February 27th, 2009 | by Eric Welch
I’m going a bit off topic with this post, but I think it’s important to take a moment and be thankful for a few under-appreciated geniuses (genii?) without whom we wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing today.
Back in December of 1968, when the only thought running through my 5-year old brain was wondering what Santa would bring me for Christmas, Douglas C. Engelbart was at the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA, introducing a group of about 1,000 scientists to a chunky 3-button box with a wire and a prototype network environment called NLS (oN-Line System). Not only was this the public debut of the computer mouse, but the first glimpse of many other innovations we now take for granted — including hypertext, cut-copy-paste, object addressing and dynamic file linking, as well as shared-screen collaborative networking and videoconferencing.
What intrigues me most is that Mr. Engelbart and his team began work on this technology in 1962, when The Beatles were still a relatively obscure band playing seedy clubs in Hamburg, Germany. That same year, J.C.R. Licklider wrote a series of memos in which he described his “Galactic Network” concept (later known as ARPANET, which in turn begat the Internet). Little did the soon-to-be Fab Four or anyone else know at the time, but Licklider, Engelbart and their like-minded colleagues were quietly laying the groundwork for a revolution that would shake the music industry to it’s very foundations and alter the flow of global information, commerce and entertainment forever. And I can’t even begin to describe how it revolutionized direct marketing and print!
So navigate your “X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System” over to the following hyperlink and witness this AMAZING story from the Dawn of the Internet Age: http://sloan.stanford.edu/MouseSite/1968Demo.html
February 27th, 2009 | by admin
4 Email Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2009
Did you know? 44 percent of consumers check their primary email account more than three times a day, up 38 percent from 2005, and 58 percent said email is a great way for companies to communicate with customers. (study by Merkle- Columbia, MD-based database marketing agency)
bgmailing: Black History Month-Inventor of the Mailbox
One thing is for certain, the direct mail industry is forever affected by one man’s innovation. Philip B. Downing, an African American inventor patented the street level mail box with a hinged door in 1891. This public mailbox was created by Downing to protect the mail. This new invention was particularly important so that people could not reach in and steal the mail and they also protected the mail from rain.
TargetMarketing Book: The Architecture of Persuasion
Every effective sale is made at two levels: an initial appeal based on deeply seated emotion and a secondary appeal this is based on logic and consistency. You will be able to write envelope teasers that do much more than get the envelope opened. You will discover why the beginning of the sales letter is the most important part
Penguin: Email Marketing – Is your Newsletter Tone Deaf?
Pet owners (and parents) are painfully aware of the impractical value of having these creatures in the house. But we do it anyway, because it just feels good. Your readers may be serious businesspeople, but they’re people first. And they’ll walk right by if you don’t use voice and tone to engage them at a human level.
February 26th, 2009 | by Eric Cosway
Did you know? 44 percent of consumers check their primary email account more than three times a day, up 38 percent from 2005, and 58 percent said email is a great way for companies to communicate with customers. (study by Merkle- Columbia, MD-based database marketing agency)
Based on these findings, 4 experts in direct marketing (yes, including me) share what the top 4 trends are in email marketing this year. Read the full article featured on fuelnet.com titled, Stay on the Cutting Edge.
1. It’s all about interactivity
2. It’s a two-screen medium
3. Segmenting gets results
4. It’s not a solo tactic
For more information from QuantumDigital’s perspective, check out our free whitepapers on Best Practices for Email Design and The Bond Between Email & Direct Mail.
Best,
Eric Cosway
February 26th, 2009 | by admin
Integrate Twitter & LinkedIn into a Real Estate Marketing Plan
As we enter a new era of real estate marketing, many Realtors and other professionals are relying on a new set of tools to keep in contact with their clients and sphere of influence (SOI). Perhaps two of the more popular social media tools being used in business today are Twitter and LinkedIn.
DirectMag: Born Free USA mails petition piece
Born Free USA, a nonprofit organization with a focus on animal advocacy, mailed a petition piece urging recipients to help them “Free Circus Animals From Cruelty & Abuse.”
Small firms find it easier to snag top talent in recession
At a time when job slashing at large companies is making headlines, many small companies that have carved a growing niche are adding jobs. And they’re finding top talent willing to make the jump from large firm to small for the promise of opportunity.
BloodhoundBlog: Getting Paid to be Motivated
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I love marketing. I love figuring out a theme and creating the copy and running a campaign.
