Posts in direct marketing
The News Makes People Rich

I like traditional media because it exposes me to a wide variety of issues and business or demographic trends that I’d have otherwise easily missed.

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Two Minds and a Single Thought

This is a solid reminder to constantly develop new ideas of what to sell and how to sell it. And recognizing in advance that even the “best” ideas can fail.

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Sweet Sweepstakes. Sour Taste.

The key to making any sales promotion successful is knowing how the rules work and structuring your efforts to stay within the guardrails. Only Hershey screwed up!

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Using Mickey Mouse For Your Marketing

Using Steamboat Willie to help you stand out from the crowd doesn’t work when there’s a crowd using him for their own messaging.

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Making Progress in Five Minutes

Consider that picking up 10 extra minutes each workday is the equivalent of gaining an additional week of work time each year. It’s like finding free money!

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Parents Shouldn't Bury Their Children

Ben’s passing is a stark reminder that things we take for granted – birthday celebrations, holidays with the family…even Saturday night dinner – aren’t guaranteed. Life can change in an instant, and the need for balance – even for workaholics like me – is critical.

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Happy Holidays with Printer’s Ink

You’re undoubtedly already hip deep in planning your 2024 marketing, and direct mail should be part of it.

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How I Fulfilled My Dream

Today’s column is dedicated to Stella Wilner, my first-grade teacher who always believed in my ability to write. And it announces the official launch of my new book!

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Why AI Shouldn’t Handle Marketing

I asked ChatGPT about its qualifications for handling a company’s marketing. In a completely unedited response, here’s what it said.

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A holiday workout for your sweet tooth

Do a quick online search and you’ll turn up Deep Fried Chocolate, White Peppermint, Mint Chocolate, Cotton Candy and Orange Crème Pop Twinkies…among others.

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I’ve Got Rats in my Belfry!

Though these rats have better rhythm than I do, a 21-day rodential rumba festival over my head seemed less than entertaining.

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Should Politics Impact Marketing Decisions?

Given the state of the world and the increasingly bellicose language from the right side of the political aisle, I can’t help but wonder how many potential customers might look at this jewelry, see something that wasn’t intended, and decide to shop elsewhere.

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I’m discurejjed. Diskurraged. Discoveraged. Sad.

Within 400 words crammed onto a single page, this woman presented her professional profile, including 10 blatant mistakes.

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O sole mio … now scram!

Knowing that buying your widget will support a worthy cause may be just the nudge needed to land them in your corner versus the competition’s.

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Don’t bury print just yet, folks!

Amazon’s $500-plus billion business accounts for 6.5% of all US retail sales and 44.9% of digital retail spending … and it’s using print to grow its business! 

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But … my dog can’t read!

I know many dogs who attended school. They graduated knowing how to march and have unsurpassed culinary talents. But none got a passing grade in reading. 

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Do You Want Free Money?

A long-shot contender at the bottom of recent polls, Doug Burgum’s offering $20 gift cards to the first 50,000 people who donate $1 to his campaign.

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Tie-In To Better Sales

There’s good news: there are crumbs falling off the table from big budget movie marketing, and you may be able to pick them up and benefit from it.

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Shooting Yourself In The Foot

Clickbait has a well-deserved bad reputation. If you’re tempted to use it to attract attention to your own website, recognize going in that you’re tagging yourself up-front as a low-quality player.

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Oh Oprah…Say It Ain’t So!

Ask yourself this: why would entertainment’s most powerful woman be involved with a slipshod marketing campaign selling weight loss gummies?

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