J. Schmid - Specialists in Catalog Marketing

Long-time J. Schmid Client Wolferman's Sells to Harry & David

Steve Trollinger — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:33:42 GMT

J. Schmid began working with Wolferman's English Muffins in the late 1990s as its creative agency. In 2001, J. Schmid began working with Wolferman's in a full-service capacity developing and executing marketing strategy in addition to managing and executing its creative. After nearly a decade-long relationship, we've taken significant pride in Wolferman's successes and are happy to know that they've been acquired by industry leader Harry & David. You can read the full article from the Multichannel Merchant website here.

Congratulations to Wolferman's and Harry & David!

Miles Kimball's Stan Krangel on J. Schmid's Branding Approach

Steve Trollinger — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:27:01 GMT

A Unique Approach to Branding
Over the past 18 months, J. Schmid has been refining an innovative approach to catalog and multichannel branding that combines a unique combination of customer and competitive intelligence to derive a company's "one thing" and Higher Order Benefit. Using the elements of this unique approach, we've crafted brand standards and re-positioned a variety of catalog marketers, each with a specific strength and unique promise.

One of the companies we've had the fortune of working with, Miles Kimball, took the outcomes to heart and has embraced its positioning in a way that's beginning to drive its business. Says Miles Kimball Company President Stan Krangel, "J. Schmid has an outstanding process that is collaborative, insightful and helps to quickly identify the 'Essence of the Brand.' It provides a real foundation from which an organization can build products/services and clearly communicate a 'brand promise' through all of the channels that touch the consumer."

"Outstanding Process"
Krangel continues, "Outstanding process! It's ideal for companies looking to re-evaluate their brand position in the market, for creating new brands or for companies managing a portfolio of brands where each brand is at a different level of development in their market. An effective brand promise is not only about your advertising. It is about delivering a clear message consistently in product/services/advertising and having your entire organization imbed that promise in every aspect of their behavior everyday. The J. Schmid process helps to unlock that 'brand essence' in a clear, efficient and collaborative way."

Success in catalog and multichannel marketing is no longer a function of good creative featuring good product mailed to a good contact strategy. Today, success is as much a function of differentiation and ensuring that every contact is brand and customer relevant. Knowing and embracing what your catalog uniquely represents is the building block for growth in an ultra-competitive marketplace.

To learn more about our unique approach to branding, click here or email us.

Article Archive and Multichannel Merchant Calendar for 2008

Steve Trollinger — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 15:22:43 GMT

We're often asked about content that might be available on catalog-related topics and it turns out that we've written a wide array of articles on a variety of marketing, design, branding and strategy topics related to catalog and multichannel marketing. Visit the Articles section of our main website to see an archive of many of our recent articles from industry publications Multichannel Merchant, Catalog Success, Target Marketing, and DM News.

And keep your eyes open, we have articles puclishing every month this year. Here's the 2008 publishing calendar for articles that we'll be writing for Multichannel Merchant Magazine in 2008.

March - Building Customer Retention with Knowledge
April - The Box Dance
May - Sensory Branding
June - Attitudinal Overlays and the Customer Experience
August - Actionable Metrics
October - Building Segmentation with Customer Overlays
November - 15 Small Things to Enhance the Customer Experience
December - Building Customer Experience throughout the Catalog

The J. Schmid Blog - First Entry

Steve Trollinger — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:34:21 GMT

Welcome to the J. Schmid & Assoc. Inc. weblog. In this, our first official post, we wanted to let you know what you might expect from blog.jschmid.com.

Strategies and Tips
Anyone who's heard us speak or read our articles knows that we're as open as anyone in the catalog industry with what we know. We plan to use this space to augment our regular contributions to catalog and direct marketing publications with strategies and tactics that you can apply in your own business. Some will be form-fitted to the smaller cataloger, others general enough for even the "big guys" to implement. Point is, we see this as a chance to give even more to catalogers every day.

Analytics
We're constantly working to come up with new approaches to data, new ways to measure the success of a catalog and multichannel business. When we've come up with something in the past, we haven't always had a vehicle for sharing. Now we do. From formulas to interetsing Excel applications, from matchback techniques to correlation analysis, we'll look to put metrics that help you monitor and measure your business here.

Interesting Information
We don't just write for publications, we read them. Avidly. When we come across interesting industry information, we'll post it here and let you comment.

But that's, of course, not all. We'll include case studies, client news, industry tidbits, speaking engagements and, well, whatever else we think you might be interested in. And we hope that you participate. We look forward to your feedback and participation.