Author Archives: Brett Knobloch

The check is NOT in the mail

I attended a Direct Marketing Association conference last year that felt more like the “Online Marketing Association” versus the typical direct mail cheer leading sessions of yesteryear. it used to be that the USPS Postmaster General addressed the DMA with everyone hanging on his every word. There was an air of stability to the whole [...]

Publishing group changes name to be less “ancient”

The Custom Publishing Council (CPC) announced an official name change last week.  It will now be known as the Custom Content Council (CCC).  Formed in 1999 to represent custom publishers and content creators — anyone buying a luxury automobile lately has seen their work.  A slick 4-color magazine with articles about road trips, new technology [...]

Digital POS Signage is coming

Last month Intel unveiled a digital signage concept that will open up new digital opportunities at retail and ultimately change the face of point of sale signage.  You wouldn’t know it from the cheesy, low-budget announcement video from Intel, but this will be big.

This POS concept has a small camera that processes male/female, height and [...]

Newspapers Battle for Limited Ad Spending

The Wall Street Journal is about to launch a New York City Metro section to fill a need for local news and pull advertising dollars away from other NYC papers.  As the New York Times has dedicated more ink to national news this left an opening.  The fledgling New York Sun covered local news well, [...]

Ad Builder Solves Process Blockage

Its easy to get caught up in the “wow” of an Ad Builder when the customization happens before your eyes, but what is less obvious but just as powerful is the process improvement potential.  A well designed and constructed Ad Builder will solve real problems.  These problems are inherent in manual processes:  errors, time delays, [...]

“They’re getting a lot of leads! Big Win!”

You love getting emails like this from your clients.  This is one I received last month after our team implemented a new Google AdWords campaign the month prior.    Our client is the leader in geothermal heating/cooling systems and they are very smart about how they generate sales leads for their dealers and territory managers.  The consumer benefits [...]

Using Print to Web QR Barcodes is Easy

Following up on our blog post from Sept 24th about new Print to Mobile marketing  http://blog.jgsullivan.com/2009/09/24/print-ad-connects-to-microsite-through-phonecool/ I decided to create a 2-D barcode (called a QR code) for JGSullivan.com and try it out.  Here is our barcode:

Scan it with your cellphone by downloading the free reader software.  I used BeeTag software for my Blackberry by downloading [...]

The value of Pay Per Click (PPC) versus SEO

I had a burning question finally answered last week during a conference session.  Kevin Lee, author of “The Truth about Pay-Per-Click Search Advertising” and other search marketing books led the DMA session on how to utilize smart Google online search strategies.  The burning question is one I’ve heard often:
“If my SEO efforts have given me [...]

Winners and Losers in 2009 Marketing Budgets

It was standing room only at Bruce Biegel’s Outlook 2010 presentation at the DMA Conference last week.   Bruce shared a boatload of research and stats on trends in media spending and marketing budgets.    Here’s a quick recap of the winners and losers in marketing budgets for 2009-2010.
Winner:  Digital and Mobile Media
Loser: Traditional Media
Winner: Below the Line [...]

Martha Stewart’s Omnimedia Message

I attended the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) annual conference last week and got to hear Martha Stewart speak about her “omnimedia” approach.  She addressed a DMA audience struggling to find its sea legs in a volatile marketing environment.  I was impressed.  Apart from many stories about epicurean adventure, Martha made a very compelling case for her [...]