[Posted by Ed Hadley
Senior Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

The energy was palpable last week at Neolane Evolution 2011, with more than 600 of the world’s brightest marketers and thought leaders gathering to discuss marketing trends and best practices.  From amazing speakers and content to a phenomenal venue and 10-year anniversary party, the event was of a caliber befitting its host city of Paris.  Building on my colleague Alexis Karlin’s collection of top tweets from Neolane Evolution, I thought I would dig into some of the big themes that emerged from the event.

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[Posted by Mathieu Hannouz
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Neolane, Inc.]

During this week’s 2011 CRM Evolution Forum, I had the pleasure of meeting quite a few Social CRM gurus, including Constellation Research’s Principal Analyst and CEO, R “Ray” Wang.  Ray and I were able to sit down for a brief Q&A, where he shared some interesting perspectives on the impending challenges facing the CRM industry, as well as a preview of what he will be discussing as a keynote presenter at Neolane Evolution 2011, our annual user conference. Here’s what he had to say…

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[Posted by Kristin Hambelton
Vice President Marketing, Neolane, Inc.]

What is marketing automation technology? How does it work? Why has the adoption rate been so low historically?

These were just a few of the questions addressed during an AMA Boston (@amaboston) panel I participated on this week with Will Schnabel (@wschnabel) from Silverpop and Brian Kardon (@bkardon) from Eloqua focused on “The Future of Marketing Analytics and Automation Technologies.” As evidenced by the event’s strong attendance and the following Q&A session, it was a compelling topic.  One that I’m sure deserves even more contemplation and debate.

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[Posted by Jennifer Minko,
Sr. Manager, Field Marketing, Neolane, Inc.]

Attending NCDM 2010 in Miami capped off what will hopefully be recognized as a turning point in our industry.  With increased attendance and a nice balance of senior level marketing professionals, the “Conference for Engaging Customers Using Data & Technology” focused on some emerging challenges and opportunities that marketers will face in the coming year.  For example, according to DM News, one session positioned trends well, highlighting that marketers must focus on “turning mass marketing efforts into one-to-one initiatives; measuring campaigns with emerging technologies; and trying to make precise analytics decisions in real time.”

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[Posted by Jen Zick
Director of Strategy and Business Development, FanOne Marketing]

Former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry once said, “The secret to winning is constant, consistent management.”  We apply the same philosophy to managing successful digital marketing campaigns for our sports and live entertainment clients.  Gone are the days of ineffective “batch and blast” communications where poorly timed and poorly coordinated messages are responsible for driving down campaign effectiveness.

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[Posted by Kristin Hambelton
Senior Director of Marketing, Neolane, Inc.]

Because social media has become so mainstream, many organizations have been eager to experiment with new ways to incorporate it within existing marketing activities. With the goal of merging social media with current sales and marketing tools, such as traditional CRM systems, the buzz around social CRM has continued to grow. In fact,  industry analyst firm Gartner Group recently stated that social CRM is a $22 billion growth market, proving that it has the potential to live up to the hype.

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[Posted by Jennifer Minko,
Sr. Manager, Field Marketing, Neolane, Inc.]

It seems I am constantly becoming a fan of someone’s company on Facebook, linking to new organizations through LinkedIn or following others on Twitter. But do these actions make me any more loyal or committed to a brand?  Beyond getting company news and access to special offers, what other value can social media bring to a company’s marketing mix?  In this post, I’d like to examine the use of social media as a key component of tradeshow and event planning and through a real-life example, show why pairing these marketing efforts is worth the extra attention to pre-show planning and organization.

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[Posted by Kristin Hambelton
Senior Director of Marketing, Neolane, Inc.]

How many times have you received either an email that opened with “Dear [FIRST_LAST]” or a coupon for an irrelevant product even through you’re a loyalty member?  Whether through email, direct mail, website or call center, customers demand a more personalized experience that goes beyond simply addressing them by name.  Customer demands for relevant and timely communications mean campaign messages must be both one-to-one personalized and cross-channel coherent.

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Guess what? You can win a whole case of Big League Chew for your office. How you ask?

As we say in Boston, it’s “wicked” easy. Below are 4 baseball trivia questions. If you respond to us with an answer to any of the questions on  Facebook, Twitter, or as a comment on this blog post you will be entered to win a whole case of Big League Chew for your office. Just in time for the world series. No matter what team you cheer for you gotta love a whole lot of nostalgic gum.

Here are the questions:

1. Who was the last person before 2010 to pitch a no-hitter in the playoffs?
2. In what year did they make up the rule of the wild card?
3. What team has the 2nd most titles?
4. In what year was the Cincinnati Reds last world series?

Have fun and Good Luck!

[Posted by Kristin Hambelton
Senior Director of Marketing, Neolane, Inc.]

Like many of you, I get about 50 phone calls, emails, and direct mail solicitations every day. Some are incredibly targeted, from people with whom I have existing business relationships; others are only slightly more targeted than the all-caps emails offering me free contacts for my database — for a small processing fee!

Despite the volume, I do try to read each—as a marketer, there may be things I can imitate. Or vow to never, ever do. Like this one:

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