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Recommendations, updates, and thoughts from the NextMark executive team.

First contact: data cards meet data

March 3rd, 2009

NextMark reached a big milestone today. We've successfully connected a data card with the underlying mailing list data:

data cards meet data

Why is this a big deal?

First, this technology will transform a process that takes up to 48 hours to complete into one that only takes a couple of seconds. Besides the dramatic improvement in turnaround time, there are lots of other benefits that will enable more effective and efficient marketing programs.

Second, we are not just connecting one data card to one list. This is a test of a platform that will potentially connect all 60,000+ data cards to the underlying lists in a super-secure and reliable way. Now, that's the really cool part.

This is not yet generally available, but soon will be. The development team is cranking. This new technology is slated for release in the second quarter 2009.

Stay tuned… more to come!

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Ten Free Ways To Market Your Business Online

February 23rd, 2009

February 23, 2009 – The Dow closed at 7,114.78 today, an 11-year low. The S&P 500 hit its 12-year low, while today's NASDAQ posted a 3.71 percent loss which actually exceeded the percentage losses of the DJIA and S&P 500. An estimated $10,000,000,000,000 market value of U.S. stocks has been wiped out since the October 2007 high.

There is no better time than the present to leverage marketing freeconomics for your business. The information renaissance is a breath of fresh air in the midst of the current economic crisis. While many physical doors have been closed due to cutbacks, a greater number of virtual windows have opened online. Here are NextMark's examples for 10 free ways to market your business online:

1. YouTube – How To Find Mailing Lists video & findlists channel

2. Linkedin – NextMark company page & NextMark group

3. Facebook – NextMark company page & NextMark group

4. Plaxo – NextMark group

5. Tradevibes – Company profile

6. MerchantCircle – Directory listing & coupon

7. Slideshare – list advertising ROI presentation

8. Twitter – Follow NextMark

9. Jigsaw – Company wiki & company research

10. NextMark Directory – Get your listing now!

The most efficient marketing approach for sharing your story is to make it easy for others do it for you.

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DM News proclaims 2009 the year of integration

January 29th, 2009

Year-of-integrationDM News recently published its 2009 Essential Guide to Lists, Database Marketing, and Data Services in which the feature story proclaims 2009 to be the year of integration. The article says:

"When Merkle CEO David Williams looks back at 2008, he sees something positive among all the relatively dismal economic news: the acceleration of database marketing's evolution. "The wind was at many [database marketers'] backs for a decade," he says. "Now, they're saying to themselves, 'If the economic climate or the consumer climate is going to get difficult, I'm going to have to be more innovative, I'm going to have to be more effective.'"

"Integration, Williams believes, is the key concept surrounding all of these ongoing efforts. Generally, integration has long been the goal of direct marketing, but to improve cost-effectiveness and ensure results, Williams and other experts say database sector firms must also integrate their services to improve cost-effectiveness and ensure continued strong results."

Integration across channels has been happening. Another form of integration is now emerging — integration among marketing service providers. Different service providers working closely together to deliver a seamless solution to marketers.

NextMark is currently working with service bureau partners to bridge the gap between data cards and data and to accelerate and improve list rental fulfillment. The long list of benefits includes easy access to data intelligence and quick access to list data.

And we we are working to realize the vision for a Direct Marketing Operating System that integrates all the marketing service providers needed to carry out a campaign.

Seems like we picked a good year to be focusing on integration!

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Remix culture

January 29th, 2009

Chris' recent blog on Chocolate Rain reminded me of new cultural phenomenon that Larry Lessig calls the Remix Culture. You may chide Tay Zonday and Chocolate Rain for it's amateur production relative to broadcast standard, but you have to respect its 33 million views. And you also have to respect it for the remix attention it has received including John Mayer's version, Weezer's references in Pork n Beans, and one of my personal favorites, Chad Vader. Chad, as you might guess, is a remix of Darth Vader.  So, Chad Vader's version of Chocolate Rain is a double-derivative remix:

What does this mean for you and your business? People love to remix. For example, it didn't stop with Chad Vader. You may have also heard about the Cookie Monster's version from Michael Scott on 'The Office'.

Is there a way for you to allow your customers to interact with and remix your products and services? Larry Lessig might give you some ideas.

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Marketing Freeconomics and The Chocolate Rainmaker

January 28th, 2009

Don't be discouraged if your 2009 marketing budget has been cut – there's still hope! Take a look at the success of the Chocolate Rainmaker, Tay Zonday. This baritone claims no formal musical training, and uses a cheap clamp on light with a fluorescent bulb as his signature hardware for on-line video production. His YouTube video "Chocolate Rain" has been viewed 33 million times, voted one of the best according to the Washington Post, and got him multiple appearances on national television. Check out the original version below:

Don't think for a minute that the opportunities of this current on-line video age do not apply to direct marketers. The rise of direct marketing freeconomics is a maturing concept, and NextMark is embracing it. Why not you?

We're looking to enable list managers to post video content on data cards as a free service in late Q1 2009. Traffic continues to soar on free mailing list search portals now that word is out that they can be used to gather market intelligence in addition to list research. List managers can embrace direct marketing freeconomics, and become rainmakers for list and data sales, by posting quality content about their files in direct marketing forums and blogs. A simple URL applied to a data card is all you need to promote your list title no cost. Here's an example:

Check out the list popularity index (LPI) on the data card for The Swiss Colony Catalog Food and Gift Buyers mailing list. Now that's not only an impressive statistic, but valuable information for list brokers. Take a look at the hightly correlated lists section and you'll see Godiva Chocolatier. Maybe it's time to start thinking 'Outside The Box of Chocolates'?

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When is failure not an option?

January 16th, 2009

Well for one thing when you have astronauts in a rocket ship out in space, lives are at stake and failure truly is not an option.

But perhaps a little closer to home failure of your order processing system is something that just can't be allowed.  The question is, "How do you avoid failure?"  The answer of course is to buy redundant everything and monitor your systems 24x7x366, and backup everything and I mean everything … twice…

But that would be cost prohibitive right?  You couldn't cost justify the computer hardware & software let alone the staff required to achieve such a lofty goal.   You just can't afford it right? 

Well, as a user of the NextMark platform that is exactly what you pay for and that is exactly what you get.

You are probably saying to yourself, "But there is no way even NextMark could possibly keep things like computer hard drives from failing.  Things just fail, it's inevitable. "

Well you are half right.  Yes things fail, but that doesn't mean you ever have to worry about it.  In fact this past Tuesday a hard drive in one of the NextMark servers did just that, it failed.  Now it didn't fail completely, it actually had a single error that triggered an alert to the data center operations team.  The drive was reset and started working again right away.  That was enough however to warrant it's dismissal.  A call was placed immediately to HP who shipped out a replacement which was installed the very next day.

So when is failure not an option?  When it's your mission critical business data and the lifeblood of your organization.  NextMark is here to help ensure that failure is not option for you.

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NextMark Releases 4Q08 Data Card Quality Report

January 12th, 2009

Hanover, NH – January 12, 2009 – NextMark, Inc. a leading provider of direct marketing tools and resources, today published its fourth quarter 2008 Data Card Quality Report. Among the findings were emerging list managers with expanded data card portfolios in the 500+ data category. Read the rest of this entry »

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Top Ranked List Managers Revealed

January 12th, 2009

NextMark released its fourth quarter 2008 data card quality report this morning, revealing those list managers who are actively engaged in updating their data cards and those who are not. Among the findings were emerging list managers with expanded data card portfolios in the 500+ data category. DCQ Report

You wouldn't serve a t-bone on a trash can lid, so why would you represent a high quality mailing list with a poor quality data card? While list quality and data card quality are mutually exclusive, counts are changing all the time and a neglected data card could be a warning sign of a neglected list. It is important to keep this information up to date. With 40 percent of direct marketing success is contingent on list selection, mailers and list brokers need quality data cards to make the best purchasing decisions.

List managers may use the free data card publishing wizard to post and update their data cards online. There is also a user-friendly video tutorial (about 20 minutes long) that provides step-by-step instructions for publishing data cards online.

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Are you paying too much for that mailing list?

January 9th, 2009

SearchIn a recent interview by Jim Emerson of Direct Magazine, Wayne Romisher of List Strategies Inc. cites marked up mailing list prices as an ethical concern in the direct marketing industry:

"Roimisher notes another big issue involves smooth operators who'll markup list prices in excess of the rates published on data cards. But that's an easy one to check up on using NextMark, SRDS and other directory sources."

Wayne is right: it's very easy to verify prices. Especially, with NextMark's mailing lists search tool. It gives you free access to a comprehensive directory of information (including pricing and counts) on postal mailing lists, email lists, telephone lists, package insert programs, and more. No registration is required, either. Check it out!

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Videos by List Management companies

January 8th, 2009

After blogging yesterday on the increasing importance of video in business, I was curious to see if any mailing list management companies had videos on YouTube. My research did not reveal much other than some cheesy videos from MLM opportunity seekers.

That's great news for legitimate companies seeking a competitive advantage! It's a wide open domain and you can win "mind-share" and market in a very inexpensive way.

But you think it's too hard? If a college kid can do a mailing list video out of his dorm room, you can create videos, too!

A good example of one company that's moving into this frontier is RMI Direct Marketing. They posted a video to promote their Nutrition Action Healthletter Subscribers mailing list:

This entertaining video not only helps to promote the list but also solidifies the relationship with their client. I think list management companies would be well-served by following RMI's example.

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