Over the years you work with many different clients; some come and some go.  Back in 1985 we were fortunate to be the exclusive list manager and broker for The Right Start Catalog.  A brand new start-up with three guys (turned into two) who hadn't a clue about direct mail or the baby industry.  I remember sitting in their offices as the first calalog dropped, answering phone orders.  I never saw people so excited.  It was like a kid in a candy store.  The funny thing is that they had mailed their first catalog, but their 100,000 square foot warehouse was empty.  No shelves, no automative packing system, no pickers, and no merchandise.  We used to throw a football around this empty shell. 

Soon Right Start was a household word.  Successful is putting it mildly.  They eventually moved to a warehouse that was, well, let's just say it was big and impressive and filled with merchandise.  Their 12 month housefile climbed from 1 customer to over 500,000. 

Well the boys sold the business and its success has never been duplicated.  The company has been bought and sold many times since.  The business came upon bad times over the years, closing down the catalog division and reducing the retail stores to only seven.  But now they're back!!

Right Start has again hired Catalyst Direct Marketing for list management, brokerage and consulting.  The Right Start team is excited and eager to make Right Start a success again, whether thru catalog, internet, or social media.  And the best part is that they've chosen Catalyst as their partner.  We couldn't be more proud to be associated with this company. 

So look out, here we come!  We'd like to introduce to you, The Right Start Catalog. 

www.rightstart.com

About 28 years ago, I started my little list business (Catalyst Direct Marketing) with a couple of generous financial backers and a lot of luck.  It took about a year before we started to see any profits; actually, that's pretty fast.  I branched out and started a compiled list reselling division (Database Network Associates) to complement the existing business model.  This showed a profit very quickly because we saw an existing audience from the start. 

When you begin a business high up on the learning curve, you not only avoid so many mistakes, you increase the likelihood of success.  So far so good, right?  Well don't get so cozy on your BarcaLounger just yet. 

Recently we dove into the world of online marketing services.  You know, email marketing, SEO, SEM, Affiliate Marketing, etc.  There was so much to learn.  And you have to find the right people to work with.  Sure, we still do list management and brokerage, but we had a vision that said the list industry and most all industries are going to be utilizing email and online marketing more than ever.  And you know what?  We were right.  Its taken a little more time than past ventures, but we are beginning to see things happen.  People are seeing an improved ROI and they're getting excited.  Do you know that in the coming months, companies are planning on increasing their online budgets?

We're just at the tip of the iceberg.  But we're ready to help our clients, and prospective clients, to pick up steam and reap the benefits of online marketing.  I've attached an article I thought you would enjoy.  Give it a moment of your time and then give us a call. 

http://www.adotas.com/2009/09/email-marketing-big-winner-in-downturn/

Now that we're repositioning the company, I thought it would be a good idea to update our web site a bit.  We built this site so many years ago that the architecture that was used is probably obsolete.  I have a friend, Dee Schmitz of Deezigns.com, who is helping me with all these changes.  I met Dee years ago playing squash.  Yes, I play squash but we'll leave that story for another day.  I'll just say this before I move on; I used to kick her butt all over that court. 

Anyway, we did what we could on the site to establish ourselves as the multichannel marketing expert to the direct marketing industry. What that means is that we are ready to help all the mailers in our industry to take the next step and add online services to their marketing mix.  No, we don't want them to walk away from list prospecting.  We want them to add this as a new channel of sales. 

What's best about Catalyst is that we're list guys; we understand what mailers are going through right now.  We're not some new vendor that you read about; and then you have to go through all that 'honeymoon period' and teach them your business model.  We can become extensions of their team and provide all the services and support they need on the run. 

Some of the services we offer now in addition to list management and brokerage are affinity marketing, blogs, paid search, SEO, SEM, webinars, social networking, and much more.

Let me know what you think of the new web site.  Well, it's not really new; just more up-to-date.  In case you got here from some other direction, the web site is www.catalystdm.com

Check back again and I'll tell you more about my squash game.  Boy do I have stories!!

My daughter plays AAU basketball and we’re traveling almost every weekend to games.  I come to my daughter’s games to relax (if you can relax at these close, competitive games) and do what I enjoy most; spend time with my family. 

We spend lots of time with the same people and the same conversation about bad business and the terrible economy comes up all the time.  Do you really want to read another article, or have another conversation on how bad business is?  It’s totally depressing.  I just want to stand up and scream, “Stop it already; I know how bad it is!!”  I just want to run and hide sometimes.

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