A Checklist of Digital Marketing’s Deadliest Sins

Digital marketing can be challenging. But your chances for success are much greater when you can avoid the (sometimes) simple pitfalls that sabotage response. So we have decided to start a checklist of “response killers”– things that can ruin your chances for productive digital marketing results.

This list is intended as a reference to help assure better performance from your Web, email, mobile, and social media efforts. We’re leading off with 25 deadly sins, in no specific order, and we’re looking for the input of our blog readers to add to the list. So read on…and contribute your own ideas for things to avoid if you want to achieve “killer response”. Read more…

Think about this when developing your marketing campaigns.

Who would you respond to? Someone who tracks you down, cajoles you, and relentlessly lurks in the shadows, or someone who makes you feel special in their presence?

For years, most marketers have been stalkers. We define and segment our target consumers, follow their every move so our marketing messages can reach them through whatever media they use, and hit them repeatedly with “act now” messages. As a result, our stalked audiences turn to media where they think they can escape marketing messages, like digital social networks and mobile channels. Of course, they can’t escape for long, because advertisers are always trying to get their messages wherever consumers’ eyeballs are. (And the media owners are usually all too happy to cooperate for the advertising revenue.) Read more…

A discussion of what we really want out of this overwhelming trend to “do social media” and the question of how to measure whatever it is we are doing…

During my career I worked at a sales promotion agency, helping them to master the art and science of direct marketing. One of their production folks, Joe, was particularly adept at coming up with unique descriptions of things. One afternoon I came in to his office needing a quick measurement of a piece of card stock. With a smirk on his face,  Joe sat back in his chair and began to question me on really what I needed to know and why. Frustrated, I had no choice but to go along as Joe went through several measurement options with definitions on each – thickness, size, weight for postage, or to calculate machine-ability. Read more…

This blog entry picks up on a topic I covered in a recent presentation at the DMA Agency Council Winter Executive Briefing conference..

Having been deeply involved for many years on the Boards of the DMA International ECHO Awards and the John Caples International Awards, I’ve become a pretty knowledgeable observer of trends in effective direct marketing campaigns.  A review of the past year’s awards season shows that many of the world’s top award winners put participatory digital media at the heart of their campaigns. Read more…