Tuesday, May 26, 2009

What is this going to mean for Big Direct Marketers (Junk Mail)? and the opportunity for "transblablaba" and InfoPrint

"The industry is going to be shrinking: fewer people having cards and fewer cards being issued," said David Robertson, publisher of the Nilson Report. "The legislation, though, is coming as a second punch. The first punch, and much worse for the industry, was the recession."
In the funny money economy a 2% return made "sense." Without the funny money the mass mailing that made sense with 2% ain't going to do it. On the other hand, marketing to people who pay their bills should increase. People who pay their bills on time is nice, but the press runs are going to be much lower.
Credit-Card Issuers to Market to 'Deadbeats' @Advertising Age - News: "YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- Deadbeats may once again become the target audience for credit-card marketing.
Of course, in the credit-card world, 'deadbeats,' until now, were people who paid off their bills every month, incurring no finance charges, usually while racking up rewards."
The InfoPrint part is
Mr. Robertson said. "There will be much more reliance on loyalty programs and making them as robust as possible ... to retain existing customers."
Since they have spent the last year or so talking to CMOs and doing scientific like investigation, they knew all about this a year ago and should have a head start on everyone else. Check out this post at TransPromo-live way back in February.

2 comments:

  1. In tough times, the goal is customer retention and loyalty. Most of us are trying to not lose share on shrinking budgets, yet perform at the same level of excellence.
    With all the communication "noise" such as DM, social media, print, etc, something personal can help cut through the clutter and build loyalty.
    Check out our new program for 2009:
    www.loyaltyleaders.org

    This is a ground breaking reserach project which will share best practices within loyalty programs worldwide.

    lee
    www.transpromo-live.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lee,
    thank you for stopping by. As far as I can see, your work at InfoPrint is just right.

    Now if only Trade Associations and Community Colleges can learn from your model of rigorous experimentation to do regional proof of concept projects instead of too-expensive for everyone trade shows and mentored apprenticeships, instead of too expensive for everyone technical education programs, I think everyone will be able to move much faster rather than much slower.

    I look forward to seeing whatever you are doing next.

    FYI, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Ricoh spins off InfoPrint. It would make an awesome addition to the IRA.

    ReplyDelete