THIS ISSUE INCLUDES: •  What's New? •  Going, Going … Gone! •  Resource Referral •  Lessons Learned •  Tips & Tricks •  Community Leaders •  Member Spotlight •  Community Stats •  Your Account Summary •  Success Story •  Special Thanks •  Last Laugh

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WHAT'S NEW?

Dear Askers & Answerers,

The MarketingProfs team is now home from our national tour. We had a blast traveling with our speaker, Gerry McGovern, for his Web content workshops in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Curious how they went? Shelley, Ann and I did our best to capture the highlights in this blog.

During lunches, coffee breaks and cocktail receptions I found myself bragging about all of you in KHE. Many of our attendees weren't familiar with the forum. They were happy to hear about a place they could go to continue the dialogue with like-minded marketers.

So, what's next? We're reevaluating some pages on our site, looking for ways to apply the things we learned from Gerry. We're also hard at work on our SEO Vendor Selector. (See our Email Service Providers Vendor Selector.) And we're busy dreaming up new benefits of membership.

I always welcome your feedback. Please reply with your requests, questions or comments about anything going on at MP!

Happy exchanging,

Val Frazee
Moderator, Know-How Exchange
MarketingProfs.com

GOING, GOING, GONE!

Here are KHE's 10 oldest questions. They're likely to close soon. Have an idea to offer? Better do it now!

1. slogan/tagline for biodiesel
2. How do I get large companies to buy my Street Maga
3. How to increase sales of a street magazine.
4. Proposals
5. Can anyone help with a TagLine or Slogan?
6. How do I conduct market research on retail outlet
7. Lean Sales & Marketing
8. need name for my branding project
9. looking for where for start begining in this case
10. HOW IS MARKETING INVOLVED IN PRODUCT I.D./PROMOS

RESOURCE REFERRAL: BUILDING ONLINE COMMUNITIES

This week's resource referral comes to us from tjh. This member recommended an article about building online communities for professional networking. This article hit a chord with me because it describes the way the world is changing. No longer are professional networks limited by geography. As we KHErs well know - now we can reach out to people around the globe.

Resource: Building Online Communities for Professional Networks

Browse 336 other resources recommended by our members in KHE's Resource Library. Or add one of your own!

LESSONS LEARNED: DIRECT MAIL RESPONSE RATES

Last Friday, new member, jo asked about average response rates to direct mail campaigns. Here are some excerpts from the discussion that followed.

• asiavoss: My industry is Office Products, and 99% of our business comes from direct mail marketing. We see a 1% response rate when mailing to prospects or inactive customers. It's closer to 2% when we mail a 'special offer' to existing customers.
• Pepper Blue: This is from DirectMag.com: The average response rate for the 1,122 industry-specific campaigns that the DMA studied was 2.61%. ... I don't think you are going to find anything published on the test and measurement industry. You would be better off asking some other people in your industry and creating your own benchmark.
• londongirl: It depends on your target audience and the offer. I have had anything from 10% response rate (highly targeted offer to CPAs) to 0.2% (blanket DM to small/med businesses without an offer).
• skoobie99: I've been told that a good rule-of-thumb is that 2-3% response rate signifies a successful campaign. ... In light of your industry and depending on how targeted your list of recipients might be, I would likely be happy with a 1-2% response rate.
• JoMasterson: Typical responses I know of from general mailing lists are around 0.5-1% (max). The more targeted the list, and the better the offer the better the response rates. We hope for 5% response from a very targeted list. Sending to the same list over and over will increase name/brand recognition and usually improves response rate. ... I say hit a smaller targeted list repetitively over a large general list with one big campaign.
• mgoodman: The real issue isn't what the industry average is, it's how good your mailing is. How attractive is the offer? How compelling is the communication? How important is the underlying need you're addressing? Be very careful when you look at averages. The average temperature in the world might be 60 degrees (F), but you can still get frostbite or sunburn when you go outside, depending where you are and what season it is.
• carter: I have been averaging a 30% response over the past year. I can show you how to do it (note, this is not a sales pitch) if you are interested.

Question: Direct Mail Response Rates

Do you have something to add? Feel free, if you like. You could even earn points. This question is still open.

TIPS & TRICKS: HIRE AN EXPERT

Do you wish you could get a little help developing your marketing strategy, putting together a direct mail campaign or writing some strong ad-sales copy? KHE gives you a terrific sounding board if you want to sanity-check some of your ideas. But what if you need more than that?

You can use MarketingProfs' "Hire an Expert" section to anonymously present your project details to KHE's top 63 experts. These consultants are have all been community members for at least 2 months. In addition, they each have had 25 or more Accepted Answers and at least 2000 Expert Points.

Your project will be visible only to this short list of members. And they will not see your name or contact details until you invite them to submit a proposal. Best of all: There's no charge to participate.

Post a Project: Go to MP's Hire an Expert section

Have a question? Ask the experts.

Post a brief synopsis below, and invite other members to offer their feedback.

My Question Title

COMMUNITY LEADERS

As of this week, these are our superstars! The Most Resourceful are those who have contributed the most entries to the Resource Library. The Most Expert are those with the highest number of Expert Points (earned by answering questions).

NOTE: These are our top members as of midday June 23, 2005

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: MEET ZAHID ADIL

This week's featured member is thinkmor, a.k.a., Zahid Adil. This Top 10 expert has been with us since last June. Lately he's been publishing roughly 100 forum answers a month. Read on to learn more about this active member - and his fairly unusual hobby.

Where are you based?
The center of the world and the most cosmopolitan place on Earth, London, England, UK. (ok, so I love London town!)

What do you do in real-life?
Marketing and business consulting. I help businesses realize they can succeed in very competitive markets. My specialization is bringing marketing strategy to life so businesses can develop and be profitably sustained for the long term.

Tell us about your company.
I am a marketing consultant and part of a network of marketing and business consultants that guide, support and develop businesses within the SME sector in the UK & Europe. Our primary target audience is the service sector but we also service retail, fashion, IT and Not-for-Profit organizations. We have over 50 years combined experience in the above sectors so we stick with our specializations where we know we can quickly deliver value without going through a learning curve.

Our work helps clients understand what strategy means to their organization and how it can help them succeed in the long term. We also hand-hold clients through the implementation stage, pretty much A-Z. We also offer both online and offline branding and design services through trusted partners so we know we can utilize creativity all the way through to clearly differentiate our clients' businesses.

What kinds of KHE questions do you enjoy most?
I enjoy ALL types of questions because there is always a different perspective whether it be from aspects of marketing/business, geographically or culturally that I can learn from. I try to dip in and out of KHE as much as I can during the day if I am at my laptop, but it has been tricky lately with the overload of work.

Did you study marketing in college?
I did an MA in communications and then studied marketing courses through the CIM while consulting (although it is tough with family). I started in various disciplines of design, then moved from creative to strategy through advertising via the Dentsu affiliated network - and then into brand consultancy. I enjoy what I do because I can see the whole picture from both perspectives. I am continuously learning and try and keep up as much as I can. I seem to be more interested with the online marketing side of things because a lot clients are still trying to maximize their online investments.

Describe one of your non-marketing interests.
I am a crazy-obsessive Archer. Yes, the bow and arrows type! I started it a year and a half ago. The reason I took it up was I got asthma a couple of years before and because I didn't want to smell other peoples' sweat in a overheated gym. Since I live near Hyde Park, I joined the London Archers who shoot nearby. They shoot opposite Kensington Palace during the summer so I thought I'd get some exercise and get the pleasure of shooting in such ideallic settings. I've been hooked ever since and I am only sorry I cannot give it more time (just like with KHE!) as I'm getting good at it. I'd recommend everyone to have a go. Click here to find a club.

Do you have any advice for new members of KHE?
More=More. Please give as much detail about the background to your question as you possibly can. Yes, it sometimes can be sensitive but the more details you give the better the chance the experts on KHE will be able to share solid and practical advice you can potentially use and apply to your particular problem.

Do you have a favorite quote you want to share?
"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." A much misquoted quote with many claimants, but the original is from the Holy Koran.

COMMUNITY STATS

Active Unique Participants (to date): 6,546
Closed Questions (to date): 7,675
Currently Open Questions: 137
Total Responses (to date): 51,950
Subscribers to this newsletter: 15,876

YOUR ACCOUNT SUMMARY

These numbers come directly from YOUR profile. Question Points tells you how many points you have available for asking questions in the forum. Expert Points indicates your standing in the community based on answers you have posted. Visit this FAQ, if you want to know more.

Question Points: %%PointsBalance%%
Expert Points: %%PointsCum%%

Click here to buy more Question Points

SUCCESS STORY

abello shares this week's good news:

"I have been enjoying MarketingProfs' newsletter for almost two years, but had never used the Know-How Exchange until recently. After completing my first book, I decided to post a question on "book fulfillment" in the forum. The response was fantastic and immediate! The thing that struck me most was that members actually alerted the expert they felt would best be able to help (just in case he didn't see my post himself). That expert was mgoodman (Michael Goodman) of Dialogue Press, who immediately took the time to offer some great advice, and who I have been in communication with since. Michael and I have decided to work together on this project, and his expertise and experience give me great hope for the success of my new book."

The Question: Book Fulfillment Services

SPECIAL THANKS

Thank you, tjh, thinkmor and abello for contributing to this newsletter. And thanks to all the community members who have emailed or posted suggestions, technical reports or questions since the last issue. Your energy drives this community's development. We couldn't do it without you!

Finally, thanks to my MP colleagues for making my job easy: Aaron, Carrie, Shelley, Sharon, Achim, Ann, Roy and Allen.

LAST LAUGH

I like to close with a smile. So this space is dedicated to something amusing one of you folks have posted in the forum.

stephenf4u asked an unusual question. He wants advice about what music to play in the lobby of a law office. There have been several helpful and funny responses. My favorite, so far, is this one by E-Marketing: "I'd avoid 'I Shot the Sheriff' by Bob Marley."

Discussion: Music For Lawyers Reception

Have something to add? Jump in! This Question is still open.

Forum Feedback: The Know-How Exchange is still young. So we're constantly refining how things work. We have a gigantic list of action items, and your feedback helps us prioritize it. So please feel free to reply to this email with any suggestions. Thanks, in advance, for your time!

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