Category Archives: Campaign Strategy

Does Renting Email Lists Make Sense Any More?

I wrote recently in this space about the resurgence of direct mail as a viable outbound component to an integrated demand generation strategy. Most of that resurgence is due to the benefits of using direct mail on its own merits, but there’s another factor: the greatly diminished effectiveness of rented… Read More

Not Another Article About How to Market During a Recession

No, nothing of the sort. But let’s face it – times are tight, budgets are tighter, and companies we talk to are all looking for ways to make their marketing investment go further. Here then, are some recommendations for how and where to spend today’s demand generation dollars for greatest… Read More

11 Questions to Help Evaluate Your Demand Generation Plan

Jon Miller at Marketo wrote an interesting post (“Demand Generation Quiz: How Good Are You?”) for his blog this week that featured 14 questions designed to help determine whether a company is ripe for marketing automation. There’s some great material here, particularly for marketers trying to build a business case… Read More

Brand vs. Direct: Who Wins?

Anne Holland of Marketing Sherpa, someone for whom I have a great deal of respect, says brand should win, every time: My response to Anne: “Brand should always win …”? As a dyed-in-the-wool A/B tester, I respectfully say: absolutely not. What’s the purpose of an effective brand if not to… Read More

7 Tips for Increasing Free Trial Conversion Rates

If you work for a software company that delivers product on a SaaS platform, it’s likely that free trials, and the rate at which those trials convert to customers, are one of the primary drivers for your company’s revenue stream. Finding ways to increase that conversion rate by even a… Read More

Top 10 High-Tech Email Marketing Mistakes

I just updated one of CDI’s most popular white papers: “Top 10 High-Tech E-Mail Marketing Mistakes.” You can download your free copy of the new version here. Topics include: * the not-so-obvious ways most landing pages distract or confuse the reader … * how to eliminate “sure-fail” subject lines …… Read More

A New "Spin" on Dimensional Mail

Forwarded to me by a client (thanks Tim) … I’ve never been a big fan of dimensional mail, but this campaign is simply brilliant. Now that’s what I call thinking “outside the box.”