October 01, 2012
Unstructured "human information" makes up 90% of all known Big Data, and it's growing with incredible variety and velocity.
October 01, 2012
Marketers face an emerging issue that represents both an opportunity and a potential challenge: how to leverage large data sets, Big Data.
September 01, 2012
As marketers, we need to understand that it's no longer about what journey we want to take customers on; it's about meeting them where they are in their journey and making ourselves adaptable along the way.
September 01, 2012
Today's customers are bombarded with marketing material. Marketers must find ways to grab customers' attention, and that means strengthening traditional channels.
August 01, 2012
Managing online business listings requires a long-term, strategic marketing strategy for maintaining information across many local search platforms.
August 01, 2012
Is this Pinterest's moment? Certainly from all the buzz you would think so.
July 01, 2012
Many companies have begun to recognize the potential of online video for engaging customers and prospects. The challenge is identifying the best approach and measuring the business impact.
July 01, 2012
One would think the larger a b-to-b target prospect database is, the more qualified leads there will be for the field sales team.
June 01, 2012
CRM and marketing automation are like peanut butter and jelly — they just go together.
June 01, 2012
By treating every budget center, customer or prospect opportunity the same, marketing heads are wasting money.
May 01, 2012
To break the innovation delay, we all need to do a better job of embracing new measurement technologies.
May 01, 2012
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.
April 01, 2012
Mobile marketers need to make privacy a brand asset, not a liability.
April 01, 2012
Today's consumers are not just individuals we actively sell to; they are informed buyers.
February 01, 2012
Businesses can no longer ignore the social media explosion. For CMOs, success boils down to seven habits.
February 01, 2012
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.
January 01, 2012
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.
January 01, 2012
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.
December 01, 2011
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.
December 01, 2011
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.
November 01, 2011
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.
November 01, 2011
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
October 01, 2011
The fur is flying and everyone is yammering now that the US Postal Service is taking steps to rationalize its network. In August, USPS served public notice of its intent to close underperforming retail locations.
October 01, 2011
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."
September 01, 2011
Engagement has been a primary goal of every marketing campaign, long before the Internet turned commerce upside down or the CMO title was invented. Since the beginning of the digital marketing age, it has been the Holy Grail of brand managers.
September 01, 2011
Direct marketing has always been about connecting with customers through timely, relevant and targeted messages that drive action. Technology's evolution this past decade hasn't changed these fundamentals, but it has opened up a new set of parameters.
August 01, 2011
Many marketers and agencies have developed the tools necessary to address how shoppers act, feel and what ultimately leads them to purchase. Now, what about the "fan" journey?
August 01, 2011
If you look at the big winners at this year's Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, amid the highly anticipated usual suspects you'll see a name that sounds more like computer software or a robot than a brand: Rom.
July 01, 2011
It's been a few years since "engagement mapping" aka "attribution" emerged as the next big thing in online advertising. The concept of looking across digital channels and beyond the last click made sense to everyone.
July 01, 2011
What makes great editors great is that they are able to connect to both the heart and the head. They know what makes their audience laugh, think, stick around and respond. Great editors also have a head for business.
June 13, 2011
In the coming year, b-to-b marketers must shift to account-based marketing — online and offline — moving away from delivering individual leads to delivering qualified accounts.
June 01, 2011
Much fuss has been made in marketing, public relations, advertising and digital circles about who "owns" social media. Go to any conference or read various industry blogs and you're bound to come across a spirited debate on this very topic.
June 01, 2011
I have heard many marketers complain about the escalating cost of acquiring customers in our fragmented, distracted media environment.
May 01, 2011
It's hard to believe Twitter is only five years old. The social network's use today is measured in billions, and it is being credited for everything from enabling revolutions to helping people keep up with the latest news. Instead of tuning in to CNN, millions are turning to Twitter feeds.
May 01, 2011
We know a lot of statistics about the baby boom generation. The US Census Bureau says these 79 million Americans make up 26% of the population, and the oldest boomers turn 65 this year. But who are they really, and how do you effectively reach them in a digital world?
April 01, 2011
I was fortunate to be in the audience during the taping of the historic Jeopardy! match pitting IBM's Watson computing system against the game's all-time champions. As Watson proved its speed and accuracy in answering questions across many different categories, it was clear this type of groundbreaking technology will benefit a broad range of industries.
April 01, 2011
When you think of direct marketing, do you think of a static print piece addressed to "occupant," a printed direct mail piece personalized with an individual's name, or are you thinking of a customized cross-media campaign where individual recipients are sent relevant marketing materials regardless of media channel? Over the last two decades, direct marketing has transformed dramatically, but the main purpose has not changed.
March 01, 2011
There are 83 million moms in the US, and they are the golden ticket to marketing success. There is no shortage of focus around this segment, and many brands are recruiting mom panels, such as Walmart Moms, to help them connect with these consumers.
March 01, 2011
For marketers, mobile technology is a dream come true. We now have the capability to send the right offer to the right consumer, at just the right moment: the point of decision.
February 01, 2011
Direct mail. Nobody talks about it. It's not cool. It's the Rodney Dangerfield of direct marketing. When marketers talk about it, it's usually in the context of the drop in mail volume to the tune of tens of billions of pieces. Or about how expensive it is.
February 01, 2011
The drumbeat has pounded for decades: Interactive television is here. From Qube to the Full Service Network, from Wink to Navic, there's been no shortage of promises and ballyhoo, but little actual progress to make one believe the TV industry is much closer to fulfilling that promise.
February 01, 2011
The chief marketing officer's role is undergoing a massive shift that matches the shift we're seeing to a mobile and social online world. The Internet, social media and the turmoil of the publishing industry have radically altered how we connect with customers and prospects.
January 01, 2011
B-to-b marketing professionals have goals as well as challenges in mind for the year ahead, and what works for one company may not for another.
January 01, 2011
Digital marketing strategies in 2011 will be played out against a background of macro-trends in the US culture and the economy.
December 01, 2010
It's no longer sufficient to simply focus on product, brand, media or channel. Customers are the center of today's marketing conversations.
November 01, 2010
Marketing has the opportunity to reinvent itself as a core part of a company's revenue engine.
November 01, 2010
Today's retailers' customer service and delivery methods have evolved, so have consumer expectations for immediacy and service.
October 07, 2010
Now that ROI is the cornerstone of most sophisticated digital marketing programs, e-mail is front and center and will continue to play a key role moving forward.
To optimize e-mail marketing, you need to take concerted action to stand out from the increasing din of other online marketers.
October 01, 2010
Spend any time working at any type of agency and one thing is clear: All agencies operate in silos. Conventional wisdom, in service of integration, indicates silos are intrinsically bad, and it's the job of agency management to tear down the walls, but by embracing and nurturing functional silos, an agency's expertise can actually flourish.
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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.
