In June, I'm participating in a panel discussion on direct mail strategies at the annual New England Direct Marketing Association Our obligation is to focus on what's new -- or what's changed in the last few years. Some would argue that the big news is technology -- more sophisticated data ... more

For 4 years the results of shoddy contractor work have been staring me in the face. That is, until I employed a handyman last The gentleman was extremely polite with a candor and general mechanical knowledge that one rarely finds in the city. (He, in fact, hailed from Iowa.) Throughout ... more

As marketing communications professionals, we've often been accused by colleagues as being anal and OCD -- always so obsessed with proper standards, spelling, formatting, etc. In larger organizations, those communications standards manuals we create for employees may sit and collect dust. It's just another chore for staff to think about, ... more

Here's an E-Z way to make more money the next time you change Do tell the HR department or hiring manager of the company with which you're interviewing how much you make in your present Trust me, they'll always ask "How much are you making Do tell them! They'll look ... more

" A site that contains a melodramatic and droll video about a family whose credit card has been phished for a mysterious purchase in was launched by today to promote its online security The campaign is created by The Night , who no doubt hopes that the quirky site will ... more

Is Phil Angelides a better marketer than you are? Angelides, a democratic candidate for governor of California, is in the same position that his opponents are, he needs to find a way to reach the millions of young voters in his state. more

I know you are thinking another MySpace bashing post, but that's not entirely I don't dislike MySpace, but I do think people need to put it in perspective and use it wisely for advertising. Take this article posted on the San Francisco Cronicle called, Candidates invade MySpace. Gubernatorial hopefuls seek ... more

Let's hope that professional sports continue to rebrand their organizations and espouse/renew their commitment to the values that legions of their fans hold dear. more

As the adage goes there's always a first time for So today all the advertisers out there who are responsible for allowing so much #@$& crap to get by can actually take a deep breath and relax as I focus my attention on what I consider to be one of ... more

I'm sitting in the living room listening to Sinatra singing "Where or When" and think I'm in the perfect place at the right time to enjoy it. If I were working out in the gym, neither time nor place would be right for Sinatra. All the good folks at MarketingProfs ... more

It's the chicken-and-the-egg quandary. As marketers, we don't have time for competitive intelligence because we're focused on direct marketing campaigns, trade shows ...anything involving creating customer interactions. However, three months later when competing in a major deal, with millions of dollars on the line, sales management wonders why marketing hasn't ... more

One of the latest TV spots from Hershey wants us all to believe that their Take 5 Candy Bar is better than having any number of high-end The commercial opens with two dumb-asses, looking stoned out of their minds, operating an arcade crane machine. Instead of being filled with stuffed-plush ... more

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. In fact, fear may be very useful for marketers who need to shake up their Best Buy's CEO Brad Anderson recognizes that fear is a strong motivator of management. Outside his office, you'll encounter a "retail hospital," incuding, "a row ... more

Is the mecca of broken Macs in Before there were Mac geniuses and genius bars to wait to be noticed at... there was Tekserve. Tekserve has always had an extremely good word of mouth, if you had a Mac and you had a problem someone would clue you in to ... more

I just delivered a keynote the University of Michigan Alumni in New York ... clearly a career-minded group of They really got the message about personal branding. I was surprised, however, to learn that most of them have not focused on building their on-line . Virtually all of them had ... more

You need to decide whether the value of having search on your Web site is greater than the cost of making sure that you do it About 2,700 visitors carried out approximately 5,500 searches on my site in 2005. In total, there were 124,692 visitors and 1,232,773 page views during ... more

Determining how much you can afford to invest in your international expansion efforts can be a tricky Many people ask "Will it be based on ten percent of my domestic business profits or on a pay-as-I-can-afford process?" That's an excellent question. And my answer It depends. If we lived in ... more

My friend Art beat me to the punch this week by a Washington Post on a suit by Newark, NJ-based Crafts by Veronica against Yahoo. I was originally going to reference the Star article but a combination of the two will work It seems that Crafts by Veronica brought a ... more

I spoke on the subject of Customer Experience Management at the annual MarketingProfs retreat a few weeks We talked a lot about the concept I've been promoting for a few years called the "three word and went through a list of brands that really understand the rule and how to ... more

I'm on a new campaign. (Old campaign, really, but renewed vigor–and I single it out from the I am trying to put ... SALES ... back on the pedestal it deserves. In the process I suppose I'm down-grading marketing–and that's more than okay per me. Of course I think marketing ... more

Is your expense account occasionally a source of Have you ever walked into a conference through an unattended the door and billed your company for the admission? Did you leave one firm and take your clients with These are the sort of issues .... some clear-cut, some ethical hair-splitting .... ... more

I've just started to do some research on women and philanthropy for an upcoming ...and so have been focusing on what it takes to inspire women to give money to their various alumni associations, churches or While I was online digging around for research, I came across a recent Tom ... more

This week I have stayed at three different hotel chains .... , and (I am usually more loyal than this .... but had no They are all building their brands through association with other brands. They realize that when they focus on what they do and partner with those who ... more

Philips missed an opportunity to be truly clever with the introduction of its Norelco Bodygroom Sure, it's risque. I guess Norelco gets points for pushing the envelope a But it's also nuts, carrots and the objects-here-are-larger-than-they-appear sort of stuff. Enough The best part of the ad is the (Thanks to ... more

Literally of CEOs, marketing officers, analysts, engineers and other corporate employees are Yet you'll be hard-pressed to find most corporate blogs through the company Web sites. My guess is that lawyers or PR departments are a more than a little nervous about this whole new media, "listen to your customers" ... more