Customers … why don’t they just do what we want? That would make direct marketing so much easier, wouldn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. In today’s marketing climate—with so many choices, technological devices and brand messages bombarding the senses—it’s more difficult than ever to get customers to do anything, let alone what you want […]
Great catalogs are no longer just about selling products. They must go further to emotionally connect with readers; they must offer options that engage customers; they must allow customers complete control over when and how they shop. The era of Catalog 2.0 has begun, and marketers are scrambling to keep up. One thing that hasn’t […]
Catalogs today are about much more than selling products in print. They need to be compelling engagement tools that reinforce the brand, build customer relationships, stimulate desire and solve problems. A great catalog creates a “desire dance” — that stirring of interest that leads the reader deeper into the brand and down the path to […]
Ever since the first order came over the Internet, people have been predicting the eventual death of the print catalog. Yet for many multichannel merchants, especially those brands that began as catalogs, this predictable and proven tactic continues to generate sales. It’s also key to file retention. In fact, several noncatalog brands are beginning to […]
Here’s a depressing stat: About 80% of catalogs received in the mail get thrown away without so much as a peek inside the cover. So after all the planning, list segmentation, careful consideration of product mix and offers, design and costs, a vast majority of catalogs go directly to the recycle bin. Ouch. Considering the […]
Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion asserts that for every action, there is a reaction. Who knew that the laws of classical mechanics Newton discovered nearly 400 years ago could apply to multichannel marketing? Had Newton been referring to modern marketing, he might have reworded the law as “For every customer action, there should […]
Merchants tend to view customer service as a purchase activity; one of receiving and shipping an order. But in this new era of marketing, how we “serve” the consumer requires a new line of thinking and, therefore, a new dimension of marketing. How do you make service a part of your marketing? An accommodation marketing […]
What’s the single biggest mistake that most marketers make when it comes to delivering a brand experience? Communicating your brand to customers only. Are you guilty? Or are you really building an experience from the ground up? To answer this question, consider this scenario. Pretend you’re walking down the street and you happen upon two […]
In the multichannel world, we like to measure things. Every marketing dollar spent is, ideally, associated with a return on investment, though it is getting harder to track and measure. There is one metric that does not lie that you don’t have to chase: your average order value. And it’s an important one. If you’ve […]