Summertime Marketing News Roundup

As you’re gearing up for your back to school and fall campaigns, here’s a look at some of the late summer news from around the industry that you might find useful. With the start of the school year just around the corner, a recent piece in Internet Retailer revealed that 54% of consumers prefer to […]

Why Marketers Need a DMP

Now that you know what a data management platform (DMP) is, let’s take a look at how you can use it to enrich your customer profiles and enhance the customer experience. Once a robust DMP solution is in place, data from multiple sources comes together to enrich universal profiles within a single unified platform. No […]

Chevy Volt’s Impressive Advocate Marketing

I drive a Chevy Volt. And, like the testimonials in the commercials, I love it. I post on Facebook about my mileage (currently 157 mpg) and share with anyone who asks how much I like the car. Suffice it to say that I’m not an impartial observer to the Chevy marketing team’s latest efforts to […]

What Civilians Can Learn from Army Marketers

As we pause to celebrate Memorial Day and honor those who served the U.S. Armed Forces, I was curious about the military’s use of digital marketing and social media for the recruitment of new soldiers. Of course marketing a product or service can be challenging, but the idea of shaping a message so powerful that […]

Smarter Marketing with Digital Intelligence

In the coming months, it’s the data that will make the difference, especially when it’s applied to marketing activity across channels. While enterprise-sized corporations wrestle with internal issues and long-held channel-specific messaging strategies, the nimble mid-sized marketers instead can swiftly rise above the fray and respond to what the market demands. It’s a great time […]

Online Retail Forecast is Sunny

I find it interesting how consumers, who just a few years ago were afraid to type a card number into a computer, are now embracing the eCommerce like never before. On Monday, Forrester Research Inc. released its “US Online Retail Forecast, 2011 To 2016” report (by analyst Sucharita Mulpara). Things look good. eCommerce sales topped […]

Five Trends to Watch in 2012: Part 4

Consumer privacy is hardly a new trend. When I wrote on consumer privacy at the beginning of 2011, the focus was on consumer backlash against brands and marketers who take liberties with consumer data (or at least the consumer backlash against the perception of impropriety by digital marketers). 2011 was the year of the educated […]

Five Trends to Watch in 2012: Part 2

On Wednesday I began what has now become a yearly tradition of sharing some of the direct digital marketing trends I think will make a big impact this year. I started off with trend one of five: Mobile and Social Own the Conversation. 2011 was a year where marketers understood the importance and value of […]

Five Trends to Watch in 2012: Part 1

Last year at this time, I itemized trends for 2011. As before, my disclaimer remains the same: I am directly tapping my professional experiences of the last year, including discussions with customers, prospects, partners, peers and colleagues. I am referencing my own research and analysis, and I may have also consulted the Internet for its […]

Top Direct Digital Marketing Posts of 2011

2011 has been full of interesting developments in the direct digital marketing industry: The Do Not Track concept continued to be a hot topic among marketers, consumers and privacy advocates, Verizon finally got its hands on the iPhone, and AT&T made a failed attempt to acquire T-Mobile. It’s also been a great year here at […]