Current Issue

Cover Story : The Customer’s Keepers
The maven of mean, actress Shannen Doherty, slapped good luck into Charter Communications' churn reduction efforts with one stroke of her lip gloss. Back in June 2007, when the St. Louis-based cable company was testing what's become its flagship loyalty...

SEM : Word Games
A title, description and display URL packed into about 70 characters—that's the extent of a paid search listing. Differentiation within these tight boundaries is tricky, to say the least. That's why the best place to start when developing paid search...

Brand Matters : Brand Dreaming
This summer, we all knew one person's dream quite well. Michael Phelps had his heart set on achieving something that had never been done before: winning eight gold medals in one Olympics. We all watched as he did just

E-commerce Link : A Custom Fit
Search marketing is a double-edged sword; it both gives and takes away in the multichannel environment. As you pour cash into traditional media, a variety of parties leverage search engines to intercept customers en route to your site. They're capitalizing...

B-to-B Insights : Build Your List
Many B-to-B marketers want to cut marketing costs by shifting more of their marketing communications budgets from direct mail and newsletters to e-mail marketing and e-newsletters. But if you want to ramp up your online marketing program, you should start...

Editor's Notes : Snap and Sniff
A long-term practice in direct mail was to compel respondents to complete some simple exercise as a way to further solidify their emotional investment, short of sending cash with order. For example, Time-Life Books and Prentice Hall asked respondents to...

Famous Last Words : Harvard's Tat masters
In the second presidential debate in October in Nashville, Tenn., amid the financial collapse, Tom Brokaw asked the candidates who they might pick as secretary of the Treasury. My choice for Treasury secretary: Robert S. Kaplan, professor of management practice...

Market Focus - Nurses : Keep Your Market Healthy
Want to earn healthy profits? There are close to 3 million nurses in the U.S., says Diana Mason, registered nurse, Ph.D., and editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Nursing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the middle half of...

Nuts & Bolts - Case Study : Retaining the Flock
Challenge: Retain churchgoers.
Solution: Mobile marketing, sending daily text messages.
Results: Of the 125 church members and attendees who participated, 100 percent have remained worshippers....

Nuts & Bolts - Tech Talk : CEM Optimization
CEM Optimization
Before marketers can manage their customer relations, it may help to visualize what their customers will experience. Hence, the Silicon Valley software and services company Chordiant created Chordiant Cx Visual Business Director to simulate, then track—down to an...

Nuts & Bolts - Book Club : Where Did Common Sense Go?
Marketing guru Jack Trout is not interested in discussing the creative endeavors of the marketing world. He wants to talk about what a mess the industry is, and that's not going to make marketers happy....