UPDATE: I guess we weren’t the only ones to think this was a very cool project. It’s now a multiple award winner! In the spring it won the Print Innovation Award from the Ontario Printing and Imaging Association (OPIA). And after careful consideration, we are happy to announce that it…
I’m a big proponent of direct mail customization; tailoring your fundraising messaging to individuals rather than generic groups. If you’re looking for better fundraising campaign results, this is definitely the way to go. And by taking the data you already have and combining it with new variable data printing technologies…
Shopping cart abandonment is one of the most significant metrics tracked by ecommerce sites. According to the Baymard Institute abandonment rates generally shake out to be between 60 and 80% with an average of 67.91%. Moving the dial a few points one way or the other can make or break…
Over the years we’ve worked on thousands of successful fundraising campaigns. So it’s safe to say very little surprises us anymore. It’s understood that when we pry open a database, it’s usually pretty dusty. We generally find a lot of duplicates, along with all sorts of empty or misused fields….
This summer Prime Data’s designation as a Canada Post Expert Partner was renewed for the third straight year. We were pretty excited. But I don’t really expect you to be. If you are not in the direct mail business, it’s just another industry term that you don’t need to know….
Your job just might depend on it. With all the strike talk ebbing and flowing from Canada Post over the past few weeks, it’s easy to forget about the ongoing task force looking into the future of the Crown corporation. Like the air we breathe, a lot of us take…
Customer Experience (commonly called CX) is the product of every interaction between your organization and its customers. It goes well beyond a transactional relationship and requires that you are able to “speak” to them in the context of the relationship they choose to have with you. But with the advent…
Fundraisers are always trying engage with donors. And for many the go-to solution is a drip email campaign that automatically starts after the first donation is processed. Email may be cheap, but…This might have been a great tool, but people today have a lot more in their inbox. A generic…
What’s your plan to maximize your Fundraising Day results? “But it’s Fundraising Day today,” you say. “Tomorrow it’s on to the next campaign.”For a lot of fundraisers that’s the reality. They stumble from campaign to campaign, never realizing the full potential of what they’ve managed to accomplish on any single…
Chris Burke, Print Operations at Prime Data Ricky Gervais wasn’t the MC and Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t making nice with supermodels. But this week’s Ontario Printing and Imaging Association (OPIA) Awards were certainly a nice start to our awards season. The OPIA represents all companies in the…
eTail Canada is the industry’s knowledge centre for a few days in Toronto each year. Canada’s retail ecommerce leadership has been gathering since 2011 at eTail to share marketing technology ideas and the interplay of bricks and mortar with online strategies. Bigger each year, the 2016 event is taking place…
The ongoing tragedy at Fort McMurray should give pause for thought to fundraisers who may be thinking of mailing or emailing donors from that region. Imagine how you would feel getting a pitch for a donation when you aren’t even sure if your home is still standing. Our suggestion would be to…
Here’s the thing. The participants of this year’s DonorLove Rendezvous have clearly stated that they’d like a change from the typical “talking heads” type of professional development day. That can only mean there will be a lot of dialogue, spontaneous group exchanges, sharing and problem-solving instead of PowerPoint-and-shoot sessions….
Your brand is your promise. It’s a promise to your employees and it’s a promise to your clients. For a lot of companies it’s also a nice wall decoration with a carefully constructed mission statement that nobody pays attention to. That’s not how we work. When we make a promise,…
It’s a rarity that I’m at a conference as an attendee rather than an exhibitor or speaker. So when I do get the chance I make the most of it. Earlier this month I was able to do some exploring at Xploration 2016 in Orlando. If you are unfamiliar with…
“Watch for falling prices!” This was a popular television campaign by Walmart a few years back: One where customer service reps were seen striking down already low prices to even lower prices. Well, move over Walmart, because there’s a new price-slasher in town. And this one isn’t interested in…
Bridging the worlds of print and digital is something we’re very keen on promoting here at Prime Data. Whether it’s with our own projects like RevenueDriverTM or the work we do with clients like BumperApp, it’s always great to showcase the marketing potential of taking the online and making it tangible….
The evolution of multi-channel communicationsWhen you think about customer communication management what’s the first thing that pops into your mind? If you’re in the Customer Communication Management (CCM) industry it’s probably a bill, a statement, a coupon, or a legal notice.CCM is a tool to talk at customers. But for…
When people talk about marketing channels, the conversation is often framed as a competition. “My internet is better than your direct mail piece.”This is usually followed is a hailstorm of statistics that leaves everyone a little deflated.A lot of this comes from vendors or departments (email, social media, print) defending…
Some people have described the internet as the world’s biggest shopping mall. And it’s getting bigger every second. (It’s especially great if you’re shopping for a cat video). As a consequence, sellers are forced to work in an increasingly competitive market – where price is no longer a big differentiator….
Last week I went over some of the reasons to check out the exhibitors at #DX32016. And while the exhibitor hall is where a lot of the action happens, I know that attendees also want to get a heads-up on sessions.I remember going to trade shows, and after registration, sitting…
Dx3 is Canada’s largest conference and trade show dedicated to digital marketing, digital advertising and digital retail. It brings agencies, brands, publishers and retailers together for two days of networking and education. And Prime Data is going to be in the exhibitor hall to launch a new service guaranteed to…
One of the great things about data is the amount of information available to marketers and fundraisers. At no point have we known so many details about individual customers and their buying and giving patterns. In the past if you were going to launch a direct mail campaign, it meant…
“Half of my marketing budget is wasted. I just wish I knew which half.”It’s an old lament moaned by anyone who’s ever found it challenging to measure their results.Fortunately, the smart marketer’s dollar is spent on measurable campaigns — especially in this age of data, when we we’ve never known…
Do your remember when the lights (and just about everything else) went out back in 2003? At the time nobody knew what was going on or what caused it. Everything simply stopped. I was walking up John St. in Toronto on my way to the Skydome to watch the Toronto…
York Region is a great place to work and an even better place to live. A few years back one of the local TV channels even used the tongue-in-cheek tagline “just above Toronto” in one of its campaigns. And while it’s a geographic fact that we are slightly to the…
Prime Data’s recent “BreadTalks” at AFP Congress in Toronto offered a select group of fundraisers a seat at the table with three fundraisers with unique experiences and insights. We’re big supporters of giving young people a chance to network and learn, so we reached out to the fundraising program at…
I would like to personally thank every conference attendee who stopped by the Prime Data booth and took a spin at the Rotate to Donate Wheel.As a result of your participation, our #AFPCongress Scholarship Game was a fundraising success. Each participant spun the wheel and the amount shown was added…
I goofed! – My ironic (moronic) use of digital to promote direct mail fundraising Mea culpa. I’m guilty of being a bit blind to the obvious last week. In my excitement to share a catchy marketing pitch, I forgot the very principles that were expounded in the nifty short video…
Last week I went through the AFP Congress schedule of sessions and picked out my top five related to donor retention. It was a tough job. But looking through the session choices is one of my favourite parts of attending a conference. It use to be that you had to…
One of the most challenging aspects of fundraising is donor retention. And that’s a big part of our focus at this year’s AFP Congress in Toronto. Having attended AFP in the past, I know there are a lot of fantastic sessions to choose from. But if donor retention is your…
Dear Mr. DECEASED OR MOVED, We appreciate your ongoing support. The last time we were in CITY FIELD BLANK, I had a chance to speak to your friends and neighbours about NOTE: DOG CAMPAIGN TO BE NAMED LATER. Please consider donating again this year. Thanks, That’s the kind of relationship-busting…
This summer Prime Data’s designation as a Canada Post Expert Partner was renewed for the third straight year. We were pretty excited. But I don’t really expect you to be. If you are not in the direct mail business, it’s just another industry term that you don’t need to know….
Last Friday morning’s Globe and Mail greeted me with an interesting juxtaposition of content in their print version of the business section. As I scanned this week’s “Persuasion” article for marketing tips, Susan Krashinsky’s column about the threat Ad Blockers pose to digital advertising was positioned over a half-page Ad…
Two weeks ago I was attending the Graph Expo convention in Chicago. My primary reason for being their was to talk about Prime Data’s experience using Delphax’s new Elan printer technology. Obviously I think it’s great; propelling us way ahead of just about everyone else in the market by helping…
Do you know the difference between the Machinable Rate and the Special Handling Rate at Canada Post? If you don’t you better read on. Because the difference could cost your next campaign big time. You may not even know that Canada Post has renamed the category to Personalized Mail ™ instead…
We live in an interconnected world. When I buy a car, the muffler may come from Kentucky and the transmission from somewhere in Ontario. And as US companies take note of the falling Canadian dollar exporters like Prime Data are likely to see even more cross border transactions. From a…
I love Europe at this time of year. The warm sun and gorgeous countryside imbued with a history stretching back centuries before the oldest cities of North America. It’s really something to experience. Of course European innovation is also the envy of the world. So last week as I making…
Somebody once told me that half their marketing budget is wasted. They just wished they knew which half it was. It’s an old joke. But with the rise of data driven marketing campaigns it’s becoming easier than ever to target your marketing dollars more effectively – and eliminate a lot…
On the face of it, the very thought of print being as interactive as variable online marketing efforts seems ridiculous. The vast data piles gathered up by Google, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are the stuff of legend. Just think about how customized each interaction you have with Google truly is….
The first real Windows-based computer I owned was an Intel 286 IBM clone. It cost me $2500 in 1988. To put things in perspective that’s $5086.91 in today’s money according to the Dollartimes.com site. That’s a big chunk of change for what is actually a really primitive machine compared to…
When it comes to marketing and fundraising campaigns, every penny counts. And if you apply that penny to thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of individual admail pieces, then we’re suddenly talking about a significant chunk of change. With advances in digital print technology the cost of creation and production…
How much time do you spend looking at email during a typical day? Now think about how often you actually go to the mailbox and pick up the mail? Are you following me? It’s way more effective to reach out to your audience with an actual print piece through the…
It’s the dog days of summer. And while account reps, suppliers and vendors are frolicking on beaches and dancing through dandelion-covered meadows, fundraisers are busy planning for the fall. To the rest of the world magic just happens. A campaign is pitched, accepted and executed. No problem. If that were…
When my kids were younger they loved Mighty Machines. It’s a kids show that gave voice to the machines that make everything we do possible. They even had an episode dedicated to a printing press. Be careful. The show is addictive and you could spend hours watching it. Why am…
Information is important. And we love sharing news. That’s why we try to get at least one news story posted each week related to direct mail, printing and other topics our visitors are likely to find both helpful AND interesting. But if rumours are true and the internet is actually really…
It’s a fact of our modern life. When a natural or man made disaster strikes anywhere in the world images and videos are instantly broadcast for everyone to see. Long gone are the days of waiting for reporters with cameras to fly in from New York. With the advent of…
Joanne Black, a top sales guru out of San Francisco, once said buyers don’t care about your technology. They only care about what it will do for their business. I agree 100%. So I know you probably don’t care that Prime Data is having our brand new elan printer delivered…
Considered an evangelist for the power of mail to move hearts Canada Post Corporation has recognized Aurora-based Prime Data with a Top Performer Award for Excellence in Direct Mail Growth. Deepak Chopra, CEO of Canada Post, stated that Prime Data is “one of the best, if not the best, evangelist…
