Paul Seabrook (pictured) examines the latest fast.MAP survey results.
Websites – whether independent, comparison or brand-owned – together continue to be people’s main financial service research routes, each used by around three out of ten consumers, according to new research.
Also revealed are people’s main reasons for selecting the financial brands they use – they include the [...]

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David Excell (pictured) discusses what it means to really understand customer buying behaviour
How well do you know your customers?
Not your customer base as a homogenised whole; your individual customers?
With minimal growth forecast throughout most of the industrialised world during 2012, never has it been more important for consumer-facing businesses to initiate direct marketing that delivers [...]

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Five big issues facing global companies
Dominique Turpin (pictured) discusses the business worries which he believes are currently keeping senior global executives awake at night.
Right now, of course, the health of the global economy and unpredictable exchange rates are top of the list of concerns keeping executives from sleeping soundly. But, in my conversations with business [...]

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Even in the digital age, the traditional, physical, tangible mailbox is an effective way to steer the customer journey, says Andy Wood (pictured).
Tales of the death of the mailbox as an effective outlet for reaching consumers have been greatly exaggerated.
Indeed, despite the fact we seem to be well into the age of digital marketing, it [...]

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Breathe new life into an ailing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy, says Carolyn Bondi (pictured), who has first aid tips to nurse it back on its feet. 
This year more than ever, sales figures need to be busily multiplying. But if you suspect your campaigns could be dead on arrival, it’s time to check your CRM [...]

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Tony Foggett (pictured) shares agency insights into emerging trends.
Now is the time to reflect on key milestones from the past 12 months and examine the trends that will have the biggest effect on multi-channel strategies in the year ahead.
How quickly a year shifts in digital!
In 2010, it sometimes felt as if consumers and technology were [...]

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Luke Griffiths (pictured) forecasts the key digital marketing resolutions for 2012.
Integrate to communicate
Make way for convergence. This will be the overarching trend for 2012 – separate channels will converge into the sea of digital media, all working together to make up one digital hub of communications.
Where channels such as email and mobile have celebrated success [...]

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Graham Kemp explores changes in the world of publishing and discusses how brands can improve communication with consumers via use of relevant content.
The previously genteel world of book publishing has been turned on its head in the last few years by the Internet and the rise of e-books. Music-buying patterns have also changed recently, with [...]

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Customer engagement can now be optimised through use of conversational marketing technology, enabling cross-channel, inbound/outbound and one-to-one personalised dialogues, including over Facebook and Twitter – explains François Laxalt (pictured).
Over the past few years, marketers have begun moving from multi-channel but siloed marketing techniques, towards integrated cross-channel approaches. In doing so, they have broken down [...]

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Benefit your business by delving deeper for real feedback, suggests Roy Kemp (pictured).
If you asked the majority of businesses – wherever they are based in the world – whether they ask their customers if they are satisfied with the products and services with which they are provided, they would probably say ‘Yes!’.
However, if you were [...]

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