There is no doubt that things are changing and that people are afraid. The question is, how will this affect the way we do business? Which marketing and advertising solutions will benefit from the current crisis and which will falter? Judging by what I read in the papers, things sound very bleak indeed. And yet, when I go visit agencies as part of my travels, the ones I’ve visited lately $àE?swamped. Granted they are getting by with much less staff. But there has been a definite uptick lately in business. I assume some of it has to do with …

A portal ought to contain just about everything anyone needs to navigate the web; that’s why many users make one their homepage. Typically, there’s a search engine and a wealth of news, information, shopping, and other capabilities. The news and information are just a click away, and most portals offer a personalization process, so you can receive just the news you want. A good search engine will not only find the information you need, but will present it to you ranked in importance. And it will give you a list of websites as results along with brief write-ups of the …

Permission-based email marketing has evolved into a highly effective means of communicating with customers on a one-to-one basis. The ability of technology to precisely identify prospects based on demographics and interest, and track their actions, transformed email into the most customizable and measurable form of direct mail. When these messages were still a novelty, response rates were impressive. Today, although consumer interest has lessened, email marketing spending keeps growing. Top companies and upstarts alike continue to introduce new technologies, products, services, and ever more accurate targeting methods intended to match the medium’s early success. yesmail.com Experienced in providing customer …

The Internet’s golden ring was to make media buying and planning faster, easier, and cheaper. With the explosion of web-based planning and buying tools, one media planner was to do the work of an entire department. However, with the Internet bubble bursting early this year, many of the planning systems and ad exchange companies that were looking for their piece of billion-dollar ad pie disappeared. What remains after the promises are a handful of solid products that have become useful tools in the planning/buying process. Of these, we have selected the three best based on their deployment throughout the industry, …

Actionable messages delivered in electronic form, e-promotions drive sales and traffic. And as the economy cools and shoppers become extra cost-conscious, online promotions are likely to become even more important in the marketing mix. All three top e-promotion firms offer clients a large opt-in database of responsive shoppers and a suite of services to incentivize them throughout the buying lifecycle. The Internet’s unique ability to target prospects with personalized messages based on demographics and past-purchase behavior makes these efforts uncommonly effective and results in high response rates. Nonetheless, the dot-com downturn has led each of the winners to increasingly focus …