Movie tonight? Dare to wear wild shoes...

I often receive the Netflix offer: rent movies for only $4.99. It is so appealing. In fact, this piece has been on my desk for a few days and my kids keep asking me if I am going to take advantage of it. They must have seen TV commercials for the service. Which leads me to the old media mix adage...to get your message across, you need to place ads, promotions, product placements, etc. in many different media in order to get people interested, especially now with so many media choices. http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingbasics/article171986.html I like the use of traditional direct marketing tools, such as the unique website and code for this offer. Netflix should know which piece I redeemed and should be able to track te results of each campaign based on this tracking mechanism. I also like the "involvement device" http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/involvement-device/4962678-1.html The front of the piece has a card-like sticker. The recipient opens this and details of how to redeem the trial appear. Unfortunately, I am going to pass on this offer since I just do not have the time to watch movies on a regular basis.

I just received a high quality oversized postcard from Piperlime, announcing a 20% off discount for any items ordered between now and April 19. I like that the piece is straight-forward, announcing the discount. This retailer's positioning, though, seems a bit too frivilous for me. When thinking about shoes, the first descriptive words that come to mind are not: tempting, daring, wildly and wonderful. Practical, comfortable, maybe, but not daring, I might fall! Also, in this economy, I don't think potential customers are thinking about buying daring shoes!

Move fast..and stop bothering me...

I need to move fast. On March 17, I got a $10 off (the purchase of $30 or more) postcard from Oriental Trading, but it expires on March 19. It's a good deal, but I have no need for any Oriental Trading items right now and certainly not in such short notice. I think that the piece should highlight the time sensitivity of the offer, with a phrase like, hurry, offer expires soon.

Now on to my harassing direct mail...I have requested numerous times to be taken off the Southern Poverty Law Center's mailing list. I am not interested in supporting their causes. (I contributed to SPLC about four years ago when I made a memorial gift, at the request of the family of the deceased.) SPLC calls me, e-mails me and sends me direct mail pieces often, at least once a month. With each e-mail, I unsubscribe, only to get another e-mail the following month. I think that this violates http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm CAN-SPAM. This latest piece is a 2009 renewal notice. Mind you, that I never "subscribed" to begin with, so I am not renewing. The membership acceptance form thanks me for my support since 2005. I repeat: I made one contribution in 2005 and it was not a membership payment. Perhaps, their tactic is if you keep hounding people eventually these people will just acquiesce. I don't think so...and that old, outdated ploy of sending return address labels with the recipient's name and SPLC's logo won't help any either. Just STOP bothering me....

Maybe I need to take a hint? My husband got a direct mail package from Matchmakers at Work. It seems that this company could have done a better job of cleansing their mailing list. We do not live in a neighborhood where there are many singles. The people managing this direct mail campaign should have been more careful in their list selection. Last I checked, my husband was still married to me. I sure hope he does not require the services of Matchmakers at Work!

Matchmakers at Work's tag line is "We put the PERSONAL back in personalized Match Making!" It would appear from their selection of a married person in this mailing that perhaps, their selection process is not that sophisticated. We will not be recommending this service to any of our single friends!

Since I last blogged, I solicited a number of marketers, friends and relatives for feedback on my blog. I got some great advice, including balanced coverage (show some effective pieces), how to post comments and how to get e-mail alerts when there has been an update. I will be incorporating these ideas and features into the blog soon.

Back to the evaluation of direct mail pieces...

I recently received a piece from another real estate agent. The address was printed in blue ink in a fancy typeface, but the professionalism of this piece was quickly lost. The addressed-to name spelled my husband's name wrong and listed my name as if Krug was my first name and Dana, my last name. A quick review of the mailing list would have allowed the mailer to fix this and eliminate the embarassment of this mistake.

Babies R Us sent me a promotion for baby items, most everything listed was for babies two years and under. Babies R Us should have a way to "age" their list. When I signed up for the Babies R Us mailings, I had written my baby's due date. Based on this, they should know that my child is no longer in their target audience. This could save them a lot of money. They do list a phone number for the recipient to make a name change, addition or removal. This seems like a task that Babies R Us should have done and not let this up to the recipient.

Okay, I have not been balanced yet...I received a mailing from the http://www.mjhnyc.org/index.htm Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan. (It was properly addressed!) It peeked my interest since I am a genealogy buff and have recently discovered distant relatives who survived the Holocaust. I did not realize that there was a (new) museum in downtown Manhattan dedicated to Jewish heritage. The piece was clean and provided a straight-forward listing of the museum's events in March and April. The tagline, "Tradition. Expression. Reflection" seems like a positive, yet, enticing "expression" of the museum's exhibits and purpose.