First impressions mean everything, especially in business marketing, but they have to be sustained. Your message should be reinforced—many times, and in multiple channels—until the decision maker you want to influence sees you as a recognizable brand. Elite sales and marketing executives share a common trait: their ability to identify how prospects want to do business, then customize their sales pitch to reflect those preferences. Unfortunately, many marketers force the person to view their message through only one of the two most important channels: direct mail vs. e-mail. That one-size-fits-all approach that leads to marketing oblivion can be avoided by direct mail in concert with e-mail

Although e-mail marketing has been a global business for years, numerous US-based vendors are now growing their presence in the Asia-Pacific marketplace. This week, e-mail firm StrongMail extended its small footprint in the region through a partnership with XCOM Media.

Integration of e-mail and social media took shape in 2009 with the inclusion of e-mail links allowing users to share content on social networks. Now companies like Flowtown are enabling marketers to append data to e-mail addresses based on information obtained through social profiles.

The Web is a primary channel for driving sales, customer loyalty, and operational efficiencies. Building an effective Web presence is therefore business-critical. Web Experience Management (WEM) enables a business to manage its Web sites and online promotions to deliver a relevant, engaging Web experience that encourages browsers to become buyers. To ensure your company achieves its business goals online, however, it's important to determine the potential Return on Investment (ROI) when planning WEM projects.

If you have kids, you know what Transformers are. They're toys that may look like a jet, for example, but move a few parts and it turns into a robot.

The worst of the recession is behind us, and marketers are seeing budgets stabilize. Amid the slow recovery, though, direct marketers may need to re-think everything they have ever done. The picture has changed permanently. They will need to operate in a new environment that has direct marketing at its core, but goes way beyond traditional direct.

On June 25, 2009 at 5:20pm EST, TMZ announced the death of pop star Michael Jackson with a bit.ly link (a shortened link made to post on sites like Twitter). The news shocked the world, and at its peak, the bit.ly URL was getting 42 clicks every second. It's a perfect example of how people want and expect lightning-fast news.

The quality of contact data is vital to any direct marketing effort. Marketers are masters at developing catchy, well-positioned campaign messages. But if that message never reaches the intended recipient, then the effort is wasted.

From beer to banking, celebrity endorsements are a major component of many marketing campaigns. Do they have the same weight in social media? Two experts make their cases

The Web is a primary channel for driving sales, customer loyalty and operational efficiencies. Building an effective Web presence is therefore business-critical. Web Experience Management (WEM) enables a business to manage its Web sites and online promotions to deliver a relevant, engaging Web experience that encourages browsers to become buyers.