eMarketing

• Six in ten marketers surveyed by Forrester Research Inc. will increase their interactive marketing budgets by shifting funds from traditional media, reported Direct.com. "Email marketing is having a banner year as marketers: 1) grow their lists with the promise of 'green marketing'; 2) turn on more and smarter programs to boost sluggish sales; 3) shift money to email from direct mail; and 4) improve email effectiveness by linking it to other channels like search or user-generated ratings and reviews, said Forrester analyst Shar VanBoskirk. Read More

• B2B marketers are catching up to their B2C colleagues and, in many cases, surpassing them with the breadth and depth of their email marketing programs. A recent Email Insider edition provides examples which show how some B2B companies use email to build better client and prospect relationships. Read More

A recent New York Times article reviews how small businesses are using Twitter to promote their products and answer customers' questions. Read More

Mashable offers seven suggestions and for establishing a rock-solid corporate culture on Twitter. Read More

Traditional Marketing

• NDC is one of the newest postal acronyms, and it stands for "National Distribution Center." The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has started the process of re-naming the old Bulk Mail Centers (BMC's) as NDC's. This is not simply a name change, but the functions of the centers will change as well. The new NDC's will operate more like the Processing & Distribution Centers. There will be a three-tier level of NDC's, each accepting different classes of mail. The complete transition is expected to take about 18 months. Read More

• Commercial and nonprofit mailers of U.S. Postal Service Standard Mail high-density flats, mail pieces delivered to each address on a delivery route, will enjoy new minimum per-piece prices decreases of 0.1 cent. The decreases kick in on July 19. In addition, mailers will see decreases to the pound price element that match the Standard Mail Saturation rate. The Postal Regulatory Commission approved the rate on July 1, potentially setting a new precedent on how to address a rate decrease in a period of deflation, reported DMnews. Read More

CASE STUDIES
Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company now has four audiences it targets with unique messaging: families, couples, spa visitors and golfers. Hershey's uses a combination of mailings, customer micro-sites and email to connect with customers. A general brochure is still sent to all of the customer segments. After that, customers receive a follow-up postcard that is aligned with the recipient's interest category, such as golf. The post card directs the recipient to a PURL, or personalized URL, that provides original content aligned with their interest. For example, golfers might find an "insider's tip sheet" and spa-goers will see a health and wellness-related article. reported DMnews. Read More

Last year, online fabric store Fabric.com revamped its email program to be more life cycle and behavior focused and since then has seen open and click-through rates double and conversions increase by 43%. The e-commerce site wanted to increase email engagement and in April 2008 began working with their email services firm to do so. The approach to the new email program, which was based on customer survey data, was to do more segmentation and to focus the emails into 3 categories -- New Products, Secret Sales and Deals of the Day, reported DMnews. Read More

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