News at Bresser's Information Service

11/06/08	"Are You Ready For Move Update?" US Postal Service Mail Pro, May 2008 "The Postal Service is stepping up its efforts to reduce undeliverable-as-addressed (UAA) mail. On Nov. 23, new Move Update standards take effect. To be ready, mailers must begin using addresses that were updated no earlier than Aug. 20. The Move Update standards provide options for customers to reduce the number of mailpieces that require forwarding, return or being treated as waste by periodically matching address records with customer-filed change-of-address orders." Click here to read more
11/06/08	"Confusion Reigns Over Intelligent Mail Barcodes" Multichannel Merchant, Nov 5, 2008, by Jim Tierney "The U.S. Postal Service has long been touting the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMB) as a revolutionary change--one that will expand mailers' ability to track individual pieces of mail and provide greater visibility into the mail stream. But many catalogers and industry experts have more questions than answers on the IMB." Click here to read more...
11/05/08	"The National Hockey League's Power Play: An expanded direct-to-consumer portfolio, tighter data collection practices and a new relational database" Target Marketing Magazine, Nove 1, 2008, by Amy Syracuse "Sports marketers measure the engagement of their customers in terms of their "avidity." Avid fans are those who have an emotional connection to the game-people whose interest, enthusiasm and passion for the product defy the norm. From a marketing standpoint, these individuals are dream customers because they are eager consumers of all things associated with the sport. But, there is a catch." Click here to read more...
11/04/08	"Bigger isn't Always Better When it Comes to Your Customer List" Direct Magazine, Nov 3, 2008, by Carol Lustig "Your mother was right, good hygiene is important. And as experienced mailers and marketers, we all know the value of a good list scrub, don't we? As the economy shifts and squirms and budgets shrink in over-reaction, we're tasked with transforming less into more. So what's list hygiene got to do with your shrinking budget? A whole lot."
11/04/08	"Digging deeper with DMA's latest Power of Direct report" BtoB Online, Oct 27, 2008, by Christopher Hosford "The release this month of the Direct Marketing Association's annual Power of Direct Marketing report, a forecast of direct marketing's impact on the U.S. economy, revealed the slowdown in growth expected in this economically battered year, with a rebound projected for late 2009." Click here to read more...
11/02/08	"Game Changer: How to Make Sense of the Intelligent Mail Barcode" Direct Magazine, November 1, 2008, by John Steib "Nearly 60% of the 212 billion mail pieces the U.S. Postal Service processes annually is direct mail. But with countless millions of people moving each year, just try to imagine how much marketing material gets returned as undeliverable due to address changes alone." Click here to read more...
11/02/08	"Mailers moving toward environment best practices: WEC roundtable" DM News, Oct 31, 2008, by Kate Muth "Many companies in the mailing industry are integrating sound environmental practices, but the industry, as a whole, needs to get greener, speakers at the World Environment Center roundtable on sustainability in the mailing industry said. They also agreed the industry needs to do a better job of telling its story." Click here to read more...
11/01/08	"How Louche of You: DM Copywriters Should Choose their Words Carefully" Direct Magazine, November 1, 2008, by Herschell Gordon Lewis "Until this year's political campaigns, who ever heard or read the word "traction" or "resonate" referring to public reaction to a campaign promise by just about anyone running for office? And here is "nuance," formerly solely in the province of sophistry and a computer software company, being tossed around like a Tiffany-leather basketball." Click here to read more...
10/27/08	"Better Mailing Lists with Data Card Intelligence" Direct Magazine, October 27, 2008 "With more than 60,000 mailing lists on the market and 40% of your direct marketing success contingent on your choice of lists, you need strategic intelligence to make the best list purchasing decisions. Data cards provide the detailed information necessary to analyze mailing lists. But not all data cards are created equal. Here is how seasoned list brokers use data cards to make strategic purchasing decisions." Click here to read more...
10/24/08	"Direct Mail Testing Today is So Much 'One and Done'" Direct Magazine, October 6, 2008, by Tom Mack, Jr "As a 20-year veteran of direct mail I have seen many approaches to testing. Over the last five years, there has been an enormous shift in overall attitude - at least as evidenced by the precipitous decline in test to continuation ratios. Now, I doubt many mailers - or brokers, for that matter - will agree with this assessment. The former creates the measurement equations and the latter co-signs them." Click here to read more...
10/24/08	"4 Copywriting Tips That Work in Both Direct Mail and E-Mail" Target Marketing Magazine Tipline, October 15, 2008, by Ethan Boldt "Much is made of how different the direct mail and e-mail channels are - and the oft repeated recommendation is th use both in a well-coordinated multichannel campaign. (An Aug. 20, 2008 Tipline article that I wrote, entitled '6 Steps to Improving Both E-Mail and DM Content,' begins with that premise, in fact.) However, not as much is discussed when it comes to their key similarities, especially from a copywriter's perspective. Finding these similarities can help get a campaign off on the right, truly coordinated foot." Click here to read more...
10/24/08	"Direct Selling: Read Me First!-Crafting effective headlines from channel to channel" Target Marketing Magazine, October 22, 2008, By Lois Boyle-Brayfield "The importance of headlines cannot be underestimated. They are a critical part of the success of a campaign, the most important copy in the entire piece and often, they're written last-almost as an afterthought. The headline is more likely to be read than any other copy in your marketing materials, so don't waste the opportunity to make it as powerful as possible." Click here to read more...
10/24/08	"Direct Impact: The Economic Crisis and Direct Marketing-Industry responds to downturn with rising layoffs; list prices fall across the board" B-to-B Online, October 13, 2008, by Christopher Hosford "The deepening economic crisis that has ensnared the country is having a profound effect on direct marketing, with new reports showing hiring declining, layoffs rising and list prices falling." Click here to read more...