Chris Merrington (pictured) points out the mistakes to avoid when negotiating.
How good are you at negotiating? What do you do well and not so well? How much better could you be?
I work with agency people and sales people and see lots of similar mistakes and faux pas being made by them, which can be so [...]

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Mark Francis says the traditional channel has weathered the recession better than any other.
First published: DMI April/May 2010.
Some predicted the stigma of spam would be direct mail’s death knell. But, by forcing marketers out of their single-channel mindset, it’s proving a loyal ally in the fight for return on investment (ROI).
2009 was the year that marketing [...]

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The current multichannel approach to sales and service must be mirrored by a multichannel approach to communication, says Claire Sporton (pictured), who has advice for the chief customer officer.
There can be no doubt that demand for customer insight is high on the corporate agenda. The number of C-level roles concentrating on understanding the customer experience [...]

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Valentine’s Day has long passed, but we should still embrace the postman, says Philip Ricketts (pictured): because there’s gold not ‘junk’ in the mail!
FACT FILE:

Ninety-two per cent of direct mail is opened
21.9 million adults have taken action, prompted by direct mail
Of these, 14.2 million bought something
Direct mail delivers £27 billion to the UK economy
There are [...]

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First published, DMI, May 2005.
Guest author Nick Backhouse (pictured) looks at how agencies can deliver campaigns with global reach and local impact.
There is an old adage in retailing when thinking about national retail chains: ‘Retailers may think nationally, but their customers buy locally.’
Well, the same applies for global marketing in the business-to-business sector, but ten-fold plus. 
Taking a [...]

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Donors are getting used to hearing from charities by mail, new research shows. David Cole (pictured) examines the evidence.
Though most people still prefer to hear from charities by mail, email is now only one per cent behind in popularity, according to the latest research.
Since 2005, mail has been the favoured fundraising communication route, although back [...]

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Professional social networking has a big role to play in helping Russian media and western European advertisers and marketers realise new opportunities, reports Peter Crosby (pictured).
According to research from Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), Russian media is set to dominate Europe in terms of market share and turnover in the next few years. 
In 2010 alone, the [...]

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Turbocharge your communications with an integrated marketing management solution, says Conny Lutz – marketing manager at Aprimo (pictured).
One size fits all. At least, that’s what marketers used to think – and even if they weren’t thinking it, they certainly practised it.
How often did the same letter go to every customer on the books without any [...]

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David Howlett brings insight into the emotional factors governing consumer choice.
First published: DMI March 2010.
If market research is really effective, why do about 90 per cent of new products fail? Relaunches of existing long-established brands often run into problems, too. Are current market research methods as good as they could be?
New products are launched that [...]

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Tim Palmer explains how to conduct a successful Word Of Mouth campaign.
First published: DMI August/September 2010.
Let’s be clear from the start. Word of Mouth (WOM) is not a ‘digital thing’ and is not new. WOM is the original and purest form of marketing.
When it comes to advice, we listen to who we trust. We don’t [...]

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