The Big Fat Marketing Blog

Last year telco Verizon found itself confronted with a very specific marketing need: to find a way to publicize the broad menu of video-on-demand Indian movies available on its FiOS TV high-speed fiber optic TV service and on V CAST, its mobile video platform.

The carrier had already determined to use social network to reach these U.S. Bollywood fans—the “how” question solved. It just didn’t make sense to reach a mass audience with a product as niche as Bollywood cinema. more

As we reported yesterday, the first of two new standards for slim-jim catalogs kicks in May 11. That means all letter-size booklets will have a weight limit of 3 oz., plus they will have to be sealed with two tabs.

The new weight limit is a problem, of course—that’s fewer pages for the cataloger to sell. But the tabs are even worse. It’s hard enough to get a prospect (and these days, even a customer) to open your catalog; making recipients saw through two giant wafer seals is not going to help matters. more

As the owner of a measurable marketing advertising agency I see all sorts of curious marketing strategies and tactics. However, the one that amazes me most is how little, even the most sophisticated marketers, pay to retention of clients. I could tell you stories.

When times get tough, that’s precisely where your marketing can have the greatest impact. Ask Twitter. A new study has determined that while Twitter is hotter than the Arizona desert in August (their user base doubled in March), they fail to retain the new users into the second month, losing an astonishing 60% plus in month two. Here are the details.

Ouch. That’s a business model that needs help.

Back to the basics, that’s the wake-up call marketers need to answer right now. That means paying attention to the folks who have been with you, treating them like the special people they are to you and your organization and partnering together to increase results while reducing their marketing spend.

As the owner of a measurable marketing advertising agency I see all sorts of curious marketing strategies and tactics. However, the one that amazes me most is how little, even the most sophisticated marketers, pay to retention of clients. I could tell you stories.

When times get tough, that’s precisely where your marketing can have the greatest impact. Ask Twitter. A new study has determined that while Twitter is hotter than the Arizona desert in August (their user base doubled in March), they fail to retain the new users into the second month, losing an astonishing 60% plus in month two. Here are the details.

Ouch. That’s a business model that needs help.

Back to the basics, that’s the wake-up call marketers need to answer right now. That means paying attention to the folks who have been with you, treating them like the special people they are to you and your organization and partnering together to increase results while reducing their marketing spend.

When I told one colleague in the industry recently that Promo was dropping its print magazine and switching to an all-digital format, her reaction caught me by surprise: “Well, Promo had a good run.” more

My twin sister can’t stay in many hotels. That’s because she’s a dog. I’m not saying that hotels are discriminating against my ugly sibling. My sister is literally a dog. Thirteen years ago, my mother “adopted” a stray puppy and, since the puppy was born sometime in March, gave the puppy a birth date that just happened to be mine. So, I refer to her as my twin sister. I don’t mind sharing my birthday with Pup Pup Pollard (yes, that’s her name);it’s just that when my mother gave Pup Pup a birth date, she forgot that it was the day that I was born. (By the way, can anyone recommend a therapist?) To be fair, I can see how my mother made this mistake; Pup Pup (who is part Chow) and I both have purple tongues.

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