Archive for February, 2006
Bob McCarthy, one half of McCarthy & King Marketing, Inc., and a past president of NEDMA, is here with us again this week, this time around to blog about M. H. “Mac” McIntosh, the closing keynote speaker – in the afternoon of June 15 – at NEDMA ’06, It’s a Brave New World.
You’re on, Bob…
I must confess when I first started writing direct mail back in the early ‘80s, selling was new to me. All of my previous writing assignments were promotional or informational, but never with a specific sales goal in mind.
It took some time in the DM trenches for me to fully understand the sales process and appreciate how direct mail can be used to generate a lead (lead generation) or close a sale (order generation).
As I became more familiar with direct response, I began to see how very distinct these two direct marketing applications are – especially from the standpoint of strategy.
In order generation (also known as mail-order), the mail package itself is the sales person – standing all alone in front of the prospect trying to close the sale. For a copywriter, this is the ultimate direct response challenge.
By contrast, although the goal of lead generation is still to generate response, the nature of that response stops short of a purchase. A lead response is just one step (usually the first step) in the overall sales process.
To be successful in lead generation, you must coordinate the role of the DM package with the other steps and with the other participants in the entire sales and marketing process.
In other words, lead generation is a collaborative process. And that, as many of you know first-hand, can be a real challenge within every organization.
That’s why I was so pleased to hear that Mac McIntosh will be a keynote presenter at the NEDMA Conference on June 15 at Bentley College in Waltham, MA.
Mac McIntosh is an acknowledged expert at business-to-business lead generation. He knows what it takes to produce leads, to nurture and qualify leads, to convert leads into new business and to track and measure marketing results and ROI.
Most importantly, he knows what it takes to get everyone on the same page.
Over the course of 20 years, Mac has helped to plan and implement marketing programs for dozens of industry leaders like ADC, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, Sigma-Aldrich as well as many small and medium-size companies.
“Imagine what would happen if your CEO, CFO, your boss, the folks in sales, your agency or your client all bought into your marketing program,” he said.
“Would you get a bigger budget? More staff? Maybe even a promotion and a raise?”
Attend his session and Mac promises to share with you his proven, real-world techniques for getting all your various stakeholders to buy into your marketing plans and programs.
As one of America’s leading business-to-business marketing consultants, Mac frequently conducts marketing workshops and seminars, writes regularly for leading marketing and business publications, and is the publisher of “Sales Lead Report,” a free monthly newsletter with more than 14,000 B2B marketing professionals as subscribers.
You can learn more about Mac McIntosh by visiting his Web site at www.sales-lead-experts.com, where you can sign up to receive his newsletter, “Sales Lead Report,” and read his blog, “Sales Lead Insights.” Mac can also be reached at 1-800-944-5553 or at .
Thanks, Bob, for the insightful report. We look forward to hearing from you again soon!
February 23rd, 2006
He may have received a ton of publicity recently for the reverse hunger strike he undertook to call attention to “serious problems that exist in the advertising industry,” but this week’s guest blogger has been known for a long time as one of New England’s most creative direct marketing practitioners, having won more than 40 NEDMA awards.
Introducing Robert Rosenthal, the founder of Mothers of Invention (formerly Passaic Parc) and one of the scheduled speakers for NEDMA ‘06, It’s a Brave New World. Here’s what Robert has to say about his forthcoming presentation…
Most direct marketing campaigns are mediocre at best. That’s not a swipe at direct marketers. It’s simply a fact of life. How many people do you know in any field consistently producing great work?
An exceptional outcome generally requires an exceptional effort. If it were easy, everyone would be doing great stuff, rather than simply talking about it.
Over the past 17 years, my team has developed dozens of record-breaking direct marketing campaigns – and some that totally tanked. Every step of the way, we’ve kept track of what worked and what didn’t.
At my NEDMA seminar, I’ll share what we’ve learned about optimizing the odds of seeing awesome outcomes. We’ve even coined a term for it: Optimarketing®.
Optimarketing is a hybrid of unusual creative concepts united with sophisticated direct marketing techniques. When we meet, I’ll share what Optimarketers do in comparison to what we call the mediocre majority.
But rather than simply talk, I’ll show actual examples of Optimarketing in action. I’ll take you behind the scenes and reveal the twists and turns leading to successful innovation.
If you’ve been wondering what it would take to move your direct marketing to another plane – and believe you can handle the truth – you won’t want to miss this seminar.
I’m going to put it all out there: The good, the bad, and yes, the unpretty stuff that tends to hold more than a few direct marketers back.
I’m really hoping for lots of two-way interaction during the session. Join us on June 15, and be prepared to join in! See you at the conference!
P.S. If there’s an issue you’re eager for me to cover, please let me know and I’ll do my best to give you the answers you need.
February 17th, 2006
From time to time, this space will feature contributions from other members and friends of NEDMA, and this weeks’ guest blogger is Bob McCarthy of McCarthy & King Marketing, Inc.
Many of us know Bob as a past president of NEDMA (or as a teacher at Bentley College, where he taught a course on direct response copywriting for 10 years), but he is also an extremely talented and highly regarded direct response copywriter and consultant.
A 26-year veteran of our industry, Bob works with agencies and clients in providing freelance copywriting, full-service direct marketing programs and direct response consulting.
You can learn more about Bob by visiting his Web site at www.mccarthyandking.com, where you can sign up for a free subscription to his bi-weekly e-newsletter, “The Direct Response Coach.” Bob can also be reached at 508-473-8643 or at .
Take it away, Bob…
In the Brave New World of Direct Marketing, Old is Still Better
By Bob McCarthy of McCarthy & King Marketing, Inc.
I’ve only spoken to Denny Hatch a few times over the years. But I feel like I’ve known him forever.
Since I became part of the direct marketing community 26 years ago, I have been reading his columns, his magazine, his newsletter and, now, his e-newsletter, Business Common Sense.
Denny Hatch is truly one of the innovative leaders of direct marketing.
He’s the founder of the WHO’S MAILING WHAT! newsletter, former publisher of (and still a columnist for) Target Marketing magazine and the owner of the world’s premier archive of direct mail samples.
This unique archive is a massive collection of direct mail samples from all the major mailers - categorized by industry, application, format. Every month, through a network of correspondents, 4,000-5,000 pieces of mail are received and analyzed – for easy retrieval by users. Subscribers can then search for and obtain copies of selected samples.
This is the ultimate “swipe” file and I’m fascinated by the whole concept. As a copywriter, I have trouble organizing my own samples so it’s hard to imagine anyone being able to organize everybody else’s.
Today, Denny is a freelance direct mail writer, designer and consultant, and the editor and publisher of the aforementioned Business Common Sense, a FREE twice-a-week e-newsletter. In this new venture, Denny shares his no-holds-barred take on a range of current business and marketing issues. To subscribe, go to www.businesscommonsense.com.
Happily, Denny has agreed to serve up a portion of his DM knowledge as a keynote speaker at NEDMA’s Direct Marketer of the Year Awards Banquet on June 14 at Bentley College.
So what does he think of the Brave New World of Direct Marketing? Not surprisingly, Denny says, “Old World is better…”
“…the reason for the dot-com bust and a trillion dollars in capitalization going up in smoke is that the hot-shot twenty-somethings who ushered in that epoch did not know anything about marketing.”
If there is one thing you can bank on with Denny, he’s not shy about offering his opinion. He is a traditionalist, to be sure, but he also has a grasp of emerging technologies and how they can help – or not help – the sales effort.
In his presentation, Denny is planning to give us a quick (very quick) historical review of direct marketing beginning with what he describes as the official starting date of June 10, 1194. I’ll let Denny explain…
“Over the last 800 years, a formidable body of knowledge has developed, not only about the techniques of reaching people where they live and work, but also in human psychology, which is crucial to the business of persuading people to respond.”
“Before you can take on the Brave New World,” Denny says, “it’s imperative to go back to Old World basics.”
I’m sure Denny will go into more detail about this and a whole lot more when he takes the stage in the evening of June 14 at NEDMA ‘06, It’s a Brave New World, the New England Direct Marketing Association’s Conference and Exposition.
February 10th, 2006
As promised, I’m here to tell you who your keynote speakers are for NEDMA ’06, It’s a Brave New World, the three individuals around whom we are building one of the most exciting conferences ever offered to New England’s direct marketing community.
Is that a drum roll I hear?
NEDMA ‘06 Proudly Presents Anne Holland
Scheduled to take the stage in the morning of June 15 is our star attraction and featured keynote speaker, Anne Holland, President and Publisher of MarketingSherpa, Inc.
MarketingSherpa is a research firm publishing Benchmark Guides, Buyer’s Guides, and How-to Reports plus a 500+ marketing Case Study Library. 173,000 advertising, marketing and PR professionals read MarketingSherpa’s publications every week.
Praised by The Economist, Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge Site, and Entrepreneur.com, MarketingSherpa is headquartered in Warren, RI.
A 20-year publishing industry veteran, Anne previously served as the Head of Marketing for Phillips Business Media, a $100 million publishing company. She helped launch one of the world’s first profitable subscription sites in 1995, and the trade publications Interactive Marketing News in 1994 and MIN’s New Media in 1995.
Anne has been quoted in the New York Times, Business 2.0. CBS Marketwatch, B@B Magazine, Fast Company, Target Marketing and many other publications. She is an Advisory Board Member for the Web Analytics Association, ad:tech, and The Glimpse Foundation. In addition, her recent speaking schedule includes Affiliate Summit, the Web Marketing Association, Newsletter & Electronic Publishers’ Association, Intel’s internal marketing summit, MarketingSherpa’s Lead Generation Summits, the New Zealand Marketing Association and ContentBiz’s Selling Subscriptions to Internet Content Summits.
Anne’s talk will be entitled “Web DM 2.0: New Internet Direct Response Tactics – What’s Proven & What’s Still Just Hype.”
Denny Hatch to Keynote DM of the Year Awards Banquet
As the kick-off to NEDMA ‘06, at the much heralded Direct Marketer of the Year Awards Banquet on June 14, we will be graced by the presence of none other than legendary direct mail guru, Denny Hatch.
Denny Hatch is a freelance direct mail writer, designer and consultant. In past lives he has run book clubs, sold advertising, founded a newsletter (WHO’S MAILING WHAT!), run a magazine (Target Marketing) and owned the world premier archive of direct mail samples. He is the author of three books on direct marketing and three published novels. His most recent venture is a twice-a-week E-newsletter, Business Common Sense.
The title of Denny’s talk will be “In the Brave New World, Old is Better.”
“Mac” McIntosh to Deliver Closing Keynote Address
And finally, in the afternoon of June 15, our closing keynote address will be delivered by “Mac” McIntosh.
M. H. “Mac” McIntosh is described by many as one of America’s leading business-to-business marketing consultants and an expert on the subject of sales leads.
Mac’s background includes over 20 years of hands-on experience in B2B marketing. His consulting clients include many industry leaders like ADC, Intel, Microsoft, NEC and Sigma-Aldrich, as well as dozens of small and medium companies you may not have heard of—yet.
In addition to consulting, Mac conducts marketing workshops and seminars for leading associations and corporations around the world, writes regularly for leading marketing and business publications, and is the publisher of Sales Lead Report®, a newsletter with more than 14,000 B2B marketing professionals as subscribers.
The title of Mac’s presentation will be “How to get your CEO, CFO, the folks in sales, your agency and your client to buy into your marketing plan.”
Of course, in addition to this illustrious trio, there will be many other outstanding speakers front and center over the course of two days at NEDMA ‘06, all eager to share their own direct marketing experiences with you. In the weeks and months ahead, you’ll learn more about all of them right here on what I like to call the brave new conference blog.
February 3rd, 2006
