DM industry observer Hank Hoke foresees smarter consumers and increasingly sophisticated online services for professionals.

"My father always said, 'Change is difficult when you are used to the old ways,'" said Henry "Hank" Hoke III, third-generation head of Hoke Communications, publisher of Direct Marketing magazine (founded by his grandfather in 1938), Friday Report newsletter covering the direct marketing industry, and Fund Raising Management magazine and a related newsletter.

"For years we were spoiled in direct marketing. Mail was so cheap--paper, printing, postage--that it got out of control," Hoke observed. "In the coming few years the emphasis will be on sending relevant information by whatever channel, not just to blast mail to name and address files.

"Look at what is happening in the telemarketing area. The DMA has had a telephone preference file for eight or nine years, I think, and it contains about four million names I understand. The new National Do Not Call list has gone to 28 million almost overnight, and I hear predictions that it will reach 60 million by December. Do we not think our customers are telling us something?" he said.

"There are also the new fax marketing restrictions, and I hear rumors that a Do Not Mail list may be in the offing 

"Times have changed. People are more educated. They complain a lot more. In the short run, all of this is bad news for the direct marketing industry, but in the long term it will be a good thing as we are forced to learn better to provide relevant information.

"Direct mail will become much more highly personalized. Yes, it will be more expensive but it will look better and the customer will feel better about receiving it."

Hoke has been involved in delivering direct marketing information via several channels for many years. In addition to the magazines and two newsletters, Hoke Communications also offers an audio-cassette library which has reached 88,000 rifles of direct marketing presentations from past industry conferences.

In 1978 they added video and now have an additional 1,500 presentations, many featuring DMA ECHO award-winning campaigns.

Coming (very) soon

Hoke is about to announce the availability of its electronic archive. "It's taken us about four years to get it ready, but it will contain full text and advertisements from past issues, searchable back to 1970, available in PDF files. Subscribers will be able to search and view information quicker and cheaper for what we see as a nominal per-page fee.

"The fund raising publications will follow along soon," Hoke added. "I'm very excited about this project. I think this is the way relevant information will be delivered in the future.

"How are we going to market this? Direct mail. It will be a soft-sell, an eight-page mailer tabsealed, and we will be going to actual member lists of associations and local clubs, not to prospects. As we talk, we haven't completely decided what the offer will be," Hoke said.

The electronic Friday Report

"We announced the availability of our e-mail version of the newsletter about two weeks after 9/11. The initial response found about 20 percent acceptance and the remainder continuing to prefer print. In less than two years that has just about reversed, so that today about 80 percent is electronic delivery"--on Friday afternoons, of course.

Note Hoke's pricing structure: the Friday Report e-mail version is $125 everywhere. The printed and mailed version is $250 in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico--$350 elsewhere. Both versions are $350 in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico--$450 elsewhere.

Hoke's crystal ball

"Looking into my crystal ball, I see a print version of Friday Report still going out of here on Fridays, but the content will evolve. It will continue to be a weekly publication, but if you want daily updates, they will be available," Hoke said.

"There will be a lot of emphasis on what new information will be becoming available in the database. And, on the electronic site, when we report that, for example, Grey Direct is beginning a new multi-phase DM campaign for XXX. we'll also provide a link to their site so the customer can actually view the materials themselves as well as our reporting."

"I also see us offering instant audio and video. Say L.L. Bean is making a major presentation at an association meeting. We'll have to make arrangement well in advance, but we'll be there, and if you signed up, you'll be able to see and hear the presentation live online," Hoke said.

224 Seventh St., Garden City, NY 11530. 516-746-6700, fax [phone], [e-mail]