October
2004

In this Issue:

The State of the Industry
Queen B Alex MacAaron Hands Over NEDMA Gavel
The Yellow Wristband the Bracelet
The Value of Loyalty
NEDMA Membership News
1. Member Promotions and Appointments
2. Members in Print and On Stage
3. Member Milestones
eCRM Mini-University - Half-day Seminar
Getting "Ink" in NEDMA News

This issue of NEDMA News is sponsored by:
Mail Computer Service, Inc. and Williams & Partners

Mail Computer Service, Inc., is a full-service direct mail production facility that offers such services as data processing, laser personalization, lettershop, database maintenance, fulfillment, and print-on-demand. MCS is pleased to announce a few new offerings: the recent purchase of a new Xerox DocuColor 6060 color laser will allow MCS to offer print-on-demand services and a new OCE Twin Lasering System will allow MCS to offer duplex continuous lasering services. Contact: Dan Menconi

Williams & Partners
Technology and the artistic touch -- a picture of contrasts? Not at Williams & Partners, where our creative retouchers create images that appear nation-wide in publications, on billboards and buses. Our services include digital asset management, image archiving, fulfillment, display graphics, and print management. www.williamsonline.com
See ad at end of this newsletter

We all know the health of our industry has improved over the last few quarters, but few of us are in a position to have better than a wet-finger-in-the-wind measurement based on our own particular experience. On October 21, NEDMA members will get the chance to hear from someone who is in the position to observe the industry as a whole.

Beth Negus Viveiros, Executive Editor of DIRECT Magazine, who has observed direct and relationship marketing for over a decade, will share with us findings from DIRECT's just-completed proprietary research. She will give her perspective on how direct marketing is doing right now, how it has changed in response to technological and business forces, who's succeeding, how they are doing it, and where we're all headed. Her presentation, which will be the highlight of the October 21 dinner program, may well be one of the most important presentations NEDMA hosts this year.

That same day, before the dinner program, there will be a NEDMA Forum on New England's State of the Industry. This will feature a panel of three of New England's leading direct marketers, representing both the agency and supplier sides, as well as the USPS. The panelists include Kelly Mahoney, President, Newport Creative Communications; Christina Erna, Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Fulfillment Plus Mailing Solutions; Beverly Smith, Mailing Requirements Department, U. S. Postal Service. This will be an interactive session, so come prepared to discuss and get insights on media, package types, mail volume, changing client needs, and regional trends.

The meeting will take place at the Four Points Sheraton Hotel in Waltham, MA on Thursday, October 21. The Direct Marketing Forum will run from 4:30 P.M. to 5:30 P.M. There will be a reception and opportunity for networking with colleagues from 5:30 to 6:30. Dinner and the program are scheduled for 6:30 to 9:00. The early registration deadline ($40 for NEDMA members) is October 18; after that, the meeting fee is $50 for members. To register in advance, visit the NEDMA website at nedma.com or call 781.237.1366.

This meeting is sponsored by LinearAir.

Queen B Alex MacAaron Hands Over NEDMA Gavel
by Dianna Huff, DH Communications

NEDMA's September meeting saw the changing of the guard when outgoing President Alex MacAaron handed the gavel to Tom Tringale. Alex, in the true manner of successful leaders, thanked her admirable team from last year -- including Vice President Tom Tringale; Treasurer Dennis Driscoll of Epsilon; Secretary Craig Blake of W.A. Wilde; Director/Conference Chair Gary Lubarsky; Director of Membership Bob Rotchford, MeadWestvaco; Director of Interactive Cynthia Bro Higgins of Responsive Concepts; and Director of Special Programs Lynn Edmonds, L.W. Robbins. In a poignant moment, Pam Sullivan of Sullivan Creative, Past President of NEDMA, reviewed Alex's accomplishments and presented her with a beautifully etched glass trophy commemorating her year as NEDMA's president.

While we may have a new president, we also have a number of familiar faces with several people continuing to serve on the board. Mariah Hunt of Digitas has joined the new Board as Program Chair and will be planning our monthly Forums and Dinner meetings. But! Even though we have a full board, don't think you can sit back and relax. We always need people to sit on committees or do other tasks. So do consider getting off your duff and dropping a line to either Tom Tringale at , Beth Drysdale at or Pat Lee, and let's keep up the momentum we've built these last few years. NEDMA is only as successful as you make it.

NEDMA 2004 -- 2005 Board of Directors
President: Tom Tringale
Vice President: Dennis Driscoll, Epsilon
Treasurer: Craig Blake, W.A. Wilde
Secretary: Gary Lubarsky
Director of Special Programs: Lynn Edmonds, L.W. Robbins Associates
Director of Interactive: Cynthia Bro Higgins, ResponsiveConcepts™
Director of Membership: Bob Rotchford, MeadWestvaco
Director of Programs: Mariah Hunt, Digitas
Immediate Past President: Alex MacAaron, Plan B Marketing Communications
Managing Directors: Beth Drysdale, Pat Lee

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You're marketing your clients, but who is marketing you?
Too busy working with clients to freshen up that Web content? Thinking about an e-newsletter but can't seem to find the time? Don't suffer the fate of the shoemaker's children -- call DH Communications instead. T: 603-382-8093

email:
Specializing in marketing communications for direct marketing companies

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The Yellow Wristband and the Bracelet
By Bob Cargill
Senior Creative Director, Yellowfin Direct Marketing

The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to cancer prevention and survivorship, isn't the only Foundation using something you wear on your wrist to draw attention to its cause. The Until There's a Cure Foundation has been raising funds and awareness about HIV/AIDS for a number of years now through the sale of what it calls The Bracelet.

Of course, unless you have been a sequestered juror for the last couple of months, you know that in the LAF's case, we're talking about those ubiquitous, thin, yellow rubber wristbands that have become almost de rigueur among young and old alike. As Lance himself wrote in a direct mail fundraising appeal I received last summer just days before he was crowned victor once more on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees, "Ultimately, we want five million people worldwide to wear LIVE STRONG yellow wristbands."

Well, leave it to Lance to exceed expectations -- at last count, 13 million of them have been sold.

So if only over half a million people have chosen so far to wear The Bracelet (according to an ad I saw the other day in Blender magazine), you might think Until's numbers pale in comparison to the LAF's. Uh, think again.

The Bracelet, described by the Foundation as "a simple yet elegant symbol reminiscent of the MIA/POW bracelets worn during the Vietnam era," is decidedly more high-end than Lance's wristband, and such high-profile celebrities as Mandy Moore, Tiffani Thiessen, Tony Hawk, and Kevin Bacon are seen wearing it in glamorously photographed ads. The Bracelet comes in everything from copper ($15), to sterling silver ($75), to 14k gold ($400), while every one of Lance's plain yellow wristbands are made out of synthetic silicone rubber and sell for the same low price: $1.

But I'm not here to compare the price or quality of this jewelry -- nor how much money each Foundation is raising as a result of such innovative marketing efforts. Obviously, both are masterminding brilliant campaigns on behalf of wonderful, worthy causes.

No, I'm here to tell you that both the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Until There's a Cure Foundation are subscribing, whether they know it or not, to the theory behind "Free Prize Inside!", Seth Godin's latest -- and, arguably, greatest -- book.

"A free prize isn't a gimmick," Seth says on the inside back cover. "It's a game-changing soft innovation; a cool twist that doesn't cost a fortune but that transforms the way people think about your product or service."

"Generally, a free prize has two characteristics," he says on page 19. "First, it's the thing about your service, your product or your organization that's worth remarking on, something worth seeking out and buying.... Second, a free prize is not about what a person needs. Instead, it satisfies our wants. It is fashionable or fun or surprising or delightful or sad. It rarely delivers more of what we were buying in the first place. It delivers something extra."

Fashion statements of a similar kind, both the yellow wristband and The Bracelet deliver "something extra." Give to either cause and you get more than just a good feeling, you get an incredibly "cool twist" as a symbol of your support. You get, yes, a "free prize." But what's much more important is this: Because so many people are buying their products -- and, in a show of solidarity, wearing them -- both the Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Until There's a Cure Foundation are raising more awareness and funds than they ever could have otherwise. All concerned are benefiting, most of all, those fighting cancer, HIV, and AIDS.

Editor's Note: "The Yellow Wristband and the Bracelet" was first published on September 29, 2004, in Bob Cargill's blog, A Fine Kettle of Fish.

It's the best-known non-statistic in the marketing world: it costs 5 to 7 times more to acquire a new customer or client than it costs to retain an existing one.

Actually, some estimates range as high as 30 times the cost, a testament to the impossibility of pinning down such a slippery metric, but the underlying truth is self-evident: you can retain an existing customer for much less money and effort.

And retained customers are more profitable. Domino's Pizza estimates that a loyal customer is worth $5,000 over 10 years; to Ford, a faithful customer adds up to $142,000 over a lifetime. But of course customers are not automatically loyal.

Is the customer always right?

The importance of customer satisfaction has been understood since the first customer. The earliest expression of the fact that there might be some effort involved was the old saying, "The customer is always right."

It's easy to put this philosophy into practice if you're selling, say, ice cream cones. When, having asked for chocolate, the customer brings the cone back and insists he asked for chocolate chip, you throw the cone out and give him a new one, end of story. A returning customer is worth more than a scoop of ice cream.

It gets more complicated when your product or service includes your own expertise as part of the package, and your professional recommendations are an important added value. Sometimes you know the customer is wrong, and it's your responsibility to disagree with him -- courteously and respectfully, of course.

Occasionally, these customers insist on having their own way -- a lose/lose situation, since the product or service won't work as desired, and the customer won't be satisfied, and may defect. But customer defections are inevitable in any business.

Banging the table

Every businessperson dreads the prospect of a customer complaint or, even worse, a customer banging the table in anger at some perceived failure on your part.

Actually, you should look at these as opportunities. Even the angry customer is at least showing some feeling, indicating that he or she cares about your relationship. And a complaint is a chance to get some information and maybe make changes in your operation.

This is a situation where the customer is always right: don't argue with the complaint or try to dismiss it.

*Thank the customer for bringing this up.
*Apologize.
* Explain what happened (to the extent that you know, and that the explanation will reassure the customer).
*Assure the customer the problem will be fixed.
*Make some restitution (a credit, an upgrade, a free breakfast, etc.).

In addition, resolve complaints right then and there, if at all possible. It's cheaper for you than having another interaction later on, and more satisfying to the customer. Of course, this means you have to empower whomever has received the complaint, giving them the authority and flexibility to resolve it. It's essential to give your employees an active role in your customer loyalty program.

They just go away...

Most dissatisfied customers don't give you the opportunity to resolve their complaints: they just go away. (They also pass along their complaints to others, in an estimated 2:1 ratio over compliments from satisfied customers.)

In long-past small-town days, you would see the lost customer on Main Street and say, "Where've you been?" If there was a problem, you'd hear about it right there.

Today, mega-companies rely on data. This has led to the creation of an entire industry known as Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Reams of data on customer transactions are collected and 'mined' for clues to trends and problems, using multimillion-dollar software systems installed by multimillion-dollar consulting companies. Out of this have come books, countless articles, and a blizzard of discounts, incentives, reward programs, value packs, and points.

Most of us don't need all that. As a first step, ask your customer. We did that at Sullivan Creative a few years ago. We were making some changes in the way we did business, and decided to survey our clients. To our surprise, some of them didn't like some of the changes, important news that enabled us to make critical mid-course corrections.

Make a point of checking in with your customers or clients at the end of a transaction or project, to see how they think it went... and to demonstrate that you care about them.

Satisfaction is not enough

A satisfied customer likes your soap. A loyal customer will buy your brand of soap every time. Customer loyalty should be your goal.

In a 1988 survey, Rockefeller University found that almost 70% of retail customer defections occurred because of perceived rude or indifferent behavior by employees. Another survey by Acumen Research Group found 43% of defections occurred because of a negative experience with a staff person, and 30% because of not being treated as valued customers. Simply put, these companies were not demonstrating that they cared about their customers.

The key to customer loyalty is, for most of us, not about incentives, discounts or promotions: it's about positive feelings between us and our customers or clients -- a caring relationship. (In contrast, consider how you fly particular airlines because of the frequent-flier miles; do you feel that the airlines care about you? If the miles went away, chances are we'd drop the airline in a moment.)

You demonstrate to your customers that you care about them by doing a few basic things. You are:
* responsive (return calls or e-mails the same day)
* flexible
* clear in your communications (good news or bad)
*fair and transparent in your pricing
*committed to making the engagement a positive experience for all concerned.

Prove to your customers that you're a great company to work with. Give them encouragement to remain engaged with you -- send out a thank you note, a birthday card, a newsletter. And -- a critical piece -- make sure every employee who touches a customer is with the program, and understands what's required of him or her to demonstrate customer care.
Loyal customers are profitable customers. An added benefit: they'll be your best advocates and sales reps all across your marketplace.

Editor's Note: "The Value of Loyalty" was first published in Sullivan Creative's e-newsletter, Sullivan Solutions.

1. Member Promotions and Appointments
Oceanos Marketing, a list consulting agency located in Norwell, MA, tapped Frank Willey to manage its new Non-Profit Division. Frank is the former Executive Director of the Old Colony YMCA. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics from Boston University. Oceanos also named Tracey T. Wong as a client services associate. She has overseen many high-profile accounts while at her former companies, including Boston Scientific, EMC, Bristol Myers Squibb Medical Imaging, and Aventis.

2. Members in Print and On Stage
Michael Veit, Direct/Database Marketing Manager for RSA Security Inc., was a participant in DIRECT Magazine's annual B-to-B Roundtable, which appeared as a front-page story in the magazine's October 1 issue. He provided many pithy remarks and insights for the transcript-format article, including observations on whether salespeople can be responsible for data collection, the importance of letting customers opt-out of databases, and the struggle to figure out ROI for lead generation programs in extended sales cycles.

3. Member Milestones
ExactTarget, a developer of on-demand email marketing software solutions with more than 2,500 customers, awarded six organizations its first annual ExactExcellence Awards for outstanding achievements in email marketing utilizing the ExactTarget solution. The organizations, ranging from a world-renown horse racing venue to a pizza chain, received the awards at a dinner hosted at the Columbia Club in Indianapolis, October 5, as part of ExactTarget's first annual user group.

"Best in Show" went to Churchill Downs Incorporated, Louisville, which uses the technology for both customer service surveys and a customer rewards program. "Best Integration" went to JamBase, a San Francisco music and event promotion company, which sends a national eNewsletter to over 108,000 subscribers packed with links to new artists, upcoming tours, contests and news stories about the entire Jam scene nationwide. "Best Increase in Sales" went to LaRosa's Pizzerias and its digital/interactive marketing and design agency, HyperDrive Interactive, both of Cincinnati, which introduced online ordering in 2003. "Best Overall Campaign Measurements" went to IQ Marketing, Minneapolis, which registered measurable improvements for its client companies in areas such as email execution time, email cost, open rates, and click-through rates. The "Best Overall Email Program by an Agency" was awarded to Optiem, Cleveland, which has developed an Email Audit service which examines clients' prior year email performance and makes recommendations on how to improve ROI across strategy, creative, content, deliverability and other considerations. The "Best SMB Email Marketing Campaign" was awarded to Kestler Financial Group, Inc., Leesburg, Va., an independent, national Field Marketing Organization that serves the needs of independent agents, which used ExactTarget to increase its monthly quotes by more than $12 million while emailing the same list of agents.

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eCRM Mini University: A Professional Program in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

NEDMA Half-day Seminar
Thursday, October 28, 2004 9am - 12:30pm, Microsoft Seminar Facility, Waltham, MA
Course Instructor: Barry Berlin, Faculty Dean, eCRM Mini-University

This course has been designed to give you the knowledge to develop and fulfill your eCRM Sales, Marketing and Support strategic objectives, and at the same time, help you avoid the common pitfalls that result in expensive and painful mistakes. Whether you seek to develop a CRM initative, or are already involved in a CRM effort, this course will teach you the proven strategies, structure and industry standards for developing and implementing your own eCRM System.

Cost: $79 NEDMA members; $99 non-members (registered by Oct. 25th)
Contact NEDMA at for more details and a registration form.

Getting "Ink" in NEDMA News
If you've gotten a promotion, signed a new client, written a book, had a baby, introduced a new product, or otherwise distinguished yourself, tell your colleagues! "NEDMA Membership News" is a free service for and on behalf of NEDMA members so we can all keep up with each others' professional (and sometimes extracurricular) lives. Members can also use this space to advertise items of particular interest to NEDMA members, such as office space or used equipment.

We must reserve the right to edit any submissions. And the free advertising feature is not intended to promote your business (you can buy an ad for that). It's limited to the kind of things you might ordinarily find in a classified section. Send your information via email to . Be sure to provide as much information as you can, including the URL for your company's website. If you want to send your information as an attachment, please use Microsoft Word or any text editor and save the editor the trouble of retyping PDFs, since he doesn't have any software for extracting text from such files.

Submit your information by the 15th of the month for publication sometime in the first week of the following month. We are striving for more precision in the publication schedule.

To contact NEDMA, email or call 781-237-1366

New England Direct Marketing
354 Washington Street, Ste 223 Wellesley Hills, MA, 02481-6220