DMI's Community Weekend - Oktoberfest Edition!

Happy Oktoberfest! But before you go out to have beer and sausages, there is another Oktoberfest event that I wanted to share.

The Humane Society Silicon Valley is having a Barktoberfest Dog Adoption Event on Saturday (10/01/11) from 11am-4pm.

"This dog adoption extravaganza features a wide variety of breeds and sizes such as Beagles, Poodles, Golden Retrievers, Terriers, Rottweilers, Chihuahuas, Pit Bulls, and more!" So check out the website and find the right dog for you.

After you adopt a wonderful new puppy, click on the links below for more traditional Oktoberfest events around the Bay Area:

http://www.examiner.com/restaurant-news-in-san-jose/updated-san-jose-oktoberfest-2011-events

http://www.mercurynews.com/dining-scene/ci_18965129?source=rss

--L

Direct Mail to the rescue!

It feels like I've been away from the blog for too long. I was on vacation last week but I'm back and ready to blog!

As many people know, the Post Office is in financial trouble and on the brink of default, per a recent article in Advertising Age Magazine. So what is the Post Office doing? They are developing programs to make direct mailing "friendlier in hopes of luring more revenue by reaching out to new users." Currently only "about 22% of businesses use direct mail." These programs will be part of a large TV campaign that is planned to air next year and is the first time the Post Office has "aggressively marketed" these types of programs.

One of the new programs is called "Every Door Direct Mail" which allows a company or an organization to "send out mailings that don't require specific addresses or names." You can drop off the pieces at your local Post Office and only pay 14.2 cents per piece for postage.

These new programs will allow direct mail to be much more cost effective and efficient. Direct mail is a large part of what we do here at DMI and we are constantly in talks with the Post Office to make sure we are informed and knowledgeable about these up and coming programs.

If you would like to learn more, please contact me!

--L

Direct mail's impact on the brain

I was recently given an article from Deliver Magazine that discusses the impact of direct mail on your brain from a recent study.

"A recent neuroscience study conducted jointly by research firm Millward Brown, Bangor University and the United Kingdom's Royal Mail shows direct mail makes a deeper and longer-lasting impression on people's brains than digital advertising."

"Three main areas of difference were uncovered between how study participants’ brains processed direct mail and digital messaging: The first area of difference was the degree to which the emotional centers of the brain were activated, with direct mail generating more or deeper emotional processing than the digital messaging. Second, the brain saw the physical material as more real than the digital messaging. Third, there was more activity in the areas of the brain that are connected to introspection when people viewed the direct mail."

So what does this mean?

• Direct mail is still essential in a marketing strategy. 
• "Companies that want to communicate and differentiate their brand over a long period of time... might want to consider using direct mail to deliver the message."
• Direct mail pieces should be engaging and be of substance in order to convey the message effectively. 

With the rise of digital media people are quick to dismiss direct mail, however, there is value in having a multichannel approach in marketing. As this study showed, people process and react differently to various types of outreach.

Contact me if you want to learn more about DMI's multichannel approach!

--L

Dreamforce!

Yesterday, our Research Associate and I attended the Dreamforce Expo in San Francisco. It is an annual conference by salesforce.com. There were a lot of people and everyone seemed very excited to apply social media concepts to sales, marketing, and production. Here are a few pictures from our adventure:

Social media at its best!

The room was filled for the keynote speech. Must have been over 40k people!

Entering the exhibit hall.

The cloud was the main theme of the Expo.

The cloud allows you to expand your services without having to install any actual software.

There were a lot of cool booths with great giveaways like these Dippin Dots!

Dreamforce gave me a lot of insight in applying social media in order to market to potential prospects, and learn more about your current customers/clients. I also learned a lot about cloud computing and what is possible with the existing platforms that are out there. As I learn more, I can't wait to share the information with everyone.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

--L