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Getting your clients to use emerging technologies in a way that makes sense for their particular business is one of the biggest challenges in direct mail today, said a panel of copy and creative pros Thursday at the New England Direct Marketing Association's annual conference.

Variable data printing continues to be a trend, said Pam Sullivan, president and creative director of Sullivan Creative. "It's still the same old 'target-target-target.' You need to break out the demographics and go to the right end users to get results."

The depth of a marketer's data is crucial, noted Jonathan Kranz, principal, Kranz Communications. One his clients is Healthy Pet, a chain of veterinary hospitals. It's a no-brainers for them to target prospects by type of pet, but he encourages use of other variables – like season of the year – to keep things fresh. For example, in the winter, dog owners need to know what to do to keep their dog safe in the snow; in the spring, information about necessary shots is appreciated; and in the summer, a note about keeping Fido hydrated during hot weather plays well.

"Use the same template but keep that template fresh," he said.

New technologies make things possible to people regardless of the size of their budgets, noted Pat Farley, president of Farley Creative.

"But no matter what your budget is," noted Bob McCarthy, principal, McCarthy and King Marketing, "the goal is still to bring the cost of the sale down."

Sometimes, clients need to be nudged towards what will work best for them, said Farley. For example, a client with a spiffy new database featuring 86 different customer segments needs to realize it isn't feasible or necessary to create 86 different mailing packages. "They need to be educated that while the segmentation may make sense analytically, it doesn't translate creatively."

Clients are constantly bombarded with new ideas and technology, agreed Kranz, noting that they need to analyze what is a good fit for their organization. One of his clients, a company that manages large building projects, was looking at advanced Web applications for search engine marketing. But they only wanted to market to institutions within a 50 mile radius, so that narrowed down their universe to about 200 businesses, like universities and hospitals. "They didn't need a keyword search strategy that was going to generate thousands of leads," he said. Something simpler made more sense.

"Just take them all to lunch," joked McCarthy.

Sullivan said she faces the opposite problem with many of her nonprofit clients, who are dragging their feet when it comes to creating a sophisticated Web strategy.

Farley, agreed, noting she has trouble getting nonprofit clients to create things like dedicated landing Web pages for mailings.

Part of the problem with getting nonprofits to invest in Web marketing is that for the most part, donors don't give online. The thousands and thousands of dollars that poured in as a response to disasters like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami were from younger donors, who aren't likely to give again. Plus, donors don't typically charge donations, they write checks, said Farley.

"At risk of being the resident curmudgeon, life was easier before Web sites," said McCarthy, generating laughter from the audience. This is because it was easier in the past to control information. Farley noted that one Web-related direct mail problem she has with clients is that they want to put their URL all over the mailing piece, including the response form, where it can distract prospects from the desired goal—making the donation. " We don't want them to wander off to their computer and checking e-mail" instead of writing that check, she said.

NEDMA's conference was held at Bentley College in Waltham, MA.