Happy Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Dear Readers. I wish you all a happy healthy Thanksgiving. Be safe, have fun and enjoy your turkey.

As I prepare to take a holiday break, I wanted to let you know how thankful and grateful I am for you and your readership this past year.

And to my readers who are looking to Black Friday and Cyber Monday to make or break your fiscal years, I wish you much luck and customers! My family and I will be doing our parts to stimulate the economy this year. Thanks for hanging tough!

50 best multichannel direct marketing tips of 2009 (from All About ROI Magazine)

The November issue of All About ROI (formerly Catalog Success) Magazine is on the newsstands (if they even exist anymore). This months cover story is 50 Best Tips of 2009. Check out the article here.

Win a Free One hour Social Media Consultation as Part of My One Year Anniversary Celebration

So here is a contest for you….

Guess how many blog page views I have had in the last year to win.

Winner gets a free one hour review and recommendation of either your linkedin profile, or your own social media sites. Closest the the exact number of page views wins. Post your answer to the comments below to win. Contest ends 11/30/09.

My blog is singing happy birthday to me! (and a contest to win for you!)

Dear friends and readers. Exactly one year ago today the Gilbert Direct Marketing blog was born. Frankly I never expected it to take off the way it did. I want to offer you my readers my sincerest thank you for turning this blog into one of the top rated (99th percentile, based on Grader by Hubspot) direct and social media blogs.

Your comments, both public and private have kept me going.

So here is a contest for you. Winner gets a free one hour review of either your linkedin profile, or your own social media sites. Guess how many page views I have had in the last year. Closest the the exact number of page views wins. Post your answer to the comments below to win.

USPS “No 2010 Rate Increase”: The Loophole and a Call to Action

Just when I thought it was safe to believe in the U.S. Postal Service, I find out this lovely tidbit of information: Despite Postmaster General John Potter’s grand statement (or was it a grandstanding statement) that there’d be no postal rate increase in 2010, there’s a giant loophole.

Dear Mr. Postmaster General, you’ve started a trend… but…

A week ago the USPS Postmaster General sent out a memo stating there would be no postal increase for direct mailers in 2010. We must make our voice heard and hold their feet to the fire to keep the direct and catalog marketing business moving. Therefore I wrote the letter below to the USPS. I urge you to send in your own letter, or use/modify my letter to suit your needs. The Postmaster General’s Contact information is below…

Dying to Get Your Offer (aka: dead men still get mail)

Another kind of “do not mail” database:

Don’t mailers know they’re wasting money? Direct mail costs enough these days. So much so that it doesn’t make sense to mail someone who can be easily suppressed from a mailing list.

Guest Article: 10 Tips for Looking HOT on Internet Marketing Video by Jessica Kizorek

Preparing to be in front of a camera soon? Follow these ten tips or risk looking like a loser on video. Guest Article: 10 Tips for Looking HOT on Internet Marketing Video by Jessica Kizorek

Kudos, an open letter (and a warning) to the USPS Postmaster General (spread this around)

Over the years I’ve been super vocal about my dislike for the U.S. Postal Service and its less-than-forward-thinking bureaucracy. When it slammed direct marketers with a 20 percent postal increase back in 2007, I went (pun intended) postal on it in my Catalog Success Magazine Column… I have to applaud the USPS for its announcement last week that there would not be a postal rate increase in 2010…But along with my kudos to our Postmaster and the USPS, I also want to put them on notice…

David Ogilvy had it right!

It’s time to go back to the future with David Ogilvy. Direct vs General vs. Internet vs. Social Media. Direct wins hands down. Here’s why…