TMI: Too Much Information
A few weeks ago, we posted a series about predictions in the marketing industry for 2014. The insights came from industry blogs and people calling themselves (or introduced as) experts in the field. Yesterday, I found an interesting flip side to those posts: The results of a comprehensive survey by StrongView of marketing leaders’ actual plans for 2014 (and the accompanying infographic).
Right on Time: Timeliness is Key to Email Marketing
Remember the days before the Do Not Call list? We all had landlines that rang at home, and since this was before the days of caller ID, you never knew if the person calling was a friend with an emergency or a telemarketer calling to sell you magazine subscriptions, “limited-edition” commemorative coins, or something else you didn’t need. Often, telemarketers struck as you were sitting down to a family dinner after a long day at work. Do you remember how annoyed you felt that the caller was intruding on your family time? How effective do you think those calls were overall?
Art School: Lessons from the Google Doodle
If you’re observant, you’ve probably noticed that the Google logo on Google.com doesn’t always look the same. Often, it correlates with the time of year or a holiday, and Google frequently chooses to highlight obscure holidays that most of us aren’t familiar with.
Do You Accept this Challenge?
Over the past few weeks, we’ve posted a survey of past (and current) predictions about the future of the marketing industry. Along with those predictions of trends in the industry, many of the sources I surveyed also pointed out what they think the big challenges of 2014 will be. Whether or not they end up being 100% accurate, it’s helpful to at least consider how your company will handle the complex realities that arise as technology advances.
Toast to the Future: Part 3
Happy New Year! As you’re recovering from your epic New Year’s Eve, planning your marketing strategies for 2014 probably isn’t your first choice in recuperating activities. Unfortunately, time marches on – which means you’d better start reading up.
Toast to the Future Part 2
It’s that time of year again. Websites are posting lists of all kinds – from silly, entertainment-centric round-ups to more serious, business-minded tallies. It’s also the time for marketing blogs post their industry forecasts for the next year.
In Part I of this post, I surveyed past predictions that marketing news sources made in 2010 and 2011. While most of these were unsurprising, a few were notably on-target. Today I’ll cover predictions made for 2012 and 2013.
A Toast to the Future: Bygone Predictions
As the end of 2013 approaches and marketing websites post their predictions 2014, I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at forecasts made in the past several years to see if they’ve come true. For my purposes, I only surveyed predictions made in 2010 or later – though perhaps I’ll do a later post looking back further. Exactly how accurate are we at making predictions about our own industry?
DISTRIBION ANNOUNCES RECORD YEAR FOR 2013
Distribion, leading provider of marketing automation platform and services, surpassed expectations this year, adding 63 new enterprise clients due to its innovative Quick Start Program, several platform upgrades, and the option for clients to use Distribion’s data acquisition, management, and retention capabilities.
Artificial Intelligence
How smart can computers get? Most of us already have smartphones we use for a thousand small tasks that used to take a lot longer to accomplish: check out library books, find the cheapest gas station by your office, Google an authoritative-sounding statistic to use in the heat of an argument. One day we’ll just leave it to the iPhone to cut the grass, babysit the kids, and serve the perfect martini. (What will I do with my weekends then?)
Digital Insanity: Gap Between Online & Offline Marketing
You might think digital marketing is already “mainstream,” but the bulk of marketing budgets still goes toward offline activities such as trade shows, radio, TV, and direct mail. According to a research study conducted in Australia and New Zealand, around 61% of marketing budgets is still spent on offline activities.
Perhaps the most interesting finding in the study shows that a business’ likelihood of investing more in online marketing depends on the size of the company’s overall budget. The study divided respondents into three groups:
