According to DIRECT's Ken Magill, a recent announcement from AOL hints at where Internet service providers' spam-filtering techniques are headed, and "what marketers had better start doing if they want their email lists to continue to perform." Here's the scenario: Until now, senders with consistently low complaint rates earned a coveted ... more

You might not have the big-time marketing budget of a major retailer—but as the holiday season peaks, don't forget there's a secret weapon in your arsenal. "Email marketing campaigns are affordable, and can help small retailers to compete with the big boys during this crucial sales period, " says Wendy Lowe ... more

In late October, Twitter launched its Lists feature, which might just improve your life in a panoply of organization-friendly ways. The new feature helps you sort your own contacts based on personal relevance, but—maybe more importantly—it also provides you with ready-made groups of people to which to target your messages. ... more

"You've decided to launch a blog for your business and you're busy laying the groundwork," says Mack Collier in an article at MarketingProfs. "You've selected a name for it, and you know what you want to blog about and who your bloggers will be." In the midst of your big ideas, ... more

Few companies have been spared the ravages of the recession, but some strategies seem to be working to help small businesses stay afloat. In a recent article at Inc., Elizabeth Wasserman suggests tactics that small retailers might employ to add some ho-ho-ho to the late-holiday sales season—and boost results in the ... more

If you've ever pitched the idea of creating an email preference center to your team, you know what a tough sell it can be. "I had a meeting this morning where we started to list out all the different country and local laws governing choices across various brand-service agreements," writes ... more

In a video at TED.com, Israeli conductor Itay Talgam gives a spirited 20-minute talk on what modern leaders could learn from great conductors. Interestingly, a lot of the principles he presents in the video can apply to nourishing a social-media campaign. Here are some of his words of wisdom that can cross over ... more

"Before the current recession," writes Mark Dolliver in an article at Adweek, "popular wisdom said wealthy people tended to be relatively untouched by the ups and downs of the economy and would keep buying high-end products and services no matter what." Well, times have changed. If your business serves the luxury ... more

As phishers (criminals masquerading as trusted entities to grab usernames, passwords and credit card info) become more sophisticated, and your subscribers become more cautious about online commerce, it's important to know how the average customer vets the marketing messages you send—especially those in which you request personal information. A legitimate appearance—in ... more

Few things are as irresistible as a mobile game that lets players rack points up during waiting-room or bus-ride lulls. But if you're a brick-and-mortar shop, or a restaurant, there isn't much incentive for throwing another branded version of Tetris out into the ether. What to do, what to do? Solution: Hook up ... more

"Looking for a way to punch up your email campaigns and get subscribers more engaged with your site?" Julie Waite asks in a recent post at the Bronto blog. "Product reviews may be the answer," she says. "Implementing product review functionality on your site can help seal the deal and convince ... more

Copywriters Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner of Editorial Emergency openly embrace the use of sophisticated vocabulary. They do, however, wince when a speaker or writer chooses an overly complex term because they think it sounds smarter or more authoritative. Because rarely is that the case. "I'm convinced the fear of sounding ... more

In a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog, Adam Singer summarizes Charlene Li's keynote at Search Engine Strategies San Jose last summer. Co-author of the business bestseller Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, and a MarketingProfs presenter, Li examines the intersection of search and social media. According ... more

You're in the business of communicating, and in the age of Internet-and-mobile, your platforms for doing so have expanded almost exponentially. But here's a down side: From fielding phone calls to checking email to ensuring your personal/company blog and Twitter accounts are well-populated, how do you manage it all? Lucky for you, slews of ... more

In March 2008, Amber Duick began receiving email messages from a criminal fugitive who identified himself as Sebastian Fowler. "Amber, mate!" read one missive. "Coming 2 Los Angeles. Gonna lay low at your place for a bit till it all blows over." Over the course of five days, he advised ... more

Kevin Nalts, a marketing director who produces hi-lar-ious videos on YouTube under the handle nalts, once joked that after cutting a bazillion notches into his belt, he still has no idea what makes a viral hit with users. And that's the accepted wisdom: Creating a truly viral video—something people want to ... more

"Give a man a hammer," says Lori Feldman at The Database Diva blog, "and everything looks like a nail. Email marketing campaign software often has the same effect on novice email marketers. They forget how much they hate advertising mail when they start sending it out themselves." It's a hazardous mindset—and ... more

Last month, we offered a bunch of options for optimizing your local search advertising. Well, here's a way to extend your local search marketing options even further: through your good-old local news guys. In a recent article at Search Engine Land, KeyRelevance's Chris Silver Smith suggests three ways to optimize ... more

Marketing messages with personalized subject lines usually fail to impress DJ Waldow. "[Most] of those emails use my first name as the 'hook' to get me to open," he writes in a recent post at the Email Experience Council blog. "This never works for me. Never. I know it's fake. ... more

"It's certainly not unusual that a stand up comedian like Tim Washer would be producing absurdist viral videos," notes AdAge. "What is surprising is that the IBM communications executive is doing so for his straight-laced corporate employer." Washer's first mini-mockumentary for the conservative company was called Mainframe: The Art of the ... more

Hoping to position Lufthansa as bigger than just a German airline, digital agency Profero has helped it create MySkyStatus—a tool that has brought Lufthansa's branding catch-phrase, "passion for precision," to life in a hands-on way. "Communications needs to have a use," explains Profero's Wayne Arnold in a recent article at Adweek. "Saying ... more

Warren Katz uses a post at the Elephant Bites blog to discuss the recession-driven microtrend of "glamping"—a freshly coined portmanteau for glamorous camping. In essence, its proponents want the low-budget benefit of a holiday in the great outdoors, but don't care to leave all the luxuries of home behind. "So, who ... more

Last summer, Morgan Stewart of ExactTarget quizzed 2,400 people on their attitudes toward marketing and made an interesting discovery. "70% of consumers who visit Facebook at least once a month and are a 'fan' of at least one company or brand, don't believe they have given those companies permission to ... more

Not all Spanish speakers want the same thing from a website—many more factors than just language are at play.That's why, Tamara Barber explains in a post at the Forrester blog, research on customers' preferences led Best Buy and Allstate to dramatically different conclusions: "Best Buy," she notes, "has learned ... more

Does the URL to your Web page sizzle? In a recent Bloggapedia post, online marketer Bill Hartzer reports on the Alexa Toolbar's popular Alexa Hot URLs list. According to Hartzer, the list presents "the hottest Web pages on the Internet right now," and it's updated every five minutes! That should ... more