~ by Mark Bridges, Owner of MBDIRECT International

The datacard is the universal first port of call for the prospective user to begin to evaluate list selections. As with other facets of the list industry worldwide, the international datacard template is largely based on the U.S. precedent.

U.S. datacards, by and large, are highly evolved (some now even incorporate video messages from the manager). List managers understand the expectations of the user in terms of the information they must impart in order to pass at least initial muster. The bar for these expectations in the highly competitive U.S. domestic environment is now set very high. Furthermore, the accepted descriptors and information points are standardized to great degree.

~ by Marty Shaw, Global-Z Sales & eMarketing

Last month at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) Conference in New York I learned a great deal, as I do each year at the SES Conference. Most impactful was the keynote address by John Gerzema, Chief Insights Officer at Young & Rubicam Group. John and Ed Lebar co-authored The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How to Avoid It. SES attendees were each provided a copy of this book in their tote bags, so following John's compelling keynote I began reading his book that evening in my hotel. I believe every marketer will benefit from reading it.

Wouldn't it be great to almost double the number of people interacting with your business, almost immediately? That's the power Oprah Winfrey had for Twitter, a social network service where users write text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. The so-called "Oprah Effect" has benefited book publishers, a certain person now sitting in the Oval Office in Washington DC, and now the micro-blogging site, Twitter. A 43% increase in traffic to Twitter in a before and after survey of the Oprah Effect helps underscore her power.

Enough about Oprah. How can you, interested in international direct marketing, benefit from this new phenomenon called Twitter, which was virtually unknown just a few months ago? Have you set up a Twitter account for your brand and/or your company name? Global-Z is relatively new to Twitter, but we're already realizing the global reach it has had for the Global Marketers' Network as well as our own Twitter feed. Jump in, the water is safe. But here are a few tips for those that are unfamiliar with these waters.

Kathy Woodward has been a key member of Global-Z's Sales & Marketing team for 7+ years. Working with client companies to help them realize their international data processing objectives on time and on budget is what drives Kathy. Kathy's clients have been quoted saying "When it comes to international merge purge and address hygiene we have worked with the top service bureaus. When asked which is ideal for our demanding requirements I say 'Global Z all the way!' They have great customer service and they stick to their schedule and pricing." This is from only one of many clients singing Kathy's and her colleagues' praise!

Kathy came to Global-Z with 15+ years' experience managing large direct marketing projects for Story Publications. She brings this expertise to her clients, helping them leverage her experience in both marketing and data processing to benefit their own campaigns, large and small.

While marketing and data processing are certainly Kathy's forte, there is nothing that makes her happier than her family! Her grandson is the apple of her eye, and the rest of her boys bring a certain smile to Kathy that is characteristically, well, all Kathy! Pride only begins to describe how she looks when speaking about her boys.