You need to know: Drake Morton
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
According to the June “2009 Marketing Trends Survey” by StrongMail Systems, even in the midst of the current recession, 42% of nearly 1,000 global business leaders polled plan to increase eMail marketing budgets in 2009, and an additional 43% plan to maintain current levels.
Good Excellent Article: Drake Morton
by David Baker , Monday, July 27, 2009
The foundations of strategy don’t change, but transferring it to email require a different level of thinking these days. I was teaching my daughter backgammon and talking about the strategy of the game. She very simply said, “My strategy is to win.” After laughing, I said “Winning isn’t a strategy, it’s a result.” But she had a good point; we seem to think very cause and effect in our business.  We either think too narrowly in determining what winning means — or we think so long-term that we lose sight of the strategic things that really worked.
Strategy to me is an evolving thing that includes establishment of goals, objectives, tactics, and an iterative methodology that allows you to create dimensional approaches across many segments, products and channels.
(more…)
by Gavin O’Malley
Marking Microsoft’s only second consecutive down quarter ever, the software giant on Thursday reported $13.10 billion in revenue during the fourth quarter — a decline of 17% from $15.83 billion.
The poor earnings come at a critical time for Microsoft as it prepares to roll out updates to nearly every one of its major products in fiscal year 2010. The Redmond-based company shocked the industry last quarter when it reported a 6% year-over-year revenue decrease, from $14.45 billion down to $13.65 billion — its first-ever year-over-year revenue decline. (more…)
by Ryan Deutsch , Thursday, July 23, 2009
Like many of you, my inbox is filled with the latest research on social media and how it will soon change the world for many email marketers. Unlike some of you, I happen to be a true believer that social media will become a critical part of not only direct marketing but email marketing specifically.
Of particular interest this week was the release of a report prepared by Wetpaint and Altimeter that looked at the world’s most valuable brands and:
(1)Â Â Â Determined which were most engaged (via social channels) with their consumers
(2)Â Â Â Drew a parallel to that engagement with financial results.
I keep telling you: Drake Morton
by Josh Chasin , Tuesday, July 21, 2009
As we’re about to put our first wise Latina on the U.S. Supreme Court, it is somewhat serendipitous that I’d been planning for some time to write about the U.S. Hispanic online marketplace. It is an interesting and fast-growing space, distinctly different from the general market, and too, distinctly different from offline U.S. Hispanic media marketplaces.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were about 43.7 million U.S. Hispanics aged 2+ as of 2008. In May 2009 comScore reported that about 21 million of them were online, representing about 10.7% of all US persons online. And the U.S. online Hispanic population is growing about three times as fast as the overall online population.
(more…)
You Should Know: Drake Morton
JULY 17, 2009
Learning and fun top the list. If idle hands are the devil’s workshop, the Internet is a pretty hot place.
According to Ruder Finn, 100% of US Internet users surveyed in Q2 2009 went online to pass the time.
Time To Clean It Up: Drake Morton
by Laurie Sullivan , Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The lack of technology that sorts and stores the mounds of data collected from cookies and ad tags could contribute to the slow adoption of behavioral targeting, according to some advertising insiders.
The culprit becomes the terabytes of data from hundreds of thousands of ad impressions collecting geographic location, content on page, time of day, interaction with ads, frequency in which ads serve up, and more.
(more…)
Information You Can Use: Drake Morton
Paid advertising on online social networks is expected to drop 3% in 2009, to $1.1 billion, but is expected to rebound next year and begin to emerge from the experimental phase, rising 13.2% - to $ 1.3 billion - in 2010 and going up from there, according to a recent forecast by eMarketer. According to the firm’s new report, “Social Network Ad Spending: A Brighter Outlook Next Year,” ad spending on social networks is expected to hit $1.4 billion in 2011.
 Excellent Read: Drake Morton
by Aaron Smith , Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The welcome email is one of the most important messages in any email program. Welcomes come at a time when subscribers are most receptive to receiving messages, generating outsize open and click-through rates. So why do so many email marketers pass up this once-in-a-business-relationship opportunity by delivering subpar welcome emails — or worse yet, none at all?
Sometimes the technology limitations of an organization’s infrastructure come into play. It also may be a result of organizational dynamics, where the group responsible for email marketing may not be in a position to change the underlying technology infrastructure used to send welcome messages. Often it’s simply the result of the email team being over-tasked, unable to add yet another project to an already overflowing queue.
(more…)
