Monthly Archives: March 2010

Generating Traffic From YouTube: A Different Approach

March 31, 2010 – 4:15 am

This month’s issue of Internet Retailer reported on a different way to tap into the marketing potential of YouTube. Instead of starting their own YouTube channel and building traffic over time, online merchant BeautyChoice.com wanted to jumpstart the process. (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Social media, Video, YouTube | Leave a Comment

How Do Your Customers Perceive You?

March 29, 2010 – 4:15 am

How do your customers see you? Does your company have a distinctive personality that pervades your marketing materials? Do you feed your customers a steady diet of useful information that will help them think of you first when they’re ready to buy? Here’s a self-test to help answer these questions: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Email marketing, Marketing | Leave a Comment

A Provocative Look at How Catalogs Must Evolve

March 26, 2010 – 4:15 am

At the recent NEMOA conference, Andrew Davis of Tipping Point Labs gave an information-packed presentation on The Social Media Tipping Point: Monetizing Incremental Commerce. I found Davis’ common sense approach to today’s “social media madness” (the NEMOA program guide’s words, not mine) refreshing. So it was with great interest that I read his take on how catalogs need to evolve in order to stay viable. (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Catalogs, Social media | Comments (3)

Competitive Advantages Ready for the Taking

March 24, 2010 – 4:15 am

At the recent NEMOA conference, David Solomon, head of Lazard Middle Market’s Specialty Retail and Direct marketing Group, gave an excellent presentation on Creating Value in the New Economy. He emphasized how dramatically consumers’ decision-making processes have changed in recent years, and how successful merchants must adapt their marketing strategies as a result. Among his key points: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Blogs, Catalogs, Ecommerce, Marketing, Online marketing, Social media, Video | Leave a Comment

Email Signup Best Practices: A Great Example

March 22, 2010 – 4:15 am

Hats off to Great Garden Plants for a super job on their email signup forms. On the navigation that appears on every page, their signup form follows several best practices. (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Email marketing, Website design | Leave a Comment

What Merchants Need to Know About Selling Value

March 19, 2010 – 4:15 am

In my last blog post, I mentioned that one common theme at last week’s NEMOA conference was the importance of selling on value. In a presentation titled The Consumer is Changing, Are You? Lois Boyle-Brayfield of J. Schmid & Associates pointed out that all too often, merchants equate selling value with discounting prices. Big mistake! Lois offered a long list of ways to demonstrate value. Among them: (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Advertising, Copywriting, Marketing, Offers | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Take-aways from the NEMOA Conference on “Selling to the New Consumer”

March 17, 2010 – 4:15 am

I just returned from the NEMOA (New England Mailorder Association) conference, which featured some excellent programming on “Selling to the New Consumer.” Many of the sessions had a common theme. At the risk of over-generalizing, the consensus among the speakers seemed to be: (Click on the healdine for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Marketing | Tagged | Leave a Comment

How to Identify the Shoppers Among the Searchers

March 15, 2010 – 4:15 am

A lot of companies spend a lot of money chasing very broad search terms in an effort to reach a larger market. The problem is the majority of searchers aren’t imminent potential buyers, so it can be easy to waste a lot of money this way. When refining your keyword list (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Pay-per-click advertising | Leave a Comment

The Key to Establishing Trust in Social Media

March 12, 2010 – 4:15 am

A fundamental part of the sales process always involves establishing trust. While that’s often easier face-to-face, catalogers and online merchants still have plenty of tools to rely on: guarantees, testimonials, customer reviews, knowledgeable sales reps, product comparisons, the depth of information provided.

In social media, there’s one vital element in establishing trust that many marketers ignore. (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Facebook, Marketing, Social media | Leave a Comment

A Nifty Keyword Research Tool

March 10, 2010 – 4:15 am

Wow! I just stumbled across yet another Google tool that’s enormously helpful, both in generating new keyword ideas and in refining searches. (Click on the headline for more…)

By Val Gosset | Posted in Pay-per-click advertising, Resources | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment
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