Catalog creatives generally feel like they live in a different universe than circulation folks. However, both share the same catalog goals and you'll find you can achieve those goals faster and better by communicating with each other. Here are some tips on how and when to talk. Before You Begin Your Next Design Cycle 1.…
The fashion times are a-changin’. New products have an estimated failure rate of 50 percent, costing over $400 billion each year collecting dust on store shelves. With that kind of risk involved, a systematic assessment of consumer preferences should be par for the course. However, retailers are constantly struggling to determine what styles consumers are…
Being bored with your catalog design is a terrible reason for a redesign. Your feelings don’t count; your customers’ feelings do.
When I post an article anywhere as part of my content marketing strategy, I need to know how it's performing so I can improve my writing and, hopefully, improve lead generation for my marketing consulting practice. So I was pleasantly surprised yesterday morning when I found a new button on each of my LinkedIn Pulse posts allowing me to track my results!
Are your catalog and products unique? Are they loaded with customer benefits? If "yes" to both, are you also telling your benefit and unique story well enough to your customers?
A few weeks ago, Twitter made a major change to its user interface allowing marketers to break the barrier of the 140-character limit. To those of us who found the 140-character limit challenging, this is excellent news. To others just wanting to "say more," you're going to love this new feature.
As Facebook becomes more pay for play, I've really stepped up my game on Twitter. Previously, Twitter was the least important part of my social strategy. Turns out I was missing an opportunity. Not only is Twitter perfect for getting my articles out there and shared, but it's also a great "REALationship" building tool. I've been actively engaged on Twitter for the last six months, and I've gained nearly 1,700 followers. This is pretty much a step-by-step guide to how I did it:
Call me a heretic, but a lot of the "gospel of modern digital marketing" seems a bit too familiar to me. Digital marketers have done a great job of discrediting "traditional" direct marketing in an effort to make what they're selling (pure digital) more palatable. I get it. They need an edge, and bashing channels like DRTV and direct mail, while building up search engine optimization, inbound and social makes sense for them. But lets get real for a minute, shall we? Many digital marketers "coming up" don't even know where the rules they practice daily come from. Yet they still say traditional direct marketing is dead. Makes no sense, right?
Cost cutting among catalog brands has been widespread for the past few years — and with good results. It's kept many catalogers afloat during the recent tough times, and helped build profits as well as operational disciplines. All that's swell, but beware of going to extremes and overcutting in ways that could harm. Here are four ways that, reliably for most, increase sales and return on investment, and therefore should be on your do-not-cut list:
As a marketer, I've put my best efforts into building not just likes, but deeply engaged communities on Facebook. And when you changed Facebook to a "pay for play" business, I had to pay to build my fan base, and then pay again to get my posts out (i.e., boosted) to the same fans, I accepted it for a while. But now I have to ask you this: Why the double whammy, Mark?
