Just 384 More Shopping Days Left till Christmas 2007: A Call to (Early) Action
At this point, you’ve done just about all you could to ensure your best holiday 2006 success. And based on the results from last week’s poll on our home page, most catalogers should have a successful season. The results showed that 70 percent of readers who voted project that their holiday sales will be up over last year. This indicates a robust holiday season for most of our readers’ companies.
As impressive as that seems, it still leaves a sizable number of catalogers who expect their sales to be flat or down. This makes me wonder both what went wrong and how we as a community can help out for next year.
I’d like to hear from both groups. Are your results due to your products or your marketing? Supply and demand issues? Operating issues? Creative issues?
What are you attributing your success or failure to? And what are you doing to either top your results or correct the lag for next year? Which channels are working for you? Which are not?
As direct marketers, we always strive to improve year over year. Let’s begin next year by defining some of the ways we can all improve our game in the future.
Consider this a call to action for 2007. Thanks for reading, please post your comments below and we can discuss them over the next few weeks.
Jim Gilbert is president of Gilbert Direct Marketing and a professor of direct marketing at Miami International University of Art and Design. He can be reached at jimdirect@aol.com.
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Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
