Denny Hatch

Back in the ’90s, when I was editor of [FundRaising Success sister publication] Target Marketing, this strange thing called the Internet turned up on my radar screen. I did not understand it. In fact, nobody understood it. For one thing, with the dial-up modem, downloading was s-l-o-w. Investors fell in love with it and pumped billions of dollars into startup companies that promised to capture millions of “eyeballs,” and a large percentage of those eyeballs would turn into paying customers or cause advertisers to spend money. “The only bank that takes eyeballs,” Bill Bonner, brilliant founder and proprietor of the sprawling Agora Publishing empire,

Of all the elements that go into a direct mail effort, the most important single purchase is the list, according to direct-marketing consultant Paul Goldberg. There are two ways to order lists, he says: Use a broker or do it yourself. “By broker I don’t mean an organization,” Goldberg explains. “Basically, all brokerage companies are the same. They have access to the same mailing lists; they charge the same prices; their data cards are more or less the same. Instead, choose a list broker for the specialist working there.” Ask this question: Does he or she know the market and do the hard work

SOf all the elements that go into a direct mail effort, the most important single purchase is the list, says direct marketing consultant Paul Goldberg. There are two ways to order lists, he says: Use a broker or do it yourself. “By broker I don’t mean an organization,” Goldberg explains. “Basically, all brokerage companies are the same. They have access to the same mailing lists; they charge the same prices; their data cards are more or less the same. Instead, choose a list broker for the specialist working there.” Ask this question: Does he or she know the market and do the hard work