Ellis Booker Editor BtoB360 N. Michigan Ave., 6th Floor Chicago, IL 60601-3806 312-649-5457 ebooker(at)crain(dot)comhttp://www.btobonline.comCirculation, as of 12/06Monthly tabloid-size magazine: 45,100+ B-to-B high-level marketers at large corporations in North America.Daily Alert email newsletter: 10,000 opt-in subscribers; latest news and developments in the industry.Issue Alert email newsletter (monthly): 10,500 opt-in subscribers; outline of the latest release.Hands-On: search email newsletter (weekly): 10,000 opt-in subscribers; practical tips, best practice case studies, features.E-mail Marketer Insight (weekly): 13,000 opt-in subscribers; experts' lessons learned, case studies, campaigns.Media Business (weekly): 8,000 opt-in subscribers; in-depth feature stories, news briefs, executive changes.Straight Line (biweekly): 13,000 opt-in subscribers; BtoB and BtoC news, analysis, advice, stories, interviews.Regular NetMarketing breakfasts: 120+ attendees per event.Readership- 30% Technology companies- 67% Marketing/Advertising/Media/Sales- 46% C-level, top management-...

CHALLENGE“We were looking for an [experiential] campaign that would stick in people's minds,” says Stefaan Claes, Internet & CRM Manager at General Motors/Opel Benelux. “While you might say things in that nature have been done before, we wanted to try something that combined online and offline in a way that would be new to prospects.” Indeed, creating a memorable experience is important in all viral efforts. But it's even more significant when marketing in European countries such as The Netherlands (population 16 million) and Belgium (10 million) -- where opt-in laws are stricter and marketplaces less dense. In short, when promoting their new Astra TwinTop convertible, they wanted to get as much bang as possible to break through the competitive...

Written off as dead just a few weeks ago, the House and Senate passed H.R. 6407, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, in the final hours of the 109th Congress early Dec. 9. President Bush signed the bill into law during a White House ceremony on Dec. 20. Here's a breakdown of what the new law means to marketers who use postal direct mail:#1. Future rate increases will be smallerUnlike past years when some mail categories saw 25%-30% rate hikes, the new law links postage rate increases to the Consumer Price Index. This means stamp prices can't rise faster than inflation rates over the next 10 years. Because of this, marketers might want to plan for smaller postage increases in...

By Anne Holland, PresidentGreat marketing so very often is *not* about big new ideas. It's about great, everyday execution, plus testing small ideas that can add up to a lot. Added up over time, that incremental stuff can move mountains.The small marketing idea I'm most excited about this week is from a new Case Study we've just done on a B-to-B podcasting campaign by marketers at IFS North America (see link to article below). Podcasting is fairly neat stuff, but the aspect that really got my attention was the creative sample of an email newsletter IFS sent to clients and prospects. Their newsletter template includes a clever addition I don't remember seeing before:Besides a "Read More" link under each story...

By Anne Holland, PresidentMarketingSherpa's research team has just completed an all-new round of eyetracking tests -- this time on email design. This time, we went into the eyetracking lab (operated by our research partners at Eyetools Inc.) in San Francisco with some real-life emails we had received. One was an email newsletter, one was a Forrester white paper offer and one was a sales alert from an ecommerce site marketing a range of New Balance footwear. If you'd like to see a live sample of that New Balance email, including a heatmap of results, click here http://www.MarketingSherpa.com/exs/EMBG07_execsumm.pdf for our Executive Summary PDF.) In all cases, small-seeming design changes wound up causing significant changes in the ways that consumers' eyes looked...

Dear MarketingSherpa Reader,May I get a quote from you about a test result or campaign lesson you learned in 2006 for our new 'Wisdom from the Field' report?Please submit your quote at:http://s-2z6y2-3275.sgizmo.comHere's how it works:If chosen, your mini-story -- in your own words -- will be published in our fifth annual 'Marketing Wisdom from the Field' report in January.The free report will be distributed to our 237,000 readers. You can include your name and a hotlink URL or you can submit anonymously.Your quote can be short or long, but it must be based on a real-life experience of your own. Here are some suggestions:o The story of a test campaign that worked better (or worse) than expected.o What you learned...