Strategy Archives

Boost direct mail response with the right offer

September 19, 2023
Jeff Tarran
Agency, blog, Strategy

Why your direct mail prospects deserve a better offer Mike Gunderson (Gunderson Direct CEO) and I were talking about some trends in direct mail recently. We agreed on one crucial direct mail (DM) trend headed in the wrong direction —…

The 7 Ways Clients Benefit from Agency Creative Briefs

September 12, 2023
Jeff Tarran
blog, Creative, Strategy

As the head of our direct marketing agency’s account team, I’ve always been a proponent of a well-conceived brief. Show me great creative, and it’s a good bet the client and agency put in the time and thought upfront to…

Dress your creative for success with informative, insightful briefs.

I’ve seen a metric ton of briefs. But as every agency and every client has their own unique format, the great ones all have one thing in common: they enable winning work.

KPI’s can’t replace marketing

August 16, 2023
Jeff Tarran
blog, Strategy

Tracking clicks is not the same as understanding your customer Marketing technologies have changed the game. Marketers have more data at their fingertips than ever before to help make deployment decisions. Attribution, metrics, and measurement rule the marketing decision set.…

The Art of Isolating Testing Variables in Direct Mail

August 15, 2023
Courtney Henson
blog, Data, Strategy

Direct mail is a powerful marketing tool that allows businesses to reach their target audience in a tangible and personal way. Direct mail is all about testing and experimentation, and this includes isolating variables. Properly isolated testing variables can lead to improved direct mail campaigns due to cleaner results.

Unleashing the Power of Direct Mail

How Smart, Informed Decision-making Can Boost Your ROI Direct mail can be the best form of marketing when executed well, delivering incredible results and ROI. According to a 2021 Data & Marketing Association (DMA) report, direct mail response rates can…

A Conversation About the Account + Creative Dynamic, Part 2

Sugar and Spice and Keeping Things Nice, Part 2—The Account Side Agency life. It’s filled with quirky personalities, buzzing ideas, and the aroma of fresh coffee. But one dynamic duo—the account person and the creative—often takes center stage. Despite their…

A Conversation About the Account + Creative Dynamic

Sugar and Spice and Keeping Things Nice, Part 1—The Creative Side In my 20+ years as an agency creative, I've had all sorts of relationships with various account people and in all kinds of flavors. Some of these relationships were…

Prospecting for Data Gold

From my recollection, my career journey has always centered around working with marketing data. It all started in the phone room of a marketing research agency where I had my first "aha" moment during an interview with a survey respondent.…

Seven Steps to Successful A/B Testing in Direct Mail

Iterative testing leads to constant optimization and also protects you from a declining response rate. Direct mail is all about ongoing, iterative improvement. Establishing a control mailing — one that yields dependable, predictable response — is an essential step for…