Today is Census Day in the USA. This event happens every 10 years, as it has from 1790. A great time to get the pulse of our nation’s activities.

Very interesting interview with the Director of the US Census on the PBS Newshour last night about the in’s and out’s outs of trying to find every person living in the USA.

This counting includes everyone, not just citizens. The first census counted everyone and all after that have made the effort as well.

It is not possible to overestimate the importance of the Census to government and our marketing industries.  Gathering the data for what was said to be 120,000,000 households is a task that is vastly under appreciated.  Last Summer, every street with housing on it in the US was walked by a Census worker who noted all housing addresses.

This was after getting all the commercial lists, various utility lists, government lists and the like. A massive undertaking to attempt to reach everyone who puts their head down in the US to sleep.

Costs – amazing.

If  you are among the folks who return the printed form. Cost to the taxpayer is estimated at under 45 cents.

Don’t fill out the form and someone is going to the door and asking the questions. Cost $60.

Both cost figures are way below the cost of a typical marketing sales call for almost every company. “Volume, it’ s volume.”

Here is a link to the video interview

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/government_programs/jan-june10/census_03-31.html

What is the most important word in a Subject Line?

As with direct mail,  “You or Your” remains a winner.

Here is an article in eMarketer Digital Intelligence discussing that. Other keywords that work in direct mail are good too.. but.. the word “free” is just a knockout by many servers and their spam filters.

http://ow.ly/1prsb

Direct marketing has always been on the early edge indicator of the health of the economy. Perhaps things are beginning to show “some green sprouts.” A few things I have noticed.

• WOMMA announced in their eNewsletter that a survey of Linked-In jobs listings in the Advertising area found about 1,700 jobs being advertised. This may be a big change.
• Linked In has become a defacto spot to list new jobs. Today, Sears was spotted using Twitter to announce jobs says the LA Times
• Direct Mail seems to be increasing (or will be) ..we are seeing a slight increase in average order size.  And, the occasional “good order” is beginning to show up again.
• The Census is using direct mail to increase response to the Census’ fill out and return percentages. Imagine sending close to 100 million+  pieces of mail
• eMail now seems to be used along with postal to boost response.

What are your signs of how the economy is doing?

This is from our friend Greg at Hippo Direct.

It is really one of those things every marketing person needs to keep handy in postal and Email.  As you probably know, every postal address has a zip-code. This permits more rapid sorting and delivery. Well, lots of marketing folks need to target only key states. Here is the summary http://ow.ly/1eHrl

City SCF ranges are also available.

Bethesda Emedia has been working diligently to put up articles on a variety of subjects. We have about 100 articles that we consider a “best of” group.  Best of all, they are organized with tags that include:

• SEO (search engine optimization)
• Direct marketing
• Direct mail,
• Email marketing
• B2B
• B2C
• Ecommerce
• Google
• Social marketing

We search out articles from many sources, this is not just a bare knuckles promotion for one or two companies. Some of our best ideas come from those who Tweet themselves. Our Twitter site, djamesbethesda, re-tweets winners as well.

Access to the Bethesda Emedia Marketing Library is free.

Tell me what you think.

Keeping your email lists clean is good practice and good hygiene. Meaning, you should be keeping your email lists as accurate as possible. This will help gather better measurements and statistics that will reflect your progress more accurately. It will also protect you from negative affects in your ROI, delivery rate, and ISPs. Here are some tips!

• Validate the email address as you collect them. For example, send a triggered opt-in confirmation email, reinforcing your opt-in, and confirm the email address validity.
• Determine when to remove inactive email addresses and create a process to remove them. This helps keep your interaction high as well as maintain your relevance to your clients.
• No matter how clean you think your list is, have a process in place that will manage your bounce rates and remove them appropriately.

It’s like brushing and flossing your teeth. Good hygiene goes a long way.

Twitter and email marketing hand-in-hand? If you haven’t married the two ideas yet, or have no idea how, now is a good time to get started! First! Let’s break down the basics.

What is Twitter?
A free social networking service that allows users to send and read messages (tweets) that are 140 characters long.

I signed up. Now what?
First, you need to decide what your objective is and what you want to do with Twitter. Some businesses use it as a social platform to update their followers on the latest and greatest. Some businesses use it as a means to advertise products and services. Others use it as a social face to their company, posting anything form interesting news to interacting with peers and clients. How does this tie into your email marketing?

Followers!
Get those followers. You’ll have people visiting your websites, but did they see your awesome email-only offers? To get more followers, post the Twitter handle on your site, in your email campaigns, on your business cards, and in your email signature so that people can link and follow you. Now you can start tracking your followers.

Twitter in You Email Campaign
Here are steps you can take to combine to the two!

• Twitter your subject lines
• Consider the Twitter search when you tweet
• Include “follow” links in your email campaigns
• Get them to sign up to receive emails
• Use Twitter for research by using URL shorteners that track clicks (i.e. http://bit.ly/)

Now you’re off to a great start!

With a large number of list delivery services and email campaign management services out there, choosing which one to go with can be difficult.

Besides considering prices, reputation and volumes that a mailer can handle, you should also be considering their ability to work and think outside the box.

Customer Support

High-quality customer support allows mail delivery services and list managers to bring you a service that goes beyond the typical.

When a mail delivery service thinks outside the box, they are able to listen to your ideas and needs and think creatively to come up with a solution that will work best for you, and not just point you to a list of pre-packaged options.

When it comes to making your campaign successful, make sure you consider a company’s customer service as well as its deliverables.

Check out Bethesda List Center and see first hand what creative, outside the box customer support can do for you, your business, and your bottom line.

When reading a data card, several short hand symbols are used convey specific information.

Bethesda List Center has put together a glossary of terms that can help you better understand the specifics.

If you would rather talk with a professional about the data cards or mailing lists you’re interested in and looking for, you can email Bethesda List Center at info@bethesda-list.com or call: 301-986-1455.

View the Data Card Glossary Index.

Bethesda List Center publishes a free e-newsletter that includes details about mailing list companies, mailing lists, zip code lists, association executives, lists of doctors, stockbrokers, and much more.

This regularly published newsletter keeps you up to date with the most recent additions, changes, and news items in the mailing list world, as well as what Bethesda List Center has been working on to reach new markets with your Direct Marketing Campaign.

Click here to go to the sign up page and start getting industry data in your inbox for free.