Video is what gets attention on social media. But what’s the best way to get your message “heard” when 85% of viewers are watching video with the sound off?

Millennials, by definition, are those born between 1982 and 2000. They came of age in the new millennium and are more diverse than any other generation, growing larger as young immigrants continue to come to the United States. As of a census completed in 2015, millennials surpassed the baby boomers as the largest living generation. Want to know what they think about healthcare? Read on.

Many people think digital marketing is king. But 1:1 multi-touch direct mail campaigns have repeatedly proven themselves the most effective way to convert prospects. So, why not have the best of both worlds? Addressable digital marketing is the answer.

Since most Medicare marketing takes place during two time periods—when prospects turn 65 (Age-In) and the Annual Election Period (AEP)—prospects are hearing from you and your competitors. Here’s how to make your creative work extra hard to break through.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Statistics show that after folks sign up for a Medicare plan, fewer than 30%
ever switch. Which means once you get them, you’ll most likely keep them. And, of course, the longer you
keep them, the more they’re worth. We’re talking about lifetime value, or LTV.

Imagine the possibilities if you could connect with potential customers all over the world in a matter of minutes, and increase your brand awareness, website traffic, and sales at the fraction of the cost.  With over 3 billion internet users, and 2 billion of which having active social media accounts, social media is quickly becoming a substantial part of every marketing strategy.    

Direct mail is a traditional marketing effort that uses a mail service to deliver a promotional printed piece to your target audience. On the other hand, online marketing is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to deliver promotional marketing messages to consumers. Online marketing spend is forecasted to account for 35% of total budgets in 2017. 

Knowing how to implement tricks of the trade and best practices from direct mail marketing to help with online marketing success will prove advantageous in the success of your overall marketing campaign.

In many ways, purchasing Medicare Advantage insurance is no different than buying
other products in today’s internet-fueled marketplace. Competition abounds. Comparison is easy. Savvy seniors have access to powerful tools and avidly shop for the best deal. Leverage our original Medicare research to make your website best in class and a lead machine.

Americans are living longer and working longer due to lifestyle choices, better access to quality health care, and sheer financial need. 65 is the new 55! It is imperative that Medicare marketers pay attention to this late retiree segment, as it continues to grow. 

Over the last decade, the casino industry has wisely moved to utilize multi-channel digital marketing. Although direct mail is still the preferred channel of casino players, the need to fully embrace digital marketing is crucial to successfully expanding a casino’s players club. Casinos need to communicate using channels and media that their potential customers regularly use to engage and entice them to visit their property.

Working in a world where digital marketing continues to grow in importance, one thing that you learn very quickly is a positive Return on Investment (ROI) depends on an optimized lead-to-sale process.

Video on the internet is bigger than ever, and it's going to keep going this way. Both commercial and social activities for people have moved rapidly to smartphones, and video is a big part of this trend. Read on to learn more about the video phenomenon and how you too can integrate video into your digital marketing strategy.

Marketing data is everywhere. So how can Medicare marketers still achieve that incremental gain year over year? Through business intelligence (BI), that's how. Continue on for a quick rundown on how BI can fuel your marketing efforts and result in big ah-has and big gains.

Creative destruction. It’s nature’s way of powering progress by replacing old ways
of doings things with new and better ones. But some approaches never fall to the hammer of innovation—because they continue to work. In the insurance business, cultivating broker relationships is one of those things.

The ancient law of customer retention still holds: it costs you much less to keep a customer than to acquire a new one. Why, then, do so many insurance brands scrimp on communications and only “talk” to their clients when it’s time to renew a policy? A smart retention strategy involves building loyalty through consistent, valuable, personalized communications, and positioning your brand as a benevolent resource—not just a source of transactions.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Insurance direct mail is booming today just as it was decades ago. And it’s every bit as specialized and competitive as ever. Read on for three tactics every insurance marketer MUST know to get the best response from direct mail.

Let's talk about putting more on the Medicare marketing menu—how to increase your prospect universe and your Medicare opportunities. Read on to find out more on how to leverage data sources to expand your marketing universe.

TV. Web. Radio. Mobile. Outdoor. Your Medicare audience is showered with marketing impressions every
nanosecond. So, your boss and others may question the value of direct mail. Why should we continue to invest in it? Let's review how direct mail delivers and the importance of the holdout.

Generational marketing continues to be a relevant topic for many marketers today—specifically the differences between generations and the impact on marketing strategies. Generations exhibit similar characteristics such as communication, shopping, and motivation preferences because they experienced comparable things at approximately the same life stage and through similar channels. Different experiences equate to different marketing messages.

Did you know that only 3% of participants in online conversation generate 90% of the impact online? It may be no surprise that marketers would want to team up with these influential people and tap into those conversations to build brand awareness. Here's what we like to call a marketing quick take at what influencer marketing is, and how to potentially incorporate it into your marketing strategy.

Delivering the right offer to the right person at the right time has been a formula for DM success since its inception. But gauging that timing hasn’t always been simple. Considering an individual's life stage is crucial in marketing across the board, but is even more imperative in any insurance marketing.

With the increasing number of seniors using online resources to research Medicare options, being where
they are is critical. It is absolutely imperative for Medicare marketers to master this channel, now more than
ever. Here are some key things to keep in mind as you begin to include SEM in your marketing campaign.

Even if you haven't utilized geofencing yet, you've probably heard about it. It's pretty powerful. Geofencing is even more precise than geo-targeting—a very specific virtual perimeter is set up using latitude and longitude coordinates. Once a device enters a virtual perimeter, the consumer receives ads on their device. Read on to get the rundown on this location-based marketing strategy.

Women make 85% of all purchasing decisions, yet 91% of women say advertisers don’t understand them. Wow. And with Gen X controlling 31% of the total US income, there is a huge opportunity for marketers to connect with and focus on Gen X women specifically.

Dig deep and you’ll find something very interesting about your Medicare segments (perplexing may be a better word). Through our 25 years of Medicare marketing experience, we have uncovered an interesting trend when determining which prospects merit allocating the most marketing budget to acquire.

You may have heard the term Micro-Moment and thought to yourself—is that just a tiny moment in time? Not exactly.

A Micro-Moment occurs when people reflexively turn to a device to act on a need to learn, do, discover, watch, or buy something. They are intent-rich moments when decisions are made and preferences shaped.

What is the Internet of Things (IoT) you may be asking? Well, it’s anything designed to process a unique task that can transmit and receive real time data over the cloud, or simply an intelligent device that is connected to human interaction. Read on for details and how IoT is taking the healthcare industry by storm.

Voice search is a speech recognition technology that allows users to search by saying terms aloud rather than typing. According to Behshad Behzadi, Principal Engineer at Google Zurich, “Voice search is the fastest growing type of search.” So from a marketer's perspective the question must be, "how does voice search impact SEO efforts? To learn 5 tips for SEO success, read on.

Digital marketing, along with the general explosion of media, offers a host of opportunities for brands to advertise their products and services. How do I maximize my marketing through my current channels? How do I evaluate my current efforts by channel? Anderson has developed a proprietary, diagnostic tool to do just that. Interested? Read on.

Launching a direct marketing campaign is a bit like piloting an airplane: skip the preflight details and you could be making an emergency landing in some remote cornfield; overlook the basics and you could be setting yourself up for a crash. Long before you roll down the runway, make sure you haven’t neglected to address these 9 musts for implementing a great direct marketing campaign.

For some time now, there’s been a buzz around developing buyer personas to better understand your market. Creating a buyer persona provides a new method to dive deeper into your ideal customer’s wants and needs. A good buyer persona will pool together all resources available and point you in the right direction to where there could be unmet needs and opportunities.

While most direct marketers will tell you about the importance of creative and word choice in crafting any type of direct response advertisement or marketing piece, the importance only increases when you need to work within the guidelines of a government oversight agency.

While the baby boomer and millennial generations have been an endless source of media fascination from past to present, there is an important “middle child”, so to speak, generation sandwiched in there, and its name is Generation X. Gen Xers are unique, and so are their buying habits. Specifically, we'll talk about Gen X home buying attitudes and what they mean for financial services marketers.

Social media has become a key component of a direct marketer's integrated marketing mix. When utilizing social media, it's crucial to determine goals and success metrics. Here's the scoop to help you define those actionable metrics.

If you're curious about how Anderson Direct & Digital came to be, we've got a quick rundown for you direct from our owner and CEO Ted Tietge (complete with those fun throwback pictures we all love to see).

It's June, and you know what that means—happy LGBTQ Pride Month! In celebration, we take a look back at our series on marketing strategies that help ensure that you, as a savvy marketer, are including the LGBTQ community in your marketing efforts.

Are you hesitant to develop a bilingual campaign? Overwhelmed or concerned about the time it will take and if you're approaching it correctly? With the population who speaks a non-English language at home almost tripling in the past 30 years, it may be time for you to consider developing a bilingual marketing campaign.

Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms, boasting 600 million active monthly users. Nearly 60% of users say they discover new products on Instagram and 75% take an action in response to a post.  That’s a large audience of potential clients ready to interact with your brand, but are you ready to take on the ‘gram? 

Since most Medicare marketing takes place during two time periods—when prospects turn 65 (Age-In) and the Annual Election Period (AEP)—prospects are hearing from you and your competitors. Here’s how to make your creative work extra hard to break through.

There are many tactics that can be used to entice a consumer to buy your product and/or service. Such tactics include: a free gift with purchase, a free 30-day trial, satisfaction guaranteed or your money back, respond now and receive a free gift, and so on.

Being a marketer for over a decade, I’ve used many of these tactics for my clients. However, in today’s world, gaining a consumer’s trust BEFORE they purchase your product or service is key in earning a lifetime customer . . . or in some cases, a customer at all! And part of this nurture tactic could include providing your consumers a service that isn’t even the product or service you’re actually selling. This concept is called “Value in Use.”

Whether the objective is to increase leads or reduce costs—whether the channel is online or offline—we are often overloaded with more ideas than we have time or resources to test. Since each marketing campaign is an opportunity to learn and improve results, it’s important to maximize the efficiency of your testing by making the correct strategic choices when “all” isn’t a possibility.

When you first begin planning your Medicare marketing campaign, there are a few key questions which you have to ask yourself and your teammates. Having these answers will guide you on the right path as you draw up your marketing strategy and can help save you time and energy in the long run.

Last November, I attended the Adobe MAX conference in San Diego. It was a massive event held over 4 days, attended by tens of thousands of creative pros from around the globe. The conference consisted of training sessions for Abobe software products, keynote speakers like fashion designer Zac Posen and filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, and much more, all designed to inspire creativity and, of course, promote all things Adobe.

Here at Anderson, we like to develop videos that assist fellow marketers in getting their marketing to work harder for them. One of the topics we get a lot of questions from our clients about is SEO strategy. Because everyone wants great SEO, but are not always sure how to get it.

Anderson takes our Marketing Minute video series on location to Hillcrest, in beautiful downtown San Diego. There, our correspondents will give you the one minute rundown on the 5 must-haves when including LGBTQ in your marketing campaigns.

If you are considering expanding your marketing to include the LGBTQ community, you’re like many other companies. As public attitudes have developed a greater acceptance of LGBTQ individuals, marketers are playing catchup to create campaigns that are inclusive of LGBTQ consumers and designed to overtly court this highly influential and growing consumer segment.

Once your marketing team is educated on how to market to the LGBTQ community and you’ve established your LGBTQ creative guidelines, it’s time to develop your creative approach to LGBTQ marketing.

By researching what competitors and even other industries are doing in terms of LGBTQ marketing, you’ll be able to assess how to position your campaigns to succeed. According to Community Marketing, Inc.’s recent 10^th Annual Community Survey, pro-LGBTQ brands that are recognized by the community include Target, Starbucks and Amazon. 

Anderson takes our Marketing Minute video series on location to Hillcrest, in beautiful downtown San Diego. There, our correspondents will give you the one minute rundown on the 4 things marketers should know about the LGBTQ community

Being successful at LGBTQ marketing means having a specific set of LGBTQ Creative Guidelines. While some companies have hit the mark with LGBTQ advertising, like Honeymaid's LGBTQ Campaign, others wound up actually offending this community due to lack of truly understanding this audience and the diversity within in it, like the infamous Heineken Light Beer commercial.

Anderson takes our Marketing Minute video series on location to Hillcrest, in beautiful downtown San Diego. There, our correspondents will give you the one minute rundown on the 5 reasons why you must have LGBTQ marketing strategies.

4 Things Marketers Should Know About the LGBTQ Communities

(1) How Large the LGBTQ U.S. Community Is

• 5.8% of Americans identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. As younger adults are consistently more likely to identify as LGBTQ, these numbers are expected to increase as more individuals become comfortable revealing their orientation.
• 2.4 million LGBTQ adults over 50 in the U.S., which is expected to double by 2030.   
• 5.6% of 18 to 44 year-olds identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered.

To help you perfect your Marketing Strategy, you'll need to keep a pulse on overarching trends that developed in 2016. Read on for insights from the DMA's 2016 Response Report and Anderson's predictions on how these trends will shape the future of marketing.

If you haven’t already incorporated LGBTQ strategies into your marketing plans, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity. Here are 5 reasons why you must have LGBTQ marketing strategies.

As we continue with our inclusion series, we will now shift our focus to how marketers can include women, most effectively, in their marketing efforts. We will take a look at why this segment of buyers is so powerful and a few insights gleaned from original research Anderson conducted.

For our latest installment of our inclusivity series, we interviewed Dr. Jason Chambers about the complexities and nuances of marketing to the African American community. Dr. Chambers is an expert on the African American consumer market, Professor at the University of Illinois, and author of the book Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising Industry. Read on for his insights:

Feeling a bit behind as to what trends are expected in 2017? Fret not! With all the technological advancements that continue to pop up, there are many digital trends that are expected to peek their lovely heads out this upcoming year. We’d like to share five that you should pay close attention to and consider when planning your marketing efforts for the year.

The Stats

The US Hispanic population continues to be the fastest-growing minority segment in the US. In 2014, there were 55.3 million Hispanics in the United States, accounting for just over 17% of the total US population. That’s about 15% of the total adult population and 22% of US millennials.

Hispanics tend to be younger than the general market and have larger families, a larger percentage was born in the digital age, and the share of adult Hispanics born outside of the US has been steadily declining (48.7% in 2014 vs. 55% in 2007). And lastly, Hispanics have a collective buying power of $1.2 trillion.

Their buying power alone makes them a lucrative marketing target, but before you rush to include this segment, you need to know more about it. How can you include them in your marketing efforts?

Many web design trends over the last few years have come about by a gradual evolution, rather than a sudden leap. Much of this has been influenced by the rise of mobile devices and responsive design, as well as an increasing desire to present information in a visually-appealing and accessible way. Some of the most interesting and important trends aren't brand-new, but 2017 will be the year they really shine. Many trends are even being combined to create richer experiences for users. Here are five examples that are likely to have the most impact on our digital marketing efforts. 

2016 has come and gone! Well, we do have a few days left until it’s officially over, but we can all agree it’s been quite a year. At this time last year, we shared with you 5 Digital Trends to watch out for in 2016. Let’s take a look back at what these trends were and how they panned out over the year.

Here are the top 5 most viewed blog posts in 2016 from Anderson Direct & Digital:
 

Goal: Share basic Google Analytics metrics marketers should keep in mind when assessing their website’s traffic, specifically based on the goal of their sites.

Along with having a new car or two in the driveway, a job for life, two kids and perhaps an adorable dog, owning a home has always been a central part of the American dream.  Things like a reasonable housing market; a stable, robust domestic economy and wide, post-war use of the G.I. Bill, made that dream much more achievable for the Silent Generation (born from the late 40s to the early 60s) and Baby Boomers (born in the years following World War II). 

At 75 million strong, Millennials have officially surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation’s largest consumer group.  But this younger generation faces many financial challenges which at the same age their elders did not, notably an uncertain world economy, comparatively large student debt, reduced upward mobility, plus a big erosion in middle-class spending power. 

What is the preferred marketing channel people choose to be communicated to over any other channel? 72% of consumers surveyed said Email, the oldest digital medium still in use.

Over the last few months we have been running a Customer Intelligence series, which included 5 installments of both blogs and supplementary videos. Today, this video brings it all together and gives you a breakdown of how Customer Intelligence can truly fuel your marketing efforts.

To wrap up the Customer Intelligence series that we have been running throughout the summer, here’s a recap of the Customer Intelligence series that our Manager of Customer Intelligence, Deb Morel, has written.

Last week, we spoke about how to write a business case and how to leverage Customer Intelligence to get a "yes" on your proposal. In case you missed it, you can read about it here. 

Since we were kids, we’ve been asking the question “Why?” Why can’t I do this? Why do I have to do that? And sometimes the reason we were given was simply “Because I said so.”

As we all know, no business can grow and thrive by remaining static and ignoring changing demographics. Each generation has characteristics that must be understood to effectively communicate and provide experiences that engage patrons to become loyal customers. The gaming industry is keenly aware of this and has been urgently focused on steps to modify their marketing strategies and their casino environment to appeal to the younger generation without interfering with the experience of their core players. The casino industry mainstay demographic, Baby Boomers (ages 52-70), will eventually “age-out”, and growth for the gaming industry will rely on their ability to adjust to generational preferences, especially the Millennials.

Last week, we spoke about customer churn and how you can identify trends in behaviors that indicate customer churn, and in turn incorporate strategies to mitigate that risk and increase retention. In case you missed it, you can read about it here. 

Churn: the annual rate in which customers leave a brand.

Two weeks ago, we spoke about customer profiling and how you can find more of your most responsive and profitable customers—and clone them. In case you missed it, you can read about it here. 

360 video marketing is here and it's pretty exciting! During this year’s Fast Company's Creative Counter-Conference, I was lucky enough to get a seat at the Samsung Virtual Reality Workshop where we were treated to an exclusive experience of Samsung’s Gear 360.

Have you ever been in a meeting discussing the success of your marketing efforts and had someone say… “Great work! Now go out and get more customers that look like that.” You might scratch your head and think to yourself, if only it were that easy.

Last week we spoke about customer segmentation and how vital it can be when determining where to allocate your marketing budget to yield the most rewards. In case you missed it, you can read about it here. 

In the second installment of our five-part Customer Intelligence Series, we will continue to discuss the components of Customer Intelligence. If you missed part 1, you can find it here. 

Last week we spoke about how Customer Intelligence can change the game in terms of your marketing and sales growth. If you missed it, you can read about it here.

We all want to be smarter at what we do. We want to have the inside scoop. Be one step ahead of our competitors. But where’s the secret sauce? It’s in understanding who your customers are and what drives their interest, consideration and, ultimately, their buying behavior. In other words, it’s the strength of your Customer Intelligence.

In case you missed our last post on the fourth of four ingredients to a successful SEO campaign, you can read up on it here.

In the past few weeks we’ve gone into detail about each of the major facets that impact your natural search rankings and traffic. We’ve discussed the need for content to be robust and authoritative, how that content then attracts high quality inbound links to your site, and finally covered why the technical structure of your site needs to be transparent to search engines. (In case you missed last week's post on the third ingredient, you can read about it here).

In case you missed our last post on the third of four ingredients to a successful SEO campaign, you can read up on it here.

In last week’s post we talked about how inbound links layer on top of content to help search engines make their ranking decisions. While those are the two most important factors in a successful SEO campaign, the technical structure of a website can be a huge detriment to your efforts if not handled correctly. In case you missed it, you can read all about it here.

In case you missed our last post on the second of four ingredients to a successful SEO campaign, you can read up on it here.

Last week we talked about content and why it’s the most important ingredient to having a winning SEO strategy. To summarize, search engines use incredibly complex, lightning-fast algorithms to make split-second decisions on who is an authority on a search query, and the core of the decision-making process starts with content. In case you missed last week's introduction to the first of four ingredients to a successful SEO campaign, you can read all about it here and see the corresponding infographic here. 

We kicked off SEO Month at Anderson with a first of four blog posts on the four key ingredients to a successful SEO campaign. You can find the first post on ingredient #1 here.

At Anderson Direct & Digital, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the many marketing services we provide to our clientele. We think of direct marketing as both an art and a science, and in terms of difficulty it’s easy to say that SEO is considered by many business leaders to be a form of marketing black magic. As one client I worked with years ago put it, “Everyone knows they want great SEO, but no one knows what great SEO is.”

Imagine being invited to a party whose guest of honor is someone you’ve been dying to meet. The place is packed. The cacophony of voices is deafening. Throughout the evening you make many attempts to introduce yourself, but you only get a few measly seconds of eye contact before their attention is drawn away by hordes of others trying to do the same thing.

Yesterday, April 10th, 2016, was the day the USPS put a little money back in our collective pockets. Our First Class postage stamps have just decreased from .49 to .47. Not since 1919 have we experienced a postage stamp decrease. So, for many of us, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience just like Halley's Comet. Okay, well maybe not that exciting, but you get the idea.

My name is Leah, and I’m a Generation Xer.

Online marketing is evolving at a pace that most businesses may have a hard time keeping up with. Users are getting flooded with more and more content from a variety of media, and this can be overwhelming.

Finishing the last post in our series that began a few weeks ago, we have already spoken about the first two essentials for success when combining direct marketing and brand. The first essential you must have for marketing success is a clearly identified market. The second essential is a laser focus on marketing ROI. If you missed either of these posts- you can find them here and here.

Continuing our series from two weeks ago, we spoke about the first essential for success when combining direct marketing and brand. This essential you must have for marketing success is a clearly identified market. If you missed this post- don't fret, you can find it here.

Both your direct marketing and brand can increase revenue and make each other more effective. It is crucial to understand the difference between these two aspects of your marketing strategy and how they can support each other.

The last few years have seen some big changes in the world of digital design. With the rise of mobile devices and the importance of usability as primary influences, 2016 is likely to be a year where we see many of these trends reach maturity and become more refined. Here are 5 design trends for 2016 that you can expect to discover and see becoming a standard.

Pundits say that Americans now spend up to 60 hours a week engaging with media¹.   In fact, with active and passive consumption (e.g., watching TV while surfing the web and/or reading tweets) it is actually possible to sit through more than 24 hours of linear content in a day. 

In reference to our last post, What's Hot in Digital: 5 Digital Trends for 2016, here is a snapshot of the top digital marketing trends for 2016:

Online marketing is continually evolving, so it’s important for companies to keep up with trends so they can optimize their online marketing strategy and stay ahead of the opportunities that arise. As 2015 comes to an end, here are five digital trends to watch out for in 2016.

Here are the top 5 most viewed blog posts in 2015 from Anderson Direct & Digital.

You’ve done your due diligence.  Still, your direct marketing response rates are sagging like an old pair of stretch pants, or waning like voter turnout in a midterm election.  All eyes are on you. Just yesterday, your boss flashed you his infamous death stare when you passed in the hallway.  Your heartrate is up.  It’s panic time.

Immerse yourself in the marketing world long enough, and you’ll likely hear some pretty interesting terms and phrases.  For example, have you ever considered what the term “full-service marketing” means?

The experience was all too familiar:  I was well into developing a new brand identity for a large company.  Great ideas sprang forth like daisies—not just from me, but a surprising range of people across the organization.  Yet these were quickly trampled and discarded by an onslaught of naysayers or literalists who held enormous sway because of their position.  This went on for weeks, squandering untold hours, fraying nerves, disrupting productivity and costing the company a pretty penny.  

One of the very interesting things about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is that while most business professionals understand what it is, very few understand how it works. It’s kind of like a layperson talking about a nuclear reactor – they might know it generates energy, but if they had to explain how, they would be hard-pressed to do so.

How many fields should I have on my online form to increase form conversions? There's no right or wrong answer when it comes to online forms field limits. Based on the 2015 report in MECLABS Research Digest, elements to increase conversion are:

When traveling to a show, especially one as big as the DMA’s 2015 &Then conference, it is imperative you do your due diligence and come prepared. Even if you’re a tradeshow veteran or a DMA newcomer, seemingly minute items can sometimes fall through the cracks, presenting major problems. For both exhibitors and attendees, we have created a mini do’s & don’ts list to act as reminders for you as you prepare to travel to the &Then conference.

Is a picture really worth 1,000 words? One could argue yes in the digital marketing landscape today. As data bandwidth increases and the amount of information communicated to consumers daily continues to grow, the challenge marketers face more and more is how their target audience not only prefers content online, but also the speed in which they can process the information.

Major companies spend millions, sometimes billions to create or recreate a distinctive identity, including a logo, tagline, unique selling proposition, vision, mission statement, plus various other brand accouterments. This is certainly time and money well spent, since brand equity is often the most valuable asset an organization will ever own.

As a veteran marketer, you are typically more than comfortable receiving and reviewing creative layouts or proofs from your internal marketing team or external vendor. You know what to look for and what to double-check. As a new marketer or someone who has transitioned into a marketing role, these tasks can seem daunting. 

For years, experts across every major industry have been predicting the death of Adobe Flash due to its browser- and desktop-slowing effects and security challenges. Many credit Steve Jobs for starting the movement to end Flash use in 2010 when he published the lengthy open letter titled “Thoughts on Flash,” which detailed six reasons why Apple chose to not allow the player on their devices. This marked the beginning of the end.

Back in the day, when direct marketing was new and giants like Les Wunderman and “Rocket” Ray Jutkins roamed the earth, you engaged audiences with proven performers like stickers, written checklists, tear-off coupons, membership cards and so forth.

You spend a lot of money and effort to drive prospects to your website. But the reality is that perhaps only 2% - 5% of your website traffic will convert on the first visit, regardless of whether your definition of conversion is a product purchase, registration for a service or an event, completion of a lead form, or other action. But what about the other 90%+ who had at least some interest in what you’re offering?

“The future of mobile is now.”
-Jerry Dischler, Google VP

“So much which is a pleasure to write is a pain in the neck to read.”
-Michael Frayn, playwright

With free tools available online, almost anyone can publish decent compositions of text and images seen by millions in minutes. But just as having a driver’s license doesn’t make you a Formula One racer, access to stock photography doesn’t always beget great creative.

The following is an overview of customer journeys, why they’re important, examples, and how to get started.

Digital projects are also called “interactive” for a reason—they are constantly changing, with varying user environments, endless options, and frequent updates. Ensure you have a good base and mutual understanding with your pre-flight, but also know that testing must continue through the entire life of the site. Follow our tips below to take your digital quality to the next level.

As an agency that offers SEO management services to clients, we make it a point to always stay abreast of changes to search engine algorithms and how they can impact the web properties of our clients. When Google announced in February that they would be rolling out a change to include mobile friendliness as a ranking signal, a lot of people in the business of SEO were rightfully concerned. After all, previous Google algorithm changes generally did not come with such a long runway for an announcement, or any announcement at all.

The financial industry is changing—and so is the marketplace. Combined, these trends have created a “perfect storm” of opportunities and challenges, which many companies are not prepared to weather. Those that can navigate these new waters by tailoring their business tactics, products and services are destined to reap the rewards.

Business reply cards (BRCs) have deep roots in American marketing, starting as far back as 1928. They’ve been around longer than Medicare. Frozen foods. Scotch tape. Canned beer. Teflon. And even Monopoly. But despite their longevity—or perhaps because of it—some companies may question their effectiveness in today’s highly digital world.

Overwhelmed with all the digital technology out there? Don’t have $50,000 to spend on a digital consultant but want to optimize your website?

The digital pie is growing fast as people increasingly consume content from screens instead of more traditional mediums. The ubiquity of smartphones and tablets lets us bring an immense world of communication, information—and distractions—almost anywhere we go. Plus, few would argue that real life is simply more complex and moving faster than it was just five short years ago.

Here’s something you may not have thought about: Spanish is different in different Spanish-speaking countries. Don’t assume that because Hispanics speak Spanish, they all speak the same Spanish. Everyday words can have such different meanings within each Hispanic cultural sub-segment that, in the extreme, one group may respond positively while another may do so negatively to the same word.

My former English teacher, Miss Thorne, would kill me if she read this, but the rules of grammar are not etched in stone.

You should be using campaign-specific landing pages if your customers are accessing you online by:

Do you find your marketing in this situation? Everything with your marketing communications seems to be going well. Your brand has been in place for months, maybe years. Guidelines, templates, asset libraries and training are all available to employees and resources. Then you begin to discover that:

When was the last time you launched a direct marketing effort with the goal of generating a 0% response? (Nope, that’s not a typo. There is no digit missing in front of the zero. We’re talking zip. Zilch. Nada.)

Twenty-five years ago it was hard to move words around. If you wanted to publish anything you had to submit your work to a battery of editors, who hemmed and hawed over 1,000 other submissions before deciding whether yours was worthy enough.

Digital reporting can give you information overload! How do you sift through all the available data to glean insights for your digital campaigns? Here’s a cheat sheet to assist in measuring your campaign success without getting lost in the data.

As Robin Williams once said, “No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world.” This sentiment is especially true in advertising. As any Creative Director will tell you: Every word matters when there is so little space and time to get a message across. And when advertising to Hispanics, one challenge is: Do you need original copywriting? Or is translating an effective option? What’s the difference? A copywriter writes copy. A translator translates words. Translating just the words may not be enough because it doesn’t always translate (pun intended) into good copy.

It’s easy to see the importance of external communications in creating a potential client’s first impression; however, internal communications are just as important. Consistent and effective internal communication builds a highly organized and driven workforce and creates internal brand champions by connecting your employees to the brand they represent. Here are four ways you can get started perfecting your internal communications.

It seems like every month there’s a new story about Google releasing yet another algorithm update that alters search engine rankings. If you don’t follow Search Engine Optimization (SEO) closely, it can be especially confusing when you hear code words like Penguin and Panda, Pirate and Payday thrown out to describe any of these changes.

1. Be a trendsetter, not a follower.

As direct marketers, we’re on a constant quest for reliable intel to help make each new campaign more effective than the last.  Response rates.  Offer.   Mailer format.  Contact frequency.   These are just a few of the many reporting elements we slice, dice and obsess over to try and move the proverbial needle.

Even the best marketing creative geniuses need a roadmap to point them in the right direction. In order to develop the most effective marketing materials that are spot on for your audience, your creative team needs the proper direction.

As we all know, lists, targeting, segmentation, modeling, etc. are one of the most important components of a direct marketing program.  Through years (OK, decades) of testing, I’ve come to realize that in nearly every client program there is a significant opportunity to improve results through the use of multiple data sources.  The roots of this strategy trace back to the nonprofit industry, where organizations regularly rent multiple third-party lists for donation appeals in addition to their house file of past donors.  These third-party lists are closely analyzed based on number of donations, average donation amount and total amount of donations.  Underperforming lists are quickly eliminated from the campaign and new lists are constantly tested against the best performing list.

The basic rule in business is that keeping customers is far less expensive than finding and cultivating new ones. While the burden of that isn’t wholly on Sales and Marketing, it is extra important to make sure your marketing communications are as engaging, personal and relevant as possible.

This year’s DMA is coming up quickly, and will be held right here in San Diego—not far from Anderson HQ in Poway—October 25-30, at the San Diego Convention Center.

If you’re lucky enough to have a strong control, in any medium, by all means keep using it. You may be tired of it—but as long as it delivers great results, don’t mess with a winner

I've actively worked in direct marketing for more than 30 years, and never before has it been this easy to be a great marketer. The Internet now provides access to virtually unlimited free information on marketing best practices through blogs, webinars and more.

SXSW Follow-Up: Pondering the Perils of Social Media Analytics

“In order to understand the big picture, everyone should fear becoming mentally clouded, and obsessed with one small section of truth.” -Xun Zi, 312–230 BC

It’s not an exaggeration to say the world is going digital. But does that mean direct mail—
long the standard for highly focused, results-driven marketing—is no longer effective and relevant? On the contrary.

The thing that makes targeting Hispanic consumers a bit tricky is not that they are vastly different from other segments, it’s that sometimes the cultural nuances are hard to put into words. You often hear, “Hispanics consider family to be extremely important.” Well, that’s the case for all segments. But it’s how this sentiment is executed that defines whether advertising will work or not.

When looking for the right direct mail partner, it’s important to find a firm that is committed to quality. Following are some direct mail quality best practices that will ensure your campaign is executed without a hitch.

Anderson has some specialty equipment on the production floor that streamline our print and mail jobs. These machines coat, stitch, perforate, and so much more, and allow us to process unique jobs in-house with efficiency and high quality. The following pictures, video, and descriptions will demonstrate our productivity in action! Here’s a bit more information about each one…

Think your current direct mail package is worn out and ready to retire? Well, it may only appear that way to you and others in your organization—but not to your prospects.

Have you ever tapped a customer on the shoulder (and by “shoulder” I mean mobile­­­ device), and offered them an incentive just as they’re about to walk away from your product? The technology has been around for a while, however it wasn’t until this year’s 2014 South by Southwest (SXSW) conference that these shoulder-tapping devices, called beacons, got their spotlight.

It’s been two months since I attended South by Southwest (SXSW), but the experience hasn’t gone stale. The food was tasty, the music was invigorating, and the technology was pretty impressive. There were also some helpful and insightful pieces of information that I vividly remember, and continue recalling today.

If you have a printer at home, chances are it’s an inkjet. Anderson’s five commercial inkjet machines are bigger and more complex than the average desktop model, but they operate on the same printing principles.

A great story has a beginning, middle and an end, and it includes characters that you can relate to, care about and ultimately believe in. Advertising is a great storyteller and great brands know how to tell their story with clarity and consistency, and by delivering a continuum of positive experiences: each marketing touch, each customer interaction. But sometimes brands lose their way by not defining what they stand for, or by making decisions that are not in line with their core values. This can cause customer confusion and directly affect the return on investment (ROI) you get with your marketing dollars.

In 2013 the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed, which changed the healthcare landscape drastically, and sent consumers and marketers into the flurry of a whole new system. We at Anderson Direct Marketing are intrigued with this restructure, both in a personal way and also for what it means to our clients in the healthcare space.

When is the last time you tried to convey a concept to a person who had a different primary language than you? Or even a different cultural background? I personally ran into this when I moved from the Midwest to the West Coast and found differences in my dialect and terminology. I was even diagnosed as having a case of a “hard Midwesterner accent.” My enunciation of certain vowels was easily identifiable by locals and harassed as being “different,” and I was asked over and over again to repeat that word for their amusement. I was also informed that I was calling certain things by their wrong labels: it is “soda” not “pop,” “lunch” not “dinner,” and “you all” not “y’all.” I have attempted to overcome this debilitating disease and finally call soda by its correct name, but this so-called accent is going to stay.

As my good friend Tracy likes to say, flat is where it’s at. And she’s right—flat design is everywhere you look.

Food, technology, music. There is much to be excited about at South by Southwest (SXSW). Three of us at Anderson will be attending, including me, to soak up the sights and sounds plus sit in on sessions so that we can bring you the latest in interactive marketing.

In order to succeed with marketing, you must consistently work to evolve your processes and strategies to account for changes in your target market, taking into consideration new technologies and the potential changing demographics of your market. Much of that involved the creative design and overall user experience. New technologies are emerging all the time, and often these new technologies come from a great idea, but have many initial barriers to usage.

Postage rate increases went into effect on January 26, which affect the price of a number of mail pieces. Across the board, rates increased 6 – 7%, making this the largest postal increase in over a decade.

My wife bought me a rice cooker for Christmas. Just when I thought I couldn’t be more elated I saw this burst of genius written on the box:

To bid or not to bid. That is the question. It seems there’s a big debate about bidding on competitors' keywords when engaging in paid search campaigns. Anderson believes you shouldn't bid unless you know a few things in advance. The following provides you with a list of best practices for bidding on competitors' keywords.

Keeping your audience engaged with a steady stream of fresh content is important to the success of your and any business. But the task can seem daunting. Here are some basic tips to ensure you have a solid content strategy for 2014.

From coaching to feeding the homeless to fundraising, Anderson employees volunteer their time outside of work in a variety of ways—and we’re so proud!

Chances are, the landscape of your art director’s desk looks a bit different than yours. And it’s likely that she spent a lot more time than you did choosing and maybe even designing her smartphone cover. But here are some important things your art director really cares about, and why you should care about them as well.

Is Digital Part of Your B2B Marketing Mix?

9 out of 10 business buyers will find you when they're ready to buy. Digital B2B marketing can increase your leads and gain you 10x higher conversion rates. Learn why digital marketing must be a part of your marketing mix.

Customers and colleagues have been pondering the LinkedIn endorsement feature and wondering if it’s good or bad. There’s even a rumor that people get points for endorsing their network. I hope that this article sheds some light on the positives and negatives of the feature and dispels some of the rumors surrounding it.

Earlier this month, 8,000 people from around the world gathered in Chicago for DMA 2013, The Global Event for Data-Driven Marketers. The theme was Big Data. Bright Minds. Best Practice—and there were many great presentations about data, analytics, technologies and trends.

There is so much to learn. And if we’re listening and open-minded, we’ll learn something new every day. From new emerging technologies, to new media, to relationship-building skills, our teams are hungry to improve their skill sets. Quite frankly, that makes us very happy. But it also begs a question. “How does a business educate their employees and get the best ROI on their training budget?”

Day 1 of the DMA2013 started with bustling energy both inside and out as the Chicago Marathon ran right past the McCormick Place Convention Center. Combined with perfect, crisp fall weather, day 1 was a definite success, and, day 2 promises to be even bigger. If you are at DMA2013 this year, be sure to stop by to enter to win a brand new Vespa!

Like many companies, direct marketing agencies and marketing service providers across the globe, the Anderson team is putting the finishing touches on our DMA2013 plans and are packing our bags for The Windy City.

People don’t read. They have short attention spans. Copy needs to be short. Really short.

Have you experienced the new Gmail inbox updates?

When Ted Tietge, Anderson’s CEO, bought Anderson Mailing Service in November of 1985, the company had just seven employees and the business had yet to establish a strong culture. “It was chaos,” remembered Ted. “When we started, the equipment was dirty, people were coming in late, and the pieces weren’t getting out on time. People just threw the bad samples on the floor and no one cared. It wasn’t a good company to work for until we changed the standards.” Together, Ted and Gary Batchelder (who have both been at Anderson for close to 28 years!) completely reformed the way Anderson was run and created a culture of hard work and integrity.

In today’s world, everyone has access to the same stock photography. So how do you choose it better, and use it better, to help make your marketing efforts unique and have your message cut through?

For 28 years, Anderson has been hard at work creating and producing the best direct mail(DM) in the business. We are an ever-evolving organization, committed to staying fresh and providing our clients with the best services possible. As a one-stop shop, our people do it all— strategy, creative, data, interactive, production—you name it! But what is the bigger picture? How exactly does a DM piece go from start to finish?

Super powers aren’t just possessed by comic book characters and actors in movies—you can discover and cultivate them in all of your employees if you give them the opportunity. At Anderson Direct Marketing, we take pride in our high-quality relationships, products, production processes and services, which can only be achieved by having superstars within our organization. Starting in 2013, we began a new program to recognize and reward our Quality Superstars!

Big Data is a term that both inspires and confuses many of us in the marketing industry. We hear about it at our conferences and in the boardroom on a daily basis. But what does it mean? And more importantly, what does it mean for your business?

Does brilliant design inspire exceptional copy...or the other way around? Or, are they inextricably intertwined? And what role does the medium play in what takes center stage?

On April 24, 2013, Anderson Direct Marketing participated in its first Google+ Hangout. Creative director Carlos Perez represented ADM in the second episode of Xerox’s “Ask the Experts” series. Joining Perez were Gordon Kaye, editor and publisher, and Ilana Greenberg, creative director from the magazine Graphic Design USA. The question that brought these experts together was, “Is print dead?” All of the experts answered confidently with a resounding no. Kaye started the conversation with the subject of tangibility. With print, you can touch, hold and feel a piece. Other mediums cannot connect to us in this way.

We’re all familiar with the formula—the success of a direct mail package is 40% list, 40% offer, and 20% creative. So why do we spend 90% of our time on creative—edits, revisions, etc? Oh wait, that’s another blog topic. Today, let’s talk about direct mail offers—when they work, and when they don’t.

1) You know the difference between a hyphen, an en dash, and an em dash, and how to use them.

I don’t know about you, but I trust my gut on most things. But what I don’t take chances with is my clients’ or my company’s money. Gut decisions can drive great insights into what to test, when to test and where to test, but these need to be calculated decisions. Decisions made with consideration to the overall risk to your business.

When it comes to marketing today’s complex products and services, less can be more.

This is the first in a series of articles recapping interesting sessions that our staff attended at the 2013 SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive Festival. Anderson Direct Marketing (ADM) made the investment to send three team members to Austin, Texas, to learn about interactive marketing ideas that we could apply to solutions for our clients. This session was a discussion about the use of new technologies to reach your customers and includes notes and video clips from the session to share our knowledge.

Where does great creative begin?

Not with the writer or the designer. Not with a brainstorm or a concept, an image or a message. When it comes to driving response, great creative starts with a good creative brief. And a good creative brief starts with the customer or prospect.

Marketing strategies and tactics are often defined by Segment (B2B or B2C), Channel (Email, Direct Mail, Social, etc.) or Industry. However, one of the most important categories to understand is Target Audience and one of the most commonly marketed target audiences are High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI’s)… also known as millionaires, rich or wealthy. HNWI’s have $1,000,000+ of investible or liquid income/assets (excludes Real estate, IRAs, durable/consumable goods, collectables) and represent 3.35 million households in North America*. These households collectively have approximately $11.4 trillion in investible or liquid income/assets and they account for more than half of all consumer spending.

SXSW (South by Southwest) Interactive Festival is an annual conference to learn about emerging technologies, network with cutting-edge vendors, and attend training sessions from some of the brightest minds in the Interactive arena. For SXSW Interactive 2013, Anderson Direct Marketing (ADM) sent three team members to the festival to attend sessions about social media, mobile marketing, direct marketing, email marketing, engineering viral videos, using emerging technologies, trending web design techniques, seamless customer experiences across multiple screens, gamification, augmented reality advertising, and much more.

You thought everyone was using email? Think again. There are still people out there who have never used this method of communication. In fact, according to the Direct Marketing Association, email usage is expected to continue to increase through 2015. What does this mean to you as a savvy e-marketer? It means you have new prospects to engage. Yet, you will also need to find ways to capture the attention of email veterans. Here are three trends to keep in mind when executing your email marketing efforts.

Congratulations to the winners of Anderson Direct Marketing’s Presidents’ Day Blog Scavenger Hunt.

Admittedly, it’s not brain surgery. And it won’t solve world hunger. But the practice of transforming a corporate litany of product or service features into dynamic, can’t-live-without-‘em benefits can often mean the difference between generating a qualified lead...and suffering the deafening silence of non-response.

Reading blogs is like Christmas shopping... your goal is to find a variety of specialized items to match several unique needs on your list. When shopping, do you prefer driving to 20 specialty stores or would you prefer to visit one superstore with all the products that you want? When reading blogs or news sources, would you prefer to go to 20 different websites or have all of those sites available in one single location? With an RSS reader, it's like shopping in Santa's Workshop with all the gifts in one location!

Why USPs are key to winning new customers, yet so rare.

As a trusted organization for promoting tourism in San Diego and California, the San Diego Tourism Authority (formally called San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau or “ConVis”) recently announced details about their three-year strategic plan. At Anderson Direct Marketing, we support many local and national businesses with their hospitality-related marketing campaigns, so I was excited to attend their presentation to find out what the SDTA would reveal.

In a recent presentation to the Undergraduate Marketing Association (UMA) at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), I challenged students with 10 Action Items to Become Successful in Marketing. My goal was to provide them with ideas that they could apply immediately or strive to achieve to become more marketable for their first job after graduation.

1. Tell a story. Be sure your webinar has a beginning, middle, and an end. When planning your content, begin with an intriguing main idea and develop an outline around it to ensure you stay on topic. Build your content steadily as you progress to that great “aha” moment at the end. And remember, every great story has a great title. A great title is an excellent way to grab attention and increase attendance.

Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday season and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2013! Come back and check out our blog in the new year! More great content to come!

I’ve always been a customer advocate and truly enjoyed the six years I spent managing our client services department, so when I was asked to move into a sales role at Anderson Direct Marketing I was honestly scared to death. I never imagined myself in a position that would require selling, much less one where I’d be blogging about it.

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. —Theodore Roosevelt

On Thursday, December 13, 2012, the owners of Anderson Direct Marketing hosted a holiday party for the entire staff. The party consisted of beautiful decorations, a delicious meal and desserts, a presentation about the successful 2012 year and our plans for 2013, and then the grand finale. As the final event, a group of employees got wild with a dance routine to the energetic song "Gangnam Style". You won't want to miss this hilarious video!

‘Tis the season to think about the year ahead and how you can best maximize those marketing dollars (and your ROI). Let’s face it; it’s not easy looking into that crystal ball. To lessen the time spent developing your plan as well as to improve the plan’s accuracy, consider the following marketing planning tips:

For the past 8+ years Anderson has proudly assisted Crystal Cruises with their direct marketing planning and execution. While I have had the great pleasure of working on this account for more than two years and am therefore familiar with Crystal’s copious accolades, I often wondered if they could possibly all be true.