Direct Marketing

Below were my 2011 marketing predictions. Let’s journey together and see if my crystal ball needs cleaning:

I can’t really claim these are anticipated, but here they are, my 2011 predictions advertising/marketing/communication specific to the New Year. For the record, my last few years’ predictions have been accurate. Use or dismiss this prose at your discretion.

Prediction #1: Video will play a keener role in website conversions, and marketing as a whole. It’s already happening and with YouTube the second most popular search engine (that’s right, only Google is bigger), it just makes sense. Zappos and other sites already know this, so test video on your site(s) and watch conversions skyrocket. As such, SEO/SEM will play a critical role in marketing effectiveness next year.



Video is being added to every new website that we now build and is being incorporated into old sites as well. YouTube continues to grow, so I would say this was spot-on. How often do you view video content on websites compared to one year ago?

Prediction #2: Consumer and Business purchasing decision-makers are changing their buying patterns because of advances in technology and the ubiquity of information that can be had on Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Bing, Rock Melt and the like. Thus, those who understand data – specifically how that data relates to transactional occurrences by each KEY target market segment – will rule the day. This applies to both customer and prospect segments. We have trained buyers to this fact: know intuitively who I am, what I am seeking and make it as easy as possible for me to do/continue to do business with you. Those companies that don’t understand this will be watching their bottom lines evaporate.

The web is blurring the lines between B2B and B2C marketing. Relevancy is the key to making me want to buy from you. Agree?

Prediction #3: Larger companies will hire more reputation mangers to make sure they can react swiftly to the chatter – specifically the negative chatter – that is so easy to post and even easier to go viral in 2011 and beyond. It’s a trend that will continue to grow and customers/prospects gain more powerful customer relation options thanks to the the web. more

Seemingly, everyone wants to take a chance at saving the U.S. Postal Service.

Since the Postal Service’s financial troubles and incredible shrinking volume have been well chronicled in the past few years, various legislators and industry pundits have offered opinions on what the USPS needs to survive.

This week the Senate proposed a bipartisan bill titled, “21st Century Postal Service Act of 2011,” which gives the Postal Regulatory Commission a great deal of authority when it comes to potential 5-day delivery and on the USPS offering non-postal products or services. more

Imagine receiving a survey on marketing practices. Now imagine receiving a marketing practices survey consisting of 25 multi-part questions spanning several different organization areas. Now consider that at least one of the questions has five categories, four of which have seven sub-questions. Oh, and the survey sponsor wants each of these questions answered to the nearest two-decimal place.

All of a sudden, being asked one’s favorite laundry detergent doesn’t seem quite as onerous.

But the American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA) isn’t asking about preferred detergents. It’s asking about catalog marketing practices—and yes, the survey described above is exactly the one ACMA president and executive director Hamilton Davison is asking every cataloger in America to fill out. more

This is my last blog post for the BFMB. After much longer than I’d care to admit (okay, 22 years, cause you can probably look it up someplace), I am leaving Multichannel Merchant.

It’s been quite ride, to say the least. Does anyone even remember the catalog industry back in 1989? more

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe seems past his boiling point as he rehashes crucial issues connected to the uncertain financial status of the U.S. Postal Service and its questionable viability in the future. In a recent interview in The Washington Post, Donahoe referred to the annual $5.5 billion obligation to prefund retirement costs for postal workers as a “$5.5 billion millstone” — and one “that has killed us financially.”

Given the ongoing talk of five-day mail delivery, consolidation of postal and mail processing facilities, and a proposal for a new healthcare plan for USPS employees, Donahoe needs help in the form of congressional discussions and subsequent approvals of various items. Donahoe gives the impression of someone screaming at the wind, banging his head against a wall, and getting nowhere.

Let’s hear your thoughts on the chances of five-day delivery and how it would impact you: