It’s A Date: IMN Pilot Tests Calendar Offering

IMN is pilot testing a new e-newsletter option that would allow retailers to offer customers a calendar of events related to their marketing niche.

David Fish, CEO of the Waltham, MA-based firm, says the calendar concept is designed to give recipients strong editorial value.

“It ties into the concept of respecting the customer’s time and attention,” he notes.

For example, a calendar for a boating store might offer dates for local boat shows and yachting races. And, of course, events being held by the retailer would also be highlighted.

Fish says the goal is to get customers to consider the retailer an authority on what’s happening in their area of expertise. Updates would be sent to subscriber’s inboxes monthly, and subscribers would also have access to a microsite that would be amended regularly.

And as the calendar for 2006 is winding down, we thought it would be a good time to ask what IMN is advising clients to do when it comes to holiday week mailing schedules.

It turns out, says Fish, that the majority of IMN’s clients tend to mail in the first three weeks of the month anyway, so hitting mailboxes between Christmas and New Year’s isn’t a concern.

The firm is in the process of doing a quick campaign for one client that is a series of three blasts – an intro, a main mailing and a reminder – but that campaign will conclude before the upcoming holiday weekend, so no worries.

If a lot of e-mailers are staying away from the last week of the year, could there be an opportunity for a brave soul that wanted to hit in-boxes between the opening of presents and the dropping of the ball in Times Square? Could a stealthy marketer catch a lot of folks relaxing at home, maybe checking their personal e-mail a little more leisurely than normal?

“Possibly,” laughs Fish, “but I have nothing to back that up.”