Here’s more proof, as if it was needed, that marketers are challenged when it comes to Web analytics, the science defined by the Web Analytics Association as the “measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of Internet data for the purposes of understanding and optimizing Web usage.”
Unica found in a survey that the biggest single obstacle to success is inability to integrate Web analytics with other systems. This was cited by 46% of those polled. Read the rest of this entry »
Hundreds of books and articles have been written about social media. But most fail to show that Twitter and other networks are of the slightest use to B2B marketers.
Usage patterns suggest that there is more talk than action on the b2b front.
A recent survey showed that only 38% of all business-to-business companies use social media, compared with 71% of the consumer marketers polled.
Their main obstacles? Lack of knowledge and inability to measure results. (For more results, see earlier blog post.
There are other reasons for this lack of belief. One is that many business people lack the time to go on social networks. Then there’s the resource issue.
Still, 38% is hardly a small number. It suggests that these tools do have their uses, and that it’s time to get active on them if you haven’t already.
What can the social networks do for you? First, they can help you reach customers who are attracted to what pundits call the real-time Web. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you embarrassed to tell strangers what you do for a living (i.e., direct mail)? Don’t be—your profession is honorable compared with some we could name.
Take the hustle now being pursued by Phil Viallrreal, the author of “Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel: 100 Dirty little Money Grubbing Secrets.” Like a self-help guru run amok, Phil urges consumers to “mine your junk mail for free money” (to name only one bright idea of his) and offers practical tips on how to do it. Read the rest of this entry »
The news just gets worse about direct mail. The Direct Marketing Association has revised its forecast that volume would fall by 1% this year, and is now predicting a 10% decline, according to an article in Brandweek. Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Chef Uniforms, the catalog that sells everything a professional chef could want, has awarded management of its buyers list to Edith Roman Associates. We’ve also been named as list broker. 
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Thinking of starting a blog? Don’t get any bright ideas about faking your own testimonials.
Lifestyle Lift, a cosmetic surgery franchise, did just that. And it ended up signing a $300,000 settlement with New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Read the rest of this entry »
Are people really this dumb? Scam artists are using the Obama stimulus package to separate suckers from their money.
The crook tells prospects—usually by telephone—that they might be eligible for a $25,000 grant. All they have to do is send for a booklet (of course, their credit cards are billed in perpetuity). 
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Is there anyone more slow on the uptake than the poor British direct marketer? Send an inquiry to one, and you’ve got a 25% chance of never getting a reply, according to a study by the British DMA.
The DMA emailed 100 companies to request brochures. A quarter failed to respond. And the average reaction time for those that did fulfil was 3.6 days (although that’s a slight improvement over 2005). Read the rest of this entry »