Make Your Blog a Branding and an Acquisition Tool

| Tom Blake

Customer acquisition through traditional direct marketing offers can be difficult when you’re a niche merchant with a narrowly defined product category. Blogging is one way to build a relationship with prospective customers

Increase ROI While Maintaining Top-Line Growth

| Jim Whitford

While we are all aware of traditional cost reduction methods such as co-mailing and catalog trim size reduction, a few mailers are taking a closer look at their data to increase their return on investment

Layoffs for Oriental Trading

| MCM staff

A spokesman says the novelties, toys, party supplies and home decor merchant is cutting jobs to streamline operations and eliminate overlapping services in the “challenging economic environment.”

Friend-Get-A-Friend: The Original Viral Marketing

| Shari Altman

The critical key to success with get-a-friend programs is the offer. You must offer something to the friend and to the current customer. In asking your customer to recommend you to others, there’s one big question you need to ask in anticipation. “What’s in it for me?”

Home Products Universe Remains Flat

| Patrick Barnard

With the Housing Market in a Slump, it only makes sense that the home products catalog segment is stagnant as well. According to a report from New York-based

Boca Java Buys Cafe Belmondo

| Jim Tierney

Boca Java, an Online Gourmet Coffee Marketer, has Acquired several key assets of Web coffee merchant Caf Belmondo from The Thompson Group. Terms were

Popular Club Sold

| MCM staff

General Merchandise Direct Seller/cataloger Popular Club has been acquired by an unnamed New York-based hedge fund that also owns and operates gadgets