I’m on vacation this week in the Dominican Republic, a great country with extremely warm, friendly people who enjoy life and laugh easily.
But somehow the concept of direct mail marketing seems to have missed them. There’s no great mail service to speak of here. (Not like our great Postal Service, he said facetiously). Bills come by mail, but not much else. And you can forget about catalogs. They don’t have them here.
The more affluent order online and have their items shipped via FedEx or United Postal Service. Some actually have P.O. boxes in the states — mostly Miami. They have their catalogs shipped to Miami, too, or to friends’ homes, who in turn overnight said catalogs here.
We come here often as we have friends and family here. We get a lot of catalog merchandise shipped to our house … Somewhere I see an opportunity in all of this. Internet use is rising here.
Keeping it short this week. Back to new ways to acquire new customers next week.
Got comments? Post them below.
Jim Gilbert is president of Gilbert Direct Marketing Inc., a full-service catalog and direct marketing agency. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed at www.linkedin.com/in/jimwgilbert or you can post a comment here or e-mail him at jimdirect@aol.com.
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I’m on vacation this week in the Dominican Republic, a great country with extremely warm, friendly people who enjoy life and laugh easily.
But somehow the concept of direct mail marketing seems to have missed them. There’s no great mail service to speak of here. (Not like our great Postal Service, he said facetiously). Bills come by mail, but not much else. And you can forget about catalogs. They don’t have them here.
The more affluent order online and have their items shipped via FedEx or United Postal Service. Some actually have P.O. boxes in the states — mostly Miami. They have their catalogs shipped to Miami, too, or to friends’ homes, who in turn overnight said catalogs here.
We come here often as we have friends and family here. We get a lot of catalog merchandise shipped to our house … Somewhere I see an opportunity in all of this. Internet use is rising here.
Keeping it short this week. Back to new ways to acquire new customers next week.
Got comments? Post them below.
Jim Gilbert is president of Gilbert Direct Marketing Inc., a full-service catalog and direct marketing agency. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed at www.linkedin.com/in/jimwgilbert or you can post a comment here or e-mail him at jimdirect@aol.com.
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.