Human
Rights Campaign
July 31 – August 2, 2013
8th Annual Bridge to Integrated
Marketing & Fundraising Conference
Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center
National Harbor, MD
1st Tuesday of every month
Annapolis Direct Marketers Social Club
6:00 pm - ???
Pusser's, Annapolis, MD
4
by Hilary Baar
P
lease
notice
that the
title of this article
is not “Where do
good ideas come
from?” I contemplated that title
but quickly realized that until an
idea is tested, we
can’t be sure whether or not it is actually
good. And, I would further add that an excellent exercise is to challenge ourselves
to take “less good” ideas and figure out
how they can evolve to good ideas.
Be curious.
But let’s start with how any idea is generated. I would sum it up in one action: Be
curious! Read, ask questions, examine the
how and why of things, and, ultimately,
pay attention to even the most ordinary
realities. When I think back on some of
the ideas I’m most proud of, I realize I was
asking “what if?” questions and taking calculated risks.
reread old test packages. A 6-year-old survey package caught my eye; it had worked
for others, but hadn’t worked for this
specific client. Why? In reconsidering the
creative and messaging of that package,
something stood out. Using fresh eyes,
along with reformatting, rebranding, and
an updated message, the package yielded
a ROI of $0.98 on an acquisition effort.
Think like your user.
My favorite example of idea-generation
came while I was working at a chemistrybased association. From interactions
with the members, it was evident that
they loved anything that resembled or
contained a periodic table. In battling a
declining response to the member-get-amember campaign, we considered printing the periodic table on a blanket. But
the cost was high, and historical response
was low. Did it make sense to try this? Taking a calculated risk, we ordered a small
number of blankets and soon had to place
reorders for the item. It was a hit! The win
lay in offering something very familiar
and making it extraordinary. In thinking
back on the number of calls asking, “I
recruited a member last month, can I still
MMS Advent2
1/9/11
9:21 PM
get a blanket?” I realized that members do
indeed read mailings.
Make the bad better.
Lastly, I want to circle back to the notion of bad ideas. Don’t discount them.
Instead, think of ways to take a bad idea
and make it work. At the very least, I can
almost guarantee you’ll generate another
idea … and maybe another, and so on.
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
Where Do Ideas
Come From?
Stay connected.
My parting suggestion is to connect what
you are reading, seeing, hearing, and
understanding back to our own direct
marketing community. You’ll be amazed at
the feedback you’ll get from other DMAW
members simply by asking, “What do you
think?”
Hilary Baar, 2012 president of DMAW, is senior strategist
for Chapman Cubine Adams + Hussey. During her 20
years in the direct marketing industry, Hilary has worked
on both the client and agency sides of the business,
managing projects from start to finish, responsible
for every aspect of direct marketing, from creative, to
production management, to strategy. Reach Hilary at
hbaar@ccah.com.
Page 1
Take clues from everyday life.
When leading strategic retreats, I like to
open with an icebreaker exercise. Two of
my favorites involve looking at everyday
items and reflecting on their use or properties. For instance, take a paper clip and
challenge yourself to think of unusual
ways to use it. Encourage “out-of-the-box”
ideas -- like using it as a zipper pull or an
earring. Or think about a penny and list
all its attributes (of course, without looking at the coin itself ). Recently, using this
penny exercise in a group setting, one
person shouted “It’s copper colored!” That
completely awed me because the copper
color is so intrinsically “penny-ish” that
this seemed too obvious. And yet, these
“obvious” qualities are sometimes overlooked. Both these exercises can help us
solve our own creative problems.
Keep reading.
Recently, when faced with “what to mail,” I
5
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
Why Data-Driven
Digital Marketing
Wins Ecommerce
by Angie Zener
in 2013.
W
hether
you
are
a traditional retailer or a brand
manufacturer just
starting to sell
online, growing
sales through
ecommerce must
be a top initiative
Why would I use the word “must”? Because in 2012, 51.8 percent of U.S. consumers shopped online –- the first time
in history online shopping exceeded instore shopping. This trend is expected to
grow exponentially in the coming years.
Ecommerce revenue, though a small percentage of total U.S. retail revenue at approximately 7 percent, grew by 16 percent
in 2012 compared to 6 percent for the
industry as a whole.
Better Copy, With a Little Ketchup
continued from page 1 (bottom)
Great ideas like this result when we all
work together as a team—and when
writers are seen as part of the team.
Here’s my simple five-point
checklist for getting the
most from your
copywriters:
This selling channel is worth some focus,
improvement, and investment.
Having an ecommerce platform to categorize your products and to fulfill orders is
the first step. Equally important initiatives
include: creating a robust digital marketing strategy to bring potential customers
to this “new storefront;” providing excellent customer service; and continuously
re-engaging customers to build loyalty
and to encourage repeat purchases. In essence, driving sales through ecommerce
requires that you provide the highest level
of online services to customers throughout the lifecycle.
Sounds straightforward enough, right?
The bad news is that in the digital world
customers’ buying paths are numerous
and highly personalized. The variety of
mobile devices, social networks, and
easy e-payment technologies provide
customers with anytime, anywhere, and
any-way access to your digital store -- giving them the ability to interact with your
brand at their own convenience through
the channel of their choosing. What’s
more, customers can and want to interact with more than one brand at a time,
as evidenced by the rampant growth of
product comparison sites and dedicated
search-engine shopping sites (i.e. Google
Shopping).
1. Give the copywriter a seat at the
table. (Agencies, this means you, too.
Putting up a wall between your client
and your copywriter is hurting your
fundraising results, I promise!)
2. Make your organization’s program
staff available to the writers. The people who are delivering your mission
every day are the most passionate
ones to explain it.
3. Have a creative meeting, don’t
just sit at your desk by yourself
and write a strategy document.
Bring all your best thinkers to
the table and brainstorm.
6
There is good news. The increase in digital
channels results in an explosion of data
that can be captured, integrated, and
harnessed to help brands optimize every
customer digital touchpoint. Because of
the unpredictable nature of each customer’s journey, brands must employ flexible
practices to quickly understand and service the needs of the customer -- regardless of channel. In marketing terms, this
means conducting customer analysis, producing target audiences, and creating relevant messaging more frequently and with
more precision. This level of messaging
precision comes from real-time, complete,
and accurate customer data for segmentation and content personalization.
New technology exists to capture a complete, real-time view into your customers.
When this technology is combined with
tools to help push out messages across
all digital channels (email, web, social and
mobile) it allows marketers to service each
touchpoint with a much higher level of effectiveness than ever before.
Angie Zener is the senior director of product marketing
at Lyris, a provider of digital marketing software and
services to support companies across the globe to
improve customer loyalty and engagement and revenuegeneration from their email, web, social and mobile
marketing programs. Contact Angie at azener@lyris.com.
4. Consultants: Talk with your writers
before the meeting with your client
so you go in working as a team with
some great ideas under your belt.
5. Always share revisions and final copy
with your writer. It’s the only way the
writer will get to know the “do's” and
“don’ts” of your organization. Hey,
while you’re at it, share the results,
too. Knowing their efforts are paying
off will only make them work harder!
Kathy Swayze, CFRE, is president and creative director
of Impact Communications, currently celebrating
its 15th year of helping nonprofit organizations tell
their stories. To learn more, visit Impact’s website at
www.impactdc.com.
Getting Beyond the First Date: Creating
A Communications Tool That Will Last
by Milt Olekson
P
roducing
a newsletter, for
any organization,
is kind of like preparing for a first
date. You’re nervous. You worry
the other person
won’t like you. You
wonder if the date
will lead anywhere or if the relationship
will last. You worry you’ll run out of things
to say.
We’ve been there. In fact, we are there.
Maintaining an original creative publication takes commitment and dedication, a
willingness to move out of your traditional communications channels for the sake
of enhancing client relationships with a
free, sales-free tool.
We’re no experts on either first dates or
newsletters, but we have survived the
courtship and learned a thing or two
about establishing and maintaining a
regular newsletter along the way.
Know your date.
When you go on a first date, you usually
already know the person a little: he/she is
a friend, a friend of a friend, a co-worker,
or someone else with whom you’ve already spent some amount of time.
The same is true for creating newsletters.
Do your research. Know your audience.
May Bits and
Data Bites
Get a feel for what interests and motivates
your readers so you can create a publication they’ll value and find value in.
Prepare to listen as much as you
speak.
Taking that first step is scary, but
it’s not a lifelong commitment.
No matter how well you know the other
person, first dates bring pressure to make
a connection and set expectations for the
future. But the pressure is over-hyped. If
you try and it doesn’t work out, you move
on.
Committing to a regular newsletter takes
time and energy, but don’t be so overwhelmed by the thought of maintaining
a newsletter that you never actually start
one. Be realistic in your expectations of
delivery. Start with quarterly issues, if
needed, and increase the frequency as
your resources and comfort level permit.
And know that newsletters, like any other
marketing material, are subject to testing,
trial and error, and termination.
You won’t run out of things to talk
about.
Unless there is absolutely zero attraction
or interest, most people can always find
something to talk about. Personal experiences. Sports. News. Local hot spots. Even
their surroundings.
Likewise, you can always find topics that
are relevant to your customers and the industry. Read industry literature. Listen to
IBM reckons Big Data is growing at a
rate of 60 percent a year, and that organizations good at data are likely to enjoy 1.6
times more revenue and two times more
profit growth than head-in-the-sand rivals.
Source: Brand-e.biz
Hubspot blogger Juliette Kopecky
says ROI from one email-only campaign
performed 95 times better than the
counterpart direct-mail-only campaign.
Source: Hubspot, January 10, 2013
your customers. Consider the time of the
year and what your industry is—or should
be—doing right then or in the coming
months. Monitor industry developments,
events, and legal changes. Don’t be afraid
to be cyclical or to revisit covered topics
when new information or new insights
can be shared.
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
Production
Unless you’re meeting with a therapist,
don’t expect to do all the talking and
none of the listening. True connections
and true communication require two active participants.
The same holds true for subscribers of any
publication. Their interest and engagement determines the course and future
of your newsletter. Watch for a response.
Listen for feedback to make sure you’re
connecting with your audience and establishing a relationship that will last.
Whether your first “date” is formal or informal, several weeks or several months
in the making, knowing your audience,
setting realistic goals, and staying tunedin to what your audience cares about and
says will get you well on the way to establishing a lasting relationship.
Milton “Milt” Olekson is president & CEO of AMi Direct,
a top-notch direct-marketing service provider located
in Alexandria, VA. AMi has successfully partnered with
non-profit, commercial, and governmental clients
since the early 1970s. AMi provides data management,
fulfillment services, print and logistics management,
personalization, mailing services, convention bag/kit
assembly, special projects & programming, and more! You
can reach Milt at 800-663-2415 x122 or milt@amidirect.
com.
Did You Really Intend To Do That?
Think First! “In today’s direct response
fundraising, ‘Caucasians’ are currently
and overwhelmingly the target audience.
List brokers and telemarketers — urged
on by their clients, of course — apply ‘zip
selects’ and ‘demographic selects’ to ‘optimize’ returns based on affluent areas …
indirectly targeting the white population.”
Source: The Agitator
7
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
Direct Marketing Associations
Association
Growth in
Emerging Markets:
Part I
Recruitment...when prospects
choose to try you.
Emerging markets are filled with aspiring
individuals who want to better themselves
and their professional prospects. Associations that offer attractive services and
valuable benefits that allow members and
customers to address their local needs
usually find receptive audiences.
Engagement...when new members
feel they belong with you.
M
any U.S. membership
organizations have considered at one time or another
expanding to foreign shores as a way to
grow membership and revenue. Many fail
to try—or try and fail—because they don’t
know where to start.
Grow or Perish
Whether in Boston or Bangalore, associations can thrive in today’s highly globalized world when they tap into opportunities in emerging markets. These market
openings, however, can carry significant
obstacles and challenges. Emerging markets lack the structures, transparency,
information, and access to prospective
members that are common in more mature economies. However, for associations
that have education, certification, training, networking, and related services,
these same obstacles can be turned into
market opportunities.
The Basics: Adapting the Membership Lifecycle
To thrive in a highly globalized world, association leaders should understand how
the five steps of the lifecycle fit within the
context of an international strategy coupled with local tactical growth plans.
Awareness...when prospects first
discover you.
8
Especially in emerging markets, new
channels such as social media are making
once-unprofitable markets economically
attractive. Combined with acceptance of
a common language, English, associations
are finding greater access to new markets
than ever before.
Engagement is fundamental to high retention rates and sustained membership
growth no matter where the organization
may be located. Engagement programs
that drive local and regional allegiance are
a crucial lead-in to renewal.
Renewal...when lapsing members
decide whether to keep you.
As the needs of international members
evolve, so, too, must associations keep
pace and provide compelling reasons for
members to remain with an organization.
Reinstatement...when former
members agree to return to you.
Reinstatements are a regular component
of membership growth programs that
every organization should have in place
regardless of location.
Why Emerging Markets?
Emerging markets are countries experiencing rapid growth, industrialization,
and modernization. Examples include
Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Nigeria
that together represent hundreds of millions of people.
Not all emerging countries are similar, of
course, nor do they offer the same levels
of opportunity for associations. Differences in language, culture, political stability, trade agreements, and historical trade
patterns all influence the pace of growth
of individual countries.
Why Emerging Markets Need
Associations
Especially in emerging markets, where local businesses and business people often
struggle to differentiate themselves from
one another, affiliation with a prestigious
association can be a genuine competitive advantage. Associations can become
invaluable assets to the professions or in-
by Erik Schonher and Terrance Barkan
dustries they serve by identifying market
players, measuring the scope of the market, and conducting market research.
Just the past 20 years have seen the emergence of global associations that have
experienced truly explosive growth. Organizations like the Project Management
Institute (PMI), the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE), the Society of Petroleum Engineers
(SPE), and the Chartered Financial Analyst
Institute (CFA) exemplify organizations
that now have significant international
operations. In some cases, the majority of
new members and revenues are generated outside of the United States.
The building blocks of domestic membership marketing readily apply to the international arena as well, with important opportunities in emerging markets that may
have stronger economies but fewer sophisticated business laws and regulations.
Next month, in Part II, we will examine
how associations can help foreign markets
fill gaps in services, and we will list the
key questions that associations should ask
before entering the competition.
This article consists of excerpts from the white paper,
How to Grow Your Association in Emerging Markets
Using Strategy and Tactics, authored by Erik Schonher
of Marketing General Incorporated and Terrance Barkan,
CAE, of GLOBALSTRAT. Together, the two authors
have more than 50 years experience in international
association strategy and membership recruitment,
retention, and recovery. For more information, contact
the authors: Erik Schonher 703-706-0358 or Erik@
MarketingGeneral.com; Terrance Barkan 202-294-5563 or
TBarkan@Globalstrat.org.
? Blogger Influence Grows
to sell? Potential purchasers
$ Time
check retail and brand sites first,
31 percent hit the bloggers
? but
for advice. There’s more: Small
are more influential
$ communities
and social media influencers blog
? for themselves.
Source: Social Examiner and
$ Technorati’s 2013 Digital Report
by Deryck C. White
A
ttracting
donors
to your
site is a little like
encouraging eager
participants to
show up to compete in a marathon. Except that
without an effective landing page,
the runners get lost right at the first step
because someone forgot to properly mark
the course. Your visitors might be highly
motivated to complete the race, but poor
organization can stop them before they
even get started.
So how do you get your potential donors
across the finish line? AdVents has aggregated a few tips to help lead the way.
Plan
Professional marketers all whisper cautionary tales of clients with muddled ideas
and poorly defined objectives. Be completely clear on a few things.
•Know your audience better than you
know yourself. Understand that their
motivations are often different from
yours and include the word “empathy”
in your working vocabulary.
•Pick a goal, and only one goal. A
single objective is always preferable to
a laundry list of vague ideals.
•Who exactly is your audience? It’s
tempting to think that your landing
pages need to engage everyone. But if
you try to create a message that speaks
to all, you’ll end up inspiring no one.
•Tell your story. From around the campfire in a prehistoric cave to driveway
episodes of This American Life, people
relate to narrative.
Design
There’s always the danger of over- or under-emphasis on the look and feel of the
landing page. Good design can be found
anywhere; poor design is everywhere.
Combine copy, graphics, and layout in
ways that excite visitors and maximize
engagement.
•Use clear and concise headlines. Don’t
confuse or bore; instead compel the
visitor to take a closer look. Addressing
a specific point is better than having a
vague and uninteresting headline.
•Watch grammar and spelling. Errors in your copy don’t exactly inspire
confidence when you’re trying to raise
money. Having the reader lump you in
with a writing style that reads like the
latest spam email or shady website only
hurts your credibility.
•Highlight trust indicators. Use respected logos and actual testimonials
you’ve earned. Visitors are comforted
by a visible demonstration of authoritative badges of quality, honesty, and
reliability.
•Go easy on the links. The fewer, the
better. Landing pages are not the place
to send visitors jumping off to other
sources of information. Your message
has to be as self-contained as possible.
Function
The devil is in the details, and the working
details of the landing page can be hellish, so landing page mechanics must be
flawless.
•Fast loads: Avoid the temptation to
bloat the landing page with anything
that adds to the load time. That includes
eschewing flash animations, fancy java
script, or too many calls to backend
data sources.
•Input form design: Ensure that your
form fields are as few and as simple as
possible. Don’t make the donation process an excuse to accumulate excessive
amounts of personal or demographic
information. Today’s sophisticated user
will sniff out that you’re mining data as
well as dollars.
•Robust web infrastructure: A forms
database that hangs after a user has
input registration, personal, or payment
information is a performance disaster.
Don’t stumble at the last hurdle.
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
Effective Donor
Landing Pages:
Don’t Let Potential
Supporters Slip
Away
Analytics
Testing is at the heart of what direct
marketers do, and landing pages provide
ample opportunity to exercise that well
developed muscle.
•SEO: Your donors should be able to find
the landing page first, the rest of your
website later. Use keywords and other
standard techniques to maximize this
outcome.
•Use whichtestwon.com: If you don’t
already know this site, get there yesterday. It offers valuable and sometimes
counterintuitive insight as to what
makes donor-form design succeed, or
fail.
•Measure incoming clicks: Google analytics and other services can tell you
where your traffic is coming from. That’s
a solid indicator as to where to focus
your marketing resources.
No underhanded performance-enhancing
substances are necessary here. A smart
training plan will push your landing page
to the front of the pack.
Business communications designer Deryck White
occasionally lands on the pages of AdVents. He is a
marketing observer, desktop publisher, inveterate writer,
and amateur cyclist. Pedal over (with helmet) to www.
dcwconcepts.com.
Marketing Matters
Bob Drane, vice president for new
business strategy and development
S alt at Oscar Mayer in the ’80s,
explained the company’s rush to
high amounts of sugar, salt, and fat in the
earlier decades. Recently, in talking about
childhood obesity, Drane told medical
students, “What do M.B.A.’s learn
about how to succeed in marketing? sugar
… Discover what consumers want
to buy and give it to them with both
barrels. Sell more, keep your job!
How do marketers often translate
these ‘rules’ into action on food? Our
limbic brains love sugar, fat,
salt … So formulate products
to deliver these. Perhaps add
low-cost ingredients to boost
fat
profit margins. Then ‘supersize’
to sell more … And advertise/
promote to lock in ‘heavy users.’ Plenty of
guilt to go around here!”
Source: The New York Times, February 20,
“The Extraordinary Science
of Addictive Junk Food”
9
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
Outside the
Walled-Garden:
How Facebook
Apps Make Use
Of Personal
Information
by Kristopher Morris
S
ince the
inception of
Facebook, users
have shared a
treasure trove of
personal information with others
with remarkable
ease. Likewise,
marketers have
been trying to obtain and leverage that
information to reach select audiences. But
it wasn’t until the 2008 Obama campaign
pioneered Facebook’s use as an electioneering tool that the social media platform
caught the attention of the political
landscape.
The struggle at the time was how to utilize
Facebook’s data, since there was no way
to access it directly. How do you convert
“likes” into something useful? And more
importantly, can they translate into votes
and/or money? Because of this, ad execs
often refer to the online giant as a “walled
garden” because it shields its lush data behind its well-fortified walls.
In 2010, we began to see small doors
develop so that advertisers could market
brands more effectively, and by the end of
2012, there was a clear avenue for leveraging the data. We are still not able to pull
data directly, but the ability to leverage
Facebook is now an invaluable tool for
developing an online community, driving
engagement, and cultivating votes.
During the 2012 election cycle, President
Obama’s campaign staff made great use of
so-called “targeted sharing” to reach likely
voters and direct peer engagement to
expand the campaign’s efforts. By developing a Facebook app, they were able to
deliver online video to supporters. After
viewing the videos, supporters were asked
to share them with four friends, effectively
allowing their relationships to drive home
the campaign’s messages and turning
them into campaign surrogates.
To facilitate, the app provided lists of
friends so supporters could easily share
the video. The trick behind the app was
that these friends weren’t randomly generated. It specifically selected women
in targeted swing states, so supporters
would be more likely to influence a targeted demographic that Obama’s campaign
needed to win. While holding great potential for direct marketers, these apps often
draw privacy concerns.
Facebook users might wonder: Did the
Obama campaign possess information
about me and my friends, and what can
they do with that information?
Due to the continuing nature of the
walled garden, the Obama campaign
never possessed users’ exact personal
information. It simply leveraged access
with Facebook. Facebook ran the app that
was developed and, in turn, made money
through advertising to promote the app.
Facebook provided the campaign with
performance and demographic metrics
for the app, but didn’t divulge names, addresses, etc.
To safeguard personal information, apps
that require such information must first
obtain Facebook users’ approval to leverage it. This is why all apps initiate a popup message to request access to certain
types of information. User confirmation
is required for the app to access personal
information and therefore function properly to drive engagement.
In this sense, a marketer could develop
an app, run by Facebook, to collect and
leverage Facebook data in order to drive
engagement and spur further data collection. Unless the goal is purely persuasion,
all apps and ads should drive engagement
outside of Facebook.
Asking people to sign a petition, join a
campaign, or vote are great strategies
for pulling information from within the
walled-garden into your own database for
further direct marketing efforts. While you
won’t have access to Facebook’s data, you
can leverage it to drive efforts that allow
you to build an online community around
your campaign; whether it’s political, commercial, or nonprofit.
Kristopher Morris is a digital account manager at The
Lukens Company, a direct-response marketing firm in
Arlington, VA, specializing in integrated multi-channel
digital and direct mail campaigns for political and
nonprofit clients. He specializes in digital advertising and
audience analysis to bolster community development,
fundraising, and election efforts, with a focus on
performance-based ROI. A veteran political strategist,
Kristopher has a background in congressional, state, and
national operations. Contact Kristopher at 703-845-8484
or kmorris@thelukenscompany.com.
Average order sizes and values are higher on tablets than on desktops, possibly due to
the relative affluence of the audience. According to Pew, 47 percent of households
with an income greater than $75,000 own tablets. At the same time, the spend
required is lower to qualify success. Considering these factors, ROI for tablets is
significantly higher. Tablets saw a 28 percent higher ROI than desktops. Tablet
users also purchase a greater volume of items—often with higher price tags.
Tablet-targeted campaigns reported a significantly higher AOV—28.66
percent—than similar campaigns run on desktop.
Source: MediaPost blogs: Engage: Affluent
10
I’ve Got the “No More Saturday Mail”
Blues: Why creative, copywriting, and
design are more important than ever
by Dennis Ashcraft
T
he U.S.
Postal
Service’s
recent decision
to cease Saturday
mail in August is
not a cause for
celebration in
the direct mail
industry, though it
is creating a lot of
fireworks. While there are still a lot of unknowns, the impact could be potentially
huge and far-reaching for all of us.
First off, expect delivery times and volumes to expand. Though we don’t yet
know all the details, we expect Monday’s
mailbox volume to expand in order to
handle previous Saturday volumes.
Imagine what will happen on the Tuesdays
after Monday federal holidays...
I don’t know about you but I’m considering adding a sidecar to my mailbox to
handle it all.
All of this extra mail flooding mailboxes at
one time begs the questions: How will you
get noticed? How will you get opened?
How will you stand out in the stack?
It’s been said you only have one shot to
make a good first impression. This could
not be more true when it comes to getting your envelope opened.
Now more than ever, we must pay attention to the envelope package during the
creative process. If, during the creative
stage, we recognize that we must make
the envelope stand out, then hopefully
creative ideas will be incorporated into
the art, appeal to the target, and get
opened.
Envelopes aren’t just protectors for letters
asking for support; they are important
carriers of the message. Adding a creative
flair to your envelope doesn’t add an astronomical price increase to the product,
especially if it works.
Here are a few things to add the creative
fire to your envelope:
Color, color and more color – White seems
to be the norm for carrier envelopes but
there is nothing that says you can’t use a
colored wove or even print a lot of color
Hot Pick-Ups
“Ample evidence in the market shows
that keeping direct mail touchpoints
in your marketing mix pays off. Check
out the Direct Marketing Association's
"Statistical Fact Book" for any year or
review reports from The Winterberry
Group and you will see that direct
mail marketing campaigns still play
an interesting role in driving customer
engagement. “
Source: Target Marketing, January 2013
The CMO Council says improved
content consumption is linked to
ROI, especially when such content is
delivered in device-specific format.
“Authority leadership marketing
requires companies to package and
deliver their content in new devicespecific, interactive formats that
maximize engagement, response, and
sharing. Content marketers also need
to be more precise in how they reach
qualified and predisposed executive
content consumers.”
Source: CMO Council
on a flat sheet and convert it into an
envelope.
Gloss is boss – Have you ever held up a
pile of envelopes that had a glossed envelope tucked in the stack? Do you remember which one stood out? Exactly, you
were drawn to the “shiny” one.
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
envelopes count
Add texture – It gives that instant WOW
factor, a high-end appearance that says
this is important and should be opened.
As the recipient touches the textured
envelope, he or she is already receiving a
message.
Graphics or pictures on both sides – If you
are printing an envelope flat, it doesn’t
cost any more to print on the front and
back of the envelope. So, use this opportunity to take advantage of the space and
communicate your message before the
envelope is even opened.
Following these simple hints during the
creative stage will ensure your carrier
receives the attention it deserves. We are
all on a quest for new and inventive ways
to scream “open me” in the ever-growing
stack of mail.
Dennis Ashcraft is a sales representative for Colortree
Group, which strives to be the best litho provider in
the direct mail industry. He is a newly elected member
of the DMAW board of directors. He also served on
the Exhibitor Advisory Committee for the 2012 Bridge
Conference. Reach Dennis at dashcraft@colortreeva.com
or 800-222-2962.
Fortune magazine is offering marketers
a chance to distribute “Fortunebranded” editorial content on their
own platforms. Fortune TOC -- trusted
original content -- will be written
by Fortune’s trusted freelancers and
also go through the typical Fortune
editing process. Paul Caine, executive
vice president, chief revenue officer
and group president advertising at
Time Inc. says, “Nothing we’re doing
is compromising editorial integrity.”
Articles, video, and newsletters branded
as Fortune TOC will cost from $250,000
to $1 million. Capital One has signed on
as the first client.
Source: AdWeek, March 6, 2013
11
Identify DMAW's corporate members.
Look-up addresses and phone
numbers.
Find out who's serving on the DMAW
board.
Check the indices to see who is
offering what services.
Discover the "best of the best" on
pages 4 and 6.
url
funDraising
Direct mail
integration
e-mail
2013 Sourcebook
print
Dmaw
prospects
telemarketing
cross-channel
qr coDes
leaD-generation
DrtV
acquisition
nonprofit
multi-channel
2013 sourcebook
workhorse
now use it
tweet
you've got it
Value
results
Direct marketing
call-to-action
Digital meDia
Data
Donors
mobile marketing
ViDeo full-serVice
copy
Avalanche Creative Services, Inc., has
been selected for the Top 100 Diversity
Owned Business Award by Diversitybusiness.com. About 1.3 million businesses
competed, 100 were chosen, and Avalanche ranked 77th, winning a place in the
“Top 100.” The firm’s president, Ava Seavy,
who writes for AdVents regularly, launched
the “Direct TV Now” series in September
12 2012. Avalanche has created and executed
Locate vendors and partners.
lists
••
The home design industry has a new
player to fill the gap between the brickand-mortar furniture stores and the online
marketplace. Look (www.lookboard.com)
partners with lesser-known and independent designers in the business of creating
furniture, décor, and accessories that are
unusual, unusually beautiful, and off-thebeaten-path. With more than 100 designers and counting, Look is seeking to add
innovative brands to its roster and help
deserving creatives launch their products.
••
Dr raDio
Silver Marketing is ranked 21st
in Washington Business Journal’s annual
“Top 22 List of Advertising Agencies.”
This is the 10th consecutive year that Silver
has made the list.
DMW Direct has promoted Hilary
Garrity to director of client services for
DMW Direct Fundraising -- a division of
the company that supports nonprofit
organizations in their fundraising and
membership-building programs. Ms. Garrity previously served as manager of client services. In other news, DMW Direct
received two AVA Digital Awards for
outstanding work in digital communications. The agency garnered Gold awards
for campaigns designed on behalf of clients Center for Vein Restoration (CVR) and
Crozer-Keystone Health System. For more
information, visit www.dmwfundraising.
com, call 774-773-1200 or email Debbie
Merlino at dmerlino@dmwdirect.com.
online
••
DirectMail.com has hired Michael
“Mike” Savage as its vice president of
marketing solutions. In this capacity, Mr.
Savage will apply over 20 years’ experience in high-growth organizations to develop and implement a strategic roadmap
to expand the firm’s existing marketing
platforms, including agency services, data
analytics, marketing technology, geotargeting solutions, and production services,
helping DirectMail.com charter a pathway
into new revenue-generating areas.
personalization
being Direct works
pleDges
Review the MAXI Award competition.
Meet the DMAW Educational
Foundation leadership.
Are you getting the most from your
DMAW membership? All your benefits
and opportunities are outlined here.
solutions
blog
Fundraising Success magazine has
recognized Chapman Cubine Adams +
Hussey (CCAH) Principal and Vice President of Finance John Wanda with one of
two “Live It” awards. Mr. Wanda was recognized for his contributions to the Arlington Academy of Hope (AAH), in addition
to other local and global philanthropic
outreach. The “Live It” award is the latest
recognition for Mr. Wanda’s philanthropic
outreach. In late 2012, he was honored by
the Embassy of the Republic of Uganda
for Outstanding Service to the Country of
Uganda and was named a 2012 District Citizen of the Year by the Rotary District 7610,
a regional Rotary Foundation chapter
serving Northern and Central Virginia. For
more information, visit http://ccah.com.
••
••
response
••
hundreds of DRTV commercials and infomercials in the health and wellness, beauty, house and home, pet care, and financial
categories and has generated over a billion dollars in sales for their clients in both
English and Spanish languages. Contact
Ava at avas@avalanchecreative.tv.
Direct
Ask any woman her age and she’ll tell
you she’s 29. But this time, we’re willing to
admit we’ve hit the big 30! Mary Elizabeth
Granger & Associates, Inc. (MEGA) is
pleased to announce our 30th year of service to the direct marketing industry. We
have strived to provide direct mail marketers with unsurpassed customer service,
commitment to cause, and knowledge of
the list marketplace not found elsewhere.
MEGA has succeeded in reaching these
goals. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who have
partnered with us over the years for their
patronage and support. Visit www.maryegranger.com.
customers
social meDia
••
seo
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
news
NOTES
customer loyalty
And don't forget to network, network,
network.
by Hollis Polk
Editor’s note: The
“Losada ratio” was
described by psychologist Marcial Losada
while researching the
differences between
high- and low-performance teams. Losada’s ratio suggests
that teams collaborate best when engaging in a minimum of
2.9 positive events for every one negative event.
The 2.9 number marks the lower boundary of the
Losada Zone; the upper boundary is around 11.6.
His research suggests that effective team collaboration demands a ratio that begins at about 3 to
1, but doesn’t jump into the realm of thoughtless
or overly effusive feedback. On higher-performing
teams the effective ratio jumps to 5 to 1. Business
adviser Hollis Polk became fascinated with the
Losada line when she read Flourish by psychologist Martin Seligman, one of the founders of
positive psychology. Here, Hollis clarifies everyday
business application of the Losada line.
I
n Flourish, Martin Seligman describes
a colleague’s research into business
collaboration. “We go into companies
and transcribe every word that is said in
their business meetings. We have done
this in 60 companies. One-third of the
companies are flourishing, one-third are
doing okay, and one-third are failing. We
code each sentence for positive or negative words, and then we take a simple ratio
of positive to negative statements.”
Seligman says there is a sharp dividing
line. “Companies with better than a 2.9:1
ratio for positive to negative statements
are flourishing. Below that ratio, companies are not doing well economically.”
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Despite its apparent simplicity, businesses
are advised not to be Polyanna-ish, since a
ratio above 13:1 diminishes credibility.
So how do you improve your Losada ratio? Here are a few ideas:
• Catch people doing things right and
then tell them about it, preferably in
front of others.
• Appreciate team members at random
•
•
•
•
just for being who they are. Note: Intermittent feedback has been shown to be
more effective than consistent feedback.
Encourage talk about things that are
going right, instead of whining about
what’s going wrong.
Actively look for the silver lining in the
dark cloud, and talk about it. Search out
the opportunities offered by problems.
Express appreciation for surroundings.
Help make others aware of the “good.”
Encourage team members who are
looking forward with excitement to talk
about those points of view within the
group.
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
Better Performance
Through Positive
Team Collaboration
Each of us can only change our own communication, of course. But since each of us
affects all others, the chance to be a role
model is always present. The more positive we are, the more positive others in our
sphere will be. And that makes for a much
more pleasant and, according to Losada,
successful world.
Hollis Polk applies an engineering education from
Princeton, a Harvard MBA, and training in hypnotherapy
and neurolinguistics to business problems. Her analytical
skills work with her intuitive abilities to solve a wide
range of business problems, and she will teach you to
do the same. Call her at 888-4-hollis or visit her blog at
10minutesaday.blogspot.com.
13
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
EF
Take This Job and
... Give It a Test
Drive!
W
ouldn’t it be nice if you
could “take a test drive” for
every important decision
you have to make in your career?
Your DMAW Educational Foundation
(DMAW/EF) has created an exciting program called “Mentor-for-a-Day” that lets
young people considering a career in direct marketing take the idea for a one-day
test drive.
Since 1986, the DMAW/EF has worked
closely with marketing professors and
their students at colleges and universities
in the mid-Atlantic region. The foundation’s primary mission is to help professors
develop curricula that teach the state of
the art in the direct marketing industry.
In turn, their students have a head start
as they enter the workforce. The ultimate
goal is a large number of well-educated
young people seeking careers in direct
marketing. This greatly benefits our
industry.
One way the DMAW/EF “closes the loop”
is by working with professors who recommend their best students for placement
through the Mentor-for-a-Day program.
Inside Direct Mail Design: Part I, The Gestalt
continued from page 1 (top)
Color
Yes, this is important. I pull together a
color palette that will be used all or in
part in each component of this package.
Color is such a subjective thing; it is sometimes advisable to present the client with
a couple of color palettes for approval before design begins.
Copy
Some clients prefer to present me with an
approved, final copy deck with package
specs and have me work from there. That’s
14 one way to work, and it does work.
by Alan Rich
Then, the DMAW/EF works with DMAW
member companies to identify those
willing to sponsor a student for one day at
the company’s workplace, shadowing key
employees and learning what the company does.
A recent example is Danielle Hart, who attended Salisbury University. Her advisor,
Professor Paula Morris, recommended her
because of her strong academic work in
Marketing and Communication classes at
Salisbury’s Perdue School of Business. In
the Spring of 2012, she spent a day with
PMG, including a tour of a local printer
and mailshop. Once back at the company’s
office in Columbia, MD, the rest of the day
was spent meeting in turn with employees who handle different aspects of the
company’s work as a full-service direct
response production management firm.
She spent about an hour with each person, who explained the work they do, and
she observed them working on jobs in
progress. At the end of the day, everyone
came together for a meeting that summarized what she had learned through
observation that day.
“We were very impressed by Danielle,”
said Chip Heartfield, the chief operating
officer of PMG. “She had a great energy
and everyone liked working with her. She
caught on very quickly to the things we
were showing her. Based on her questions,
it was obvious that she has had excellent
preparation at the undergraduate level.
If the client wants to get their best value
out of me, they involve me at brainstorming and keep me in the loop along the
way. In this scenario, I may see copy a couple of times before it’s final. I am involved
in package specification and may already
know what I’m going to do before I start.
If I’m really lucky, the writer and I get to
knock ideas around and present them to
the agency or client before copy is initiated. We collaborate on specs and communicate through the entire process. We
may or may not run work by each other; it
depends upon the depth of involvement,
our schedules, and our desire to actually
talk to another human being during the
day.
She already understood many of the concepts that we discussed. When Danielle
asked about summer internship possibilities, we quickly said yes, though this was
not a standard routine for us. After a great
experience working with Danielle last
summer, we offered her a part-time position during her final semester at Salisbury,
then hired her full-time upon graduation.
I think this experience with the DMAW/EF
program was as beneficial for us as it was
for Danielle!”
Dr. Marilyn Liebrenz-Himes, associate
professor of marketing at the George
Washington University here in D.C. and
a member of the DMAW/EF Board, commented, “It’s hard to overstate the value
of an internship to a person who’s just
completed a degree.” DMAW/EF President
Karen Rice Gardiner added, “The Mentorfor-a-Day program is a valuable way for
DMAW members to interact with prospective new talent. It’s an educational activity
that could result in a company adding a
valuable new member to its team.”
DMAW members interested in helping a
bright direct marketing student take the
career for a “test drive” by participating in
the DMAW/EF’s Mentor-for-a-Day program
are encouraged to contact Alan Rich for
more information.
Alan Rich is President of Nova Label and serves as the
DMAW Liaison to the DMAW/EF Board of Directors, where
he coordinates the Mentor-for-a-Day program. Alan can
be reached at (301) 386-4433 and alan@novalabel.com.
Now that I have a sense of it all, I’ll tackle
the essential components: the envelope
and the letter. Please do return to this
spot next month for Inside Direct Mail Design: The Guts.
Steve Fleshman is the Founder of DR2. He has worked
in direct response, hawking everything from cable
TV, to credit cards, to time-share for camping spaces.
Steve is a control-beating, cost-saving, award-winning
direct response creative director, with over 28 years of
experience designing direct mail packages. His past
and present client list includes such nonprofit and
for-profit clients as The Nature Conservancy, African
Wildlife Foundation, Nuclear Threat Initiative, National
Crime Prevention Council, Defenders of Wildlife, Capital
One, Sprint PCS, Wells Fargo Bank, Intuit, AOL, and even
Harlequin Romances. DR2 stands for Direct Response/
Direct Results. Contact Steve at 703-560-2808 or
dr2steve@aol.com. Visit www.dr-2.com.
Fast-Action Directory
DMAW Headquarters email: info@dmaw.org
DMAW Headquarters phone:
703-689-DMAW (3629)
Articles: Submit to Nancy Rathbun Scott, Editor
703-496-3259 Email: nancy@nancyscott.com
AdVents Advertising: Terri Jones, 703-471-4902
tjones@dmaw.org
Inserts: Require prior approval, must be
related to DMAW events and meet USPS
requirements. Contact DMAW HQs for
more information.
Job Exchange: Submit via email to Ann Walsh,
ann@dmaw.org to receive a reply confirming
cost. Payment required prior to posting
online. Deadline for print version is the 15th
of the month preceding publication. All ads
posted to website within 24 hours. Costs:
Members - $100 for first 50 words and $1
for each additional word. Not-Yet-Members
- $200 for first 50 words and $1 for each
additional word.
News Notes: Submit to Nancy Rathbun
Scott, Editor, items of professional interest or
significant personal news about members.
Deadline for Articles and News Notes: 15th of
the second month preceding issue date (e.g.,
deadline for May issue is March 15).
Subscriptions: Marketing AdVents is a member
benefit of the Direct Marketing Association of
Washington, Inc. Individual memberships are
$199 per year. Corporate Memberships are
available. Contact DMAW 703-689-DMAW
(3629) for details.
Publisher: Direct Marketing Association
of Washington, 11709 Bowman
Green Drive, Reston, VA 20190-3501
website www.dmaw.org.
Executive Director: Donna Tschiffely
703-689-3629, donna@dmaw.org
Editor: Nancy Rathbun Scott
Liberty Communications Group
703-496-3259, nancy@nancyscott.com
Advertising: Terri Jones
703-471-4902, tjones@dmaw.org
Production Staff
Design: Liberty Communications Group
703-496-3259
Marketing AdVents is published monthly by the
Direct Marketing Association of Washington, Inc.
to inform its 1,000 + members in the Mid-Atlantic
region of current DMAW events and programs,
present articles of professional interest and provide
marketing professionals the tools and education
to excel in the direct marketing arena.
6310 Blair Hilll Lane
Baltimore, MD 21209
410-296-1117
member Spotlight
Gay Bitter
VP of Marketing
Relevate
gbitter@relevategroup.com
D
oes it take diplomatic skills to succeed in direct marketing? Considering all the various stakeholders
direct marketers need to please, a little
negotiating prowess couldn’t hurt. Maybe
that explains why Gay Bitter’s journey toward DM began with a job abroad. Gay is
a native of New York City who earned her
degree at Connecticut College and has
been a DMAW member since 2010.
How did you get into the direct marketing
business? Any mentors or special people
you’d like to credit? Like most of us, I did not
grow up saying,” Wow, I want to be a direct
marketer!” I majored in political science
and aspired to be a diplomat. After college
I spent some time in Italy working for a
small United Nations organization, [but]
the pace was so slow I became frustrated
and moved back home to Connecticut.
I got my first direct marketing job in
NYC working for a direct marketer,
Penton Learning Systems. I enjoyed the
measurability of direct marketing and
wanted to learn more so I took a job at
Rapp (then Rapp & Collins) and have
worked in DM ever since! One of my
mentors is Stacey Girt, whom I worked for
at both American List Counsel and MKTG
Services. Aside from learning an incredible
amount about the industry from Stacey,
I learned quite a bit about sales from
listening to her help solve client problems
with data solutions.
What were the most helpful steps you took to
advance your direct marketing career? Moving from end-user companies, to agencies, to data providers has given me great
perspective regarding how clients and
vendors work together to solve problems.
Networking within local DM organizations
like DMAW and the Direct Marketing Club
of New York has provided me with longlasting friendships and insight from many
talented people.
Any advice you’d offer a novice who wants to
move up in direct marketing? Find a mentor,
whether it’s your boss or someone else
you admire inside or outside your organization. Listen and ask lots of questions,
and don’t be afraid to take measured risks.
In your opinion how has social marketing
such as Twitter, Facebook, and other
applications changed how our industry does
business? It’s given us many more ways to
engage our constituents, customers, and
prospects, but most organizations still
by allen hepner
struggle with
measuring the
effectiveness
of these social
channels.
Professional
Experience:
Seminar
administrator,
then product
manager at
Penton Learning Systems; media planner
at Rapp & Collins; list database manager
at Films for the Humanities & Sciences;
portfolio/product manager at American
List Counsel; vice president database
development at MKTG Services; vice
president marketing at Relevate and Farm
Market iD (current).
MARKETING ADVENTS MAY 2013
MarketingAdVents
DM Forecast for 2015 and beyond: Direct
marketing will grow, but not via traditional
methodologies. As we become more datacentric and learn to gather big insights
from Big Data (much of which is useless
noise), we’ll be able to engage in more
relevant and compelling conversations
with customers and prospects.
Toughest Marketing Project: Rebranding
of Telematch to Relevate in 2010. There
are so many moving parts
and constituencies you
need to consider when
rebranding a trusted
brand with a 30+
year legacy!
Gay's Favorites
Restaurants
NJ :The Ferry House in Princeton.
NYC: John’s Pizzeria, (have yet to find decent
pizza in Northern VA). DC: 701 Restaurant.
Alexandria: Bastille and Restaurant Eve.
Films
Harold and Maude
Significant Books
I read a lot -- too many to list. I just finished
At Home: A Short History of Private Life, by
Bill Bryson. It was fascinating!
Musical Groups
Bela Fleck, Sting, Steely Dan, Bell X1
Leisure Interests
Cycling, quilting, theatre, musical concerts
from orchestral to blues to folk/rock
Social Networks
Facebook for pleasure, LinkedIn for business.
Allen Hepner, director of client
engagement at GrayHair,is primarily
responsible for understanding
clients’ evolving business needs and
providing ongoing strategic insights
to GrayHair’s clients and new
business development.
15
technology.
innovation.
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