Vol. 4 , No. 2     January 11, 2005

In this Newsletter:

Get our MarketingProfs RSS Feed here

Premium Content

Raymond Pettit
What to Do With Customer Data Overload

Given the strong business pressure to improve Marketing's accountability, the race to better understand the customer is in high gear.

Data warehouse, data-mining and customer relationship management (CRM) systems promised a seamless flow of intelligence and insight to executives' fingertips.

While technology can bring data and information together and make it accessible, only marketing science and customer measurement can provide the insight to directly inform the organization about who the customers are, what they are looking for, whether they are satisfied, and what would make them loyal consumers.

Get the full story.

Matthew Syrett
Not-So-Mad Science: Genetic Algorithms and Web Page Design for Marketers

A big question for Web site designers continues to be this: what is the optimal number and placement of marketing call-outs on a Web page?

The self-service quality of the Web has led to page designs that all too often serve myriad marketing goals. A single page can have any number of callouts in its layout, trying to catch the attention of a variety of consumers in different states of need.

It is very easy for this messaging complexity to overwhelm consumers. But what if we deployed a genetic algorithm on a site to optimize the placement and numbers of callouts within a page layout to grow, on an ongoing basis, a page's marketing gains?

Get the full story.

Jonathan Kranz
Make Mountain Offers out of Molehill Promises

Chances are that when engineers propose a new car model, they don't fail to include an engine in their designs.

Unfortunately, that's not true of many B2B marketers and their direct marketing strategies. Too many creative briefs have a great chassis—terrific messaging hooks, keen insight into audience desire—without the engine to drive it: an honest-to-goodness offer, a do-this-to-get-that promise.

Get the full story.

A Note to Readers

Do You Grok Your Customers?

Greetings, discerning readers!

Last week, in our Premium offering, Roy Young talked up the importance of grokking your customers. Roy highlighted 15 new books that deal specifically with focusing your company on truly understanding its valued customers.

This week, Raymond Pettit builds on Roy's piece in a new Premium offering, "What to Do With Customer Data Overload." He looks in depth at one of the best of these new titles, Consumer Insight: How to Use Data and Market Research to Get Closer to Your Customer, by Merlin Stone, Alison Bond and Bryan Foss (Kogan Page, 2004).

As Ray describes it, the new release is a guidebook focused on just what to do with data and marketing research to eek out optimal customer intelligence. Don't miss the book. Or, at least, don't miss Ray's excellent review of it.

Also this week, one of my favorite MarketingProfs contributors, Matthew Syrett, pens an interesting piece in which he suggests that marketers apply genetic algorithms to what you might have thought would have been the art of Web page layout.

His thought-provoking piece, "Not-So-Mad Science: Genetic Algorithms and Web Page Design for Marketers," may not be your typical MarketingProfs article. But, in this case at least, I think that's a good thing.

Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to let me know what you think. As always, your feedback is both welcome and encouraged.

Until next time,

Ann Handley
ann@marketingprofs.com
MarketingProfs.com

P.S.: As you read this, I'll be in Santa Barbara, California, hunkering down with Allen, Roy, Val, and the rest during the MarketingProfs semiannual company "junket." We'll eat, we'll laugh, but mostly we'll discuss and map out the continuing evolution of MarketingProfs. In other words, I may be a bit slow on email this week; thanks for your understanding and patience

Last Issue's Top 5

Recent Know-How Exchange Questions/Answers

Jason O'Connor
Eddie the Erroneous E-Marketer

Poor Eddie the e-marketer has been plagued by errors in judgment all his life.

Although he at least understands the importance of e-marketing for driving traffic to his site, he's like a hamster running on a wheel, wasting energy and getting nowhere.

Let's take a look at a few of the more typical e-marketing errors Eddie regularly makes—and what he should do instead.

Get the full story.

Gerry McGovern
Web Content Management in 2004: Coming of Age

Last year, Web content came of age as more and more organizations recognized it as an asset, and not just some commodity. Gratefully, more and more organizations have begun to put content first, technology second.

However, there's still a lot to do.

Get the full story.

Gordon Cramer
The Australian Spam Act in Profile (Part 2)

In the first part of this two-part article, we took a look at the heart of the Australian Spam Act and how it differs from other legislation.

Here we conclude with a description of message types, together with some examples, as well as a brief discussion on penalties and international implications.

Get the full story.

Meryl K. Evans and Hank Stroll
SWOT Team: Looking Under the Newsletter's Hood

This week: What approaches or steps do newsletter publishers need to follow to ensure the newsletter makes it all the way to recipients' inboxes? Join the conversation!

Also this week, read your answers to the previous dilemma: How can a business cash in on year-end purchasing?

Get the full story.

Contact

Publisher:Allen Weiss
amw@MarketingProfs.com

Content: Ann Handley
ann@MarketingProfs.com

Strategy and Development:
Roy Young
roy@MarketingProfs.com

Director of Premium Services
Val Frazee
val@MarketingProfs.com


Ad/Sponsor Information:
go here or contact jim@MarketingProfs.com

Subscribe to our Future Newsletters

Not a subscriber? Get the latest web and off-line marketing know-how delivered weekly. Solid ideas backed by theory, experience and understanding. We give it to you without the hype and self-promotion found elsewhere.

Advertising Info

Helping marketers from all industries succeed online through highly effective email technology and professional services.

You received this newsletter at this address (%%email%%) as part of your membership to MarketingProfs.com, or because you subscribed to our newsletter. You can easily change the newsletter format to text or html, change your email address by going here.

To leave our mailing list, simply send us a blank e-mail here.

Copyright © 2004 MarketingProfs.com. All rights reserved.
MarketingProfs, LLC  | 419 N. Larchmont  |  #42 |  Los Angeles, California  |  90004
We protect your privacy
All logos and names are the copyrights of the respective owners