Author Archives: markpilip

USPS 3685 and the State of Marketing

Sometimes reading the USPS-required Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation (form 3685) can reveal a lot about the state of one’s industry. As a direct marketing and postal junkie, I find USPS forms fascinating. (I don’t get out much.) I … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Education, Marketing, Strategy | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on USPS 3685 and the State of Marketing

First Mile Problems

I was recently interviewed by Tim Furey, CEO of MarketBridge, on The Last Mile Podcast. Among our discussion of SAC, CAC, LTV, ROI, other three-letter acronyms, we also spent time on “first mile” marketing problems. As a practicing performance/direct response … Continue reading

Posted in Direct Response, Marketing, Media, Philosophy, Rants, Strategy, Tactics | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on First Mile Problems

At the End

When my brother-in-law passed away early Sunday, his wife was by his side. I hope to be as lucky. Godspeed, John. Continue reading

Posted in Philosophy | Tagged | 3 Comments

Buy direct

There’s only one correct way to buy ads, and that’s direct from the publisher. If you buy any other way you’ll pay too much in adtech tax or get scammed buying something that’s not what you think it is. Probably … Continue reading

Posted in digital marketing, fraud, Media | Tagged , | Comments Off on Buy direct

Ads on blogs

I just had a chance to check my blog. Here’s the type of quality ad that gets served on blogs like mine. Do you know if the creative is automatically generated by some brilliant AI? Or have you ever really … Continue reading

Posted in digital marketing, Direct Response, Marketing, Media, Tactics | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ads on blogs

Ads back on temporarily

I just turned the WordPress WordAds monetization tool back on. Doing a little test.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Ads back on temporarily

2.8 billion years of evolution, down the drain

Someday, as expressed in this article by Shelly Palmer, AI and technology will be so good it will be impossible to tell truth from fakes. In other words, we won’t be able to trust our eyes and ears any more. … Continue reading

Posted in fraud, Marketing, Media | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on 2.8 billion years of evolution, down the drain

The silence of the fake influencers and lack-of-thought leaders is deafening…

Originally posted on The Malcolm Auld Blog:
Those who have read my missives or attended my seminars, are aware I’ve been calling out the online zealots and their snake-oil since the invention of the information superhighway. So here’s today’s polite…

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on The silence of the fake influencers and lack-of-thought leaders is deafening…

Your Facebook Rebate

Q2 2018 is in the books. Plenty of time for advertisers and their agencies to true up Q1 and really start work on the second half of the year. As a reminder, in Q1 Facebook removed: 583MM fake accounts. 21MM … Continue reading

Posted in digital marketing, fraud, Social Media Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Your Facebook Rebate

Talent > Systems

“Any industry that values systems and processes over talent is an industry in decay.” Wrote Bob Hoffman today, reminding us that the adtech, martech, …aaS, and whatever other stuff we’ve cobbled into a tech stack isn’t our secret sauce. Like … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Talent > Systems