Cutting mail delivery is often cited as a way to cut costs, but the postal industry counters that it would adversely affect consumers. Our experts assess the potential impact of a five-day postal week

Search engine marketing can do something that no other advertising medium can do — that is, turn the media world upside down. Since the dawn of advertising, companies have spent untold fortunes on the creation of their marketing mix.

I am not joining the Do Not Mail campaign, and neither should you. First, we had the opt-in and opt-out clauses in our e-mails, then we needed a double approval to get our e-mail messages past all of the firewalls, and then we had the Do Not Call Registry to cut out the telemarketers. Now, the newest assault on our freedom is this proposed Do Not Mail campaign.

The Week is bucking the cutback trend and adding an extra December issue to its 2009 calendar. DMNews caught up with Steven Kotok, general manager of the news digest, to talk about the new issue, growth in today's market, and what's next for The Week.

Search engine marketing comes in two basic sizes: small and large. More accurately, SEM can be characterized as "shotgun" or "surgical." Generally, when you outsource your SEM, you get the shotgun approach; and when you take it in-house, you move toward the surgical.

I've overheard a number of my colleagues whining over the lack of Internet media spending, given that 80% of the population is on the Web and spend considerable time there. According to Forrester Research, 9.5 hours are spent online while 12.7 hours are spent watching television.

The presidential election is over - finally! - and we can all breathe a sigh of relief after two years of fundraising, debates, attack ads, Saturday Night Live skits and — oh yes — issues. As you may be, I am all electioned-out. But I'm not tired of considering the far-reaching effects of one of the most powerful aspects of the campaign — direct marketing.

Amid the uncertainty of today's economic turmoil, one thing is clear: Consumers aren't spending the way they used to. But, while retailers expect this holiday season to be the most difficult in years, there are ways to make sure they are getting the most impact from their marketing investments.

Experts address how to use service centers to improve sales, designing a direct mail ad and mesauring customer loyalty.

With explosive growth of social media sites also has been a rise in intra-network communication, a growing alternative to personal e-mail. Our experts debate the effect on marketing.