Monday, July 9, 2007

Congrats to Mark Henry of Direct Marketing News on being named publisher. Having had Mark's help in advertising over the years - this is a well deserved promotion.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

International Mailings - Postal Cost Savings

For US and Canadian Companies looking to do a mail out - there are terrific cost savings to be had by using a mail drop service in the country your mailing to, especially when it is another country.

Local cost for a business letter in Canada is 51 cents Canadian. The savings for a US company would be around 10-25 cents per piece.

The second advantage would lie in having your mail shop doing a pre-sort - Canada Post and the US Postal service all give discounts on mailings when the information is presorted to the local walk.

Something that WLC has been able to do for several large mailers - large being in excess of 25,000 pieces into Canada. Is provide a delivery point for which to send all mail pieces - we then send them out, our cost still saves the mailer a large chunk of change.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Delivery Expectations

How long should a list take to supply. Well back in the old days of Mag Tapes - it could take 3-5 working days to produce a list. Today, however, our expecations are much quicker. Many clients request that we get them the data same day. If this is a list that WLC provides, then it may be possible. The reality is that most suppliers worth their salt can't get a list ready that quickly. My major concern is that they get the requirements right before sending out the list.

Having a service bureau usually means that the data is stored in a secure server and that turn around time can be an issue.

If you're feeling the crunch on the day of your drop - here are some things to keep in mind.

1. Make sure you give your list broker enough time to get the list. Try to make it five business days.
2. Make sure you know which list you want long before you need to order. Searching and ordering can be a real challenge.
3. Get your mail shop involved - make sure they know that your renting lists and that they need to come in before hand.

The biggest thing is to give yourself lots of extra time!

As always - for more details find us at www.westlists.com

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Email Marketing

I am about to launch a new initiative. We have an extensive business 2 business database which is growing everyday. I would like to use a newsletter format to offer business services to my business professionals. The challenge being what is the most affordable way to do such a thing.

The real benefit is that I will be able to clean all my lists with one simple blast. People will be able to opt out of the blast if they don't wish to receive future emails. My question today is what are some of the best ways to get this done. Are there afforable ways to do this blast??

Monday, January 29, 2007

Direct Marketers - Mail Piece

Recently I had an opportunity to review one of my clients mail piece. Here are a few quick tips for getting the most out of your mail piece.

- Get to the point - don't take forever building repoir with the reader
- Put yourself in the position of the reader - would you respond?
- Proof read it!!
- Why should I care? Give me the goods - what are you going to do for me the reader.

Ok, so if you need more - shoot me an email.

Thanks,

Troy

Government IT Database

Hi All -

Just wanted to let everyone know about the great government database that was completed this week. We have IT Managers, IT Directors, IT Execs of all kinds and the ability to provide email, fax, phone and mailing addresses.

This list is a must for any IT companies selling strategy. If you have made the Government part of your focus - you may want to go back to the drawing board. Another sector where we can help is the Native Governments - also something that we can help with - just give us a call. Please remember that the Gov't awards grants for IT upgrades in most first nation communities yearly.