Branding

Get a Little Bounce From Bouncebacks
March 1, 2008

Bounceback programs are often limited to inserting a copy of your most recent catalog โ€” preferably with a different cover โ€” into the fulfillment box. But as shipping rates, fuel surcharges and paper costs all increase, more catalogers are opting against this approach. Theyโ€™ve run the numbers, and their incremental sales from those catalogs no longer justify the expense. If youโ€™re in this position, or are wondering how to leverage shipping expenses, try a strategically planned and formally managed bounceback program. A bounceback program can help build your brand, improve customer retention and develop a new revenue stream, regardless of whether youโ€™re in B-to-C

Some Rebranding Ideas of a Different Sort
February 1, 2008

Ordinarily, I try not to get terribly personal in this space. What we do here โ€” put out a B-to-B magazine, a weekly e-newsletter and an informational Web site, rather than a catalog, sales-oriented e-mail or e-commerce Web site โ€” isnโ€™t a whole lot like what you do. We do share a common bond, of course: the catalog/multichannel business is our daily focus. This month, however, I did find a common bond in our daily regimen and thought Iโ€™d share a recent rebranding experience we had. As always, I hope youโ€™ll gain some ideas you can apply to your own business. Late

7 Steps to Multichannel Mastery
February 1, 2008

Editorโ€™s Note: This is the first article of a three-part series on becoming more proficient and adapting to the multichannel world. Parts two and three will appear in our June and September issues. Can you imagine a catalog/multichannel company not striving to become more efficient and effective in each selling channel in which it operates? Certainly not. This article focuses on the key issues and trends impacting multichannel selling today. It examines how you can improve your bottom line in each channel, cuts to the chase and identifies seven issues that smart direct sellers need to focus on this year. (You can also

Show Me the Numbers; Better Yet, Iโ€™ll Show You
January 11, 2008

Over the past few months, we at Catalog Success have been hard at work to further develop a hefty well of research data for our readers. In October we launched the Catalog Success Latest Trends Report, a quarterly series of original benchmarking research weโ€™ve been conducting with the multichannel ad agency Ovation Marketing. In the coming months, weโ€™ll also be running a series of mail volume charts provided by several catalog co-op databases. Like the Latest Trends surveys, these will run in the IndustryEye section of our print magazine. And for the past year or so, weโ€™ve been running a regular reader poll.

Television Campaign Helps Doctors Foster & Smith Become Top Dog
November 1, 2007

Since mailing its first catalog in 1983, Doctors Foster & Smith gradually has built a name for itself in the direct marketing pet-supplies business. But as of last year, the Rhinelander, Wis.-based cataloger still was searching for a way to propel itself to becoming a household name. So to boost its brand and name recognition, as well as build sales, it launched a TV advertising campaign. The company signed on with A. Eicoff & Co., a Chicago-based direct response advertising agency specializing in TV marketing. โ€œWe wanted people to get to know who we are,โ€ says Gordon Magee, Internet marketing and analysis manager for

The 50 Best Tips
November 1, 2007

Say what you will about this wonderful trade we call the catalog/multichannel business, but whichever way you spin it, you canโ€™t go very far if youโ€™re unprofitable. Thatโ€™s why above all else โ€” the marketing, the merchandising, the creative, the e-commerce, etc. โ€” weโ€™re most interested in helping our readers make more money. So we bring you our annual binge of tactics and tips extracted from all of this yearโ€™s issues of Catalog Success, our weekly e-newsletter Idea Factory and our biweekly idea exchange e-newsletter, The Corner View. Our editorial staff went through every article weโ€™ve produced this year to give you a nice,

Draw Up Your Brandโ€™s Road Map
November 1, 2007

We all need road maps, particularly us merchants. Thereโ€™s so much good stuff out there to choose from, so many different directions you can take in merchandising your catalog, that you need to find ways to navigate. In my 20-plus years as a creative merchant, Iโ€™ve always made product fit charts my strategic tool of choice as I sift and sort through thousands of product possibilities for each brandโ€™s offerings. I treat them as my merchandising road maps, driving me to the very heart of each brand I work with. They help me edit the multitude of products I see at trade shows

Brand Your Success By Enlivening Customersโ€™ Experience
September 25, 2007

In a session during last weekโ€™s NEMOA conference in Portland, Maine, Lois Boyle, president/chief creative officer at catalog consulting firm J. Schmid & Assocs., said that the customer experience is the key factor in developing a successful catalog company. Stressing that in todayโ€™s world youโ€™re more in competition with consumersโ€™ time than with their pocketbooks, Boyle provided a few ways to help your catalog break through the clutter of everyday life. Included below are four of those tips: 1. Develop a schemata (customerโ€™s frame of reference). Calling it the โ€œcurse of knowledge,โ€ Boyle said that many catalogers know too much. โ€œWe get so close

A Look Inside Appleseedโ€™s World and Its Customersโ€™ World
September 20, 2007

In the September (print) issue of Catalog Success, I discussed the opportunity catalogers and multichannel merchants have to aggressively pursue the older end of baby boomers, some of whom are now in their 60s. In Portland, Maine, on Sept. 20 for the fall NEMOA Conference, I was taken by the opening presentation given by Claire Spofford, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Orchard Brands unit of Golden Gate Capital, (formerly Appleseedโ€™sTopCo). Having joined Appleseedโ€™s earlier this decade to bring a retail and brand accent to the mature womenโ€™s apparel cataloger, Spofford now presides over a thriving multititle multichannel business thatโ€™s as

On the Web, Show Prospects Youโ€™re a Real Company; Not Simply a Fly-by-Night
September 7, 2007

These days, if you look hard enough, you can find some catalogers who can offer a nice bargain. But as we all know, by in large, catalogers have a tough time competing with retailers on price. Otherwise, itโ€™s the product and service, stupid! Before you even consider offering top quality service, however, you better put your customers and prospects at ease, particularly when it comes to your Web site. Assure them that theyโ€™re dealing with a reputable company they can trust. Historically, the direct marketing business โ€” later, to be joined by the e-commerce business โ€” has always been plagued by fly-by-nights, leaving consumers