Creative

Your last prescriptions were to make design fast and easy to view, and add testimonials. Although there are no guaranteed "sure things," here's another low-risk script to keep your catalog healthy: Have good readability.

In both consumer and B-to-B direct marketing, one of the most misunderstood processes is creating effective lead generation efforts — whether they take place on the web, in email or by mail.

PATIENT: Doc, I hope to keep my catalog healthy during this economic epidemic. I've slimmed down by cutting overhead. Now I need to focus on marketing. But it's got to be low or no risk. Any sure things that I can count on to deliver results? CATALOG DOCTOR: There are no "sure things." But like fruits and vegetables can help keep your body in shape, here are two prescriptions to help your catalog health.

PATIENT: Doc, I'm worried that my catalog program is in a rut. I'm tracking my competitors, but they're in ruts, too, so I'm not getting new ideas there. How can my team and I develop some new, innovative ideas instead of the same old retreads? CATALOG DOCTOR: It's hard to envision new ideas when you keep staring at the same old bag of tools. To stimulate your thinking, break away from the catalog world, see what the rest of the world is doing, then think about how you can apply that to your catalog.

Trimming expenses is top-of-mind for everyone producing a catalog or e-commerce site today. But it can get you into trouble if not approached with some extra knowledge.

PATIENT: Doc, last visit you gave me a prescription to help turn my sick catalog well again. This economy’s so bad, I think I need an additional prescription. You got anything? CATALOG DOCTOR: Last issue’s dose of catalog fundamentals to combat “lazy cataloger syndrome” boosted copy, eye flow and scannability. Now try this shot in the arm for pagination and product selection.

PATIENT: Doc, when the economy tanked in 2008, my catalog turned from well to sick — we had declines in 12-month buyer counts, reactivation, average order and prospect response. How can I make it well again? CATALOG DOCTOR: You may be suffering from “lazy syndrome,” which has become an epidemic. But there’s a good chance of recovery.

Remember when Macs were supposed to make our lives easier? The world of rubber cement, dull blades, plugged up Rapidographs, and cut-and-paste was gone. Voilá! With a computer we could print out a single sheet of paper and a whole catalog page was “camera-ready.” In a few weeks, a new catalog was ready to mail. Fast-forward to the present, and advertising can be created and placed in front of our customers literally minutes after being finalized — all done electronically without a single sheet of paper. But has life gotten any easier?

Like many entrepreneurs who launched catalog businesses in bygone eras, the late Eddie Smith, whom I had the pleasure of knowing during the ’90s and early 2000s, stuck firmly to a number of ironclad principles during his 50-plus years at the helm of the National Wholesale catalog.

If you’d asked last year what I thought the strongest word in catalog and direct selling was, without hesitation I would have said, “FREE.” “Free” always tests strong. Even in e-mail subject line scenarios where you’d expect spam filters to knock them out, response is so strong that it more than makes up for the ones filtered out. But this year it appears that “YOU” has become more important. And while most catalogs and Web sites seem to pretend this word doesn’t even exist, they’re missing out on a personal powerhouse word that trumps all others when used properly. I reached this conclusion