DMI Community Weekend - Mushroom Mardi Gras Edition!

Yay Memorial Day weekend! A time to enjoy the warm weather (sort of warm weather), BBQ, and hang out with family and friends.

If you don't have any plans this weekend, I have the perfect event to go to! The Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras! The festival takes place this weekend, Saturday the 28th (10am-7pm) and Sunday the 29th (10am-6pm) in Downtown Morgan Hill. There's free admission and even free parking!

There will be live performances, lots of gourmet food, a beer and wine garden, a kids area with rides, games and entertainment, lots of display booths, and even street performers. 

All proceeds of the festival go to "educational scholarships to seniors living in the Morgan Hill Unified School District. The festival also supports many non-profit clubs and organizations by either donating money for their volunteer services or providing booths for their own fundraising efforts. Over the past 30 years, [they] have provided over $700,000 in scholarships."

It should be a lot of fun and I hope to see you all there! If not, have a wonderful holiday weekend!

--L

A look back at trends in charitable giving

Back in March our Research Department had written a post regarding trends in charitable giving. This has been quite the hot topic for us here at DMI. 

Based on the survey that we had conducted, Research reported that "more people in 2010 say that they are donating to national organizations, perhaps driven by political considerations, or even specific issues like the BP oil disaster." 

This was pertinent in Fall 2010, and has once again been brought back into the forefront. From the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, to the tornadoes ripping the South and Midwest, there have been lots of appeals from national organizations like the Red Cross. 

Research also found that "more donors are restricting their giving to known organizations, indicating perhaps the increasing importance of loyalty." It is crucial for people involved in the organization to be active participants in fundraising. You have to remind your donors to stay loyal to your organization.  

Stir in an unsettled economy, and it becomes even more important for Board members and volunteers to make their personal appeals to donors and potential donors. 

Historically, major disaster response has always pulled away from local giving. Especially with the new technologies of donating, it is now easier for people to respond to national organizations. But when people directly involved in the organization reach out personally, they have the power to make a huge impact in fundraising.

How does your organization handle personal asks? How do you remind your donors to stay loyal to your organization?

Please contact us for some ideas regarding these questions and for more information about our survey and our findings.

--L

How do you share content?

Our hearts and our thoughts are with those affected by the deadly tornado in Joplin, MO. Here are just a few ways to help!

If you were given that link to help those in Joplin, how would you share it? Based on a study conducted by AOL and Nielsen Online, they "found that 93% of internet users turn to email to share content, while 89% use social networks and 82% use blogs."

Those percentages do change however when you are sharing information to your friends. "Social networks are the top method for sharing content with friends, as 92% of users do so, while email is the most popular way to share with family (86%) and colleagues (26%)."

I think this study shows how important an online presence is for any type of company. Having the ability for people to share your message to others through email and social media is crucial in making a campaign successful. It has become a vital part of any type of marketing campaign. Since this is an emerging form of marketing, it is a great avenue to test messaging and brand recognition.

This is something that we at DMI have been researching for quite some time. What kind of experience and results has your company had in online marketing? What are your thoughts on this type of marketing?

Feel free to contact us to learn more!

--L

DMI's Community Weekend - National River Cleanup Day Edition

Is everyone ready for the weekend? With the rapture happening on Saturday, I want to make sure I do everything on my bucket list! ;)

If you have community service as an item on your bucket list, then I have a great opportunity.

Saturday is National River Cleanup Day! The event occurs from 9am-12pm and there are a lot of sites that need our help. Also, it's not just limited to San Jose. There are other cities in our county that need help too.

Check out the website and bring along some family and friends to help clean up our environment.

Have a great weekend!

--L

Healthy employees make a healthy office!

Work has been super busy which is why I missed Monday's post (sorry!) and why I'm feeling more and more tired. The thing that helps me get back to feeling more like myself is working out. Exercise is a great way for me and I'm sure for you as well, to release stress and feel empowered.

Being busy is a classic excuse of why I can't exercise but I was given an article that has inspired me!

15 Exercises To Do While Watching TV!

It's really simple. "During each commercial break, choose one exercise from the list and do as many repetitions as you can per commercial."

Now we can all exercise at home and go to work the next day feeling like we can tackle any challenge!

--L

DMI's Community Weekend - Stamping Out Hunger Edition

Happy Friday the 13th! Spooooky! I made sure not to walk near black cats, walk under any ladders, and did not open an umbrella indoors. So I think I'm all set!

How would you like to donate to a wonderful charity without leaving your home? The Second Harvest Food Bank is allowing you to do just that! Saturday May 14th is National Stamp Out Hunger Day.

To participate, all you have to do is leave a bag of non-perishable food items (such as peanut butter, cereal, and canned goods) by your mailbox before the mail delivery. Your letter carrier will pick it up and take it to Second Harvest Food Bank. It's that simple!

This is the "largest one-day food drive in the nation" and you can be a part of it!

So enjoy your weekend and don't forget to leave those canned goods by our mailbox Saturday morning!

--L

What's your address?

Our guest blogger is back with a topic that many people may not think twice about.

What is in an address?  What is an address?

Addresses can be identified two broad categories: Physical and Mailing.  A physical address can be defined as the actual location of a structure (house or building), part of a structure (apartment or suite), or an empty lot.  It also may be where one receives service from a utility, cable provider, or telephone company (service address).  A mailing address is just that – where one designates where their mail is sent.  This type of address may be a physical structure or part of a physical structure as described above, or it may be a Post Office Box located at a Post Office location.  Sometimes, a mailing address for one physical structure may be the physical address of a completely different structure. 

Why is this important?  Why should we care? 

Simply put, the point is to ensure that you are directing your correspondence to the correct person at the correct address.  It is not good enough to know that your best targets live at particular addresses, but that you are also sending mail to their preferred addresses.  Conversely, it is not enough to know that potential targets receive mail at a Post Office Box – you also need to know what physical address is attached to that Post Office Box if you want to learn anything about the demographics of who you are mailing to.

About 80%-90% of the time, the mailing address and the physical address are the same, so we do not have to worry about the consequences of the differences.  But for that 10%-20%, the differences outlined about are very important for us to consider when we construct a direct marketing campaign.

--B

How are social norms created?

Did everyone have a great Mother's Day weekend? I think my mom actually likes this holiday more than her own birthday!

I read a recent Wall Street Journal article titled Under the Influence: How the Group Changes What We Think and I started to think about how the idea of social norms could be applied to direct marketing. 

"Jonah Berger, marketing professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, studied what makes ideas 'go viral.' His team analyzed 7,000 newspaper articles in the New York Times and found the articles considered most popular on the newspaper's website were those that aroused more emotions, particularly happy emotions but also anger or anxiety."

People are more prone to adopt an idea if it evokes emotion, which is to be expected. People feel more tied to issues, ideas, causes, if they have an emotional connection. It makes it more personal.

But who is setting these issues, ideas, causes, into the universe to become viral? "Rarely does any one individual set an entirely new norm for the group. Group leaders, however, help perpetuate or shift the norm. Unlike innovators, leaders tend to be high-status "superconformists," embodying the group's most-typical characteristics or aspirations, says Deborah Prentice, a social psychologist at Princeton University."

What the research shows is that one person may not be able to instill an idea but that it requires a group. Hence the peer pressure idea. The more people who tell you an idea is good, the more likely you are to believe it.

What does this have to do with direct marketing? DMI believes that having the right messaging is crucial in a successful direct marketing campaign. The messaging must be personal and you must make sure your message is touching the prospect multiple times. Repetition is your friend!

Let me know if you want more information about creating the right messaging and what DMI can do for your next marketing campaign!

--L

DMI's Community Weekend - Farmers' Market Edition

Did everyone have a good Cinco de Mayo? I really regret not drinking a margarita yesterday!

One of the things that I love about spring/summer are farmers' markets! And as of today, the downtown San Jose Farmers' Market is back!

"The cozy outdoor market takes place each Friday, from 10am-2pm along a charming block of San Pedro Street between Santa Clara and St. John streets."

There are a number of great offers at the farmers' market such as:

• If you ride your bike, you get a $1 credit to use at any of the vendors
• Frequent shopper cards that will award prizes for stamps collected by shopping at the market
• Every 3rd Friday are Green Days, which means the first 50 people (starting at noon) will receive a free tote bag
• Twice a month, a local restaurant will offer free samples of their food

So check out the website for details: http://www.sjdowntown.com/FarmerMarket.html

Hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! I hope my dog got me a good present!

--L

Better Know a DMI Employee!

A couple of months ago, I debuted a new segment to allow our readers to get to know the people at DMI. The concept was borrowed from The Colbert Report's "Better Know a District" segment.

So here's my second interview with Z from our Research Department.

L:  How long have you been at DMI?

Z:  One year as of April.

L:  Wow! A year has gone by so fast. I remember when you first came in for your interview. What was your first impression of DMI?

Z:  At first I was surprised at how young everyone was. I got the "Google" feel.

L:  Being compared to Google is quite the compliment!

Z:  Everyone was welcoming and energetic.

L:  So outside of work, what do you do to have fun?

Z:  The exact opposite of GD actually!

L:  So you remember our last segment! I heard you mention that it was your cat's birthday. Can you tell me about him?

Z:  I was never a cat person but my girlfriend and I decided to adopt one randomly. Actually my girlfriend had a $10 coupon for the Humane Socity, and now I'm disturbed by how many cat pictures I have in my cell phone.

L:  So what's the name of your cat?

Z:  Louis Rutherford Van Gaal Watkins

L:  That is quite the name for a cat! What did you get your cat for his birthday?

Z:  I bought him a Kitty City.

L:  Sounds fancy! It seems like we're all animal people here at DMI. Speaking of work, you are in our Research department and you deal with lots of data. What is it about data analysis that you like?

Z:  When analyzing the performance of a campaign, I enjoy finding new ways to graphically depict results.

Fascinating! Well thank you for a very entertaining interview.

I hope everyone enjoyed the interview as much as I did!

--L

What to do with all those labels?

Lots happened this past weekend. The Royal Wedding (which I loved!), White House Correspondents Dinner (Seth Myers did a fantastic job), and the most important news of all. Osama Bin Laden is officially dead! Wow...

I was given a Dear Abby article from a recent SF Chronicle issue which dealt with non profit solicitations. Specifically the ones that give you an incentive such as sheets of labels, notepads, etc. It was interesting to see how people reacted to those mailings. One writer received "532 request from 119 organizations" in 6 months! Another writer wrote "my view is, if they're using my donations to send gifts, then they really don't need my money. They should be using donations to help whomever or whatever it is they're soliciting for."

I personally have received quite a few of these types of solicitations. I never know how to react to them. I agree that they should be using donations to do other things rather than printing and mailing labels. My mom recently felt so guilty she sent a donation to an organization that sent her labels since she was using them. The organization ended up sending her a thank you with more labels!

What do you think of these types of mailings? Are you more likely to respond? Less likely?

--L