How Creative Catalog Copy Drives Online Engagement

| Matthew Fey

The proliferation of blogs and social media culture links you to a wealth of potential customers and selling opportunities. But it will take more than just plucking an assortment of product copy off the catalog page and dropping it into these digital arenas to engage consumers. Here’s how to use catalog copy to drive readers to your blog and Facebook and Twitter accounts.

B-to-b Ecommerce Challenges: Creating Support in the Organization

| Bill Onion

Among the many initiatives an organization takes on in any given year, a b-to-b ecommerce project can be one of the most challenging. Not only do these require resources whose days are filled with conflicting priorities, but it introduces an entirely new sales channel which changes the dynamic of the organization’s working business model. Here’s why the first tactic in a successful b-to-b ecommerce initiative is often the most overlooked as companies charge full steam ahead

Direct Sales Drop 5.4% at Frederick’s of Hollywood

| Tim Parry

Bucking a trend seen by b-to-c retailers, poor sales in its direct channels has hurt apparel merchant Frederick’s of Hollywood. Though company chairman and CEO Thomas Lynch attributed a net sales decrease for the second quarter ended Jan. 28 to post-Christmas clearance sales, it was the second straight quarter that direct channels have put Frederick’s sales in the red.

3 Tips to Capitalize on Digital Marketing Changes

| MCM staff

Keeping up with change in digital marketing is never easy, but the emergence of social advertising as a widely accepted marketing tactic, the power of tablets and their users, and the increasing sophistication of search marketers has accelerated change even further. With some powerful trends taking shape over the last year, opportunity abounds for marketers who proactively embrace change to lead the pack. Multichannel merchants should put the following three tips at the top of their priority list.

5 Social Media Strategies to Boost Your SEO

| Diane Buzzeo

While ecommerce enterprises spend hours manipulating meta-tags and embedded HTML keywords, the most cost-effective SEO resource goes unnoticed: social media. Contrary to common belief, SEO is not limited to behind-the-scenes maintenance. Here are five, non-coding-experience-required tips for using social media to your SEO advantage.

4 Tips for B-to-B Personalization

| Mary Ann Kleinfelter

For a long time, b-to-b marketers were leery of the success consumer marketers were having with personalized offers. Were business customers really going to be more likely to buy an expensive and technical product when addressed by their individual names? As usual, the answer turns out to be: It depends. Here’s why you have to test.

Quad/Graphics to Close Arkansas Facility

| Jim Tierney

Printer Quad/Graphics announced plans to cease production at its Jonesboro, AR facility in the fourth quarter of this year as it continues to consolidate work onto its most efficient and competitive manufacturing platforms. Here’s why the 600,000-sq.-ft. Jonesboro plant, which prints catalogs and magazines, employs about 600 workers, will close.