There is a long-standing debate in direct mail —

Long detailed copy? Or short, quick-hitting copy?

What’s the best? Most effective? Most responsive?

Effective August 29, 2021, many USPS services will see their first significant cost hike since 2019. The cost of a first-class stamp will increase 5.45% (from 55¢ to 58¢), while the cost of a domestic postcard will increase over 11% (from 36¢ to 40¢).  

Today’s online shoppers face an ever-growing number of choices and mountains of information as they traverse the long and winding path toward a purchase.

Well recent research from Google has revealed that there are some specific strategies to help marketers make sense of what’s often referred to as the “messy middle” of that purchase journey. And it may help your brand land in the right place with the right messaging to the right shopper at the right time.

You are ZOOM-ed out. You’re Webinar-ed out. You’re emailed out.

And — if you are — you KNOW your customers and prospects are. So, what’s the best way to reach the digitally exhausted, the weary-eyed masses in the post-pandemic world?

Trust. It’s hard to build… but easy to lose.  

Especially when it comes to brands.   

Brand trust is key to boosting customer engagement. People are more likely to recommend a trusted brand to family members and friends, pay more for a trusted brand’s product or service, and even share personal data with a brand they trust. Take a look at this chart to see exactly how it breaks down...

In the final episode of season two of J&See: Views on Marketing, Meg Goodman chats with Michaelynn Rose, the director of marketing for Bernina. They talk about marketing on both the client and agency side of the table, how Bernina used education to reignite interest in sewing masks (and more) during the pandemic, and how direct mail is still an effective method of marketing with innovations like hyperpersonalization and digital printing.

Hear their conversation in full below. 

In the latest episode of J&See: Views on Marketing, J&C's Meg Goodman chats with Jason Baumann. He's a serial entrepreneur, non-profit alum and the president/founder of the digital marketing company Boxless Media. Together, they talk about retooling marketing plans amid the pandemic, leading with compassion, and how failure doesn't define you... it's the way you get back up again that does.

Click below to listen to the interview now. And of course, make sure to subscribe to J&See: Views on Marketing to hear a compelling interview like this once a month.

Professional athletes are some of the highest paid brand influencers in the world.... whether it’s Lebron James unveiling his newest pair of shoes or Tom Brady drinking from a Gatorade bottle during a game. A lot of these brand partnerships are decided for them by the league. However, some of these partnerships are decided by the equipment managers, members of the team in charge of selecting the best equipment for each player to use.

Just in time for the NBA playoffs, this episode of J&See: Views on Marketing features a special guest: Steve Pankow, Assistant Equipment Manager for the Chicago Bulls. Steve and Meg break down how he chooses equipment for the players and what the Chicago Bulls look for in a brand partnership.  And of course, make sure to subscribe to J&See: Views on Marketing to hear a compelling interview like this once a month.

 Personalization is simply a must for marketers. Consumers and business buyers want personalized communications and organizations see a greater return when implementing it. In Salesforce’s Fourth Annual State of Marketing Report,  52 percent of consumers and 65 percent of business buyers stated they would switch brands if a vendor did not personalize communications. Personalization was once as simple as inserting the contact’s first name and maybe even a company, and that was all that was needed, but it has evolved to so much more.

The customer buying journey involves getting clicks on your ads, guiding customers through your website, and completing a sale. You can have all the online traffic in the world but one tiny technical error can halt that journey in its tracks. Making sure your website functions properly and running your ads efficiently is the goal of conversion rate optimization, or CRO. On this episode of J&See, Meg Goodman talks CRO with Kurt Philip, founder of Convertica. Kurt and his team of experts identify issues with existing websites and provide support to increase traffic and click-through rates. Kurt and Meg also discuss running a remote company and the future of online businesses. Read on for some of the highlights of their conversation. And of course, make sure to subscribe to J&See: Views on Marketing to hear a compelling interview like this once a month.