As we prepare for upcoming conferences, creating booth displays and print material has been on my plate for the past few weeks. I’ve selected what I think is a pretty cool image surrounding the idea of “Is Your Website Listening?” that will span most of our booth display. As our creative team was developing the files, Nathan (web and creative designer) commented that he liked the look and feel we are going for with the booth creative… and perhaps we should create a more consistent brand that reflected this image throughout our marketing materials. That comment really stopped me in my tracks. As someone who has worked for a few companies with a very strong brands and has had the notion of consistent branding hammered into her head, my heart sunk. Among all the hustle to produce content, develop a web strategy, launch campaigns, and prospect for new customers, I’ve overlooked the fundamentals of building a strong and consistent brand. Read more

An article in today’s Emarketer newsletter, “The Sad Tale of Abandoned Shopping Carts” reaffirmed what we’ve been preaching for quite some time now: every potential customer who puts items in their cart and leaves without ordering is a significant loss. Just how big of a loss? Well, according to Emarketer, “the average cost of abandoned goods in those shopping carts was $109.” And just how rampant is this problem? According to a Paypal and comScore study, 45% of US online shoppers have abandoned MULTIPLE carts in the past three weeks! What is a retailer/advertiser supposed to do? Read more