Updated Child Online Privacy Rule Starts in July

Despite pleas for delay from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and 18 other trade associations, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has rejected any extension on implementation of the updated Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The updated rule goes into effect this July 1. The trade associations are concerned about compliance with changes, such as an expanded definition of "personal information," which they hold will require more time to overhaul products and services. The DMA also expressed concern over an amendment holding companies legally responsible for third-party data services providers' compliance failures. The FTC responded that the trade groups have been on notice since the beginning of the rule-making process more than three years ago and have had six months to implement changes since the final December 2012 COPPA amendments. Changes affect parental notice, obtaining parental consent, confidentiality of personal information, safe harbors, and expanded definitions of "personal information," "website or online service directed to children," and "operator" of children-directed sites or services. For more on the updated COPPA, go to http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/239632/Data+Protection+Privacy/FTCs+Revised+COPPA+Rules+Go+Into+Effect+July+1+2013

Survey: Most Small Businesses Use Mobile Marketing

Seven in 10 small businesses are using mobile in their marketing mix, according to a recent poll by Constant Contact, a provider of e-mail, event and social media marketing tools for small businesses. How were the small firms incorporating mobile in their admittedly tight marketing budgets? Over 70% reported using mobile with their social media marketing and e-mail marketing. Close to 45% included mobile in advertising via social platforms, and 34% had mobile-optimized websites. Much smaller shares, 18% each, said they used mobile- or tablet-based POS payments or mobile-app management of operators. Of those with mobile-optimized websites, 70% included social media enabling and a large portion included menu information (44%) and product listings (40%) for mobile users. If you are a small business and haven't taken advantage of reaching out to mobile customers, you are behind the curve. If your excuse is like that of the majority of non-mobile small businesses polled, who were ignoring mobile because they didn't think customers were interested, consider these facts: Mobile phones are projected to equal the world population by 2014, and 57% of U.S. consumers own a smartphone now. Mobile is becoming a preferred communication channel for too many consumers to risk ignoring its marketing potential. For more on the survey results, see the eMarketer report at http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Small-Businesses-Work-Blend-Mobile-Social/1009887

FTC Keeps Data Brokers in Regulatory Crosshairs

Federal officials are keeping the data brokerage industry in their regulatory crosshairs, and another warning shot has been fired. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) just issued formal letters to 10 companies, alerting them that they may be violating federal restrictions on the collection and sale of consumers' personal information, reported The Washington Post. The targeted data brokers ranged from firms that compile consumer lists for credit offers to a website helping parents screen potential nannies. The list also includes well-known names in the direct marketing business. The FTC letters follow a broader inquiry into 45 data brokers appearing to market information whose use is restricted by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which regulates how private companies can use personal information. Individuals are supposed to know when data reports affect their eligibility for insurance, credit or employment, and they are supposed to have the opportunity to correct errors. The FTC last year urged Congress to pass a law forcing the data brokerage industry to disclose its practices. The Post could not confirm whether any of the data brokers receiving letters face a full FTC investigation. Letter recipients were 4Nannies, Brokers Data, Case Breakers, ConsumerBase, Crimcheck.com, People Search Now, U.S. Information Search, US Data Corporation and USA People Search. The story did not name the tenth pending confirmation. For more, see the news story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/ftc-warns-data-brokers-on-privacy-rules/2013/05/07/2e152c16-b748-11e2-92f3-f291801936b8_story.html

Study: Small Businesses Still Don't Embrace Digital

Big corporations may be rushing into digital marketing, but small businesses are dragging their feet and sticking with the tried-and-true, including direct mail, according to recent research by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). As reported in Adweek, the consultancy surveyed 550 U.S. businesses with less than 100 employees and found only 3% of their total advertising dollars went to online channels. Compare that with big companies' commitment of up to 16% of the marketing pie to online efforts. The small businesses—including restaurants, hair salons and furniture stores—relied mainly on newspaper circulars and direct mail to lure customers, according to the study. Of course, most of the mom-and-pops had websites, but BCG did not count that as active digital marketing, seeing it as closer to a white-pages phone directory listing in today's digital era. So why the small-business aversion to digital? It isn't because small firms don't get lots of unsolicited digital advertising pitches—20 or 40 a month, remarked John Rose, a senior partner at BCG. But small firms are rightly cautious about shifting dollars to untried promotional avenues, and they generally don't have a professional marketing staff to evaluate online opportunities, pointed out Rose. Instead they rely on peer advice, and too many small business peers apparently have been burned by digital forays. If digital marketers want smaller clients to come aboard, they are going to have to come up with a strategy to get "the right offers" to clients "in a way that allows them to figure out what’s right for them" is Rose's quoted conclusion. For the full article, go to http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/small-businesses-are-slow-digital-party-148029

How Nonprofit Direct Mail Can Win in Election Years

How does nonprofit direct mail successfully compete for attention in an election year against high-roller political fundraisers? Not by gambling on new lists, new creative or new media, advises expert Randy Brewer, president and CEO of Brewer Direct Inc., a direct marketing agency for nonprofits. Election years require nonprofits to resist risks and to "play your best hand -- the one you know that works," says Brewer in a recent article for Fundraising Success magazine. The proof of that strategy is in Brewer's results. Last year, his agency stuck to a conservative strategy on behalf of their 20 rescue mission clients across the country, focusing on a proven direct-mail control package. As a result, they garnered $3.75 million in net revenue in the aggregated September-December fundraising cycle, almost a 9% increase over the prior year, despite mailing 65,000 fewer pieces, he reports. Their 2012 December package led results, earning nearly a 23% lift in response over prior year campaign totals. Average mail-based donor gifts were also up in every month but October, notes Brewer. The agency did make one change in its direct marketing to adjust for the political cycle: Mailing schedules were shifted to avoid periods when research predicted that candidate appeals would be peaking. For more, see http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/article/direct-mail-during-political-election-cycle-knowing-when-hold-em/1

Will Direct Mail Embrace NFC Technology?

NFC, or near field communication, has the potential to re-energize direct mail, predicts Jacob Beckley in a recent MediaPost blog. NFC technology is similar to a printed QR code. Both use a mobile device to bridge the gap between a physical marketing piece and online messaging. QR use has already proliferated, but the latest NFC technology actually has some advantages that could make it even more popular, argues Beckley. NFC coding is easy to use and requires fewer steps to reach online content than a QR; all the user has to do is bring the mobile device close to the NFC coding to go directly to the online content. While NFC technology originally required an embedded chip or tag, now NFC-enabled papers and plastics are available. Plus proximity marketing apps could let merchants use an NFC to reach consumers within range of a product in real-time. NFC adaptation has been slowed by Apple, which preferred QR coding for its iPhone, but Google Wallet now uses NFC to transmit payment details for wireless transactions, and other mobile phone makers, like Samsung, have incorporated NFC in their devices. Those advances should appeal to direct mail marketers interested in leading the pack in the race for multi-channel customers. They can dump shortened URLs and multi-step QR delivery for NFC's instant mail-to-online linking. Any direct mail strategists intrigued by the idea of NFC can read http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/194421/nfc-poised-to-accelerate-direct-marketing.html#axzz2RxwwcX7h

Online Giving Revenue Up, But E-mail Response Dips

The good news for online nonprofit fundraising is that overall online revenue has grown robustly, e-mail lists are up, online sustained giving is rising, and social media audiences are soaring. The bad news: E-mail response rates, dragged down by steep declines in click-through, have fallen. Those are the findings reported by MarketingProfs from the "2013 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study" by M+R Strategic Services and NTEN, which is based on 2012 e-mail and online donations data from 55 nonprofits across appeals sectors. Online revenue overall rose 21% in 2012 compared with 2011, with international groups the only ones recording online giving declines, according to the study. And monthly online giving grew 43% in 2012, twice as fast as one-time giving. E-mail lists for nonprofits across the board also rose an average of 15% from 2011, with wildlife and animal welfare groups showing the strongest growth, up 32%. But social media audiences grew even faster: Facebook, still the primary social network of charitable support, had an average 43% growth in fan base, while Twitter turned in a whopping 264% increase in nonprofit followers last year. Despite all the 2012 growth, e-mail metrics sagged. A 14% decline in click-through for advocacy messages and 27% drop in clicks for fundraising e-mail sent average e-mail response rates tumbling last year. Fundraising response, for example, dipped 21% from 2011, to an average 0.07% in 2012. The steepest response declines were felt by human rights and international groups. For more information and a great infographic, go to the MarketingProfs report at http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/10508/nonprofit-benchmarks-email-social-audience-fundraising-infographic