Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Newsletter for members of the Midwest Direct Marketing Association
Citation preview
April 2000
MIDWEST DIRECTMARKETING ASSOCIATION4248 Park Glen RoadMinneapolis MN 55416
Address Service Requested
8
PresortedFirst-Class MailU.S. Postage
PAIDHopkins MN
Permit No 527
RECYCL D PAPER • 2
POST-CONMERCONT
ENT•
please recycle
MDMA CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Midwest Direct Marketing Association Board Members 1999-2000
March 9:Workshop: Adopt-a-Student Day/DM Job Fair Program: “PersonalizeYour Email Marketing”by Jane Westlind, Director,Commerce Solutions, NetPerceptions. International MarketSquare 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
April 4:2000 ARC Awards at Earle BrownHeritage Center, Brooklyn Center5:00 pm - 9:00 pm
April 5-6:Direct Marketing Conference &Expo at Earle Brown HeritageCenter, Brooklyn Center
May 11:Program at International MarketSquare (TBA)
✃
MARCH 2000
S M T W T F S
1 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 1819 20 21 22 23 24 2526 27 28 29 30 31
APRIL 2000
S M T W T F S
12 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 2223 24 25 26 27 28 2930 31
MAY 2000
S M T W T F S
1 2 3 4 5 67 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 2021 22 23 24 25 26 2728 29 30 31
JUNE 2000
S M T W T F S
1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 1718 19 20 21 22 23 2425 26 27 28 29 30 31
PRESIDENT
Donna WaldSterling [email protected]
PAST PRESIDENT
Al AndersonMinnesota Public Radio [email protected]
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Christine DeKamBI Performance Services612.844.4122
MEMBERSHIP &CORPORATE RELATIONS
Frank TerranceThe Instant Web Companies612.470.3231
DIRECT MARKETING CONFERENCE
Sharon HockersExperian612.525.5376Helen GotterDonnelley [email protected]
ARC AWARDS
Jeanne FischerNorwest [email protected]
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Michael V. ThiesenThe Harrington [email protected]
PROGRAMS
Dag Von RudenDynaMark Marketing [email protected] StasneyExpress Messenger Int’[email protected]
ADVERTISING
Jolee MolitorWelsh & [email protected]
EDUCATION
Lucia [email protected]
SPONSORSHIP
Dennis Bell, Jr.Wisconsin [email protected]
DIRECT HIT/PRESIDENT ELECT
John G. OlsonWest [email protected]
WEB PAGE
Marty SmithLutheran Trust, [email protected]
HISTORIAN
Joanne ClarkMerkle Direct [email protected]
Printing & mailing of Direct Hit courtesy of General Litho and PGI Companies, Inc.
SEND YOUR NOMINATION TODAY!(photocopy form for multiple nominations)
Nomination for: ■■ Direct Marketer of the Year ■■ Holes Long-Term Achievement Award
NOMINEE'S INFORMATION
Name:___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Company (If applicable): ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
City: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Phone: _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NOMINATOR'S INFORMATION(If your nominee is selected we will contact you to arrange for the award which is given out at the DM Conference in April.)
Name: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Company (If applicable): ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
City: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
State: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(Attach any relevant documentation to support your nomination.)
Who should be Direct Marketer of the Year?Who deserves the Holes Long-Term Achievement Award?The answer is: someone you know. Nominate them today! Fax the form below to 612.929.1318 ormail it to the MDMA: 4248 Park Glen Road, Minneapolis, MN 55416. For more information call 612.928.4643.
By Arthur Middleton Hughes
Editor’s note: Arthur M. Hughes will deliver the opening keynote address at theMDMA Annual Conference and Expo on April 5, 2000 at the Earle Brown HeritageCenter in Brooklyn Center, Minn. His message will be titled “Crossing the Bridge fromTraditional to Internet Marketing.” For full details on the Conference and Expo, seepages three and four.
The Internet has grown so fast, and is so immense today,that no one (including me) really knows what to make of it.Most of the common wisdom today is probably wrong. Frommy perspective, here are some observations:
■ The Web will continue to expand rapidly into allbusinesses and into more and more households. It willbe as common as the telephone or television in a fewyears.
■ The fact that less than 1% of retail transactions todayare on the web is unimportant. For commerce, the webis primarily a business-to-business vehicle, and willprobably remain so. Many consumer retail web sitesbeing launched today will probably fail or be absorbed.
■ The Web is the greatest direct marketing vehicle everinvented. It makes one-to-one marketing a seriouspossibility.
■ Any marketer who ignores the Web today is making abig mistake.
■ The real money to be made right now in the Web is incustomer relationship management. Let me explain theway it works.
In the 1980s all mid-sized and larger businesses acquiredtoll free numbers so that customers could contact them. Atfirst, they had no idea what to do when the customersactually called. Anyone who doubted this had only to dial upthe toll free numbers on the products that they bought in theearly days. They got a bewildered customer service rep whodidn’t know what to say.
Eventually firms found out what customers wanted to
know. They equipped their customer service reps withcomputers that had access to the relevant information. FedExpioneered it with their package tracking system so that anycustomer could call the toll free number to find out wheretheir package was.
Soon, database marketers realized that these customercalls were ideal vehicles for building customer relationships.They added individual customer purchasing history to thereps’ screens so that they could know who they were talkingto, what they had purchased. Banks went one step further.They computed customer profitability on a monthly basisand segmented customers into five categories, from golddown to lead. They discovered that more than half of theircustomers were unprofitable.
But they also began to realizethat their gold customers wereterribly important to the bank’sfuture. They added Caller ID,linked to their customer database,so when their customers called,they could route gold customersautomatically to a dream team.They soon understood thatcustomer retention was partially afunction of the number of productsowned. So they added “Next Best Product” to the customerreps screens so they could have something profitable to talkto the customers about when they called. Catalogers did thesame. Talking to customers became big business.
But toll free numbers are expensive. The main costs arenot the phone calls, but the salaries of the agents whomanipulate computers to find the answers to customers’questions, reading the answers off their screens.
Then along came the Internet. FedEx was one of the first
Keynoter Speaker Perspective
One key to customer satisfaction online:let them step behind the counter
By Tom Meyer
As a copywriter, I used to avoid direct mail math andnumbers because I thought they had little to do withpromotional creativity.
But one day I realized you CAN be creative withnumbers – and I’m NOT talking about tax returns orexpense reports!
That day I was wondering if I could beat an existingdirect mail control package by adding a premium offer to it.How much would a premium test package have to pull tobeat the control mailing?
I created a way to determine how much you have to liftresponse for a “free gift” to be cost effective. Let me illustratethis with the following example:
Let’s say you’re selling a $30 newsletter subscription. Thecontrol mailing produces a 2% paid response, and you wantto offer a desk clock worth $4 fulfilled:P = The price of the newsletter or $30.G = The fulfilled gift cost or $4.C = The control package’s paid response or 2%.T = The test package’s paid response needed to break even
with the profitability of the control.
OK creative types, I’ve drawn you into getting involvedwith a formula. It is:
T = P x CP-G
Let’s plug in the numbers from the example:T = 30 x 2%
30-4 The fraction in the middle equals 1.153. This means that
the premium test package has to pull 1.153 times better thanthe control package. In other words, response has to be over15% better to beat the control, since you have to recoup thecost and fulfillment of the premium offered in the testmailing.
When you multiply 1.153 by 2% (the response rate of thecontrol package) you get 2.307%. This is the response rateyou need to break even with the control.
The equation assumes that the in-the-mail costs of bothmailings are the same. No added buck slip for the premiumtest package or any extra production expense.
However, if you added $20 per thousand for a premiumbuck slip to the test package, it would have little effect uponprofitability in this example.
Inside at a GlanceEditor’s Note
President’s Note
2
Conference and Expo 2000 Preview
3
directmarketing.com
5
A Copywriter’s Journal
6
Direct Connections
7
Calendar of Events
Welcome New Members
8
IssueNumber 7
April2000
www.mdma.org612.928.4643
continued on page 6
continued on page 6
A publication for direct marketing professionals of the Upper Midwest
Direct mail math is for creatives too!
Special Edition! Conference and Expo 2000 Preview
Arthur M. Hughs
By Donna Wald
We see it all around us.CHANGE. We have to change theway we market to our customers.
Companies have to changewhen they are acquired by other
companies. Forms of communication are constantlychanging around us. Our job requirements andsometimes even our careers themselves are constantlymutating as we strive to keep up with the demands ofthe marketplace.
So why are people so averse to change? I wouldput forward that people are averse to change because
we are creatures of habit. We are creatures of habitbecause we are educated that way. (It can’t begenetic).
From the first day you enter school, you go to thesame classroom, you go from class to class with thesame people, you are taught from well structured-textsand basically, things are pretty predictable. We aretaught to have long-term objectives and we derivesatisfaction and are rewarded for achievement ofthose objectives. We value our communities of co-workers and the long-term contributions we have allmade together.
So I have to laugh just a little when majorchanges take place and the “change” authors write
books about how to embrace change and have a newview about change. Unfortunately, most of them areleaving out the human element. The environments inwhich we have all been brought up and educatedhave not taught us to be flexible. They have nottaught us to be elated when we wake up to find we nolonger have a job. People want to feel that they canprovide for their families, people like the groups ofpeople they work with, and people are proud of thelong term achievements they have made.
So for all of you out there undergoing change,mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, etc. hang inthere. I still maintain that it’s a 50/50 world. Changecan be a good thing or a bad thing.
By John G. Olson
When it comes to the policy onemail marketing, the DirectMarketing Association is in a no-winsituation. They want to appear to bedoing something about SPAM, and
still preserve the direct marketing possibilities ofreaching consumers online.
In January, it launched its Email PreferenceService (E-MPS). This is an “opt-out” list servicewhere consumers can register to be excluded fromemail solicitations. Patterned after the TelephonePreference Service and Mail Preference Service, itrequires DMA members to drop registered namesand addresses from their DM Internet lists. It won’twork for three reasons.
First, politics and opinion polls. There is such agroundswell of pressure from Congress, the states andconsumer advocacy groups that election year politicswill probably squelch hopes for self-regulation. TheWall Street Journal reported in a recent poll thatAmericans cite loss of privacy as their top concernabout the 21st Century, ahead of global warming,overpopulation and terrorism. Faced with this reality,some industry advocates of self-regulation arerethinking their opposition to privacy regulation,according to the WSJ.
Second, the “opt-out” approach is fundamentallywrong for the online world. When online, opt-in/permission rules. Direct mail list strategies don’t
apply to the Internet. Internet Marketing pioneerSeth Godin preaches that online marketing messagesmust be personal, relevant and anticipated. TraditionalDM prospecting and selling tactics, which he calls“interruption marketing” don’t work on the Internet.His book, Permission Marketing, is the must-read formarketers who want to understand the new rules forInternet Marketing.
The third reason E-MPS won’t work iscompliance. How can the DMA ever hope to enforceits use by nonmembers? Take for example, QPIMarketing in Kansas City, Mo. – probably not aDMA member. They SPAMMED me this offer for aproduct called Eye Spy Internet InvestigativeSoftware:
Find out SECRETS about your relatives,friends, enemies, co-workers, neighbors
… even your spouse!
Locate a past lover who broke your heart!
Get anyone’s name and address with just alicense plate number! Driving records too!
Send anonymous email completely untraceable!
Get a satellite photo view of YOURneighborhood!
Get any unlisted phone number!
Find out where to obtain Credit Reports!
This is the kind of SPAM Marketing that dragsrespectable direct marketers into the mire of privacy
abuse. It’s the kind of thing the E-MPS won’t stop.Merchandising such sensitive information whichcould be used by stalkers and other malevolentsnoops is outrageous and indefensible. I tried to sendthem a reply saying so. But of course they used oneof those anonymous, untraceable email addresses.
Consumers hate this. And direct marketerscan’t fight it. Regulators and political opportunistswill ultimately institute a government solution.Adios E-MPS.
2
EDITOR’S NOTE
April 2000
Direct Hit is the member publicationof the Midwest Direct MarketingAssociation, Inc. (MDMA). Anyopinions, expressed or implied, arenot necessarily those of the Boardof Directors or general membership.Direct Hit is published ten timesper year to bring members news ofmeetings, activities, local and regionalevents, pertinent articles and changes inlegislation and postal requirements thataffect the direct marketing industry.© 2000 Midwest Direct MarketingAssociation. All rights reserved.
EDITOR IN CHIEF
John G. [email protected]
DESIGN EDITOR
April Wollmann [email protected]
ADVERTISING MANAGER
Jolee [email protected]
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Patricia [email protected]
PRINTING
General Litho612.535.7277
MAILING SERVICES
PGI Companies, Inc.612.933.5745
CONTRIBUTORS
Carol LarsonJean HaskellAl MalesonKara ThorntonBill Johnson
Issue Number 7 • April 2000
MIDWEST DIRECT MARKETING ASSOCIATION4248 Park Glen Road, Minneapolis MN 55416 • 612.928.4643 • www.mdma.org
PRESIDENT’S NOTEChange – Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
Why the DMA’s Email Preference Service will fail
™
3April 2000
By Patricia Landers
Each year as part of the Annual Conference andExposition, there is a presentation of twodistinguished awards: The Direct Marketer of the YearAward, recognizing one outstanding organization; andthe Holes Long Term Achievement Award,recognizing one individual who has made significantcontributions to the industry over their career. It addsa sense of history to the proceedings. This year, evenmore so.
Along with the arrival of a new millennium, theyear 2000 marks the fortieth year for the MDMA.
This year’s awards presentations on April 6, willbe hosted by Joanne Clark, the MDMA historian andlast year’s recipient of the Holes Award. (The awardis named for MDMA founding father and firstpresident William W. Holes). To commemorate thisauspicious anniversary, Clark will give a retrospective
of highlights from the past 40 years of MDMAhistory. It’s a great way to celebrate the big four-oh!
Another long-standing event will take place theevening of April 5 at 5:00 p.m.: the Casino NightParty sponsored by Fair Isaac. This perennial socialevent is a great mixer and prize giveaway. Attendeesare eligible to win many prizes with the grand prizebeing a 27-inch color television. Hors d’oeuvres and adessert bar will be provided courtesy of Fair Isaac. Besure to attend and bring your lucky rabbit’s foot.
The Conference and special events could not bepossible without the generous contribution ofindividual time and in-kind sponsorships and cashdonations of MDMA members. Volunteers are stillneeded. If you’d like to volunteer door prizes orsponsorships, call Jill Tokarcyzk at 612.831.8480 (fordoor prizes) or Meg Borman at 612.541.6547 (forsponsorships).
This year’s conference events add a touch of history
Tuesday, April 4th ARC Awards
Wednesday, April 5th8:00 am – 9:00 am Registration & Exhibit Hall
8:30 am – 9:00 am Breakfast
9:00 am – 10:00 am Opening Keynote
Crossing the Bridge fromTraditional to Internet Marketing
As we cross into the 21st century, we see a fascinatingnew array of advertising options. What lessons can we takewith us from traditional media, and what new lessons mustwe learn? Mr. Hughes will offer the unique perspective of apioneer in both traditional database marketing andmarketing on the Internet.
Speaker: Arthur Middleton Hughes, Executive Vice President,Database Marketing Institute
10:00 am – 10:30 am Break & Exhibit Hall
10:30 am – 11:30 am Break Out Session I
Postal Practices & ChallengesKeeping pace with the ever-changing rules and policies of
the United States Postal Service is nearly impossible. Mr.Yapuncich will give us the latest postal updates, plusvaluable information on how to manage your mailingprocess more efficiently and profitably.
Speaker: Mike Yapuncich, Vice President of Product Development,Experian/Direct Tech
Customer Loyalty Models that WorkWe have all heard claims that your most loyal customers
make up a large percentage of your profits. Is this claimtrue? Mr. McLeod will describe a new way to measurecustomer loyalty, and how to establish the link betweenloyalty and profitability. Learn how to measure and quantifythe monetary value of loyalty.
Speaker: Jeff McLeod, Chief Scientist, ParaMetrica
11:30 am – 12:00 noon Break & Exhibit Hall
12:00 noon – 1:30 Lunch with Guest Speaker
Business in 2000 and BeyondHarry Freedman offers an inspiring motivational
philosophy on avoiding clutter and confusion in our lives.He shows us how to replace old ways of thinking with fresh,clear and insightful ways.
Speaker: Harry Freedman
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Session II
Changes to Come in the DirectResponse Economy
Mr. Anton will speak on the forces that will shape theadvertising economy in the near future. We will get aguided tour of how both businesses and consumers maychange, and the possible ways in which such economicchanges might affect direct response marketing andadvertising.
Speaker: Paul Anton, Chief Economist, Anton Lubov & Associates
2:30 pm – 3:30 pm Snack Break & Exhibit Hall
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Session III
Media Mixing Strategies that WorkA case study from a leader in direct marketing through
multiple channels. We will get an up-close look at how tointegrate traditional paper and postal advertising withtelemarketing and the new e-commerce media.
Speaker: Willie Doyle, Fingerhut Companies
4:30 pm – 5:00 pm Exhibit Hall
5:00 pm Fair Isaac Sponsored Event
Thursday, April 6th8:00 am – 9:00 am Exhibit Hall
8:30 am – 9:00 am Breakfast
9:00 am – 10:00 am Break Out Session IV
L.L. Bean’s Privacy StandardsDoug Faherty will talk about how L.L. Bean addresses
consumer privacy issues. This is a rare opportunity to getan inside look at how privacy is managed at L.L. Bean, acatalog company that is widely known for its ethicalintegrity.
Speakers: Doug Faherty, Vice President, L.L. Bean
Impressions on the Future of PrintingMr. DeWese will discuss the future of the printing
industry from an insider’s perspective. A widely publishedwriter on trends in the printing industry, Mr. DeWese willidentify the key factors that will shape the printing industry.
Speaker: Harris DeWese, Principal, The Compass Group
10:00 am – 10:30 am Break & Exhibit Hall
10:30 am – 11:30 am Break Out Session V
How to Build a Prospecting DatabaseAs list rentals began to show disappointing results, many
direct marketers turned to prospecting databases as a newway to acquire customers. Dawn Blanton from Experianwill give a hands-on account of what prospecting databasesare, and how they are built.
Moderator: Dawn Blanton, Director of Database Services,Experian
Understanding Generational MarketingThis session will talk about the look and lifestyle of the
new consumer. The next generation of consumers has comeof age. Meet an expert in generational marketing, and learnhow to reach the next generation through images, creative,and copy.
Speaker: Brian Jersey, Founder, i-birthday.com
11:30 am – 12:00 noon Break & Exhibit Hall
12:00 noon – 1:30 Awards Ceremony & Lunch
Holes Award PresentationDirect Marketer of theYear Award Presentation
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Session VI
Direct Marketing on Your WebsiteNow that direct marketers have embraced the Internet, a
whole new set of challenges and possibilities arises. How doyou get the buyer’s attention before they click-through tosomeone else’s website? How can you harness the ability to
measure customer behavior on your site and turn it into astrategic advantage? Jane Westlind will discuss some of thenewest, most exciting, and most effective ways of marketingon your own web site.
Speaker: Jane Westlind, Director Commerce Solutions, Net Perceptions
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm Snack Break & Exhibit HallLast Chance to visit the ExhibitHall. Exhibit Hall closes at 3:00 pm.
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm Session VII
How to Build and Run aSuccessful E-Commerce Business
If you want to start an online business, or if you want toknow how your site compares to other e-commerce startups,you will find this session indispensible. A panel of e-commerce professionals will talk about how to get up andrunning in e-commerce. Topics will run the spectrum fromhow to design a web page that works, how to take ordersover the Internet, how to market on the web, whichproducts work, and which products do not work on theInternet.
Speakers: Brian Jersey, Founder, i-Birthday.comCorbin Grant, Founder Stimuli Brand DevelopmentBrant Palazza, Sr. Director of Marketing, Digital RiverGreg Bassett, Carlson Companies
Conference 2000 Intinerary
Meet the Exhibitors!
Exhibitors sure to deliver excitementand DM solutions!
Over 40 booths will be featured in thisyear’s exhibit hall. To help you meet them,a promotion centering on this year’s theme,“The Direct Marketer’s Toolbox for theNext Millennium,” will bring you to variousexhibitor booths to collect the directmarketing tools for success in the newmillennium. This promotion is combinedwith twice-daily prize drawings at theMDMA booth. Free popcorn will beprovided courtesy of Express Messenger, Inc.
3M Post-it
Canada Post Corporation
ALDATA
Ad Track
Bolger Concept to Print
DB Direct, Inc.
Drop Ship Express
Express Messenger International (EMI)
Econ Marketing
Fair Isaac
Gage Marketing Support Services
General Litho Services, Inc.
IC System, Inc.
infoUSA
Japs-Olson Company
Laser Images
Lorton Data
MDMA
Mackay Envelope Corporation
Mail Handling Services
Mail-Well Envelope
Merit Printing
Merkl Direct Marketing
Moore Response Marketing Services
NBS Data Management Group
Personalized Graphics, Inc.
PGI Companies, Inc.
Post Haste
Prime Net Marketing Services
Scoville Press, Inc.
Tension Envelope Corp.
Tidewater Publishing Corp.
Volkart May & Associates, Inc.
Williams Kincaid Group
Webcraft Technologies, Inc.
Wisconsin Label
World Distribution Services, Inc.
ZIP Sort, Inc.
Special Edition! Conference and Expo 2000 Preview
April 20004
Special Edition! Conference and Expo 2000 Preview
Arthur Middleton HughsArthur M. Hughes has been designing marketing
databases for Fortune 500 companies for the pastfourteen years. He is the acclaimed author of StrategicDatabase Marketing and The Complete Database Marketer:Tapping Your Customer Base to Maximize Sales and IncreaseProfits, as well as editor-in-chief of Relationship Marketingnewsletter. Hughes, a much sought-after nationalspeaker, is also Executive Vice President of theDatabase Marketing Institute.
Paul A. AntonPaul A. Anton is President and Chief Economist of
Anton, Lubov & Associates, a Minneapolis-basedconsulting firm. He is an economist with over twenty
years experience in economicforecasting, financial market analysis,corporate economic strategy, industryanalysis, and government policyadvising. Prior to entering consulting, heworked for what is now USBank, first as
Money Market Economist and later as Director ofEconomics. Before joining USBank, he was aneconomist in the Research Department of the FederalReserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Anton’s views on economic issues have beenwidely quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New YorkTimes, London's Financial Times, the Minneapolis StarTribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and the Los AngelesTimes. His remarks have also been carried on CableNews Network, CBS Radio, and National Public Radio.
Anton is also a member of the Star Tribune’s Boardof Economists and a member of the Governor’s Councilof Economic Advisors for the State of Minnesota. He isa former member of the Economic Advisory Board ofthe American Bankers Association and was twice
elected to the Board of Directorsof the National Association of Business Economists.
In 1981, the National Association of BusinessEconomists chose Mr. Anton as one of the fouroutstanding young business economists in the UnitedStates.
He received his Bachelor’s degree in economicsand mathematics at the University of Minnesota, wherehe also earned his Ph.D. in Economics. He is a memberof Phi Beta Kappa and an honorary Woodrow WilsonFellow.
Harry FreedmanHarry Freedman is “the nation’s leading expert” on
forecasting business trends. Having been an executive inboth the public and private sectors, Freedman has seenit all and wants to share his insights. He has been anational speaker and a consultant to numerous Fortune500 companies for the past decade. Freedman’s candor,combined with a large grain of salt, routinely challengeshis audience’s business and marketing assumptions.
Harris M. DeweseHarris DeWese has been described as a “man for
all seasons” or maybe it was just spring, summer, andmaybe autumn. He is a principal in the firm ofCompass Capital Partners, Ltd. of Radnor,
Pennsylvania. Harris providesinvestment banking and financialadvisory services to the printing industryin the United States.
Harris has written a regularmonthly column for Printing Impressions sinceNovember, 1984. Although he’s never missed an issue,he’s been late for nearly every deadline. His tardinesscoupled with his assertion that, “I invented all the greatsales mistakes,” has earned him the pseudonym, “The
Mañana Man.” DeWese takes credit for inventing takingthe afternoon off without your boss suspecting a thing inMiami in 1971. When carefree afternoons becamepopular among salespeople, Harris invented taking thewhole day off while on a business trip to Memphis in1974. Harris also claims to have perfected the art ofmaking sales calls while totally unprepared.
Harris DeWese is the author of several booksincluding Now Get Out There and Sell Something, How toWrite Profit-building Sales Letters and wrote a chapter forthe Dow Jones Capital Budgeting Handbook.
DeWese serves on the board of several printingcompanies and is Chairman of the Board of CompassCapital Partners.
He was formerly a senior manager with GeneralElectric and the American Management Associations.He has a BBA and an MBA from Emory University.
Name _______________________________________
Title ________________________________________
Company ___________________________________
Address _____________________________________
City_____________________State _____ ZIP______
Phone_______________________________________
Fax _________________________________________
Email _______________________________________Method of Payment:
■■ Check Enclosed (made payable to MDMA)
■■ Visa
■■ MasterCard
■■ American Express
Card No. ____________________________________
Expiration Date: ______/______
Mail or fax your completed registration form to:
Midwest Direct Marketing Association (MDMA)c/o The Harrington Company4248 Park Glen RoadMinneapolis, MN 55416Fax: 612.929.1318Or register online at www.mdma.org
Early Bird Registration Deadline: Friday, March 17, 2000
(Prepayment required for reduced rate)
Includes: All sessions, luncheons, and Exhibit Halladmission.
■■ MDMA Member, $220.00
■■ Nonmember, $270.00* *includes membership for remainder of 2000.
Full Program Registration
Includes: All sessions, luncheons, andExhibit Hall admission.
■■ MDMA Member, $245.00
■■ Nonmember, $295.00* *includes membership for remainder of 2000.
Exhibit Hall Pass Only
Includes: Exhibit Hall admission.
■■ MDMA Member, $50.00
■■ Nonmember, $65.00
Luncheon, Keynote, andExhibit Hall Pass Only (either day)
Includes: One day pass for luncheon, keynote,and Exhibit Hall admission.
■■ MDMA Member, $125.00
■■ Nonmember, $135.00.
Student Registration
Includes: All sessions, luncheons, and Exhibit Halladmission. Must show current fee statement.
■■ $125.00
Registration At The Door
Includes: All sessions, luncheons, andExhibit Hall admission.
■■ MDMA Member, $300.00
■■ Nonmember, $350.00* *includes membership for remainder of 2000.
For More Information, Contact Us:MDMA at 612.928.4643Fax: 612.929.1318Email: [email protected]: www.mdma.org
Conference and Expo 2000 Registration Form
We Know Envelopes.We have been making envelopes for the Direct
Mail industry for over 40 years, so we knowtheimportance of communication. We knowtheimportance of having specialized equipment forinnovative envelopes.
We knowthe importance of economicallyproducing small quantities for test marketing andlarge quantities for full response. We know theimportance of timing and personal service. We Know Envelopes.
Call Today Toll Free at 1-800-622-5299 Minneapolis 612-331-9311 • Fax 612-331-3460
Mackay EnvelopeCorporation
2100 Elm Street SE • Minneapolis, MN 55414
www.mackayenvelope.com
Meet the Program Speakers!
April 2000
By Kara Thornton
You can’t open a newspaperor magazine without reading aboutpublic concern over privacy on theInternet. Most policymakersadvocate legislative solutions. Butat least part of the solution could
actually come from the technologists who gave usthe Internet to begin with. I’m talking about digitalcertificates.
As we move forward into a wireless society, itbecomes more and more difficult to authenticatepeople using ATM’s, palm pilots and cell phonesfor business and financial transactions. That’s whyencryption is so important.
A digital certificate (a.k.a. digital identification)is your driver’s license in the Internet world. Itprovides a way to validate your unique identity.And when combined with encryption technology, itgives you a secure environment in which totransact.
What’s encryption, you ask? Encryption is aprocess that assigns a unique character or code in amessage that can only be read by someone who hasthe ability to decrypt the information. Here is a simpleexample of how an encryption message works:
An encrypted message contains both a private keyand a public key. The public key is made availableto anyone who wants to communicate with you. Itverifies messages signed by your private key andencrypts only messages that can be accessed by aprivate key. A digital certificate has a key pairassigned to a user’s name (a public key and aprivate key).
When installed on a Web browser, the digitalcertificate functions in a manner that allowsverification of other users of certificates or protectsagainst unauthorized use. All digital certificates aresigned by the Certification Authority that brings the"Good Housekeeping" seal of approval.
Digital certificates house data such as:■ Your name■ Your public key■ Expiration date of your public key■ Name of the issuer■ Serial number of the digital certificate■ Digital signature of the issuerSome of the companies involved in secure e-
commerce solutions include CyberTrust.com,VeriSign.com, SmartTrust.com-Wireless,CertCom.com and Entrust.com.
Digital certificates offer web users a high levelof security and privacy in their online transactionsthat could defray today’s hypersensitive climateabout personal privacy .
Kara Thornton is Retail Internet Segment Manager, OnlineServices for USBank. Contact her at [email protected]
The key to online privacycould be digital certificates
5
directmarketing.com
380 Millard Ave., P.O. Box 729, Cokato, MN 55321
612-449-0100 (Twin Cities metro) or 320-286-2202
DOING IT RIGHT, THE F IRST T IME
How big is your mailing?Just a few, or millions?
Postcards, or 9" x 12" envelopes?
We’ve got your size.Not every lettershop can handle jumbo 9" x 12" mailings along with
the smaller packages. We can. And not many lettershops are a good fit formailings of 2,000 or 2,000,000. We are.
Since 1990, Performance Mailers has been helping customers relax,knowing their mailings are inserted correctly, addressed right, and mailedon time.
At Performance Mailers, we’re proud of what we do and we care aboutthe details, big and small.
S M L XL
Dear Bob – Thanks for yourproposal. I willforward to thePresident today.
Inghlsientgbaoytntrbaojndbaondnapoidmfnbgoimanpamdkmngfo9gpamdn
Dear Bob –Thanks for yourproposal. I willforward to thePresident today.
My e-mail messagewhich is encryptedwith my private key
Message is sent Bob decrypts mymessage with mypublic key.
Make animpressionat the ARCAwardsCeremonyThe 2000 ARC Awards Ceremony is aperfect liftoff for the Annual Conferenceand Expo. Register today for a gala eveningrecognizing the top direct marketing workfrom the past year.
April 4, 2000
Earle Brown Heritage Center, Brooklyn Center, Minn
5-6 p.m. Registration/Social Hour (Cash Bar)6-8 p.m. Awards Ceremony8-9 p.m. Dessert & Coffee Buffet (Cash Bar)
Members: $45 Non Members: $55 Students: $30
Name _____________________________________________
Company _________________________________________
Address ___________________________________________
City_________________________ST____ Zip ___________
Phone_____________________________________________
Email _____________________________________________
Payment:
■■ VISA ■■ MasterCard ■■ American Express
Card Number ______________________________________
Expiration Date ____________________________________
Signature __________________________________________
Fax to 612.929.1318 or mail to MDMA, 4248 Park GlenRd, Minneapolis, MN 55416. To register online go towww.mdma.org. Or call 612.928.4643.
April 2000
to realize it’s true potential. They put their entiretracking system on the Web, so customers could dialup and find the status of all of their packages at anyhour of the day or night, without talking to anoperator, or getting put on eternity hold. Anyone whohas used the FedEx tracking system knows how usefulit is. What the customers may not realize is that itsaves FedEx millions of dollars a year. The Webaccomplishes three feats simultaneously: it makescustomers happy, it builds loyalty and it saves money.
What is the principle here? I call it “Letting themcome behind the counter.” Just about every companyin the world has a sign on the wall someplace thatsays, “Authorized personnel only.” You don’t letcustomers go back into the accounting department, orwander around in your warehouse. But the Web haschanged all that. Companies have learned that theycan give customers access to the kind of informationthat their customer service reps are reading off theircomputer screens. They have written the software sothat customers can manipulate their keyboards andmice to act like company employees: readingtechnical information, wandering through warehouses,looking up their own shipping and billinginformation, and placing their own orders. They caneliminate hundreds of rep jobs.
Some business-to-business companies have goneone step further: vendor-managed inventory on theWeb. With this system, a manufacturer keeps track inhis computer of the inventory in his customer’swarehouses. As each item is taken off the customer’sshelves for use or resale, daily automatic electronicnotices are exchanged between customer andmanufacturer. New products are automatically shippedto keep the shelves at optimum levels. Optimumquantities are automatically revised based on usage.Product obsolescence is eliminated by automated,quarterly return material authorizations with norestocking charge. Purchasing and receiving paperworkis almost eliminated. Customers have lower inventorycosts. They never run out of needed items.
So what are we accomplishing by “Letting ThemCome Behind the Counter”? We are makingcustomers happy, building customer loyalty,increasing sales, saving millions of dollars, andmaking the world a better place to live. What morecould you want?
Arthur Middleton Hughes is Executive Vice President of TheDatabase Marketing Institute. The Institute (www.dbmarketing.com)gives two-day seminars on Database Marketing and E-Commerce.The next seminar is April 17-18 in Washington, D.C.
Customer satisfaction onlinecontinued from page 1
COPYWRITING HAIKU
Nimble fingers flyacross computer keyboards,writing words that sell.
Agency wins goldfor witty and clever work.
Client now bankrupt.
Mail this card todayto get more information.Offer will not last.
My portfolio.Look at all the nifty ads.Do you think I'm good?
Traffic manager'ssimple question makes me sweat.
"When will job be done?"
Brainstorming session.Let's not be judgmental here.
Praise stupid ideas.
Oozing easy charm, the account executive
leaves me feeling coarse.
"The client bought it!"I thrill at the welcome news.
Mom and Dad love me.
The art director deletes key word from headline.
"Ad looks better now."
"You are a genius,but here we work as a team.Please don't be too right."
Frantic for ideasas the drop-dead deadline nears,
fear and panic reign.
Some write to praise God;others, to praise liberty.I write to praise stuff.
Like a lightning flash,a great headline comes to mindand the dark clouds clear.
"That's a great idea.Could we change justone small thing?Its very essence."
6
A Copywrite
r’s
Journal
by Al Maleso
n
1/4General Litho
This is the first time I ever wrote the words“equation” and “creative” in the same article. I’velearned that numbers and math can be usedcreatively, like color and words.
As former Creative Director of Polk Direct and a direct mailfreelance copywriter, Tom Meyer has written and helped create over200 control packages. Tom’s articles have also appeared in TargetMarketing, Selling to Seniors, The Suarez MarketingNewsletter, and Inside Direct Marketing. He can be reached at612.876.0925.
Math for creativescontinued from page 1
April 2000
Product Merchandising Coordinator
Leading health care direct marketing company has animmediate opening for an individual responsible forcoordination and implementation of new productdevelopment. Working closely with the merchandisingmanager, this individual will be responsible forimplementing the product plans, tracking productperformance, researching customer trends, maintainingproduct reports, and serving as the product liaison with keyinternal departments.
The ideal candidate will have a college degree with 2-3years of product/market development or equivalentexperience. Knowledge of and/or experience in the healthcare industry is required. Excellent verbal and writtencommunication skills and attention to detail is a must.Strong organizational skills are desired. Must possess abilityto work as a team player in a fast paced environment.Direct/catalog experience is a plus.
Merchandising Manager
Leading health care direct marketing company has animmediate opening for an individual responsible formanaging the product development and positioning of aproduct portfolio. This person will be responsible fordeveloping and executing annual product plans for amarket segment including market research, vendornegotiation, positioning, etc., for multiple distributionchannels.
The ideal candidate will have a college degree, 5-7 yearsof product development/marketing or equivalentexperience. Knowledge of and/or experience in the healthcare industry is a plus. Direct/catalog marketing ispreferred. Excellent verbal and written communicationskills a must. Ability to work as a team player in a fast-paced environment is a must.
We offer a complete benefits package and a pleasantoffice environment. We are located at 494 and 35E. Pleasesend resume including salary requirements to:
Colwell, Attn: Lori Thomas, 1031 Mendota Heights Road,St. Paul, MN 55120. No calls or agencies please. EqualOpportunity Employer.
7
DIRECT CONNECTIONS
Japs-Olson is a partner with the production solutions.
We offer our clients…• A 512,000 sq. ft. production facility!• Over 700 trades-people with theproduction know-how!
• NEW full size 16-color web press!• WORLD’S FIRST 12-color sheetfed press!• Introducing variable digital printing!• 35 web, sheetfed and flexo presses!• 18 300x300 dpi Pagestream laser printers!• 56 Inserters with in-house USP Service!
JAPS-OLSON COMPANYSpecialists in Commercial Print and Direct Mail Production
7500 Excelsior Boulevard., St. Louis Park, MN 55426 • (612) 912-9393 • 800-548-2897 • www.japsolson.com
Call Nancy Dibbat 612-912-1826
World Class CustomerService Over the
Phone or on the WebAt Gage, we understand that no customer contact is inconsequential. We know each andevery time a customer calls with a question ora problem your company’s reputation is on theline. Our one goal is to build a better, deeperrelationship between you and your customerswith every phone or web inquiry we handle.
Multi-Lingual Customer Service/Problem Solving/Customer Retention
e-Customer Service On The Web/Real Time Text Chat/E-Mail/Web Callback
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) with Live Operator Options
Order Entry/Upselling/Help Desks/Dealer Locator/Lead GenerationFulfillment and e-Fulfillment Services
Mark LambertyVP Business Development
Gage Customer Service10000 Highway Fifty-Five
Voice: 612-595-5821Fax: 612-595-5808
