Q&As

Here’s a reality check for business-to-business firms engaging in social media: Content isn’t king, at least as far as tweets and posts to other forums are concerned. Greg Ott of Demandbase offers five prerequisites B-to-B marketers must have in place to maximize the return of their social media endeavors.

The Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s new data system places a stronger focus on the full spectrum of visitors’ activity, and therefore their total profitability.

Traditionally, casino patrons are ranked and marketed to based on what they spend, either during a single trip or in aggregate. But this doesn’t allow for subtleties such as their rate of play, how the value of comped rooms mitigates their worth to the property, or other activities which might change how they are valued.

French tourism development agency Atout France is testing creative approaches, exploring the viability of offering travel to unsung regions and even building its social media activity through its work with e-Miles.

E-Miles’ online forum puts client’s messages in front of an opt-in database of consumers, and then rewards participants for interacting with the messages, whether through simply being exposed to them, answering survey questions or providing feedback on the ads.

Home price insurance firm Home Value dropped a one million piece mailing in late October, targeting homeowners in areas where home values have declined at least 15% in recent years.

This fall brought positive news for brands within the health and wellness category. Food and beverage companies with a higher percentage of sales from “Better-For-You” products have healthier businesses. Let’s take a look at how four big brands—Dole, Silk, Smart Balance, Whole Foods—have staged promotions to hook consumers on healthy habits then provide long-term support to maintain loyalty.

Many marketers wrestle with how to best grow their email subscriber lists. There are plenty of options, but they all have different pros and cons—and sometimes even legal consequences. From worst to better, here’s a quick rundown on some of these tactics and the pluses and pitfalls of each.

Welcome to Broker Roundtable, where each week we ask list brokers to give their opinions on issues that matter to the marketing community. This week’s question: What list niches are likely to be hot in 2012?

Last November, American Express OPEN spent exactly two and a half weeks pulling together its first “Small Business Saturday” campaign. The merchant services division of Amex leveraged primarily Facebook and a few brand partnerships to set up a program rewarding cardmembers for carving out time between Black Friday and Cyber Monday to shop their independent local stores.

Clorox has a new online communities, a place where moms can share “bleachable moments” through a contest that tackles life’s “Yuck + Oops” moments.

2012 with all its unknowns is looming. Let’s take a look at three tops trends that will affect promotion marketing.