2015 Year In Review

The new Star Wars film is finally here, and a lot of folks are committed to watching the trilogy in preparation – because in order to know where you’re going, it’s good to remember where you’ve been.

Similarly, marketers have to the same thing this time of year. After months of grinding out holiday prep, the budgeting and planning process keeps us looking forward. But what happened in 2015 to get us here?

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Standing Out Doesn't Have To Be Disruptive

For so long, the phrase “without disruption” has been used in the same breath as things like quality time, concentration, relaxation, and so on. Vacation getaways, study time, spa days, date night, etcetera are all arguably better when you’re not disrupted. But in a culture where we are constantly seeking reprieve from disruptions, many brands are committed to delivering just the opposite.

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Easing Pain in the Consumer Journey

My local gym is always running some kind of crazy discount for enrollment. And I can always look at this month’s (or week’s) promotion and blow it off, knowing another deal is coming. It’s hard to know, from a price-conscious standpoint, the best time to make a long-term commitment because they’re constantly repackaging the same discount, or even out-bidding themselves for my business. In a similar instance, I bought concert tickets with a loyalty-based “early bird” discount, only to find out that a deeper discount was advertised to the general public just a month later. Really? Are we expecting consumers not to notice or react to our marketing misgivings? And are we brands really expected to keep up?

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From Automation to Integration: Beware of the Easy Button

As a marketer, I am rooting for marketers of all stripes to “get it right” at every channel. When a timely and relevant offer comes in, I give quiet praise for the marketing machine that made that stroke of genius happen. And I reward the company with my dollars. It’s a graceful exchange between consumer and brand when done right and a clunky, embarrassing gesture when it misses the mark.

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A/B Testing on Steroids: A New Approach to Messaging

As published by Direct Marketing News

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5 Reactions to Facebook’s “Page Post Targeting Enhanced”

Facebook creates so much news that it’s easy to miss a new set of features aimed at marketers- even when those very changes can have big implications on how brands speak to you on the social platform. Last week, nestled between the social buzz of the Olympics and ups and downs of its stock price, the social network rolled out a bevy of new ways for marketers to take advantage of things such as your age, interests, gender, relationship status and more to inform how they ‘speak’ to you.

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Stick a Google-Shaped Fork in Barnes & Noble

Everyone hailed the Nook as smart business. Now, thanks to the very same company that powers the Nook, it’s going the way of disco -- fun while it lasted, but an impractical long term way to groove.
The hype around Google’s new Nexus 7 tablet is mostly surrounding its threat to Amazon, and while there may be merit there, the striking first casualty is Barnes & Noble. With brick and mortar bookstores and physical reading of books declining in favor of e-readers, Barnes & Noble announced plans earlier this year to this one from Peter Svenson of the Huffington Post, I am convinced that the Nexus 7 will provide me a far better experience than my Nook or a continued relationship with Barnes & Noble would. Here are my top 3 reasons as follows:

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What Can Brands Learn from SocialTV?

You have probably noticed hashtags during broadcasts, tweets streaming across the screen, second-screen applications where viewers can check in to watch a TV show together online and numerous other examples of the TV industry transforming itself into something more than a lean-back experience. The multi-billion dollar TV industry is fast undergoing a realignment from appointment television on the couch to a real-time, 24/7 entertainment anywhere business. So what can brands outside of the TV ecosystem learn from this?

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About this blog

At Pluris, we believe that we all can do a better, more efficient job at marketing to our most important customers. On this blog, we'll discuss how strategy, database management, offer optimization and analytics can help us all be better marketers. Sometimes, we may just talk about sports.

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