Q&As

The message bears repeating: Continually request feedback from your subscribers by using short, interactive surveys. This is the best way to learn whether or not your newsletter is relevant.

Merger and acquisition activity within the direct marketing industry reached $18.3 billion in transactionals for the first half of 2005. The value, a 30% increase from first-half 2004

InfoUSA may have disbanded the special committee formed to evaluate chairman and CEO Vinod Gupta

Small businesses

Letters in reaction to “Loose Cannon: Which Version of This Column Are You Reading?,” Direct Newsline, Aug. 29, 2005

It’s the monkey. There hasn’t been a cartoon character who scowls and chomps a cigar with this much authority since the heyday of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

But why does StickerJunkie.com feature a cigar-chomping chimp in this day of bland, tasteful and PC corporate logos? “Because it rhymes,” explains CEO Andrea Lake of the StickerJunkie monkey. “And kids love monkeys.”

If eBay is a boon to the small direct marketer, you could have fooled Mike Cachat, CEO of JensonUSA, a multichannel retailer of bicycles, bicycle parts and bicycling accessories.

As a small business owner, one of your most critical assets is your mailing list. You need your mailings to have the best data integrity and delivery possible for every campaign so response rates remain on the rise. However, as your customer lists grow, so do your challenges in ensuring that the quality of information continues. The integrity of your data is not only your best defense against the significant costs of undelivered mail pieces, but also it is the greatest factor in determining whether your lists will prove themselves to be a commodity.

We all know — but sometimes forget — that people with disabilities have the same range of preferences, perceptions, attitudes, habits and needs that drive consumer behavior of people without disabilities. Eric Lipp, executive director for the consultancy Open Doors, notes that the disability market controls more than twice the discretionary spending of the estimated $67-billion teen market. Yet, not even half the marketing dollars are targeted at the disabled.

Are you ready for some football? Burger King Corp. this week breaks its first— promotion to leverage its sponsorship of the National Football League with a sweepstakes, tournaments and other football-themed offers. To kick off the NFL Your Way …