Prudential Financial marketers climb down from the rock to make people understand why they don't plan for retirement instead of why they should.
But let's turn that frown upside down. Yes, marketing is hard, but there's also more opportunity for customer engagement now than ever, right?
"Treat your customers like individuals." You hear that all the time. Yes, but, I mean, how?
Put the customer in context and you'll be glad you did. That and other pearls from the IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Nashville.
A study from the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business indicates that movie studios are by and large doing an inefficient job with their marketing.
Brandon Steiner, the sultan of sports memorabilia, discusses baseball, blogging, Baby Boomers, and Mo Rivera's cardboard glove.
They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. But what about his nose
It seems like there might be a bit of a mismatch between what companies want to do with mobile and what they're actually doing.
Consumers—they want what they want and they want it now. So do colicky babies.
Three takeaways from the U.S. Golf Association's expanding digital presence
Success in marketing today requires rethinking MRM, campaign management, and ROI.
Twenty-four digital advertising stakeholders meet today in San Francisco to map out a strategy for the Battle of the Bots.
Four tips on how marketers can connect with the Gen-C consumer
The media theorist riffs on brand storytelling, "The Real Housewives of Orange County," and his new book "Present Shock."
The online made-to-measure suit retailer tracks its customers' path-to-purchase to optimize its digital strategies.
Retailers who whine about showrooming, cheer up. A new Nielsen study says 74% of product and service searchers on mobile devices make their purchases in-store.
Some people might think CRM is an old term—they'd be wrong, of course, says Garner VP Gene Alvarez.
The hotel chain turns to Pinterest and Facebook to boost top-line growth
People love taking and sharing photos. Enter photo-marketing social media company Pongr.
Gaining share in the personal computing market was just the beginning. Now Lenovo wants to reach a new, premium audience.
Turn direct mail into a "conversation" to gain customer insight that allows for more targeted interactions.
All marketers want a committed relationship. Make consumers fall in love with four Facebook steps.
Randy Miskanic argues that a postal inspector is the perfect guy to seize the market with the USPS's big gun: security.
All brands want consumers to be aware of their products. But sometimes, awareness itself is the product. Such is the case with the Vision Impact Institute.
Commerce is simply not aligned with the reasons people log onto social media. But what if the act of commerce is itself social?
It's up to brands to empower consumers to explore, while providing seamless real-time experiences at every touchpoint, says Forrester. No pressure.
If a brand can't deliver immediate desired digital experiences, consumers are, like, totally outie.
3 strategies marketers need to know to tap into their female influencers
Brand engagement: When its good, it's really good. When it's bad? You might as well not have bothered.
Clear.md, a mobile and web application that lets healthcare providers send quick videos to patients, has found that video drives better engagement than email.
Three industry insiders think so, but with cautions.
Social media sultan Brian Solis talks about new metrics and methods that marketers should get wise to.
Marketers who shift from storytelling to story-giving create a more interactive customer experience.
Customer service is marketing—without it, there won't be any customers to service.
Consumer data has so many different business applications, from marketing to background checks, that sweeping legislation is inefficient.
I know I opted in, but can I please have some communications control?
Emma Carrasco, National Public Radio's first CMO, is out to move the network's influence out beyond the monied suburbs.
Marketers need to build one-to-one relationships to cut through the marketing clutter.
Socialbakers' CEO looks at U.S. social marketing world through a global lens
What was the first object you touched when you woke up this morning? My money's on your mobile phone.
How IKEA's marketing is changing with the times.
Direct Marketing News readers give a view into their "social" lives
Seventy percent of smartphone users will immediately delete an email that doesn't display correctly on their mobile device. That pretty #scary.
Author and computer scientist Eric Siegel tells marketers that data is nothing to fear and how working backwards can pay great benefits.
Snippets of advice from the Hall of Femme panel discussion
For the admen behind Chile's 1988 "No" campaign, ROI was casting out notorious dictator General Augusto Pinochet in a vote on the legitimacy of his bloody regime.
As Acer moves forward, it's refined its banner ad strategies.
Direct Marketing News' Hall of Femme keynote speaker reveals the three legs to her stool of success.
Two sides face off in a battle royale over the issue that's driving many a data-driven marketer mad.
Big or small, Facebook says it can help them all.
One area marketers should be paying particular attention to when it comes to personalization is email. Email yogi Sundeep Kapur shares some tips in the lead-up to the SES Conference in NYC.
For resource-strapped businesses, is this a viable path to personalize direct mail?
To score with customers, marketers need a new game plan.
Are you technologically slow, non-brilliant, and lazy, like me? Don't fret, you can still be a big success on the Web if you have the passion to overcome those other things.
Author Debra Kaye gives marketers a crash course in cultural strategy
Near field communication is set to explode in a serious way, and this is the year it's going to happen.
AARP's print publication Bulletin has seen direct response advertising rates grow despite the downturn.
The director of product and industry marketing for Adobe shares her view of trends in social and mobile
I live in fear of a summons from the FTC, accusing me of being a pernicious privacy peddler, threatening to confiscate my one-of-a-kind list of 1970 graduates of St. Stanislaus School.
Adobe tells marketers how to maximize that Last Millisecond interaction between brands and consumers to deliver a personalized digital experience.
Need + talent + timely deliverables/good work = satisfied customers. It's the model The IdeaLists is based on, says CEO Adam Glickman.
HP's one million LinkedIn followers validates its decision to incorporate the network as a key part of its social strategy.
All of a company's employees are the face of its brand. Be sure your brand is well represented.
Tom Allason arrives in the United States bearing what he says is a gift for traditional retailers: an anti-Amazon weapon.
Scoring can clue marketers into customer engagement and spending habits
Elizabeth Arden began using augmented reality in spring 2012 to support singer Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck perfume.
Getting insight in to customers' interests via their online actions help open doors and start conversations
Will direct-shipping of bathroom tissue promoted solely via social media test the limits of direct marketing
Tumblr's David Karp discusses the birth of the platform and how it's striving to monetize its assets.
A message to all the haters: Print is not dead. It's really just a perception issue.
CMOs definitely have their work cut out for them—but it's nothing to be afraid of.
Advocate customers want to sing your praises, so give them a stage and a mic
Direct marketers have taken up the trite refrain of realtors as they damn the privacy torpedoes and move full speed ahead with location-based mobile marketing strategies.
As a forum for content marketing and branding, Tumblr provides certain advantages over Facebook and Twitter.
PostcardMania effortlessly integrates direct mail and social media with sweet Valentine's Day campaigns that engage.
Alchemy Worx's CEO encourages marketers to overcome their fears of sending more email
Among the many "rules" for marketing to millennials, Jarden Home Brands has one secret ingredient: Avoid preconceived notions
Four obstacles marketers need to navigate through along their mobile marketing journey
Email marketing helps Virgin America's customer satisfaction soar.
One man's bold expedition through a customer service minefield ends inside a cable company's secret inner chamber.
The data is available to create personalized customer experiences. But few marketers are ready to deliver them, says one CMO.
More and more brands are turning to stock imagery to keep their social posts lively.
IBM explains how marketers can to sift through Big Data to get to the good stuff at JUMP New York 2013.
As marketing continues its high-speed evolution, marketers' are modifying their roles to keep pace.
The election may be over, but at the White House, the direct marketing machine keeps on cranking.
Adobe advises marketers to balance the creative with analytics at JUMP New York 2013.
Big entertainment events like the Super Bowl have a built-in audience. But building engagement for comparatively quieter events that request direct action from audiences can be tougher.
Mars Chocolate North America launches a new integrated campaign that kicks off in time for the Super Bowl.
If you don't like feeling a little uncomfortable, opening a new office in a new country probably isn't for you.
Marketers must take it upon themselves to address consumers privacy concerns if they intend to be celebrating Data Innovation Day a generation from now, warns DMA.
Automatic price match guarantees can work—but not if retailers get carried away with over-the-top offers that seem too good to be true. Listen up big boxers.
Mail Online shifts away from "limited" programmatic ad buys and shifts towards customized solutions.
IBM says it can predict trends—like steampunk fashion—three to four years before they hit the mainstream through the power of social listening.
Ben Watson, VP of marketing at HootSuite—known for its social media management solutions—says that there will be even more disruption in 2013 that brands will have to address, especially as they further extend into social networks.
Winners of American Express's college showrooming challenge give retailers at the NRF Show food for thought.
Company of the week R2C GroupR2C creates, produces, distributes and measures messages that inspire and compel consumers to do something with a brand to drive commercial advantage. The full-service advertising agency specializes in creative, production, media, analytics and performance. |
What's in our mailbox this month: fitness postcards from Retro Fitness, American Woman Fitness Centers, Union's United Taekwondo Academy, and Bally Total Fitness. (We're totally pumped.)
Social data can improve a brand's bottom line and customer relationships. Just ask brands Infiniti and Diamond Nexus.
Here are three must-have data sets that every marketer should include in his or her email strategy.
