In this age of big data, big claims and big hopes about maximizing the value of data to create sales, marketing analytics plays a central role. Despite all the attention it receives, there are some enduring misconceptions about what marketing analytics can and cannot do. Here are four top “urban legends” about how marketing analytics… Read More
Marketing in a downturn takes nerves of steel. Study after study shows that, tough as a downturn can be, it’s actually an opportunity. Marketers with the guts to invest when conditions look bleak always emerge from a downturn stronger than if they’d headed for the storm shelter and pushed marketing to the back burner till… Read More
You can’t kick back in this business. Over my many years producing software, I’ve learned that you can’t relax and coast on previous work. There’s always room for a better version, even when you have produced something as game-changing as Longbow, our SaaS platform that aspires to be ‘direct marketing in a box.’ And of… Read More
Relevance has always been the key to successful marketing. Long before the rise of advertising and mass distribution local merchants knew their customers needs because their customers were their neighbors. The relationship was 1:1. It worked but it didn’t ‘scale’. Now, 21st century technology has made relevance possible once again. And what we’ve learned with… Read More
Direct marketing to your existing customers, the best way to grow revenue for most companies, is like a three-legged stool. The three legs are customer data, customer analytics, and customer campaigns. Remove any leg and the stool falls over. Without customer data, you’re flying blind – forced to use newspapers, TV, pay-per-click, and take a… Read More
Last year, an industry insider said that “all marketing will become direct marketing.” But direct marketing itself is changing rapidly and dramatically as two important trends are influencing the thinking of marketers: Response rates are low and going lower Companies with more individualized messaging are seeing distinctly improved results The figure shows the evolution we… Read More