The notions that “the customer is king” and “the customer is always right” have been marketing gospel for generations of business school grads and brand managers. I’d never suggest that a strong customer focus shouldn’t be a key element of any brand’s marketing efforts. But how do marketers keep “King Customer” from becoming a total […]
In early 2017, IKEA launched a catalog with the cover tagline, “Designed for people, not consumers.” And it continued on the inside cover: “Everything we do is driven by the needs and dreams of real people. … We make products and solutions with someone in mind.” Their message resonated with me. During the almost 10 […]
Ecommerce has been changing at digital speed since it showed up in the marketing world 25 years ago. Print marketing has taken 100 years to evolve from the early days of newspaper to magazines, then to direct mail and finally catalogs. Catalog circulation is the sturdy bedrock art of targeting what records to mail, when […]
Not too long ago, catalog was king. We’d toss our e-commerce creative team the bones of our catalog feast to make their meal. But we’re past that, right? We need to give our websites the same love our catalogs get; they’re completely co-dependent sharing the same audience. That’s right, it’s ONE CHANNEL! Think of it […]
(No, not you. Your catalog!) If you haven’t heard, the United States Postal Service has increased the piece rate weight limit for catalog mailings. As of January 22, 2017, your catalog can qualify for the Flat-Size Marketing Mail postal piece rate if it weighs 4.0 ounces or less (up from the long-reigning 3.3 ounces). With […]
How to gamble on new ideas without losing big I just spent this past weekend in Vegas. Nice little getaway. Saw a show, played a few slots, danced with a monkey (don’t ask). But as I contemplated how much to wager at the Blackjack table, it occurred to me that there are no sure bets. […]
Sorry for the clickbait title. I see it all over the web, so I assumed it must get an AMAZING response, and I wanted to test it. Now you deserve a payoff, so I’ll share with you the most interesting test I helped conduct this year, in which we tested some catalog creative for a […]
“Marketing is rapidly becoming one of the most technology-dependent functions in business.” In 2012, consulting firm Gartner predicted that by 2017, a company’s chief marketing officer will be spending more on technology than its chief information officer.” (Harvard Business Review, July-August 2014) Wow, technology expense as a variable marketing cost is quite a concept! It […]
Forget going to the gym more often or eating better or any other resolutions you’ll abandon by mid-February. I’ve made a list of New Year’s resolutions for 2017 … and they’re all about catalogs. Ignore any proclamations of catalogs going away. They’re still here. They’re still relevant. And they can be better than ever. Because […]
