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Mail Plans – Are They Really Just for Direct Mail and Do I Really Need One?

No and Yes, according to Jessica Harrington of the Harrington Agency during her recent DMAW webinar. She is also a planner at heart as the detailed webinar revealed. When you take a trip, a GPS-enabled device is a must, but you might also print or download a map. In other words, you bring tools to…

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How to Prioritize and Maximize Your Testing

Direct marketers love testing. It’s how we establish causality and know with certainty that results can be repeated across campaigns. It’s how we mitigate risk across our programs before rolling out with new ideas. It’s how we gain insights about donor and customer behavior that allow us to build effective communication strategies that yield results.…

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DM 201: Stop Getting Comfortable and Start Innovating

DM 201 is an intermediate-level course that’s perfect for anyone who already has some direct marketing experience under their belt—whether at an agency, nonprofit, list broker, production company, or analytics firm—and wants to go beyond the basics. Somewhere between being a total newbie and seasoned vet things start to fall into place. We get comfortable…

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Middle donors and the White House

Are your middle donors suffering from middle child syndrome? Do they feel excluded, ignored, overshadowed by the over-indulged major donors and the high volume, attention-stealing low dollar donors?  Organizations are starting to shine the spotlight on middle donors, and rightly so.  The reality is middle donors account for less than 2% of all donors in…

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Reaching donors when you don’t have an “Aunt Bertha”

I had the pleasure of attending the DMAW Annual Meeting and hearing from keynote speaker Nancy Harhut about how to hack the brains of donors, members, and other humans. It was fascinating! Nancy shared a story about where her interest in fundraising began – at age eight when, incentivized by a banana-seat bike prize, she…

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A mail donor and a digital donor walked into a bar…

If your first reaction to the title above is, “I don’t get it, is that a joke?”, then you likely were not among fortunate, dedicated marketers, who braved the region’s first snow dusting of the season to attend this month’s DMAW Lunch and Learn, “Digital First: Why Translating DM Content Just Won’t Cut It!” While…

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How Will Tariffs Impact Your Direct Marketing Program?

Many in our industry are concerned about the trade war between the US and China… but what does it mean for you and your business? Since January 22, 2018 this war has been escalating regularly with Trump and Xi firing salvos back and forth in hopes of gaining the best economic position for his nation. …

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Art Meets Science at 2018 Bridge Conference

You came, you saw, and you hopefully conquered new marketing techniques at this year’s Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference. If you missed it, here’s a quick synopsis: Four great keynote speakers. NPR Science Correspondent and Host Shankar Vedantam wowed attendees with the latest break throughs in social science research, including the “hidden brain”—our…

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Leaders Are Readers.

I’ve got it from multiple sources…simply reading won’t cut it. You need to vary what you read to keep your mind sharp and your creativity flowing. You might be thinking, “Well, that’s great. But what else should I be reading?” I’ve decided to take a chapter from some of DMAW’s Industry All-Star awardees—literally—and see what…

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Your Guide to Rapid Response: Phases 1, 2, 3

When direct marketers hear the words “Rapid Response,” I think it’s common practice for us all to be numb to the phrase.  After all, aren’t we rapidly responding to multiple things every day? And while this is true, it became clear when sitting at the DMAW Lunch and Learn about Rapid Response Fundraising and hearing…

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