Are You Using Your Time Wisely?

The VetCentric case study we highlight to the right is a perfect example of discussions we have all the time with clients and prospects. Too often companies think that doing things "in-house" is the cheaper solution.

For mailing projects many fail to realize that outsourcing will allow them to:

• Take advantage of abundant postage discounts
• Free up staff to service existing customers better or bring in new sales
• Have access to expert knowledge on direct marketing to improve response rates

When the discussion turns to email, clients don't realize:

• Doing nothing with an in-house list of emails is costing you money
• It takes time to come up with relevant offers and content to send out on a regular basis
• There is a lot of competition in people's inbox, so your message MUST look professional
• As in the Seiko case study at the right, there is the opportunity to use email to communicate with different business channels, ie distributors and consumers

Let us help you use your time wisely. If you have been considering outsourcing any projects that are becoming cumbersome or if you are considering implementing an email marketing program, give us a call, there is no cost to talk and I guarantee you'll walk away with some great advice or feedback if nothing else.

Regards,
Jim Gawley
VP eMedia
ForbesAMG, Inc.

eMarketing

• Email continues to be a popular marketing communications channel in today's challenging economic climate due to its low cost-per-contact and its ability to provide direct, measurable results, according to a new report View from the Inbox, 2009 from Merkle. As a result, inboxes are becoming more crowded with marketing messages and marketers are finding they must adapt to sustain gains made via their recent email marketing efforts, according to MediaPost's Research Brief. Read More

• eMarketer interviewed David E. Tryder, Dunkin' Donuts Manager of Interactive & Relationship Marketing about a two day Facebook program the company ran in January. Read the interview.

Traditional Marketing

• Squarely impacted by the "triple assault" of the recession, rising postage rates and growing marketer preference for low-cost digital communications, total U.S. direct mail spending declined sharply in 2008—falling 3.0%—and was accompanied by an even more significant cutback in mail volume, according to a white paper from the Winterberry Group. Read More

• Consumers’ choices are often guided by how they expect their purchase will make them feel. New research by Jane Ebert, a professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, reveals that how we go about predicting our emotions can lead to very different outcomes, reported PsychCentral.com. Read More

• Time Inc. is experimenting with a customized magazine that combines reader-selected sections from eight publications as it tries to mimic in printed form the personalized news feeds that have become popular on the internet. Called "mine," the five-issue, 10-week experiment also aligns readers with the branding message that its sole advertising partner, Toyota Motor Corp., has for its new Lexus 2010 RX sport utility vehicle. The magazine is free, but the print edition is limited to the first 31,000 respondents, while an online version is available for another 200,000. Sign-ups are available immediately at www.timeinc.com/mine, reported The Baltimore Sun. Read More

CASE STUDIES
Thanks to outsourcing, the amount of time it takes VetCentric to send their weekly refill reminders has decreased from 8-10 hours to about 15 minutes a week, according to Sherry Plummer, Direct Mail Coordinator. Plummer says VetCentric has reaped other rewards beyond time and postage savings. According to Plummer, the full-color postcards look much better than the letters and are producing a 14% average response rate, which is much higher than the response rate from the reminder letters. Read More

For Seiko, email helps build its brand in several ways: to communicate with retailers that sell its products; to keep in touch with consumers in its loyalty program called the Elite Group; and to reach members of the press. To help build the brand, email creative is always tied to national ad creative by pulling the basic assets from advertising into the emails. Seiko sends tailored messages to each of these three groups every 2.5 weeks and sees an average open rate of 26%, with a 6% to 7% click-through rate, reported DMnews. Full Story

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