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By Scott Shrake Producing and mailing a catalog can be a most expensive undertaking. With alternate media you can achieve some of the same goals as with a print catalog: Testing, driving customers (new or existing) to your e--commerce site and building awareness/loyalty. Speaking at the Annual Catalog Conference in June, Kevin Kotowski, of Olson Kotowski & Co. in Los Angeles, named some top reasons catalogers use alternate media, or "non-catalog pieces:" 1) cheaper prospecting than with full-sized catalog drops, since most alternate media are cheaper to produce and mail; 2) building and strengthening your customer relationships with name and

“Compared to the business-to-business arena, consumer direct marketing is a no-brainer.” —Lee Kroll, Kroll Direct Marketing Many will disagree with Lee Kroll’s statement. But I, for one, think he’s dead on. Read on, consider all of the challenges the b-to-b marketer faces when it comes to lists, and decide for yourself. Consumer Direct Marketing The universe has roughly 110 million households. Most receive mail in a box or through a slot in the front door. They answer their own telephones. True, in the words of Chicago freelancer Lea Pierce, “All mail is opened over the wastebasket.” But, chances are pretty good that if you

"Necessity is the mother of invention." —William Wycherley (1671). By Denny Hatch PEOPLE WHO TRAVEL need stuff—a tiny screwdriver with tiny screws to fix eyeglasses, a bottle opener, tweezers for splinters, a sewing kit, sunburn skin cream, a poncho, laxative, Imodium A-D—you know the drill. Ever tried to open a wine bottle without a corkscrew? For Tim Leatherman, the epiphany came on his European honeymoon in 1975 where he had to deal with a very temperamental '68 Fiat he'd bought for $300. In an interview with USA Today, Leatherman said, "All I had was this Boy Scout knife, which we