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The Direct Marketing Association does not send out "direct mail" (as the marketeers like to call it; they don't like the term "Junk Mail"), but their members do. So DMA maintains a list of addresses that their members should remove from their mailings. It's not 100% effective, since not everyone is a member of DMA (especially local companies), but registering with DMA will definitely reduce your junk mail load. And to be clear, we're talking paper mail here, not e-mail. (My Spam Primer has tips about spam.) Save a tree with the instructions here. But use the postcard (free); paying them $5 to do their typing for them is a ripoff. (USA only. I'll update this entry in the archive as I get links for other places. UK, Germany....) From This is True for 6 February 2005 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Mal Warwick List Price: $34.95 Amazon Price: $23.07 Editorial Review: Write with confidence and reach your donors You'll learn all the essential components of writing for success from this go-to book for writing for fundraising! Mal Warwick, the nation's premier letter-writing tutor and direct mail expert, shows you the essential tools for making your direct marketing program a success. He gives you both general advice about the most effective direct mail strategies and specific guidance. Learn his step-by-step model through all the critical stages -from laying the groundwork for a prosperous campaign through the importance of thanking donors. Includes ew chapters on E-mail solicitations, monthly and legacy giving and free downloads on josseybass.com. Refreshed and Revised: Gain insight into current trends in the field with updated cases, samples, and examples Access more content for small to medium NPOs with limited budgets and resources Learn the latest technology with new sections on typography and lay out  By: Lois K. Geller List Price: $20.00 Amazon Price: $13.60 Editorial Review: This lively book shows the more than 1.25 million real estate agents & brokers in North America how to use the proven techniques of direct marketing to make more money and sell more units. Drawing on the principles her agency has used in successful campaigns for Ford Motor Company, Weight Watchers, and American Express, Lois introduces real estate professionals to her easy-to-use Geller's Just In Time DM ProgramŽ so they can get the correct message into the proper hands at the right time. Spiced throughout with Lois's sane and savvy advice and stellar examples of winning ads and mailing pieces, SOLD! is guaranteed to help you target your marketing efforts, so you will be planting more sold signs and growing your business in no time.  By: Tom Ahern List Price: $24.95 Amazon Price: $16.47 Editorial Review: There's a sleeping giant in your midst. One with enormous fundraising potential. And unless your newsletter is bringing in thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars every year, it's time to shake it from its slumber. Today, countless organizations are raising more money with their newsletter than with traditional mail appeals. And after reading Tom Ahern's riveting book, Raising More Money with Newsletters than You Ever Thought Possible, it's easy to understand why. Great newsletters, as distinguished from the mundane ones many of us receive, have so much more going for them. For starters, they deliver real news (not tired features such as "From the Director's Desk'' and "Introducing Our New Staff"). They make the donor feel important. They use emotional triggers to spur action. They're designed in a way to attract both browsers and readers. And they don't depend on dry statistics to make the organization's case. Ahern knows newsletters inside and out. Not only has he written his fair share, but he's analyzed scores of them for other organizations. Moreover, his workshop, "How to Write Great Donor Newsletters," is consistently over-subscribed. So when he speaks - as he does in engaging and eloquent prose- you hang onto his every word. The essence of Raising More Money with Newsletters than You Ever Thought Possible centers around seven fatal flaws, as Ahern calls them. "Almost every donor newsletter I see suffers from at least one of the flaws," he says early in the book. "You would be shocked by how many newsletters suffer from all seven." Along the way to discussing - and dissecting - these fatal flaws, the reader is treated to such chapters as: o Making news out of thin air o What a front page is for o Lower the grade level of your writing o Anecdotes versus stats o How should it look? A proven formula And those are only five of the 45! succinct chapters in this book. Chances are you already have a newsletter, that's the good news. You have the vehicle in place. The even better news is that transforming your newsletter into a substantial money raiser isn't all that difficult. As Ahern himself says, "You don't need a degree in journalism to publish a newsletter that will keep your donors inspired (and generous). You just need a few skills and insights." Read this book. Pick up those skills. And be assured that the ratio of time spent versus gains realized might well be the most cost-effective of your entire career.  By: Edward L. Nash List Price: $59.95 Amazon Price: $39.60 Editorial Review: The "master strategist of direct marketing" has enhanced his classic reference with a wealth of proven direct mail strategies for the Internet age. This eagerly awaited edition adds in-depth information on profitable use of the Web for direct response sales, as well as increased coverage of alternative media, infomercials, telemarketing, and database marketing.  List Price: $29.95 Amazon Price: $29.95 Editorial Review: Your fundraising letters need to be different or you're dead. In no area of their lives do generous, faithful donors settle for vanilla. They don't watch TV reruns all day. They don't read yesterday's news. They don't return to websites that are updated monthly. Today's direct mail donors demand variety. Fail to give them variety and they will fail to give. Prepare for battle. The competition for your donor's attention has never been greater. Blame it on Survivor and American Idol. Blame it on cell phones, iPods, Blackberries, digital TV, satellite radio, junk mail, spam and telemarketers. Blame it on the thousands of other charities competing for your donor's loyalty. But don't blame your donor. Your donor, like everyone else, will only read fundraising letters that are, in a word, breakthrough. And breakthrough fundraising letters are different. Radically different. They aren't addressed to ''Dear Friend.'' They don't have a P.S. They don't have a premium. Breakthrough Fundraising Letters teaches you the proven techniques that professional direct mail fundraising copywriter Alan Sharpe uses to craft breakthrough letters for his clients. You'll learn the mistakes to avoid, the best practices to implement right now, and the tips, techniques and shortcuts that you can use for years to come. Study full-page, full-color examples of fundraising letters written by the author for leading non-profit organizations, including: Daily Bread Food Bank, Doctors Without Borders, Evangelical Tract Distributors, Greenpeace, Habitat for Humanity, Hope for Children Foundation, Metro Health Hospital Foundation, Saskatoon City Hospital, Street Kids International, Teen Challenge Farm. Learn how to write the three most important letters in fundraising (and study samples of each): (1) Donor acquisition letters; (2) Donor renewal letters, (3) Lapsed donor recovery letters. See samples of just about everything you could want to include in a fundraising letter package, including: carrier envelopes, letters, reply devices, reply envelopes, brochures, buckslips, liftnotes, freemiums, premiums, involvement devices and surveys. |
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