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Hit-&-run customers are elusive, exasperating, and expensive. They sneak into your database with the promise of long-term loyalty, but they never deliver. They purchase one time and disappear. Every marketing penny spent trying to lure them into the second order is wasted.

The biggest challenge with hit-&-run customers is that they look like regular ones.

You have to dig deep to find the things that make them different. Here are some clues to look for: [Read more →]

The other day I met a gentleman who introduced himself as a “self-made man”. When I asked about his line of business, he said that he was in retail ecommerce. My first thought was, “Wow, you must be really tired!”

I know about retail ecommerce. And, what I know tells me that there are no “self-made” success stories. There are leaders, and he is definitely an example of a leader. It takes a good one to inspire people to help. But, the success or failure of any company is dependant on the team. In ecommerce, you have: [Read more →]

The twitter follow Friday hashtag (#followfriday or #ff) is a great way to recommend or find people to follow. It was easy to do when I only followed a few people. It’s a lot more challenging now.

It isn’t enough to say that I follow someone by tweeting their handle and a hashtag. There’s more to it than that. So I decided to create a follow Friday post that adds some why to the who. Some folks fall into different categories, so they will be listed more than once. This list is not comprehensive by any means, but it is a start:

Direct Marketing – Follow these people to keep up with trends in direct marketing and ecommerce: @AccuGuy, @AmyAfrica, @catalogbiz, @daivrawks, @david_bdml, @Debbiedee5, @DebbieKirk, @DMA_USA, @ECMODSHOW, @gibt, @infinitypg, @ipresort, @JohnBethel, @loisgeller, @Tracey_GrayHair

Marketing, Measurement, & All Things Good: @AmyAfrica, @kdpaine, @loisgeller,

Social Media – Here are your guides to social media and marketing in general: @allenweiss, @Ambercadabra, @BethHarte, @copyblogger, @chrisbrogan, @MackCollier, @MarketingProfs, @PRSarahevans, @skydiver

Business – All things business from innovation to accounting: @JohnAByrne, @shirleybrady

Since there are many more people that I enjoy following, I will be adding to this list. My hope is that it will help you find more great tweeple. And, if you would like to follow me, I’m known in twitterville as @wilsonellis!

Please note: Everyone on my list discusses lots of topics and improves the conversation by doing so.