direct & digital news
from dmcny
vo l . 6 , i s s u e 2 | J u n e 2 0 1 5
DMCNY Funds the
Pace University IDM Lab:
DMCNY
Stories of Success
To help bring our vibrant DM community
closer, let us know what you and your
company are up to! Send your news to
[email protected]. Notices will be
placed in the newsletter and online at
www.dmcny.org/page/postingsnews.
BY HARVEY
MARKOVITZ
he Lubin School of
Business at Pace
University offers students an experiential
learning opportunity—the Interactive
Direct Marketing Lab—on both its NYC
and Pleasantville campuses.
The DMCNY has contributed to this success by contributing to the
funding of this program.
With an initial grant from the
Lee Epstein Fund, I was able
to establish the IDM Lab in
2007. It has grown from
three founding students to
over 30 today.
The student-run Lab program is not funded by the
university. Students work
without credit or compensation, taking leadership roles
in marketing projects for small businesses
that cannot otherwise afford to use a direct
marketing agency. The IDM Lab also works
with various university departments to
help them develop business opportunity.
Some recent clients include the NYPD,
Health in Haiti, BMI and Domino’s Pizza.
The IDM Lab is open to all levels and all
majors. Lab projects encompass the
gamut, from research, to development of
strategies and creative marketing messages, through to the execution of cam-
T
paigns through various media. Interns are
given the opportunity to apply all the skills
they have learned while in school to reallife, real-time marketing challenges for
clients.
As Lab participants graduate and enter
the workforce, we hear wonderful stories
about how the Lab experience impacted
their careers. With thanks to the DMCNY
for its ongoing support for the Lab, I am
happy to share some of these stories here.
Member News
Polaris Direct is the first in the U.S. to
install the new Xerox Impika Evolution
inkjet press
to help bring
personalized
messaging
with greater
efficiencies
and scale to
their clients.
Contact Jacqui Bergevine, Account
Manager at 603-626-5800, ext. 118 or
[email protected].
Photo: Tom Lampognana, Judith Maloy, Cindy Perkins,
and Joe Maloy at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
I am a neuroscience specialist at a
Japanese pharmaceutical company with a
focus in mental health. Since graduation in
2010, I have often thought back on the support and guidance offered in class,and during
the ECHO Challenge, and thank the IDM Lab
for the direction my career has taken and my
success. —Betty Desta, Account Manager,
Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.
As a member and manager of the IDM
Lab, I can tell you first-hand that the skills I
learned there put me well ahead of my peers.
Fosina Marketing has founded another
subscription business: Amora Artisan
Teas. Launching just in time for the summer ice tea season, Amora Black, Green
and Herbal Teas are created by hand and
shipped direct at the peak of freshness.
(www.AmoraTea.com)
Contact Ray
Schneeberger at [email protected] or 203.240.3932.
Leon Henry, Inc., announces that continued growth in insert media/mailing list
brokerage and management has
prompted a move upstairs to new quarters in the “old” Webb School in
Hartsdale, New York. Contact Gail Henry at
[email protected]. (continued on page 5)
Direct Marketing Club of New York | www.dmcny.org
Letter from Our Club
President
direct & digital news
from dmcny
vo l . 6 , i s s u e 2 | J u n e 2 0 1 5
OFFICERS
PRESIDENT
Pam Haas - Experian Marketing Services
401-272-0175; [email protected]
1ST VP
Christopher Montana - LiftEngine
845-627-6600 x216; [email protected]
Dear DMCNY Members,
2015 is a year of innovation and transition for DMCNY. Our luncheons and evening networking events are well attended, our membership remains steady, and our programming continues to evolve.
As we continue to offer these excellent benefits, we are in the process of undertaking a
strategic planning initiative for the club. Thanks to members for taking the survey we
sent out recently. It’s vital to hear from YOU, our members, to enable us to continue to
grow and innovate.
Speaking of innovation, we launched the Young Leadership Group in April, with a networking event attended by “40 under 40.” This group will be led by Samantha
Braverman, manager at Winterberry Group. We would like our members to recommend
their colleagues and friends who are under 40 to get involved, so please send your suggestions to Sam: [email protected]. More to come on this “club within
a club” in the upcoming months.
Be on the lookout for the announcement of the 2015 Silver Apple honorees over the
summer. The Past Presidents are at work already, reviewing nominations and going
through their selection process. The Silver Apple Awards Gala will take place on
November 12th at The Edison Ballroom.
Enjoy your summer vacations, and we look forward to seeing you at our August 13 golf
outing and our next luncheon on September 10th.
Cheers!
2ND VP
Paulette Oliva - MeritDirect
914-368-1010; [email protected]
TREASURER
Arthur Blumenfield - BMI Fulfillment Services
203-546-5584; [email protected]
SECRETARY
Regina Brady - Reggie Brady Mktg Solutions
203-838-8138; [email protected]
BOARD MEMBERS
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Cyndi Lee - SMS Marketing Services
201-865-5800 x2203; [email protected]
Barry Blumenfield - BMI Fulfillment Services
203-546-5581; [email protected]
Danielle Brooks
212-337-0732; [email protected]
John Fletcher - Johnny Agency
646-457-7500; [email protected]
Rich Kirshberg - RK Interactive
917-572-5644; [email protected]
Jeff Kobil - MeritDirect
516-596-8315; [email protected]
Sharron Mahoney - Infogroup
914-844-2104; [email protected]
Karen McCarrol - Trimark Consulting Group
416-698-2243; [email protected]
Keith Messer - Data Services, Inc.
646-351-6351; [email protected]
Eva Perretti - Wiland Direct
845-490-2337; [email protected]
Vincent Pietrafesa - BusinessWatch Network
914-774-7223; [email protected]
Ray Schneeberger - Fosina Marketing Group
203-546-5547; [email protected]
Rick Witsell - Alliant
845-617-5453; [email protected]
Pamela Haas, DMCNY President
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Stuart Boysen - Stu Boysen Associates, Inc.
516-746-6700; [email protected]
ADVISORS
Cheryl Biswurm - Turner Direct, LLC
201-788-5347; [email protected]
Editor: Ruth P. Stevens 212-679-6486 • [email protected]
Member News Editor: Donna Baier Stein 908-872-1775 • [email protected]
Ad /Sponsorship Sales: Chris Montana 845-627-6600 x216 • [email protected]
Art Director: Cheryl A. Biswurm 201-788-5347 • [email protected]
Printed by McVicker & Higginbotham, Long Island City, NY • www.mcvh.com
For more information about the Direct Marketing Club of New York, membership information,
event dates or registration, visit www.dmcny.org.
Find DMCNY on:
Chet Dalzell
212-725-2294; [email protected]
JoAnne Dunn - Alliant
845-276-2600 ext 216; [email protected]
Timothy Kennon - McVicker & Higginbotham
718-937-2940; [email protected]
David Lord - David Lord, CPA
914-241-8365; [email protected]
Stephanie Miller - TopRight
212-721-5485; [email protected]
Pegg Nadler - Pegg Nadler Associates, Inc.
212-861-0846; [email protected]
June 2015 | 3
Three Charges for Direct Marketing in 2015
BY GARY
HENNERBERG
t’s 2015, and time to
reflect on how to
recharge our direct marketing approaches and
strategies. If your 2014 results were disappointing or, worse, a decline from the previous year, here are three charges to examine
and consider for 2015. But I should warn
you: If you’re a long-time direct marketer
like myself, accepting some of these
charges might not come easily.
I
Cultivate Your Platform
Long-term success is a result of creating
a platform of raving fans, prospects and
customers. If you haven’t already, reexamine your organization’s persona—how
you’re perceived—in the market. You can
build your organization’s persona with
content marketing tools such as producing videos, writing blogs, and engaging
both existing and prospective customers
via social media. Even direct mail can
include a content writing component with
reports, research, and long-form, contentrich letters.
As direct marketers, we’ve had it
ingrained in us for generations that every
marketing effort we use must deliver a
measurable response. Cultivating and
investing in the development of a platform
of prospective customers, before making a
sale, is counter to the culture of direct marketing.We expect every marketing effort to
produce a measurable result.
A challenge is accepting that content
marketing, which normally doesn’t deliver
a measurable sales response, does in fact
contribute to long-term success. As
prospects comb the Internet, you must
meet them where they are—whether it’s at
their mailbox, filtering through email, reading a magazine, watching TV, or online
while checking social media, viewing
video, or multi-tasking all of the above.
How Do You Make Them Feel?
After you meet your customers where
they are physically, you must engage them
emotionally using a methodical creative
process that tracks what is happening in
their mind.
I charged you with looking at your organization’s persona. Now, consider the personas of your prospects and customers.
Your knowledge of who they are dictates
how to stir emotions and calm the mind
with your solution’s message. By establishing who you are with your position—your
leadership and unique selling proposition—and using storytelling, you can
embed new memory grooves. When the
time is right, you interpret your offer for the
metaphorical “left brain” part of the mind.
The tipping point comes when you intensify the desired emotional “right brain” feeling so they give themselves permission to
respond.
As you consider how to create feeling in
(continued on page 7)
4 | June 2015
Pace University
(continued from page 1)
Account management, project management, delegation, leadership and networking
are just a handful of the skills that I had a
chance to develop and refine before I left
school. —Enrick Garcia, Customer Solutions
Manager, WhiteWave Foods Company.
The IDM Lab opened up doors to HVDMA
and DMCNY events with professionals in my
field. It was at these events where I met my
professional mentors—and current bosses—
Keith Huntoon and Chris Montana, of
LiftEngine. I would literally not be where I am
today if it was not for this experience. —Jeff
Cracolici, Marketing Coordinator, LiftEngine.
Pairing classes with the Lab is the combination that helps students stand out.The classes
develop strategic thinking, while the lab provides a platform for students to be hands-on
and apply their learnings to actual clients.This
gives students a solid talking point when
speaking with potential employers, because
the lab at its core is a media agency startup. It
has certainly helped me become a valuable
team member in my career. —Maddy Lau,
Marketing Director, AHA Life.
The IDM Lab and Lubin could not have
better prepared me for my career in advertising. The skills I learned from our IDM work,
from working with clients, to networking in
the DMCNY, to research, to final plan development have allowed me to succeed and
outshine many of my colleagues at work. I
went from working behind the scenes to
managing client calls every day. I now work
as an intern supervisor. The students that
come in learn quickly, but are missing many
of the skills I began with, thanks to the Lab
and my studies at Lubin. All in all, I wouldn’t
be half as successful without the skills I
learned at Pace. —Kim Weiss, Y&R Direct
Account Manager, Dell, Intern Supervisor.
The IDM Lab provides an invaluable opportunity for students to hone their strategic marketing skills in a supportive and entrepreneurial setting, and also develop the necessary
skills of effective teamwork, project management, and professionalism. After graduating
from Pace in 2010, I spent years in NYC working in digital and direct marketing for iconic
retailers such as Brooks Brothers and Saks
Fifth Avenue. I am now the communications
and marketing manager at Historic Huguenot
Street, a national historic landmark district,
where I direct and develop the organization’s
marketing, including advertising, press relations, and social media. —Kaitlin Gallucci,
Marketing Manager, Huguenot Street.
IDM helped me not only develop the confidence it took to join Sprinklr, but it helped me
better understand what I wanted to do in the
professional world. I took that experience and
understanding, and used it to initiate and
develop the role of solution consultant. I used
skills I gained through Pace and my IDM experiences to shape the techniques and practices
Sprinklr uses to demonstrate its technology to
perspective clients today. —Rob Coulombe,
Solution Consultant, Sprinklr. Harvey Markovitz, clinical professor of marketing at Pace’s Lubin School, can be reached
at [email protected] and @harveymarkovitz.
www.dmcny.org | 5
6 | June 2015
A Stand-up Comic in the World
of Sales: Five Tips for Public Speaking
BY VINCENT
PIETRAFESA
or ten of my 14 years
in direct marketing,
I’ve had the pleasure of
being in a client-facing
role. For six years, I have also been a standup comedian, a role that has helped me
become a more effective communicator
and public speaker.
Last October I had the honor of serving
as the Master of Ceremonies for the
DMA14 conference in San Diego. Perhaps
you saw me in action. That gig was my
first experience putting my personal and
professional worlds together. I loved it,
and I learned a lot.
So I thought I’d share with you five tips
for public speaking, which I have learned
from comedy and sales.
F
Do your research. Whether
MC’ing an event or presenting
to a single client, try to understand as much as you can about that
organization. This is much easier now
than it was when I first started in our industry. There is a wealth of information on the
Internet, so use it.
1
Always try and address a room
as if you’re having an intimate
conversation with an individual or a small group. When I looked out
at that DMA audience of several thousand
people, I admit, I was pretty overwhelmed.
But when I reminded myself that I was just
having a conversation, it made all the difference. Of course, it helped that my first
joke hit the mark!
2
3
Read the room. Whether at a
comedy club or a client demo,
pay attention to how your audi-
ence is reacting to the presentation and
content. If you see that they are less interested in a certain set of products or topics,
shift gears and move to another area of
focus. In a comedy club, if you lose the
audience, watch out—they’ll start heckling you.
Set an expectation. Right up
front, I like to introduce the topics, along with the time the presentation will last. I get specific, for example,“Today we will discuss our five product
offerings, covering 12 slides, taking 45 minutes, with 15 minutes for questions at the
end.” There is nothing worse than an audience that doesn’t know how long a presentation will be.
4
Fess up. If you really don’t
know the answer to something,
don’t try and fake your way out
of it. It’s okay to say you don’t know, take
that person’s contact info and get back to
them with a follow-up call or email. This
only works if you actually follow up, so
please make sure you do.
Those are five tips that come to mind,
but I do want to add one pet peeve I have
in presentations. I advise presenters to
avoid beginning an answer to a question
from the audience with “Great question.”
To me, this implies that some audience
questions are better than others, and may
cause hurt feelings in the group. Just
something for you to consider.
Happy speaking, and happy selling to all.
5
Vincent Pietrafesa is Director of Business
Development at BusinessWatch Network, a
proud board member of DMCNY and the rising-star comedian Vincent James. Reach him
at [email protected].
DMCNY 2015 UPCOMING EVENTS
June 10—Evening Networking: PS450 (450 Park Avenue),
6:00-9:00 pm. No program – just a great time with good people.
Bring a client or colleague.
www.dmcny.org
August 13—10th Annual Jim Prendergast Direct Classic
golf/summer outing: Brynwood Golf Club in Armonk, NY
Three Charges
(continued from page 4)
your selling message, heed this quote from
Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people
will forget what you said, people will forget
what you did, but people will never forget
how you made them feel.”
Make your customers feel good and
connect with them at a level they will
always remember.
Monetize Strategically
With the charge to cultivate your platform and intensify the emotional feeling in
your creative processes, never lose sight of
the need to generate revenue. Your efforts
to create fans and followers must have an
endgame plan that moves them to
become paying customers.
One challenge, for example, is measuring the value of content marketing in the
total marketing mix of positioning leadership, establishing authority and building
trust. It may mean that you have to look at
the total effect of your numbers in a different way. Your budget may have to blend in
the cost of marketing efforts you can’t track
and average out a cost per order based on
all activity. Perhaps you carve out a separate budget for content and other hard-totrack efforts. You might look at those costs
as a branding expense or as part of overhead.
Whatever makes sense in your organization, 2015 may be the time to view some
types of marketing activities as contributing to your overall success without specific
attribution to a sale. By my own admission,
as a classically trained direct marketer, this
has been a tough concept for me to accept.
Your success includes the charge to
build and cultivate a platform. The charge
includes communicating a deeper, more
cerebral approach that impacts memory
and swells the emotional feelings inside
your prospect’s and customer’s mind. And
the charge for 2015 suggests that to calculate bottom-line profitability, you may
have to rethink how you budget and
monetize. Gary Hennerberg is a veteran direct marketing copywriter and analytic consultant.
Reach him at [email protected] and
@GaryHennerberg.
www.dmcny.org | 7
8 | June 2015
Do You Have Chemistry With Your Customers?
BY TRISH WEND
Have you heard a
prospect say something
like, “I chose The ABC
Group because we like
them. And, of course,
they’re smart.” Or maybe you’re seen a
customer comment like this:“OMG, I totally
love Chanel. Their clothes and bags are to
die for!”
Businesses decide, consumers buy, voters choose, brands and candidates triumph
based on good chemistry – that feeling we
get when everything connects just right.
When the chemistry is bad, nothing gets
done. In fact, most sales failures can probably be blamed on bad chemistry.
Chemistry is a feeling, but it originates
inside your head. It’s based on how you see
the world around you, how you process
what you see, and what you decide to do
with it next. Specifically, chemistry is a function of your personality type.
Research pioneers Carl Jung, Isabel
Briggs Myers and David Keirsey determined that our personalities evolved naturally over millions of years. Personalities can
be classified into four types. While selling,
networking, or even on a date, sensational
chemistry can happen when your type
clicks with another type. But if you don’t
click, what follows can become a difficult,
almost painful encounter. People don’t do
business with—or date—people they
don’t like and trust.
Building chemistry
So how do you build the “just right”
chemistry with your prospects? And how
do you increase the chemistry you have
with your customers?
First, keep in mind that only some of
your prospects and customers will have
the same personality type as you. You
probably already have chemistry with
them.To create chemistry with the rest, you
must speak to them in the style and with
content that suits their personality type.
What one type likes, another type dis-
likes a lot. In your marketing, you will get
better results if you segment and target
each personality type.
The four personality types
The Thinker personality type (46% of the
population) is traditional, thoughtful and
methodical, well organized and loves
details. Masterminds (14%) are bottom-line
oriented, think about possibilities, are businesslike and do not respond to emotional
appeals.
The fun-loving Olympians (23%) are
impulsive and generous, like to be first and
want to make an impact. Diplomats (17%)
like to help others, and they get gratification when they do. These are “feeling” people who respond to an emotional presentation.
Personalized campaigning
Imagine this: Moments after abandoning a shopping cart you receive a triggered
email that tells you exactly, based on the
(continued on page 11)
www.dmcny.org | 9
10 | June 2015
DMCNY
Member Profile
Ruth P. Stevens talks with Zachary Wilhoit,
CEO of Ethnic Technologies.
Please tell us a bit about Ethnic
Technologies and its services.
Ethnic Technologies is at the nexus of the
digital, social media and mobile revolution
in marketing, and a parallel demographic
revolution as the Millennial and multicultural populations become important audiences for today’s marketers. With over 40
years of continuous multicultural ethnic,
religion and language preference research,
we’ve been able to create the market’s leading multicultural marketing data and software. We connect our customers with
valuable new and diverse consumers.
How did you get into direct marketing in
the first place? Please tell us something
about your career.
I graduated from the United States Naval
Academy. After spending some time
jumping out of helicopters and other aircraft, the Navy sent me to MIT, where I completed graduate degrees in Electrical
Engineering & Computer Science and
Ocean Engineering & Naval Architecture.
Later they sent me to get my MBA at
Harvard University. I spent most of my
time in the Navy in Nuclear Submarine
Design, Engineering and Acquisition.
I “retired”from the Navy as a Captain and
was fortunate to receive some great job
offers in a variety of industries. However,
the one that intrigued me the most was an
opportunity at Acxiom, because it leveraged my background in technology as well
as business. Almost ten years ago, Ethnic
Technologies was looking for a CEO, and I
was blessed that they asked me to join
them.
Ethnic Technologies has long been an
active supporter of DMCNY. What motivates you to invest time and resources in
this?
The Direct Marketing Club of New York is
an invaluable resource to our company,
and many other leading firms in marketing,
advertising and technology. By participat-
ing in DMCNY events, our team interacts
with new and existing networks of people
to both grow our business and stay at the
cutting edge of industry innovations. The
club is all about thought leadership.
Staying “plugged in”with the DMCNY helps
us develop the multi-dimensional solutions that our customers need to be successful today.
Congratulations to your team member
Lisa Radding on her being named a
Rising Star in direct marketing this year.
How does Lisa’s honor reflect on your
company?
We are so honored that Marketing EDGE
selected Lisa Radding as a Rising Star this
year. Lisa joined Ethnic Technologies right
out of Syracuse University. We firmly
believe that having an extremely diverse
team really helps us continuously improve
and perform at the highest levels. The only
common traits we look for are ability and
work ethic.
Lisa herself is a great example. Lisa is an
extremely capable “linguist” who became
an expert in multicultural marketing and
its digital applications by growing with the
other members of the diverse team at
Ethnic Technologies. Lisa also leads our
efforts at Ethnic Technologies to work
closely with students and young professionals from Marketing EDGE, Harvard, NYU
and other local colleges, enabling them to
apply their expertise to today’s marketing
initiatives.
The Rising Star award from Marketing
EDGE recognizes Lisa’s achievements as
well as Ethnic Technologies’s commitment
to education, diversity and developing the
next generation of marketing leaders.
The list business is changing rapidly.
What are your plans for Ethnic
Technologies over the next several years?
Ethnic Technologies is a data- and software-centric company, with a multi-channel approach that allows us to succeed in
Chemistry
(continued from page 9)
preferences of your personality, something
appealing. Perhaps you are offered a highvalue bonus for fast action, or a scarcity
play, or a discount, or additional details, or
buyer testimonials on your selection. This
kind of personalized follow-up can turn the
abandon into a sale.
Or let’s say you’re selling wine to your
subscriber list of 50,000 customers. You’d
want to send the busy Masterminds the
primary characteristics of the featured
wines, perhaps in bullet point format so the
information is easy to digest. You’d send
the Thinker detailed reviews on each bottle. Olympians would relate to the aspirational qualities of a wine and would want
reassurance you’re selling them the best.
And the Diplomats would like a background story on the winemaker and his
family. Sell the wine to all four types in the
same way at your own peril.
To create winning chemistry with your
customers, think about customizing your
mail and other solicitations to their personalities. Many smart companies are using
this kind of segmentation already and find
that adding personalization builds sales. Trish Wend is EVP of The Quant Method,
which identifies the personality types in the
client database and prescribes targeted content to increase engagement and drive purchase behavior. Reach her at [email protected] or @QuantMethod.
the list, digital, social media and mobile
spaces. Millennials, and even the majority
of Gen X, prefer their interactive marketing
via digital applications. Our multi-channel
approach lends itself perfectly to multicultural consumers as well, who also prefer
new and next generation technologies. To
that end, we continue to expand our product suite to fit into not only the traditional
list environment but also new and innovative marketing vehicles. Ruth P. Stevens, a B-to-B consultant and educator, is a
past president of DMCNY,
and is current editor of
Postings.
www.dmcny.org | 11