There’s been so much buzz lately about QR codes and social media that it’s easy to forget about some tried and true – even “old fashioned” marketing tools. But here are four that research shows should still be at or near the top of your distributed marketing checklist. Why? Because they work! Adding these four “old-fashioned” […]
Best Practices.
What to Do When Customer Service Meets Social Media: 5 Basic Lessons
In June 1984, the first online customer support forum for computer users sponsored by a computer maker opened its virtual doors on CompuServe on a Tuesday morning. Around noon on Thursday, the volume of inquiries was running about five times what the company planners had projected, and by the end of the day on Friday, […]
New Multi-Channel Marketing Priorities
In July, The Distributed Marketing Blog completed its first survey of marketing executives. We asked about their current spending priorities, spending plans for 2012, their view of how effective various marketing channels were, and how they selected different marketing communications tools. So far, we’ve published three sets of data tables that detailed some of the […]
2012 Budget Survey Results: Spending Plans Shift toward Social, Mobile
According to a new survey conducted July 5-20, 2011, spending plans for 2012 are shifting towards social and mobile marketing communications channels, as marketers at large and small businesses begin the process of preparing their budgets for the coming year. Survey responses highlighted below focus on marketing objectives, spending priorities, and spending plans. The first table shows […]
Ready Access to Marketing Collateral Predicts Sales Success
Although 2011 has been a good year compared to the last two, most sales and marketing organizations still face many challenges including the lingering economic downturn, a hyper competitive business landscape, and rising customer expectations. Add in the complexity that comes with multi-channel communications and complying with burgeoning regulatory requirements, and it’s easy to see […]
7 Best Practices for Mobile Email
According to both Forrester and Gartner, about 76% of U.S. workers have access to email on mobile devices today, and globally, it’s approximately 60% of all full-time employees. Forrester projects universal email access on mobile devices by 2014. Most marketers already know how to design good-looking, well-written HTML email messages that get results. But how […]
Are you settling for marketing mediocrity?
Social Media Today just published a list of the 10 Most Common Oversights in Digital Marketing. It’s an interesting list of common mistakes marketers make in social media. One of the ten (#8) jumps out at anyone who’s ever managed a multi-channel marketing campaign in a distributed marketing organization: Settling for mediocrity: In the age of superior […]
Happy 40th Birthday, Email!
http://flic.kr/p/86P7Yw Forty years ago, engineer Ray Tomlinson sent the first electronic mail message. No one remembers now what the message said, only that it was short and difficult to compose. But whatever it said, it changed the communications picture forever. When he showed his work to a colleague, he was told firmly, “Don’t go telling anyone! […]
What Channels Deliver the Best Results?
In the first quarter of 2011, Gleanster conducted the Multi-Channel Marketing Management Survey in which CMO’s were asked to select the two most effective communications channels. Traditional marketing tools beat out newer tools by a wide margin. Why? The survey report concludes that one of the major reasons is that most companies have not yet invested the […]
A Casket Salesman’s Lesson on Infrequent Customer Loyalty
Brand marketers invest billions creating an emotional connection between their brand and prospective or current customers. In fast food, packaged goods, entertainment, fashion, automotive marketing and many other industries, brand loyalty is the Holy Grail for marketing. For any distributed marketing organization – companies who rely on franchise networks, VARs, dealers, agents, or chain store […]
Please Don’t Feed the Trolls
There are two kinds of trolls on the Internet — and that’s if you discount the ones in the role-playing and Sci-Fi sites. As a marketer, you’ll want to avoid feeding both breeds. The first species that threatens online marketers is the copyright troll. These are law firms who license the right to sue from copyright […]
Risky business – or manageable risk?
An interesting question was asked recently during a webinar titled Marketing & Compliance in a Regulated Environment (presentation download — recorded webinar — Q&A). The two-part question came up after one of the panelists said that companies in a regulated environment should “vet” links and comments. The first question was: What do you mean by “vetting” […]