By Contributing Editor Dianna HuffOn the surface, B-to-B marketing in the United Kingdom is really no different from marketing in the United States. Brits and Americans speak the same language, use the Internet in huge numbers to find products and are constantly contending with postal rate increases. So, marketing to businesses in the UK should be a breeze, right? Although the experts interviewed for this report all say US and UK businesses use similar marketing strategies, Stateside marketers should note that B-to-B marketing in the UK has its share of differences.“The UK market will make your life miserable if approached in the wrong way,” says Vic Godding, Chairman of the DMA UK’s B-to-B committee and Managing Director of Developing Data…

While some businesses built their brands using storefronts, Avon Products Inc. did it with personal relationships, from one door to the next. It can be tricky transferring this one-on-one sensibility to the Internet. “We want to make sure that we deliver a level of [online] service to the household that will be representative of the brand and of the local agent,” says Pattiann McAdams, Avon’s Executive Director of Ecommerce, North America. “We had to integrate our Internet marketing strategy with our offline efforts. That’s different than simply duplicating marketing efforts.”Still, McAdams knew the Internet presented the perfect opportunity to empower their 600,000 US reps with a streamlined back-end support system — complementing various components of the evolving online stores they…

By Anne Holland, PresidentLast Thursday I met with our new Senior Reporter, Sean Donahue, who covers the B-to-B marketing beat for us. He wanted to know best practices on how to get more people to sign up for webinars. I said, “And don’t forget the thank-you page. When a prospect signs up for a webinar — or a white paper or newsletter for that matter — be sure to include more hotlinks or offers on the ‘Thank you’ page they see right after submitting their registration. Prospects are in the perfect mood right then to learn more about you, so they may click on links for white papers or other offers. Why not deepen the relationship right then?”He said, bless…

ContactSteve FoxEditorInfoWorldInfoWorld Media Group501 Second StreetSan Francisco, CA 94107(415) 978-3239Steve_Fox(at)infoworld(dot)comhttp://www.infoworld.comMedia profile- InfoWorld Magazine- Reach: 220,000 controlled circulation- Frequency: Weekly- Audience Demographic: IT professionals - InfoWorld’s Network- “Tech Watch” - “InfoWorld Daily” - Online site complete with additional blogs, forums and original materialFox’s backgroundSteve Fox brings nearly 30 years of publishing experience to InfoWorld. Prior to his current position, Fox served as editorial director at CNET.com for more than two years. He has held positions of Editor-in-Chief of PC World, Founding Editor of The Web Magazine, and Managing Editor of Omni Magazine. Outside of the publishing world, Fox likes to watch baseball. He also enjoys playing games, such as Scrabble, “not the pull-the-trigger games.” Of course, Fox can’t help but admit…

Warren, RI (PRWEB) Jan. 26 — MarketingSherpa Inc., a research firm publishing Case Studies and Benchmark data for marketing professionals, is seeking nominations for its second annual Email Marketing Awards. Ten entry categories include best email newsletter, best email solo blast promotion, best triggered campaign, best opt-in (list growth) campaign and best business-to-business email marketing.The deadline for entries is Friday, Feb. 16. More info and entry forms are at:http://emailawards.marketingsherpa.comWinners will be announced at a lavish Awards Gala to be held at Bongos Cuban Café (owned by Gloria Estefan) in Miami, FL, on March 5 in conjunction with MarketingSherpa’s Email Marketing Summit & Expo. An estimated 650 marketing professionals will be in attendance. Winners will also receive engraved…

CHALLENGE”We assumed that deliverability was successful unless we saw otherwise,” says Ed O’Neill, Director of Technical Services for Dice. “What we were never able to explain is that we had peaks and valleys in the performance of our campaigns, and we couldn’t really point the result to something specific. We thought, ‘Well, maybe it just wasn’t that great of an ad or it was a bad week and people didn’t read their email.’ ” For Dice, email is a huge chunk of what drives their main revenue channel; employers and staffing firms pay an advertising rate based significantly on the exposure that email drives to the site. With an average volume of a half million techies per day…

Would you like to speak at Sherpa’s 7th annual Summit on Selling Subscriptions in NYC May 7-8th? Folks from TheStreet.com, NASCAR and Blockbuster have already said they’ll speak. Toss your hat into the ring here:http://s-6sdmb-4361.sgizmo.com

Warren, RI (PRWEB) Jan. 25, 2007 — MarketingSherpa Inc., a research firm publishing Case Studies and Benchmark data for marketing professionals, announced its Email Marketing Summit, Bootcamp & Expo speakers today. More than 30 name-brand marketers, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, PETCO, Doubleday Entertainment and Intel are presenting their real-life email advertising Case Studies at the event in Miami on March 4-6. The agenda and info are available at: http://www.sherpastore.com/Email-Summit.htmlWith an estimated 650 attendees, MarketingSherpa’s Email Marketing Summit is the largest annual industry event of its kind largely due to the fact that all speakers are themselves real-life marketers. “It’s a peer-to-peer Summit. Marketers appreciate behind-the-scenes email marketing tactics and data from their peers,” explains MarketingSherpa President Anne…

CHALLENGEClosing sales on high-end merchandise, such as diamond rings and pearl necklaces, is never easy in any channel. So since 2001, Ice.com has been on a mission to deal with customers one-on-one regarding payment solutions to boost their high-ticket orders. They set out to go the extra mile not only to seal the deal, but also to endear customers to the brand.“Over half of our shopping [carts] hold important gifts for anniversaries, birthdays and other emotional events — where we need to deliver whenever we and the customer can make it possible,” says Ezzie Schaff, VP of Risk Management. “In 50% to 60% of our orders, you have to keep in mind that there are different shipping and billing addresses…

While some women get married more than once, most so-called “encore weddings” aren’t nearly as extravagant as that first trip down the aisle. So, David’s Bridal has to make the most of each experience because no matter how superb their service is, individual customers are not likely to come back anytime soon.”One of our goals is to create a lifetime value,” says Veronica Katz, VP of Strategic Partnerships at David’s Bridal. “Girls start perhaps as flower girls, but [might] later shop for a prom dress, bridesmaid gowns and bridal gowns.”Going into 2006, the David’s Bridal ecommerce presence was chiefly a wedding invitation service, as they kept the retail focus largely on their 260 stores nationwide. Because brides face multiple seclection…