Skip to content

Direct Marketing 101: Mail is Not Dead

You are important. You matter. When push comes to shove, you’re the one that will make a difference. A bit over the top perhaps, but do you feel engaged right now? If so, the piece of advice I’m following from DMAW’s Direct Marketing 101 event has worked—use ‘you’ liberally and make your audience a part…

Read More

Direct Mail Copy for Skimmers, Swimmers and Divers

Direct response copywriting is a combination of art and science. There are thoughtful reasons behind the techniques, phrases and structure of the copy used in different media, as well as the way it’s formatted. It all begins with knowing that people consume information in different ways and that copy will be seen by very different…

Read More

4 Mistakes to Easily Avoid

by Alicia Toles Can you guess which of the following mistakes happened? A back to school appeal that mails in August without a reply envelope, a segment of donors who were included by mistake, or Midwest chapter donors receiving a mailing that references Los Angeles… If you guessed all, you are correct. Hopefully, you haven’t…

Read More

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE LISTS!

“Succeeding in business is all about making connections.”  – Richard Branson, Virgin Group By Charlie Rice and Molly Rinaldi While we always talk about networking and being “connected,” in today’s digital world, we sometimes cheat and take the easy way out by just sending that email or text message. The truth is, though, today more…

Read More

Communication is Key to Saving Money

Recently, I attended the DMAW’s Direct Mail 101 seminar.  The major takeaway I found from the eight different sessions was that at every step of the process, proper communication could save you time and money. It’s worth spending time on the front end to set up communication practices internally and externally with your vendors and…

Read More

So Many Tests, So Little Time…Energy…Money

by Tiffany Neill As direct marketing fundraisers we’re always asking, “is there a better way to do this?”  And so we test. Everything. All the time. We test the color of the outer envelope, the teaser on the direct mail package, the subject line of the email, the content of the letter, the color of…

Read More

The Loss of an Icon

By Hilary Baar On May 19th, I attended Mike O’Hara’s funeral but truly it was billed (and did deliver) as a celebration of his life.  Although, I wasn’t a close friend of Mike’s, from the time I became a DMAW member almost 20 years ago, Mike was always an (or rather, the) icon.  He was…

Read More

Upcoming Networking Luncheons

JUNE LUNCHEON Thursday, June 17 Ruth Goldway, Chairman, US Postal Regulatory Commission Topic: The History, Role and Challenge of the Commission and How It Impacts Our Industry Chairman Goldway will be discussing the PRC’s role in implementing the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act against the backdrop of the increasing activity level surrounding postal issues.  The PRC is…

Read More

Stay In ‘The Know’

Here are some of the latest headlines in the Direct Marketing Industry today. USPS Resumes Full International Service “Now that international airports across Europe have reopened following the disruption caused by the Icelandic volcanic activity, the U.S. Postal Service has resumed full international mail service. Effective immediately, the service guarantees for Express Mail International (EMI)…

Read More

The age old debate….”what makes a package successful?

By Vickie Norman The age old debate….”what makes a package successful? it is the copy..it is the lists..copy…lists…copy..lists…”.  As we know it is the lists…that comes from a list manager/broker…. Wednesday, April 28th list managers, brokers, owners, data providers, mailers, and ANYONE who is involved in the list side of direct marketing will come together…

Read More