Dear Catalog CEOs:
In 2009, this series was the most popular series of posts I wrote.
In the first third of 2010, this series was about "average", in terms of readership.
In the past three months, this series is well below "average", in terms of readership.
We're at an interesting crossroads. Your industry trade journals have abandoned you, shifting focus to multi-channel (whatever that is), then e-commerce, and now social/mobile. Your conferences have been terminated due to low attendance and poor content.
I understand that readership of this series may be at or above average among Catalog Executives, but is being abandoned by remaining (the vast majority) of blog subscribers.
So if this is the case, I need your help.
- Use the comments section (go ahead an be "anonymous" for the purpose of this exercise) to describe what you think has been lacking, in terms of content, in the past three months.
- What are you reading in the trade journals that you find interesting?
- What do you want for me to write about that would be interesting and useful to your business?
Based on your feedback, I will tailor the content to your interests, as long as it is congruent with my knowledge base. Without feedback, I'm left to consider topics that are of interest to the overall audience, so please offer feedback (e-mail address is kevinh@minethatdata.com).
Kevin - Overall, I think your CEO series is tremendous. Would love to hear more about how to utilize the knowledge associated incremental demand tests. For example, my tests indicate that my catalog mktg contributes about 30% incremental sales, still emough to justify the expense, but how can I identify the right customers to invest in?? This would be of value to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping us industry folks informed!
Kevin, don't lose heart, the world needs your insights! The conferences and the blog-o-sphere always follow what's hot at the expense of the core blocking and tackling that actually determines the winners and losers. It's hard to get a speaking gig for paid search anymore because it's "old news". The fact that it remains the largest online marketing investment most companies make, and that most folks do it poorly doesn't make them interested.
ReplyDeleteThat said, your blog and mine remain a refuge for those who care about results more than trendiness.
Keep the faith!