Kristin Hambelton

Neolane

Kristin Hambelton is responsible for all marketing efforts for Neolane including corporate communications, branding, product marketing, demand generation, partner marketing, and operations.

Direct Marketing 101: Steps for More Effective Marketing Campaigns

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Posted on 2012-03-30

In order to better understand direct marketing, Neolane has put together “Direct Marketing 101,” a comprehensive list of steps marketers can take to make their campaigns more effective. The following syllabus offers tips and strategies for direct marketers to consider:

I. What Is Direct Marketing?

From the Direct Marketing Association – “An interactive process of addressable communication that uses one or more advertising media to effect a measurable sale, lead, retail purchase, or charitable donation with this activity analyzed on a database for the development of ongoing mutually beneficial relationships between marketers and customers, prospects, or donors.”

II. Direct Mail
...

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Digital Marketers: What’s the Line Between Offering Hope vs. Promising a Cure?

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Posted on 2011-08-10

What’s the difference between offering hope versus promising a cure? If you are a digital marketer in a highly regulated industry like healthcare, understanding where that line is could mean the difference between a successful campaign, and a steep fine.

To shed light on this important topic, I recently had the pleasure of presenting alongside Cramer’s Darren Ross, executive vice president of solutions, at an AMA Boston event. The presentation, “Five Tools to Increase Digital Engagement in a Regulated Environment,” shed light on what marketers need to know before engaging with customers and prospects across multiple channels, particularly in the sticky world of social media where transparency on sites like Facebook is not only a “good to do,” but also strictly enforced.

Following are a few highlights from the presentation that not only focused on overcoming marketing sensitivities and fears in healthcare, but also in industries such as...

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Hamlet and eConsultancy’s Advice on Marketing Automation Selection

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Posted on 2011-07-05

“To automate, or not to automate, that is the question.”

Okay, not exactly as poetic or introspective as Hamlet, but a question plenty of marketers contemplate with almost as much internal conflict. The topic of selecting the right marketing automation software, and determining if automation is even right for you in the first place, is one that is continuously debated - and often with much angst.

To assist with the process, eConsultancy recently completed work on a new guide, “Marketing Automation Best Practices.” It was created to “provide an unbiased look at the opportunities and challenges of marketing automation.” The guide benefits readers by examining...

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Tradeshow Takeaways: A Quick Trip for Marketing Tips — What I Learned From the Travel Industry

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Posted on 2011-06-20

Earlier this week I had the chance to rub elbows with marketing executives during the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME) Annual Travel Marketing Conference. The conference, held in Boston, covered topics ranging from innovation and the economy to social media and customer loyalty. Of course, the event was geared toward travel marketers, but many of the lessons are applicable to marketers in other industries.

Here’s a sample of some of the key takeaways that I think have broader applicability outside of the travel industry. (In the interest of grammar, I paraphrased these tweets from the event, rather than running them verbatim.)

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SiriusDecisions Summit: B2B Sales & Marketing Alignment, New Optimism [and Proof!]

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Posted on 2011-05-10

The SiriusDecisions Summit (#sds11) is an annual pilgrimage for top sales and marketing leaders from Fortune 500 companies and major SMBs. As is traditional each year, major event themes focus on how sales and marketing can improve collaboration, and together drive better business results.

This year was no different. Attendees benefitted from in-depth analyst presentations focused on topics such as driving greater alignment and accountability, new approaches to lead nurturing, improving sales quality, next-generation product management and marketing, and B2B marketing technology. Plenty of break-out sessions targeted timely social media, sales enablement and online marketing topics. Popular case study-driven keynotes were heavy on providing proof of...

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Deconstructing the Marketing Automation / Privacy Debate

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Posted on 2011-03-13

With the massive amounts of customer data marketers now have access to, it’s no wonder privacy has become a widespread concern. In continuation my recent AMA Boston panel blog post, I thought this issue warranted some further discussion.

While we were discussing marketing automation’s ability to provide deep customer insight, a question was raised as to whether marketing automation promoted “stalking” and where the line was drawn in terms of the technology’s inherent benefits becoming a privacy concern.

I recently read an article in MediaPost that reflects on recent research conducted by Ball State University’s Center for Media Design on privacy. The...

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From AMA Boston: The Future of Marketing Analytics and Automation Technologies

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Posted on 2011-02-25

What is marketing automation technology? How does it work? Why has the adoption rate been so low historically?

These were just a few of the questions addressed during an AMA Boston (@amaboston) panel I participated on this week with Will Schnabel (@wschnabel) from Silverpop and Brian Kardon (@bkardon) from Eloqua focused on “The Future of Marketing Analytics and Automation Technologies.” As evidenced by the event’s strong attendance and the following Q&A session, it was a compelling topic. One that I’m sure deserves even more contemplation and debate.

One of the...

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Keys to B2B Marketing Automation Success: Experts from IDC and Quaero Weigh In

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Posted on 2011-02-18

Our recent “Keys to B2B Marketing Automation Success” webinar was a great opportunity to discuss best practices in marketing automation implementation, standardizing critical customer data, and maximizing KPIs for marketing and sales alignment. Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek from Quaero and...

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Optimism Swirls, Confusion Remains: The CRM/Marketing Automation Conundrum

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Posted on 2011-02-14

Over the past week, headlines reflecting optimism about growth of the CRM market, particularly social CRM, were plentiful. Coverage was primarily driven by new research from Gartner, Inc. that predicted that the CRM market “will enter a three year shake up in 2011, as a number of key trends take hold,” and that “sales, marketing and customer service technologies, projects and implementations will all see rapid changes over the next few years.” The firm predicted that “by 2013, spending on social software to support sales, marketing and customer service processes will exceed $1 billion worldwide.”

All this buzz got me thinking about some very real challenges facing marketers today, particularly related to current CRM investments. It’s clear that many organizations are still struggling to wring more out of CRM technologies, while some are left wondering if CRM goes far enough, particularly in the area of sales and marketing alignment, and if other...

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Hello Rabbit, Goodbye Tiger

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Posted on 2011-01-03

For those familiar with the Chinese zodiac, we are entering the Year of the Rabbit. General traits of the rabbit are calmness, creativity and endurance. This is a distinct and welcomed shift from 2010, Year of the Tiger, which was distinguished by competitiveness and unpredictability. In a year marked by transitions, we saw companies forced to take on great financial and business burdens, and a year that was capped off with numerous acquisitions.Interestingly, we recently launched a brief survey via Twitter and Facebook that asked two questions focused on identifying marketers’ top 2010 challenges and 2011 objectives. Based on responses, marketers’ number one challenge in the past year was executing their marketing plan with limited budget and resources. Given well-documented, challenging economic conditions, this response is right in line with Year of the Tiger attributes.

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