By Sharon A.M. MacLean You probably avoid doing direct mail. You might think: 1. it’s too expensive; 2. you can’t track its effectiveness; 3. it’s too hard; 4. it’s time-consuming; 5. you need special

Beware the Chicken Little Syndrome By Sharon A.M. MacLea 1. Go mobile or go home Six years ago, in 2008, I kept running into the new Apostles of Social Media who wailed that traditional

Did they come true?  by Sharon A.M. MacLean  New predictions for digital marketing hits and misses are out now. HubSpot leads the way with their forecasts. This visionary company follows the likes of MOZ

By Sharon A.M. MacLean Think email is dead because it’s been around so long? Not true—it’s getting better. In 2012, open rates carrying relevant messages hovered around 40% while SMS or short message services

By Sharon A.M. MacLean The idea of crowdfunding is irresistible. Your potential investors want to see your wisdom packaged up and shared. And they want to receive that knowledge from people they know, like,

By Sharon A.M. MacLean Business people often dread creating the constant stream of copy that’s needed to tell their company story online. It’s like facing the dragon with an insatiable appetite. A reported 54%

By Sharon A.M. MacLean I’ve always loved direct response marketing for its hard core results. We were never flummoxed by vague outcomes like in mass media advertising. Direct marketing designed to make sales and

By Sharon A.M. MacLean One of the best lessons I learned from my days fundraising and direct response marketing—before magazine publishing—was the value of a good database. . I call them Smart Lists. It

By Sharon A.M. MacLean I learned this first, big  lesson the hard way: Keeping up with shiny new tools on the Web will overwhelm you and blow your budget. Commit to what works best for you.

By Sharon A.M. MacLean Social media became the answer to a world of people demanding to be heard. Let’s back up. How does social media compare to broadcast media, anyway. Broadcast media (TV, newspapers,