Steven Sheck

One of the many subsets of the Internet of Things is wearables. It would seem that the early momentum in the wearable space favors the wrist. First among them continues to be fitness trackers, followed by smartwatches. (Other forms of wearables are certainly promising but have yet to gain as much traction.) The potential as … Read more

Perhaps the most vexing problem with using TV to reach direct response targets has been…targeting. Advertisers have always been challenged to know who is seeing what. As the old client lament goes, “I’m wasting half my money, I just don’t know which half.” Enter addressable TV. Imagine being able to show different TV spots – … Read more

The exigent price increase granted to the United States Postal Service as a way to recover lost revenue in the wake of the Great Recession expired on April 10, 2016. While debate continued until the eleventh hour, the direct mail industry has just received what should be a welcome discount. Market dominant rates will decline … Read more

Business mailing list growth is on everyone’s…list. One of the best ways to grow a list of business contacts is through the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes that identifies every business by industry category. The SIC Code system was created back in 1937 as a way of standardizing how disparate government agencies could refer to … Read more

Direct mailers, email senders, and telemarketers are all suppressing something. Or at least they should be. Though millions of potential recipients are readily available it’s typical that only a selection from them are good candidates to be contacted. There are a number of good reasons why this is so, some are legal while some are … Read more

Politics has become like tribal warfare. The opposite ends of the political spectrum no longer feel like start points for a dialogue, but armed camps defended by zealots. The spirit and process of compromise our founding fathers envisioned as a way to form a more perfect union has been suffused with an atmosphere of rancor. … Read more

The Boy Scouts of America have defined exemplary behavior through a list of attributes that has often been referred to in whole or in part. Since marketing of any sort and direct mail marketing in particular is both introspective and interpersonal, this list targets marketers of any stripe. That said, following are some thoughts based … Read more