The following appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal.

Brothers Hit It Big
In Specialty Mailings
By Paul Johnson-Assistant business editor

When the Houden brothers started Select Publishing in late 1989, the office was sparsely furnished. "We had two phone lines and a fax machine we had to fight over," said Jeff Houden. Things have picked up a bit since then. Select Publishing, 6417 Normandy Lane, now has 19 full-time employees and a handful of part-timers. Its revenue growth rate from 1990 to 1994 earned it a spot on Inc. magazine's 1995 list of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the United States.

The Houdens describe Select Publishing as a direct-mail marketing consultant company. The company's specialty is mailing packets of product advertising cards from niche marketers to targeted potential buyers around the country. A recent mailing to 400,000 farmers around the country contained 91 cards offering such products as farm machinery, grain bins, sprays for marking cattle, fencing and even mattresses and magazines.

"The beauty of that is the list," said Chris. "We've been able to develop one of the best lists in the country."

The mailing lists are the bread and butter of Select Publishing, but the Houdens won't say much about how they build their lists. What they will say is that they get information from a variety of sources, the lists constantly change, and that they are able to identify the correct people for their customers.

Select Publishing's oldest list is its 1 million-plus farmer list. Four card packets a year are mailed to 400,000 farmers drawn from that list.

The company also mails to other customer groups: four times a year, 100,000 names; hunters, anglers and outdoors types, three times a year, 500,000 different customers.

Jeff said the Houdens had been direct marketing consultants in Madison before they saw a place for their business.

"Mailing is too costly for the average-size business," he said. Pooling the cost in a combined mailing helps bring those costs down and still gets the advertising to potential customers.

"Your whole goal is to get the guy in, make it work and they come back and repeat," he said.

Select Publishing contracts with Scoville Press of Minneapolis to print the cards, package them in plastic and mail them.

Response rates to the cards vary with some as high as 10 percent, depending on the product, the Houdens said. The national average is about one half of 1 percent for those who do their own mailing, they said.

The brothers said a gun company got a 10 percent response and that ammunition catalog companies generally have high response rates.

One satisfied customer is Brillion Iron Works, a CalumetCounty maker of farm tillage equipment that does more than $10 million in sales annually.

"It's our best source for getting leads of any of our advertising," said Mike Irish, Brillion's general sales manager. "We also find the leads are better quality leads."

Irish said Brillion has been working with Select Publishing for about 2 ½ years.

Select Publishing also offers its customers other services, for a fee. For instance, it can arrange to do the artwork for the cards or follow through by collecting the replies and responding to them for the customer.

Although the brothers started out fighting over the fax machine, the Houdens say there is no sibling rivalry.

"The key is that Jeff and myself are able to work together so well," said Chris, the chief executive officer. Jeff is the president.