Online Marketers are Creepy , but they don’t have to be! Last week, I shared the results of an informal survey about banner ads promoting a site or product you recently viewed. More than 90% of the people I spoke with had a distinctly negative view of these ads and the few that liked them were marketers. However, retargeting does not need to make online marketers creepy. Here are 7 points to keep retargeting from turning you into a creepy marketer. Frequency Cap Retargeting ads often run with high frequency caps because the results are good and marketers try to “buy more.” MORE >>

This is a forward looking opinion post on the potential future of digital marketing. The future of digital media is social. With the far-reaching tentacles of Google and Facebook, no digital marketer will be able to approach marketing without engaging in some form of social media. Today, companies can choose to ignore social media. Although they cannot stop the conversation, they can ignore the conversation that is happening elsewhere. In the future, social media will be harder to ignore. Marketers will lose even more control than they already have. MORE >>

I was recently informed that every marketing blogger must publish their predictions for the year ahead. So to claim my status as a blogger and not put my right to use WordPress at risk, here are my 12 serious predictions for B2B marketing in 2012. Content Marketing 1. Name recognition will rule. Flooded with content, audiences will turn to recognized sources. High quality editorial, analysts and recognized thought leaders will rise above the clutter based on their names and reputations. Video will come into its own for B2B marketers in 2012. Inbound Marketing 4. Social Media 5. Media Buying 7. MORE >>

“Why do you want my email and phone number again? So your sales consultant can contact me? No thanks, I’ll pass.” ” Most B2B marketers are still fixated on capturing registration data, and no wonder. The marketing automation machine lives on a diet of email and your sales process is built on the telephone. The problem is, your buyer’s process is not built on your email or your phone. According to research, buyers only engage with companies directly during the last 40% of their research process. We are only willing to engage with you on our terms and timetable. MORE >>

You find a great blog, read regularly, and tweet or share everything posted. So why not automate sharing what you already share , and get a few minutes back each day? On the surface, it seems logical. However, if you are using automation, it likely is having side effects. Automation has made your algorithm, primarily your selection of sources , more important than the content itself. You share more than you used to. follow people that, with the addition of automation tools, now share more content than I have time to read, even if they were my only content source. Your Turn. About Eric Wittlake. MORE >>