News at Bresser's Information Service

12/02/08	Game Changer: How to Make Sense of the Intelligent Mail Barcode, DirectMag.com, Nov 1, 2008, by John Steib Yet another challenge for direct marketers: USPS' Intelligent Mail Barcode 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...
12/02/08	FTC Tightens Noose on Telemarketing, DirectMag.com, Dec 2, 2008 New restrictions being imposed on commercial and fundraising telemarketing by the Federal Trade Commission require consent prior to making outbound calls involving pre-recorded messages. Click here to read more...
11/26/08	A Crash Course on Postal and E-mail List Testing, DirectMag.com, Nov 24, 2008, by Allison Doyle-Eichler Give a pop quiz to most direct marketers on postal list testing and you'll find an incredibly knowledgeable group of professionals. Give a similar quiz to the same group on e-mail list testing, and the score may be entirely different. Click here to read more...
11/26/08	Get Creative to Cut Direct Mail Costs, DM News, Nov 10, 2008, by Jared Tanner, VP of Marketing, PrintingForLess.com I consider myself first and foremost a direct marketer. It also happens that I work for a commercial printer. Being a marketing person at a commercial printer has given me some valuable insights into the manufacturing process - and how marketers can better work with their printers to minimize costs. Click here to read more...
11/24/08	Make Testing Dollars Go Further, MultichannelMerchant.com, Nov 24, 2008, by Shari Altman There's no substitute for well-planned and carefully executed testing to move your brand's direct results to the next level. Multichannel marketing adds to the complexity of marketing programs and testing plans. But the Web offers significant opportunities as well. The pace of planning and executing a direct mail campaign is equivalent to the Stone Age compared to doing the same with e-mail, search or your Web site. In addition, the Internet offers significantly lower testing expense-without major production. Click here to read more...
11/21/08	Marketers Brace for Change Following Election, BtoBOnline.com, Nov 10, 2008, by Ira Teinowitz Now that the election's over and Sen. Barack Obama is the president-elect, the real fighting can begin. With the Democrats riding to victory with promises of change, it's a safe bet the next Congress and administration will look to make a mark on advertising and marketing issues. Click here to read more...
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. Click here to read more...
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...
11/01/08	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...