FulfillNet recently received the Women Business Enterprise certification from the National Women Business Owners Corporation. Read about it in this excerpt from The Business News.

Read Jim Bott’s article on the benefits of using traditional marketing techniques such as direct mail, here.

See FulfillNet in the Corporate Report Wisconsin’s Kudos listing: http://crwmag.com/issue/march-2011/article/kudos

Read about FulfillNet’s recent partnership with TaylorMade-adidas Golf in The Press.  The article can be found here.

FulfillNet President and CEO Kate Burgess, was recently featured in an article discussing how FulfillNet uses technology to better serve their clients.  The article can be found here.

ShopDev, a software program that is dramatically changing the way fulfillment and point-of-purchase (POS) platforms are managed, is the focus of a featured case study on Microsoft’s website.  The ShopDev program was developed by FulfillNet, working with its technology partner Skyline Technologies.  Based on Microsoft’s Silverlight browser plug-in, the ShopDev Fixture & Merchandising Management module automates the capture of information on platforms, racks and other POS assets and simplifies the reporting process as well as asset management.

Click here to view the Microsoft Case Study

Thanks to everyone who attended the Deliver Your Brand Power seminar!  Below are links to the various presentation files and resources, from the seminar.  Feel free to use them to help Build Your Brand Power!

Jim Bott & David Townley’s Deliver Your Brand Power presentation
Dana VanDen Heuvel’s Social Media presentation

Additional resources at Dana’s website: Marketing Savant

On May 13th from 1pm to 4pm, FulfillNet will be holding a FREE seminar, covering the following topics:

• How to integrate social media into your direct mail campaigns
• The coming trends in social media and how to make Twitter, Facebook, and Linked-in work for you
• Better ways in which to deliver your marketing support materials
• How to increase your direct mail response rates

Click Here for Event Details

THE BUSINESS NEWS
Serving Brown, Calumet, Door, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Marinette, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano & Winnebago counties
August 4, 2008 Vol. 6, No. 7  $1.00
Reprinted with permission of The Business News

Perhaps you haven’t heard about Silverlight yet. You will if you plan to watch the Olympics online this summer. But Silverlight is about far more than Web video. If the predictions of one local technology company are right, Silverlight is about to revolutionize the way we work.

Tim Miller is a project manager and developer at Skyline Technologies, based in Green Bay, and Patrick Deprey is the company CEO. Together they sat down and gave me a demo of this new Microsoft technology.

Deprey likened Silverlight to the advent of Microsoft office and desktop applications. “We really feel it is going to be changing the way people are working, one more time,” he said. What’s so special about Silverlight? It delivers a faster, more dynamic experience on the Web.

And to be clear, we’re not merely talking about Web sites — we’re talking about Web-based applications. Silverlight delivers a desktop quality experience over the Internet.

Today, companies are increasingly turning to Internet-based applications. Instead of downloading software — and storing it and keeping it updated — many applications are now delivered wholly online. That trend may explode, thanks to Silverlight.

“We get rich true applications,” said Miller. “Not a Web site with pages, but applications. You don’t have to have this on your desktop anymore. All you need is browser and broadband access.”

Silverlight is built with XAML (pronounced zammel), Microsoft’s proprietary mark-up language. This is the same presentation language used in Vista, Milller tells me, which helps explain the attractive demo applications — complete with shadows, animation, and Vista- esque page toggling.

“We’ve moving beyond usability,” said Miller. “What Microsoft talks about now is user experience.”

To back up a bit, I should explain that at a basic level Silverlight is a browser plug-in, similar to Adobe Flash. This is an add-on to your Internet browser that lets you view video content, play games, and see special site effects.

While Adobe is developing a product called Flex that will compete with Silverlight’s development features, its Flash player currently dominates the market for rich media. So, before developers start jumping into Silverlight, Microsoft must first get a toehold with users.

They’re doing fairly well, with more than 1.5 million Silverlight downloads per day in March. That number is expected to jump come August when NBC will offer all its Olympic video exclusively through Silverlight.

Once companies can expect that the Silverlight plug-in will already be installed on user computers, they’ll be more likely to create interactive Web applications that use it.

For now, Deprey says many of their customers are hesitant to use such a new technology.

Still, there are some that feel that Silverlight will give them a competitive advantage.

Such is the case at Fufillnet in Green Bay which will soon begin working with Skyline to develop an application built on Silverlight. The company will be creating a new module for its ShopDev brand management software already delivered over the Web.

President and CEO Kate Burgess said Silverlight will allow them to present data in new ways that enhance user productivity.

“Silverlight allows us to take that information and be more visual with it,” she said. “Being more visual with that data helps our users be more efficient with it.”

It’s not just efficiency alone that Fulfillnet is after, but a cutting edge user interface. Client services and IT manager Rob Czypinski said the enhanced visuals will help them stay ahead of the competition.

“A large part of our business is marketing based. They are very motivated by presentation and the looks of things,” he said. “Silverlight gives us the ability to present that information in a more integrated, rich environment.

At Carspot.com in Milwaukee, director of mobile technology Damon Payne said the company is developing a new interface for car dealers built on Silverlight. When ready, dealers will use the application to upload vehicle photos and other product information.

Payne believes that Silverlight will increase the amount of information dealers load to the site, simply by making that experience more enjoyable.

“If we can come up with something that is flashy, that people think is neat, we can get them to do more themselves rather than call in for support,” Payne said.

Plus, he believes it will help dealers understand their product better.

“It’s easier to show them a benefit if it looks cool,” he said. “It could be something very useful but we may not be able to sell them on the benefit. But if it looks cool, it’s a much easier sell for us.”

Silverlight 2.0 is available as a free download from www.microsoft.com/silverlight, where you can also view application demos.

In the next column, I’ll outline some of Silverlight’s distinct benefits.

For years, direct mail has been known as a very reliable tool in any marketing campaign toolbox.  The benefits have been touted numerously:

• Ability to reach new potential customers
• Highly targeted
• Cultivate customer loyalty
• Easily measured ROI

But other “hidden” strengths of direct mail need to be looked at as well.  Savvy marketers know that multiple touches are needed to gain a prospect’s business or develop a client’s loyalty.  Direct mail can work in tandem with any other marketing media.  It can be the reinforcement needed from TV and radio ads.  It can be the spark needed to fire up web traffic and internet sales.  It can be the special request inviting customers to your business.

Direct mail is also a very tangible item.  Customers and prospects physically have received a “gift” from you to them.  Since it resembles more of a gift, it evokes more favorable impressions of the sender.  Your message will be seen through the lens of a happier recipient.  Tangible items are also beneficial for memory recall.  The recipient is doing two actions upon receiving his/her mail—reading your message and turning it over, inspecting it or opening it.  In essence, two actions are recalled in a person’s memory easier than a single action.  As people remember receiving your mail piece, they will be more likely to act upon its request for action in the future.

Direct mail is also an effective dialogue tool. Direct mail allows you to open a conversation with a prospect that does not know your service offerings.  Conversations with current customers often ask to re-connect and build upon good experiences in the past.  Well crafted mail pieces create a story that the end user is being asked to participate in.  The reader is following along with the story in his/her own mind; it is not just being blared at them.  Your message is directly conveyed, without any filter, to your recipient.

Naysayers have been proclaiming the impending doom or downfall of direct mail for the past 5-10 years as the popularity of email and the internet has increased.  The truth is, though, that direct mail is a proven marketing technique that works.  (Skilled marketers think mailbox and inbox, not mailbox vs inbox in some sort of heavyweight boxing match.)  As long as businesses and organizations need to get their marketing message to their end users, direct mail will continue to thrive.