A New Generation of Media Experts
Image via CrunchBase I’ve recently become obsessed with YouTube. In particular, I’ve been watching people who are creating mini-media brands by reviewing products in very specific niches. Before I dig into the videos themselves, I want to share why I am so enamored with them. An entire generation is growing with the content, marketing, sales, […]
The Best-Ever Social Media Campaigns
Image by bobster855 via Flickr Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice was just another guy brand with an entertaining spokesman in its TV commercials until the brand’s agency, Wieden + Kennedy, put Isaiah Mustafa on the Web recently and invited fans to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media outlets to pose questions that he quickly […]
Digital Comics Show Potential As Ad Platform
While most mainstream attention at last month’s Comic-Con convention in San Diego was centered on Hollywood stars such as Angelina Jolie, Will Farrell and Sylvester Stallone, comic book publishing executives were taking a close look at the future of their business and the hope that switching to digital will re-energize an industry that’s been stagnant […]
Twitter MOOD MAP Could Guide Editorial & Brand Management
Harvard and Northeastern University have partnered to create a “mood map” that depicts happiness levels across the U.S. throughout the day using data pulled from millions of Twitter accounts. While the research is interesting, the opportunity for ABM members to apply this level of analysis to brand and relationship management is truly exciting. University researchers […]
7 Reasons Print Will Make a Comeback in 2011
You’ll find no greater supporter of online content marketing than me, but marketers and agencies are talking up print for 2011. Yes, in the era or iPads and Apps, there is still a role for print. Jeff Jarvis recently wrote about how media companies need to ignore print. The physical costs of production and distribution […]
Paul Castain: 247 Billion Emails & 6 Ways To Rethink Them!
According to the latest report from Radicati Group, there are 247 billion emails sent worldwide each day. That number will more than double to 507 billion by 2013! My initial response to those findings were “OK, but how many of those emails are those stupid poems about butterflies that if you don’t forward it to […]
Smart practices for b-to-b newsletters
Prioritizing content is often an afterthought for too many business-to-business marketers, including in their e-mail marketing. In fact, in the recent “2010 E-mail Marketing Benchmark Report” from MarketingSherpa,” content relevancy was named the No. 1 challenge for e-mail marketers — especially b-to-b marketers. Unfortunately, too much time is spent on logistics and planning while content […]
Report claims DM brings in a third of sales to retail sector
The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has released its first Value of DM report, revealing that direct marketing contributed more than a third of sales to the retail sector in 2009. The report, which polled 412 companies engaged in DM across a number of sectors, found that £102bn of the retail industry’s £285bn revenues last year […]
Demystifying Google and Verizon’s Proposed Policy for the Open Internet
Google and Verizon have released a joint public policy proposal for the open Internet outlining how broadband providers can control how their users receive content. The proposal, which was announced earlier today by the companies’ CEOs in a conference call, is meant as a legal framework. It intends to please consumers who want to choose […]
How persuasive is your website’s copy? A simple, five-step checklist
As a web designer, you’re probably accustomed to obsessing over the layout and visual appearance of your designs. And if you’re like most, a site’s content is something you’d rather not worry about. But being able to identify weak web copy allows you to offer greater value to your client. By spotting major problems and […]
How Wheat Thins Mined Twitter to Surprise Fans
The best path to the heart is still the stomach, and Nabisco apparently knows it. The company recently began mining Twitter to find customers who love its Wheat Thins crackers and give a lucky few of them the surprise of their lives. Here’s how the company and its agency of choice Escape Pod executed the […]
DMA introduces a YouTube channel on email best practices
The Direct Marketing Association has launched a YouTube channel to help marketers in their email efforts. Video clips uploaded to date cover such topics as how to assess deliverability, creative development, and compelling welcome emails following conversion. DMA’s Email Experience Council is the sponsor of the Email Experience Channel. Its initial featured videos include advice […]