Lois Brayfield, J.Schmid CEO, and Lauren Ackerman, J.Schmid Web Content Specialist, offer their take on the catalog and direct mail industry in the recently published DMA Statistical Fact Book 2017. Learn more about this valuable resource packed with recent research for all marketing tactics here. The numbers are in, and the message is clear: print […]
People spend a lot of time (like, millions of hours) watching videos on the internet. And with so many videos out there, it’s important to do them right. Art Director Chris Yankey sits down to talk about the significance of utilizing video for marketing as a powerful medium for your brand. Need more video pointers? […]
I often get asked if there is ONE thing that a company can do to improve their brand, what would it be? That’s easy. Improve your culture. I’ve had the opportunity to walk into hundreds of companies over the years, peek behind the curtain and see what makes them tick. What I notice right away […]
The notions that “the customer is king” and “the customer is always right” have been marketing gospel for generations of business school grads and brand managers. I’d never suggest that a strong customer focus shouldn’t be a key element of any brand’s marketing efforts. But how do marketers keep “King Customer” from becoming a total […]
In early 2017, IKEA launched a catalog with the cover tagline, “Designed for people, not consumers.” And it continued on the inside cover: “Everything we do is driven by the needs and dreams of real people. … We make products and solutions with someone in mind.” Their message resonated with me. During the almost 10 […]
Ecommerce has been changing at digital speed since it showed up in the marketing world 25 years ago. Print marketing has taken 100 years to evolve from the early days of newspaper to magazines, then to direct mail and finally catalogs. Catalog circulation is the sturdy bedrock art of targeting what records to mail, when […]
Not too long ago, catalog was king. We’d toss our e-commerce creative team the bones of our catalog feast to make their meal. But we’re past that, right? We need to give our websites the same love our catalogs get; they’re completely co-dependent sharing the same audience. That’s right, it’s ONE CHANNEL! Think of it […]
Must be 21 or older All bourbon is whiskey. All scotch is whiskey. But not all whiskey is bourbon. And not all whiskey is scotch. Make sense? No? Have some whiskey. It’ll get your attention and make everything clearer. Just like a good headline. Because in a lot of ways, a good headline is a […]
(No, not you. Your catalog!) If you haven’t heard, the United States Postal Service has increased the piece rate weight limit for catalog mailings. As of January 22, 2017, your catalog can qualify for the Flat-Size Marketing Mail postal piece rate if it weighs 4.0 ounces or less (up from the long-reigning 3.3 ounces). With […]
