We all use purchasing data to guide our marketing plans. The recency since last purchase, frequency of purchases, and the total amount spent have been the cornerstones for predicting customer performance in direct marketing for over 50 years. We have gotten better at refining RFM using other purchasing signals, such as products or category purchased Read More Using Website Data to Understand Intent
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From My Inbox: Gentle Critique of an Email Marketing Program Resurrected, Part 1
From time to time I’ll pull a message from my inbox and do a walk-through of its pros and cons. These gentle critiques are intended to educate; I hope that the companies mentioned as well as readers will keep that top of mind. I received this email earlier this year from a long-time industry acquaintance we’ll Read More From My Inbox: Gentle Critique of an Email Marketing Program Resurrected, Part 1
Age of Amazon: The New Reality of Marketing Strategy, Audience Development, and Merchandising
As we head into 2017, it’s more apparent than ever that a paradigm shift is occurring. While catalog and direct mail continues to experience a resurgence, we are entering a new reality where many of the older, standard catalog and direct mail list and circulation practices are increasingly being overshadowed by Amazon and the Amazon Read More Age of Amazon: The New Reality of Marketing Strategy, Audience Development, and Merchandising
How to Kick Your Retail Store Sales into High Gear
Last week I was sad to read that one of the first “brick and mortar” clients I worked with 20 years ago had declared bankruptcy. I was reminded of the initial project that I did for them. They had hugely expanded their catalog program, mailing many millions of catalogs over the year, but with results Read More How to Kick Your Retail Store Sales into High Gear
Simplifying Your Catalog Selections: House File Modeling
Have you ever heard the phrase, “work smarter, not harder?” Do you typically spend hours making your mail selects for each drop, using the traditional RFM approach? One way of reducing the time it takes to make final mail selections is by using a house file scoring system. This system converts the variables you typically Read More Simplifying Your Catalog Selections: House File Modeling
Great Retailers Have Great Merchants
I recently read an article in the Wall Street Journal, titled: “Data Pushes Aside Chief Merchants”? The article reported that “intuition is being displaced by algorithms,” and that a new breed of chief merchant is being hired by large companies such as Kohl’s, Target, and Walmart. The new merchant is more likely to have come Read More Great Retailers Have Great Merchants
Million Dollar Multis
Want to make a quick million? Sure you do! I’ll tell you how. And no, I’m not a scammer. Over and over again, when CohereOne completes a best practice review of the marketing program of a mid-size catalog company, we find an easy fix that delivers $1,000,000+ dollars straight to the bottom line. In this case, Read More Million Dollar Multis
Summer To-Do List: Deep Work with a Beach Ball
In my closing session at last month’s CohereOne Integrated Marketing Summit, I shared several concepts from authors’ work whose messages have significantly influenced my strategic branding work. In case you missed the Summit (a wonderful gathering of curious, smart and growth-oriented marketers, merchants and creatives!), may I suggest you add this excellent and thought-provoking book Read More Summer To-Do List: Deep Work with a Beach Ball
Engage and Integrate Facebook Into Your Marketing Plans
Obviously, Facebook needs no introduction! Not only has it survived, but it has thrived. Today, Facebook has 1.8 billion active audience members and has become the largest and most popular social network. Because of this massive user base that uses every type of content distribution, it’s one of the most heavily used social platforms in Read More Engage and Integrate Facebook Into Your Marketing Plans
It’s All About the Product!
Last month I attended the NEMOA (National eTailing and Mailing Organization of America) conference in Boston. They celebrated their 70th anniversary, which is quite an accomplishment for a conference these days. Like most marketing conferences today the sessions focused heavily on email, digital, and social marketing. The final session included panelists sharing their ideas on Read More It’s All About the Product!