The Big Fat Marketing Blog

In my November editor’s note, The power of interruption, I advise catalogers to start mailing again to grow via prospecting and reactivating lapsed customers.

Little did I know I when I wrote the column, I was about to be reactivated by a catalog mailing myself. Here’s how it happened. more

In my November editor’s note, The power of interruption, I advise catalogers to start mailing again to grow via prospecting and reactivating lapsed customers.

Little did I know I when I wrote the column, I was about to be reactivated by a catalog mailing myself. Here’s how it happened. more

Giving back to the community means something for cleaning supplies and home improvement products merchant QCI Direct, which mails the Home Trends, Sleep Solutions and Picket Fence catalogs. more

I curse the little stickers affixed to each and every apple I buy. I figure I’ve wasted at least 5 cumulative lifetime minutes peeling the irritating little things off of fruit, and what for? more

I curse the little stickers affixed to each and every apple I buy. I figure I’ve wasted at least 5 cumulative lifetime minutes peeling the irritating little things off of fruit, and what for? more

I happen to love direct mail. It’s a very powerful vehicle when done correctly. However, I still see A LOT of bad direct mail marketing being done. And more often than not, it comes from the big guys.

Consider the image on this blog (above right). It’s direct mail from US Bank, sent to me promoting their FlexPerks Visa Card. This was a test, as you can see from the outer envelopes and how different they are. The insides also varied, significantly, so I will tell you that they were testing two different packages.

Can any of you seasoned direct marketers tell me what’s wrong with this test before clicking the more button on the right? Hint: It’s a trick question — sort of. more