One of the best places to look for dm ideas -- good and bad -- is your own mailbox. Rather than pitching your unwanted mail into the round file, take a critical look and why it catches or attention, or what about it offends you. Keep a "swipe file" of packages in your business category that employ interesting bells and whistles, powerful copy teasers, etc.

Columbia House

Then, this week, I received another "former member" mailing. In this one, "Pam Marshall", their pseudonymous membership director, writes as if she just invented the 12 Free CD's offer, exclusively for me -- as if it isn't splashed across every magazine in creation and as if I'd never seen it before. Puleeez!

I'm really surprised at Columbia House, the mega-music marketer and a former employer of mine back in the late 80's. I had a membership which I canceled about  18 months ago. Recently, I received their "Welcome Back -- We Miss You" promotion, sent regularly to former members. Fair enough. However, my membership had been in the Jazz category ("Main Music Interest"), and the record selections they sent me were exclusively in the Hard Rock category. Excuse me? What are these folks thinking? Why wouldn't their database indicate my previous category, and include selections in that category? I actually might have renewed if they had done so!

That mis-targeting notwithstanding, Columbia House does do a ton of testing on most everything they send out, so it's worth taking a look at what's working for them. The package was a #11 -- 4 1/2" x 10 3/8"  -- and was produced on a web press with ink jet addressing and ink jet imprints of my name in a special box to the left of the mailing address, on the reply device (order form), on the letter (three times! Give me a break!) and on a lift letter offering 3 more CD's if I buy one with the offer.  The letter was little more than a re-statement of the offer and an quick overview of how the club works, as well it should be, since club details are complex to most people

One interesting note is that several top-of-the-charts hits are bulleted on the back of the envelope, also inkjetted, which allows Columbia's A&R people to update the selections as new hot CD's come along. The currency of the selections is a major selling point for Columbia House, especially with younger audiences.

Lesson is, build your database so you can properly "version" your copy and your offers for subsequent mailings to a customer or former customer file. Otherwise, what's it for?  Giving credit, they did include a plastic "Membership Card," which doesn't do much for me, but appeals to the teens who are Columbia House's primary market.