Every year, marketing leaders and their teams are presented with new challenges in customer acquisition; brand development and loyalty; relationship retention; and organic growth in consumer spend. Many of these challenges come from the increasingly empowered consumers, facilitated largely by technology and new channels. Marketers who continue with the tools and tactics of yesterday are destined to fall behind. Those who embrace the emerging trends are better positioned to be in front of consumers throughout the buying cycle, and at the critical time of purchase decision...

In 2012, you couldn't turn more than a couple pages into a program at a direct marketing conference or sit through more than 10 minutes of a session without reference to Big Data. More and more reference is being made about how to make data action-oriented. Virtually every theme aforementioned in our "Ten Trends" series has roots or challenges related to data volume, velocity and variety. Future success in leveraging Big Data starts with laying a strong foundation now. Businesses that will successfully leverage Big Data will start by building a Big Data infrastructure of lasting value with investments in human resources. Talented and imaginative people with the passion and initiative to build and grow something new and challenging will be the cornerstone of future success. Finding the right skill sets to build your Big Data initiative is top priority in businesses that will stay ahead of the curve in harnessing the uses of Big Data.

In the 2012 Channel Preference Study conducted by Epsilon, direct mail is extolled as the top, and most trusted, channel consumers want to be reached on overall. Also noted in the study, however, was that it is becoming increasingly evident that technological advances play a role in how people choose to consume information and messaging. “Mobile device users” were 40-50% more likely to prefer email and online communications, respectively, than non-users. The study noted that three-quarters of consumers continue to prefer direct mail for brand communications, so it is clear that volume direct mail will continue to be key in consumer marketing, but expect savvy marketers to integrate other technologies, such as mobile, social and video, alongside direct mail...

Over the past few weeks, many of us have been overwhelmed by the number of emails in our inboxes – not just because of the Facebook alerts and holiday greetings, but by advertisers battling for their share of our holiday spend. For most of the emails, it’s yet another simple unsolicited ad in line for the delete button. However, some marketers have learned how to pull together transaction and behavioral data along with digital communications in ways that truly sway consumer decisions.