By dpoulos on April 3, 2009
There are many areas of common interest among member-based organizations, especially now, but the largest and longest running area of concern is certainly finding and keeping members for the long term. Its the bread and butter, the engine of any organization, forming the reason for being, driving strategic direction, drawing stable revenue, and creating the [...]
Posted in Communication
By dpoulos on March 14, 2009
Senior management at most successful businesses have realized that their brand, and the characteristics it represents, is one of the most valuable assets they own. If used properly, a powerful brand can propel a business’s profitability for years to come, guide product development, enhance revenue in a variety of ways, and drive their business’s growth. [...]
Posted in Communication
By dpoulos on November 19, 2008
Everybody likes something for nothing, but most business people have become spoiled by attending meetings and conferences on the company’s dime. Well, based on current economic conditions, some of your members’ companies may have precious few dimes to spare for sending their employees to meetings, even though they will be the first to admit the [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By dpoulos on October 2, 2008
By its very nature, direct mail promotions are designed to be one-to-one communication vehicles. As marketers, we are all aware of this in the back of our minds, but in practice, sometimes the “direct” portion drops off the map, and we end up producing unplaced promotional brand ads in an envelope. If you want o [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By dpoulos on June 6, 2008
Every direct marketer has faced the challenge of getting past all the gatekeepers, and grabbing the attention of top executives, each of whom receives over 8,000 messages daily. Based on our research, the best approach seems to be the following: a series of small hits designed to introduce brand and build recognition, and then an [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By dpoulos on June 4, 2008
Want to boost response in your B-to-B mailings? Need to break into new markets, find a new application for an existing product to a new audience? Need to reach out to hard-to-get-at executives and get their attention? Need to increase your response rate to the tune of 300% while increasing ROI? The answers might be [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By dpoulos on March 2, 2008
The term “Branding” has been in use in American marketing vernacular since the 1800s, first being used for cattle in the west to identify members of the herd belonging to a single owner, but branching out to consumer goods shortly thereafter, one of the first of which was used to identify beer served at certain [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
By dpoulos on February 29, 2008
The visibility, awareness and effectiveness of your organization’s brand directly impact your ability to recruit and retain members. If your organization isn’t the first thing member prospects think of when they turn to industry issues, there’s work to be done. But where to start? As popular wisdom has it, knowing and admitting you have a [...]
Posted in Develop Your Skill
