The Effectiveness of Direct Mail Marketing

Remember the excitement when a letter arrived in the mail? Or a packaged box full of mysteries inside just waiting to be opened? Email and digital marketing is effective, but it is not the only method to reach consumers and generate leads.

While marketers may be concerned about the effectiveness of direct mail and whether or not they can properly track it or afford the costs, there is plenty of evidence to support this “traditional” marketing strategy.

What are the benefits of direct mail as part of a marketing strategy?

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersAugust 7, 2018direct mail, direct mail marketing, marketing campaign, digital marketing, direct mail strategy, direct marketing, mailing, direct mail campaigns, mailing campaigns, direct mail advertising, direct-mail, direct-mail marketing, direct mail services, direct mail responses Comment

Erosion of Brand Trust in the Marketing Industry

Consumers have become more skeptical of brand promises since technology access has made it easy to detect a brand’s lies via social media. It takes time to develop a trusting consumer relationship by nurturing it through the customer journey, but it can take only seconds to kill that relationship and even more time to mend.

Facebook, Amazon, and Uber are great examples of brands that have disappointed their consumers in the past few years and need to work harder to regain consumers’ trust. They are few of the many brands that have lead to a nationwide decrease in consumer trust.

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersJuly 31, 2018facebook, facebook ads, authenticity, authenticity crisis, brand trust, brand loyalty, brand erosion, competency, integrity, consumer trustComment

What Happened to Brand Loyalty - Is La Croix in Trouble?

La Croix was delightfully marketable, visually pleasant, affordable for young consumers, and different from it’s bubbly counterparts...until PepsiCo’s Bubly launch in February 2018. There isn’t complete evidence that one is superior to the other since preferences rely entirely on tastes. This upstart competitor brings into question whether or not the consumers’ brand loyalty is real.

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersJuly 24, 2018la croix, sparkling water, natural flavors, bubly, PepsiCo, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, National Beverage, brand, brand loyaltyComment

What’s Old Is New Again - Reviving Legacy Brands

In nature, if an animal does not adapt, it becomes extinct. As technology and consumer behaviors continue to evolve in the marketing industry, brands are challenged to adapt to survive.

Brands like Lego or IHOP must innovate to better tell their brand story or reform their entire look and feel, or product to become more relevant to modern day consumers.

How do legacy brands overcome challenges to stay relevant?

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersJuly 17, 2018legacy brands, brands, relevant brands, marketing campaigns, marketing strategies, marketing stunts, marketing content, challenging the status quo, listeningComment

Marketing Mysteries Uncovered for Generation Z

Move over millennials, Generation Z has taken flight and, by 2020, will be half the population with 40% of the purchasing power. At the risk of falling behind, marketers must learn everything that is important about the powerful consumer that is Generation Z.

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersJuly 10, 2018generation z, millennial, marketing to millennials, marketing to generation z, gen z, gen zers, authenticity, brand loyalty, customer experience, targeting gen z, gen zs, generational marketing, hierarchy Comment

Pairing Technology with Marketing Strategy to "Activate" Growth

At its core, the Activate conference was all about how to activate company growth by pairing technology with marketing strategy. In today’s cluttered, chaotic marketing landscape, the playing field is finally level. The little guys can outshine the big guys if they’re smart… and that’s an exciting prospect.

To illustrate the lessons I learned from Activate, I’ll need to borrow an equation from Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs and author of Everybody Writes to tie together my takeaways from each speaker:

Data x Listening X Instinct = YASSSSSS

Marketing Industry/Trends, Setup News/EventsSetup - marketing matchmakersJuly 3, 2018activate, data, technology, marketing strategy, activecampaign, accenture, marketing technology landscape, martechComment

The Importance of Communicating the CMO Role to the C-suite

Remember Mad Men? Well, it’s time to forget it because CMOs no longer rely on “gut feeling.” Since data is more accessible and consumers are at the forefront of decision making, the role of CMO is more important than ever before. The CMOs’ understanding of consumer data and interpretation of analytics makes the Chief Marketing Officer one of the most vital members in the Chief Executive Suite.

Marketers Must Provide Value, Not Just Emotional Ads

Humans are emotional beings and, often, feelings can outweigh rational thought. That’s why marketers have historically turned to emotional manipulation tactics when crafting an advertising message. Marketers are familiar with using storytelling to elicit an emotional response, however, consumers are becoming more savvy - they want more than just a story...

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersJune 19, 2018emotional marketing, manipulative marketing, influencer, Patagonia, Subaru, Coca-Cola, emotional manipulation, educational marketing, educational advertisements, advertisements, evolution of marketing, evolution of content, content marketing, storytelling, marketing stories, InnovationComment

How can Marketers Optimize their Content Length for SEO?

If a marketer wants answers around the “ideal” length of a particular piece of content, they will encounter recommendations ranging anywhere from 300 to 2,000 words, each reason having merit. Even though the formula for the perfect content length is not one-size-fits-all, two things have remained a constant for content marketers: quality content ranks well.

How long is too long for a blog?

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersJune 12, 2018content, content length, length, content strategy, blog, blog content, blog length, SEO, SEO optimization, search engine, search, search engine optimization, landing page optimization, data Comments

Mascot, Spokesperson, or Theme? How to Bring your Marketing Stories to Life

Marketers tell stories to differentiate their brands from the competition, increase audience engagement, and to bring the brand to life. Since humans are emotional beings, consumers will, most likely, eat up a good brand story. Facts and figures will gain the consumer’s trust, but an entertaining story that moves the consumer to care about the brand leads to trust in addition to loyalty…

When it Comes to Video Length for Content Marketing, Size Matters

In a world where consumer attention span is reportedly shorter than a goldfish, content creators face a constant challenge of innovating new ways to get noticed or differentiate themselves from competitors.

What can marketers do to set themselves apart? Optimize the length of their content.

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersMay 29, 2018video, video content, video stream, video marketing, digital marketing, video strategy, live streaming video, SEOComment

Marketing Experts Share Storytelling Tips for Brands

Think about car commercials. How many of them take place in a waterfall or mountainous terrain? What makes certain brands memorable? What types of commercials or advertisements stick out? It’s all about the way the brand tells their story…

Marketing Industry/TrendsSetup - marketing matchmakersMay 22, 2018storytelling, brand storytelling, lead with a storyComment