Quick response codes seem to be popping up everywhere, from billboards to magazines to grocery stores. Direct Connect spoke with the marketing firm's CMO, Jason Pinto, about the potential of QR codes and what marketers should avoid when launching a campaign using them.
Many brands are finding that the next frontier in e-commerce is the place where consumers prefer to spend their time online: social networks, such as Facebook. Direct Connect talks with Blake Brysha, senior marketing manager at PowerReviews, about how retailers are taking advantage of consumers' need to interact with others on the Web.
Coupon company Valpak recently launched ValpakDeals.com, a service that offers daily deals and local offers to shoppers. The online initiative highlights the company's multifaceted approach to marketing: local and national, and using direct mail, print, online and mobile to deliver its offers. Direct Connect spoke with Jay Loeffler, corporate strategy manager in Valpak's marketing department, about the coupon space for the holiday season and beyond.
If Aaron Greenspan has his way, wallets will become a thing of the past. The founder of FaceCash, a mobile payment system that lets consumers pay by using a scanned barcode on their smartphones, has pounded the pavement in the Bay Area to get merchants to sign on to the service.
The global beauty industry brings in more than $230 billion annually in sales. One brand that has been on the cutting edge of e-commerce and e-mail marketing since 1993 is Sephora. Julie Bornstein, SVP of Sephora Direct, oversees Sephora.com, the "Beauty Insider" loyalty program, social media, online and mobile efforts.
Can you sell to a customer who's taken his business elsewhere and regain his loyalty? Surprisingly, the answer is "yes." Companies have a 20% to 40% probability of successfully selling to lost customers, according to Austin, TX-based loyalty expert Jill Griffin, bestselling author of three books on customer loyalty including "Customer WinBack: How to Recapture Lost Customers - and Keep Them Loyal."
Tony Little is well known as the TV pitchman behind the Gazelle exercise machine. As CEO of Health International Corp., he has built a diversified company that's sold $3 billion-worth of products since he began appearing on the Home Shopping Network in 1986. Direct-response TV has been the backbone of a company that sells fitness equipment, apparel, food, books, videos and wellness products.
Scott Hildebrand, the newly appointed chief consumer relationship officer at Engauge, has worked in direct marketing on both the client and agency side. He spoke to Direct Connect about how direct marketing's new wave and old school can work together.
While chief marketing officer at Eastman Kodak, Jeffrey Hayzlett revolutionized the company's worldwide marketing operations and strategic direction, he now aims to do the same for other businesses. DirectConnect caught up with Hayzlett in between appearances for his national tour to promote his new book
T3's chief executive Gay Gaddis speaks about maintaining independence, agency culture and more
Generation Y, the millennial cohort that came of age at the turn of the century, is beginning to join the ranks of decision makers, and business-to-business marketers are having to adjust to their changing tastes. Pamela Evans, global digital marketing manager of IBM Corp., interfaces with them regularly through the growing ranks of software developers. She offered some advice during the Digital Media Days Conference & Expo.
When social media came on the scene, marketers used it mainly as an arm of public relations, but industry experts have found new applications, such as voice-of-customer research. Mike Cooperman, senior director of marketing and product development at J.D. Power & Associates, recently spoke at the Direct Marketing Association's Digital Marketing Days Conference & Expo about new ways to harness the volume of consumer information being churned out by social media, and shared some thoughts with Direct Connect.
Why are marketers paying so much attention to data quality? Companies are starting to recognize data quality as an enterprise problem that must be solved to ensure success on many fronts, says Rod Ford, president and CEO of Little Rock-based marketing technology company CognitiveData. Ford answered questions from Direct Connect on data quality's increasing importance.
DirectConnect interviews Ernan Roman, president of Ernan Roman Direct Marketing, about the power of "voice of the customer marketing."
An interview with Thomas Day, SVP of intelligent mail and address quality at the USPS. "We had definitive data to know not only how many forms they're supposed to get; we can tell you exactly how many got delivered."
An interview with Cynthia Williams, director of product marketing for Pitney Bowes. "When organizations only deal with data quality as part of postal compliance — correcting envelopes instead of addresses — the problems only intensify."
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.
