Nearly Four Decades of Direct Marketing.
Mail Marketing Plus grew out of a Wichita family business founded in 1977. This site preserves the surviving history while original family records are gradually organized, scanned, and added.
Jack Steele founded the business in 1977.
Jack Steele’s published obituary identifies him as founder and president of Mail Marketing Plus, Inc. and describes the business as a national direct-marketing company based in Wichita that specialized in the tire and auto-service industry.
Steele family records and recollection identify the company’s earlier name as Mail Marketing Group before the later Mail Marketing Plus identity. Because surviving public sources tend to use the final company name when summarizing the entire history, this archive will preserve both the public record and the family’s original documentation as it is digitized.
A company built together.
Virginia Steele’s obituary states that she worked alongside Jack beginning in 1977 and that the family business became a national direct-marketing company for almost 40 years.
Mail Marketing Plus was not simply a trade name attached to a single person. It was a family business whose operations, relationships, campaign work, and institutional knowledge accumulated over decades.
Nearly 25 years inside the business.
Eric Steele worked in Mail Marketing Plus for nearly 25 years. His work centered heavily on databases and the mechanics behind targeted direct response: maintaining and manipulating customer data, segmentation, geographic targeting, campaign preparation, production coordination, and execution.
That experience became a foundation for his later work in digital marketing, SMS/mobile marketing, entrepreneurship, consulting, and other database-driven projects.
Business development within the family company.
A 2005 Kapaun Mt. Carmel publication identifies Linda Steele Thom as working part-time for the family business, Mail Marketing Plus, Inc., as Director of Business Development.
Additional family roles, dates, and responsibilities can be added as original company material is scanned and verified.
A major chapter in the company’s national history.
Jack Steele’s obituary states that Mail Marketing Plus produced direct-mail advertising at least once for all 1,700 Bridgestone/Firestone company-owned stores across the United States.
This archive will eventually document more of that work from surviving family files where appropriate. Any references are historical and do not imply a current affiliation, endorsement, or agency relationship.
Valley Offset Printing acquired Mail Marketing Plus in January 2017.
Valley Offset Printing publicly announced the acquisition on January 27, 2017. Its notice described Mail Marketing Plus as a Wichita company with more than 35 years in business and specifically referenced MMP’s history of high-quality direct-mail campaigns.
Valley’s announcement emphasized continuity in direct-mail services, personalized and variable-data work, database management, programming, fulfillment, and highly targeted mailings.
Preserve the history. Establish the lineage. Point forward.
Eric Steele reacquired MailMarketingPlus.com in 2026 to document the company rather than recreate it. The goal is to preserve a significant family and professional history, gather surviving evidence in one place, and show where the direct-marketing and database expertise continued after the operating company ended.
The modern paths include DirectMail.ink, Data Mining Doctor, Mobile Marketing Plus, and Eric’s broader work at EricSteele.com.