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Multichannel Retail/E-commerce

Is Amazon an ally of the retail industry?

Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester & Jim Lucas, Draftfcb

When Amazon sneezes, retailers get a cold. Amazon's a titan — that much is clear — but is Amazon a friend or an enemy when it comes to the retail industry? We've asked the experts and now we're polling our readers. Read the story, leave a comment with your two cents by May 11 and we might print your opinion in the Reader Response section of our next issue.

Digital

Brands go local, get social

Carol Krol

Foursquare is a great way for marketers to offer incentives by implementing a discount for check-ins. I'm continuously surprised by the number of brands that don't take advantage of this easy opportunity.

Multichannel Retail/E-commerce

Tactics for multichannel success

Jeff Fowler, Decision Software

As database marketers, we're in a perfect position to avoid inundating our customers by exercising discipline and agreeing on a few broad-based rules.

Digital

Is Pinterest just a passing fad? Readers respond

Is Pinterest just a passing fad? Readers respond to the May Gloves Off question.

Opinions

Plug-ins: b-to-b marketing

Managing your data so that it works for you takes work — especially in the data-driven b-to-b marketing world.

Opinions

Interviewing candidates at the task level

Jon Steinberg, president, BuzzFeed

I love hand-dirty tasks and can't imagine not working in decks and spreadsheets.

Digital

Facebook acquisition makes big splash

Direct Marketing News staff

Most experts see Facebook's billion dollar acquisition of Instagram in April as defensive and overpriced.

Opinions

People's ideas and passions make all the difference

Zain Raj, CEO, Hyper Marketing

As CEO, my job is to be completely and maniacally focused on ensuring that we have the best people.

Digital

Plug-ins: audience development

Whether you call it circulation marketing, audience development or relationship marketing, the need is the same — to build leads and maximize ROI.

Digital

Will mobile drive more e-commerce revenue than PCs? Readers respond

Will mobile drive more e-commerce revenue than PCs? Our readers respond to the April Gloves Off question.

Database Marketing/CRM

Bridge data for a holistic view

Dennis Kooker, KBM Group

Today's consumers are not just individuals we actively sell to; they are informed buyers.

Mobile Marketing

Road rules for mobile privacy

Chris Babel, CEO, TRUSTe

Mobile marketers need to make privacy a brand asset, not a liability.

Opinions

GOP candidates teach me targeting 101

Scott Donaton, Ensemble

The messaging from political campaigns in a presidential election year is about as close and uncomfortable as actual hand-to-hand combat.

Database Marketing/CRM

Manage data in order to improve your bottom line

Joel Ingersoll, Lorton Data

There are some simple steps every organization can take to make sure they are saving money and reaching the right customers for any marketing campaign.

Database Marketing/CRM

Insert media scores: a free ounce for promo inserts

Leon Henry, Leon Henry Inc.

The U.S. Postal Service has clarified the rules offering a free ounce for promo inserts to businesses mailing automated pre-sort First-Class Mail — and the industry should take advantage of the offer at once.

Database Marketing/CRM

Use data more effectively by placing it in the cloud

Shannon Duffy, Data.com

The way data is consumed today has changed dramatically from the past.

Database Marketing/CRM

The Holy Grail of database customer marketing

Rod Ford, Merkle

For more than five years now, the direct marketing industry has possessed the analytics and intuitive tools to create and execute individually personalized contact strategies for customers. However, there has existed one single limitation keeping these innovations from seeing the light of day, and keeping us in our spreadsheet-driven, file-passing entrapment.

Database Marketing/CRM

What to have on your database shopping list

Jack Sturn, SolutionSet

When shopping for a database marketing services company, there are "must-haves" that should be on everyone's list.

Database Marketing/CRM

Top integrated marketing ideas for multimedia magic

Michelle Farabaugh, Merkle

Integrated customer marketing is the key to driving increased loyalty, customer lifetime value and overall return on ad spend.

Database Marketing/CRM

Vital multichannel marketing tactics in a b-to-b world

Greg Grdodian, Reach Marketing

Database Marketing/CRM

How digital profiles reveal greater marketing insights

Jay Henderson, IBM

Typically, the most insightful digital profile attributes come from one of three primary sources.

Database Marketing/CRM

Three ways to get integration initiatives implemented

Mu Hu, Golfsmith International

It is not uncommon that the retail side of a business doesn't know what the Web side is doing.

Database Marketing/CRM

Uncovering proven optimal customer contact methods

Karren Madson, Epsilon Targeting

One of the best ways for database marketers to maximize their budgets and increase ROI is to find the appropriate mix of contact methods for each customer segment.

Database Marketing/CRM

Improving experience and driving engagement

Dave Duszynski, Experian Marketing Services

Marketers must develop a consistent, repeatable approach toward optimizing customer experience.

Database Marketing/CRM

Structural Equation Modeling -- The Other 'SEM'

Sam Koslowsky, Harte-Hanks

While the arsenal of tools available to market researchers has certainly grown over the years, perhaps none has been more insightful than what is referred to as structural equation modeling.

Database Marketing/CRM

Five ways to invigorate your database marketing in 2012

Dana Hayman, Infogroup Targeting Solutions

Here are our top five best practice tips for implementing better database marketing.

Database Marketing/CRM

Segment your customers to further drive engagement

Bob Massie, Marketing Infomatics

Follow these few simple steps to get a good start on mining the value of your customer data.

Database Marketing/CRM

Database marketing: the secret weapon to higher sales

Keith Turco, gyro New York

Unlike a traditional ad campaign, a well-executed database marketing campaign never ends.

Database Marketing/CRM

Data on-demand: Small investments pay big dividends

Rick Witsell, Alliant

Rising costs, channel proliferation and fragmented consumer attention make it tough to turn a profit on acquisition campaigns.

Database Marketing/CRM

Data: With great power comes even greater responsibility

Lawrence Kimmel, Direct Marketing Association

Marketers must leverage data in service of the consumer and protect their information like never before.

Database Marketing/CRM

Segmentation optimizes customer experiences

Judy Loschen, Aspen Marketing Services

When connected to different lifecycle marketing stages, marketers can more effectively message their customers to produce a better customer experience and stronger results, and increase retention rates.

Digital

In five years, will tablets and smartphones surpass PCs in e-commerce sales?

In the next five years, will smartphones and tablets drive more annual e-commerce sales revenue than PCs or will PCs develop new capabilities to keep them in the lead?

Opinions

Keep company culture in mind when hiring or recruiting candidates

Linda Sorbera, EVP, global human resources director, MRM

A positive culture is a big part of the success of an organization.

Direct Classic

Plug-ins: DRTV

DRTV no longer exists in a vacuum. The advent and wide usage of social media has seen to that — which means it's more important than ever for direct response TV marketers to integrate social media into their strategies. Our expert columnists weigh in.

Database Marketing/CRM

Marketers prolong TV-centric approach

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble

Twice a year, the marketing business pauses in its reinvention to expose its fear of fundamental change and highlight the disconnect that exists between what it says and what it does.

Digital

What's the best channel for ad spend? Readers respond

What's the best channel for ad spend? Readers respond to March's Gloves Off question.

Opinions

Purchase technology will assist print

Carol Krol

Many marketers have suggested print specifically is dead or dying, but I don't buy it.

Digital

Should marketers spend more on social and mobile than email in 2012?

Mobile and social vs. email: Where should marketers spend their limited dollars this year? It's a question that's top-of-mind for many marketers out there — and that's why we asked you.

Opinions

Is interest-based targeting replacing demographic targeting as the new model?

Demographic marketing has long been the industry standard, but does it have a future? Andrew Bailey, chairman at Proximity North America; Michael Benedek, president and CEO of Datonics; Gary Reisman, principal and founder of NewMediaMetrics; and Liz Deutch, EVP, global director, customer engagement at Draftfcb, weigh in.

Email Marketing

Plug-ins: email marketing

Email marketing is no longer a one-to-many communications strategy. Our experts offer up their best advice to help marketers take advantage of consumer expectations.

Opinions

Hire a candidate who has a high ROL (Return on Life)

Sara Arnell, Arnell Group

Imagine that you're about to interview a prospective new hire. You've read their resume, been briefed by HR and are feeling confident that your recruitment team has done their job well. Now, tear up the resume and step away from your desk. It's time to find out what the true value of this candidate is: their "ROL," or "Return on Life."

Opinions

Marry targeting with inventory

David L. Smith, Mediasmith

The digital landscape is confusing. Anybody who has viewed the Terry Kawaja Display Landscape slide knows this. Despite that, we have the opportunity to do the targeting we've only dreamed of before.

Opinions

Good habits for social CMOs

Clara Shih, Hearsay Social

Businesses can no longer ignore the social media explosion. For CMOs, success boils down to seven habits.

Database Marketing/CRM

To know me is to target me

Scott Donaton, Ensemble

While privacy concerns are understandable, what most people care about at the end of the day is the price-value equation. They're willing to give up personal information about themselves if it helps a marketer target them more effectively and efficiently. If you can use past behaviors and stated preferences to deliver a better experience and waste less time, go for it.

Opinions

Where are your customers?

Carol Krol

Where are your customers is a provocative question and one many marketers no doubt are asking of themselves. It's more complicated to answer this question when customers have such a wide array of choice and the megaphone of social media through which to communicate with peers and the wider world, yet marketers have to find ways to meet customer demand for highly relevant communications.

Digital

Beyond Badges: The Power of Customer Engagement Through Quests

Carrie Peters, VP of marketing, BigDoor

Online quests have proven to be tremendously popular. The trick is: how do you harness that level of engagement for something that's not a game?

A call for email dtente efficient marketing

Email Marketing

A call for email détente: efficient marketing

Rob Price, Eleven

Almost every time I wind up on some company's email database, I get punished for it.

Digital

Socially educated patients: pharma-friendly social

Ben Weisman, SVP and director of creative innovations, MRM

The rise of the socially-educated patient is here.

Mobile Marketing

'Twas the merry season of mobile

Carol Krol

As we turn the page on the calendar, put away the garland and box up the pre-lit tree, the dust has just begun to settle on 2011 holiday commerce numbers. Early returns, particularly from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, signaled a major win for mobile commerce.

Opinions

Ride word-of-mouth movement

Allie Kline, VP of marketing, 33Across

The turn of the calendar year inevitably incites end-of-year reflections and New Year resolutions. Many times, to welcome in the new, we've got to let some things die. As such, I've been contemplating the evolution of our industry and begun questioning the shelf life of a traditional "campaign" model.

Email Marketing

Profiling is not a dirty word

Keith Flint, strategy director, Sudden Impact Marketing

If I don't know you, I won't read your email. Unless what you have to say appeals to my puerile sense of self-interest. If you aren't a friend or trusted source of international cycling news, I won't look at your tweet — no matter how clever. I'm a marketer's nightmare.

Digital

Will Google's paid ads affect marketers?

Google's paid ads: What will the impact be for marketers? Dorothy Weaver, VP of digital marketing services at Acquirgy, and Tej Shah, VP of e-commerce and marketing at Blue Soda Promo, weigh in.

Digital

Plug-ins: social Marketing

Our expert columnists this month offer practical advice regarding the most effective ways to use social media to foster greater loyalty among customers, including strategies around providing meaningful content for maximum engagement; how to use data collected to improve targeting in a way that is integrated with other marketing efforts; and how to measure and track social marketing efforts.

Opinions

Avoid turnover with training programs and team-building exercises

Peter Gracey, cofounder, president and COO, AG Salesworks

AG Salesworks increased staff by 50% in 2011 and plans to hire a comparable amount of new staff in 2012. In these difficult economic times, we're fortunate to work in an industry that continues to experience steady growth.

Database Marketing/CRM

Twitter-ready insights on marketing follies

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble

A picture is worth a thousand words, but not every one of my observations is worth a full column. Or so my editors tell me. Most, however, are worth at least 140 characters. With that in mind, and to help ring in 2012, I proudly present my Twitter-ready views, insights, unsolicited tidbits of advice and meaningless random thoughts on the absurdities of modern marketing.

Digital

The Evolution of Online Behavioral Advertising Self-Regulation

Fran Maier, president, TRUSTe

Taking a closer look at 2011 and looking to the future we can see three distinct phases of the industry's self-regulatory movement emerge.

Digital

Unlocking the secrets of QR codes

Laura Marriott, CEO, NeoMedia Technologies

NeoMedia has identified the most common mobile barcode pitfalls and have outlined tips to avoid them to ensure your initiatives not only motivate but engage your target audience.

Opinions

Don't place too much emphasis on prospects' past successes

Seth Besmertnik, cofounder and CEO, Conductor

For an entrepreneur, company founder or CEO, the ability to attract and hire stellar employees defines the potential of your success. When I reviewed our biggest mistakes as a fast-growing startup, they seemed to be almost entirely centered around bad hiring decisions and investing in bad hires for too long. I used to interview people for functional competence and ability, basing decisions on prior accomplishments with an overemphasis on past successes. My process today is very different.

Database Marketing/CRM

O come, all ye shoppers!

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble

Be my Valentine! Now, let's see what I can buy/purchase/consume to  express how I feel. A greeting card, for starters, pre-printed with someone else's sentiments, a frilly box of chocolates complete with a picture chart so you can avoid biting into the one with that weird green cream, or a dozen red long-stems.

Search Marketing

Plug-ins: search marketing

Despite the still-shaky economy, marketers continue to increase their investments in search engine marketing, according to several reports. Two of our Plug-ins experts this month provide their best advice on how to look at navigating the retargeting landscape. Our third expert provides best practices for maximizing search in holiday marketing campaigns in the e-commerce arena.

Digital

Should brands discontinue print catalogs?

Two longtime marketers weigh in on whether or not brands should keep print catalogs in their marketing mix.

Digital

Buying display: focus on quality

Andrew Lerner, CEO, Trust Metrics

Direct marketers may dominate the digital display advertising market, but most of these marketers are getting as little as one-third of the return they could.

Digital

Social change: the new frontier

Jason Saul, CEO, Mission Measurement

CMOs face an impossible challenge: how to distinguish one brand from the next in a market where price, quality and convenience are at parity. The answer is passion. That's the "x factor" that every company wants.

Digital

Car brands raise digital marketing bar

Carol Krol

Automotive manufacturer Ford Motor Co. unveiled the 2013 Ford Escape on Nov. 15 using social game developer Zynga's popular "Words With Friends" game and a competition against actress Jenny McCarthy, who played the Scrabble-like game live in Los Angeles.

Digital

Gamification: Are we there yet?

Barry Kirk, VP of loyalty and motivation, Bunchball

Four years after its introduction, many companies and marketers still view gamification as simply slapping badges on a website in an effort to increase user engagement.

Digital

Moving circulars into the digital age

Jamie Ray, VP of retail, PointRoll

Digital circulars are important for in-store and online traffic, but they're not as easy as putting a print circular online.

Digital

How hypertargeted should a Facebook ad be?

Patrick Toland, U.S. managing director, TBG Digital

Major brands are increasingly using more precise profile targeting - or "hypertargeting" - through Facebook as a cornerstone of their digital marketing and advertising campaigns, but should they be doing so?

Opinions

Your company pool should reflect  national diversity

Keisha Vaughn, chief diversity officer, Draftfcb

A Jewish colleague recently asked when a Happy New Year memo for Rosh Hashanah would be released to agency employees, citing a note sent to them during the month of Ramadan reminding employees that we have an interfaith prayer room available to all. We often do need reminders to look at the diversity of those around us.

Production and Printing

Plug-ins: printing & production

The printing and production sector has undergone major transformation in a digitally dominated market, and many marketers can now use the dual impact of print media and technology to communicate marketing messages to customers. At the same time, there has been a recalibration of expectations for improved sales and greater return on investment.

Database Marketing/CRM

Street-smart NY storage ads tell it straight

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble

Walking the streets of New York City after a recent Sunday brunch, an out-of-town friend delighted in the sight of a woman making her way home in what seemed to be the outfit she had worn out the night before. "That's what I love about New York: the anonymity," my friend said.

Digital

Are toll-free numbers the best for DRTV?

Jessica Randazza , manager of brand experience at Digitas, and AJ Khubani, president and CEO of TeleBrands Corp., discuss whether toll-free numbers are the best for DRTV.

Database Marketing/CRM

Data management drives ROI

Tim Altier, director of business analytics and insight, Bridgz Marketing Group

Data opens the door for marketers to connect with customers at a personal, emotion-charged level. But this portal to customer-centric marketing remains locked for many organizations — both client-side and agencies

Email Marketing

Four metrics that matter

Matt Blumberg, chairman and CEO, Return Path

For a marketing department to succeed in 2012 and beyond, marketers need to be analytical, focused on return on investment and deeply embedded in the data that makes their programs hum. When it comes to email, many marketers focus on all the wrong things.

DMA Outlook

DMA show agenda short on specifics

Carol Krol

Wikipedia defines "information design" as "the skill and practice of preparing information so people can use it with efficiency and effectiveness. Where data is complex or unstructured, a visual representation can express its meaning."

Digital

On the issue of online privacy, where do industry and government agree?

Peter Kosmala, managing director, Digital Advertising Alliance

Several points of alignment between government officials and industry executives emerged at a recent hearing on consumer online privacy.

Database Marketing/CRM

Cross-channel cross-selling

David King, EVP of Fulcrum

Marketers must invest in a cross-channel platform to deliver relevant communications.

Digital

Did your Google ranking fall this year? Regain your SEO foothold with video

Dr. Melody King, VP of Sales & Marketing, Treepodia

If you have seen your search traffic drop since Google rolled out several algorithm updates earlier this year, you can see your traffic numbers climb in no time—simply by adopting video.

Digital

Bring on the holidays! It's time to make your holiday mobile strategy ring the registers

Bryon Morrison, president of wireless practice, The Marketing Arm

The holiday shopping season is almost here and strategies incorporating mobile marketing can expand your database, reaffirm customer loyalty and usher in new multichannel techniques to make the most of this holiday season.

Digital

Busting social media silos

Brian Killen, director of emerging technologies, Acxiom

Marketers seek to blend social media with their traditional marketing methods, but are challenged to use the data they collect effectively in a way that scales with their overall marketing strategies.

Digital

Ghost stories go digital

Scott Donaton, CEO, Ensemble

The campfire analogy. It's about the best definition of social marketing I've heard yet. It comes courtesy of Ashton Kutcher, who isn't only good-looking, famous, successful, wealthy and married to Demi Moore.

Opinions

Plug-ins: lead generation

Generating qualified, sales-ready leads is often a primary objective for b-to-b direct marketers. The good news is that direct marketing, if done right, is one of the most effective ways to generate, nurture and qualify leads.

Digital

Will Google+ boost marketing campaigns?

David Erickson, director of e-strategy at Tunheim , and Arthur Papas, cofounder and CEO of Bullhorn, discuss whether Google+ will boost marketing campaigns.

Opinions

Don't count direct mail out

Brian Fetherstonhaugh, chairman and CEO, OgilvyOne Worldwide

Like many of you, I hear people in marketing say things like "Direct mail is dead," "No smart marketer uses direct mail these days," and "I don't need direct mail anymore — I use email now."

Opinions

Target flop shows need for tech prep

Carol Krol

It's Black Friday. A crowd gathers outside your brand's flagship retail location. Despite the expected shopper crush, the doors remain locked long after opening hours because the store manager has overslept.

Database Marketing/CRM

Looking outside your industry to keep customers inside your organization

Linda Armstrong, EVP and practice leader, DMW Direct

Look to competitors and companies outside of your industry to develop enhanced customer experiences.

Digital

Calculating the attribution value of emotion

Dana Todd, SVP of marketing and business development, Performics

While we build the future of digital media mix modeling via attribution, we should include variables for weighting levels of connection and emotional influence.

Digital

The impact of Google's Zagat acquisition on search marketing

Seth Nickerson, senior natural search optimization strategist, iCrossing

The acquisition will affect search marketing in a number of ways, such as fueling Google with more content to distribute to people performing local and mobile searches.

Database Marketing/CRM

Social Media is not Social CRM

Patrick Dorsey, Avectra VP of marketing

Social CRM is about more than "likes" and followers

Database Marketing/CRM

Digital ascends but print still rules catalog business

Slade Kobran, CMO, Infogroup

Marketers in the publishing and catalog industries predict digital will serve a greater role in their campaigns over the next three years, but it will not completely replace print.

Digital

Digital marketing hubs for multichannel integration

Leon Zemel, chief analytics officer, x+1

The advent of a technological approach called a "digital marketing hub" now makes it far easier to integrate marketing across channels.

Email Marketing

To cloud or not to cloud: an email marketing perspective

Liam Kelly, L-Soft International

It used to be that IT outsourcing was for small businesses without the resources to maintain their own hardware and staff. Not anymore.

Email Marketing

Manage marketing data and triggered emails

Diane Buzzeo, Ability Commerce

Email marketing, considered the first line of customer engagement, leads the charge to increase Web traffic and drive sales. However, setting up an email service independently relies on a large time and capital investment.

Email Marketing

Segregate append data from regular email subscriber list

John Murphy, ReachMail

Email appending gives you the ability to reach your postal-only contacts by email.

Email Marketing

Examine KPI activity to test, refine tactics, restrategize

Liz Bross, The Agency Inside Harte-Hanks

Email key performance indicators (KPI) include traditional metrics such as delivery, open and click rates, but that's just the beginning.

Email Marketing

Email measurement: the missing ingredient

Dan Smith, ClickSquared

Are marketers effectively using email to get closer to their customers? If email is the least expensive, most trackable and easiest way to understand customer behavior, why aren't more marketers using it to its full potential?

Email Marketing

Drive email aquisition with frequent social media posts

Ryan Tuttle, BrightWave Marketing

Your social media networks can be a major source of acquiring new email addresses for your subscriber list. It's a myth that social is "killing email" or that social users prefer to use social networks exclusively to communicate.

Email Marketing

Email marketing powers ROI and social media pollination

John Hayes, iContact Corp.

A permission-based email list is a beautiful thing. Some may see it as a bucketful of names to throw product and promotional information at. Others see it as cash cow, ready to be milked at every opportunity. I see it as something far more valuable.

Email Marketing

Grow your subscriber base with smartphone technology

Jeffrey Rohrs, ExactTarget

Fortunately, the rise of social media, smartphones and the mobile consumer have expanded the ways in which brands can generate new opt-in email subscribers.

Opinions

Realize email's potential in the 'mocial' era

Loren McDonald, Silverpop

Two of email's great attributes are its flexibility and ability to deliver dynamically targeted messages in a one-to-one fashion.

Opinions

Guarantee consumers interact with your marketing message

Jennifer Timmerman, Metrics Marketing Group

A successful email marketing campaign shouldn't be measured by the volume of distribution, but whether your consumers are interacting with your message.