Digital Lifescapes

As online retailing matures and expands, the number of choices available to shoppers grows exponentially. Moreover, offering more product choice can result in a confusing clutter that slows down or inhibits the purchase process. Despite the online retailer quest to find the ultimate automated, personalized recommendation system, there has been a simultaneous rise in sites that provide hand-picked item selections and online retail models offering fewer products -- instead of more. "Curated ecommerce is becoming recognized by both retailers and shoppers for its simplicity and ability to help fill an online void," said Krista Garcia, eMarketer analyst. There will always be a place for comprehensive, multi-category retail sites, but fine-tuned collections enhanced by personal touches also perform a necessary function in the ecommerce ecosystem. Sites surveyed by the e-tailing group in Q4 2011 reported online curation was a growing merchandising tactic with savvy retaile...

I'm eagerly awaiting my review copy of a new book entitled "Managing Content Marketing: The Real-World Guide to Creating Passionate Subscribers to Your Brand" by Robert Rose and Joe Pulizzi. This book builds on the foundation of "Get Content, Get Customers" that Joe Pulizzi co-wrote with Newt Barrett at the outset of the content marketing phenomenon, back in early 2008. Today, I'm sensing that savvy marketers everywhere are ready to move their budgets away from under-performing advertising, to something that's potentially more appealing to their customers. Yes, it's about time. eMarketer reports that with the average cost-per-lead increasing -- and too many marketers competing for the same buyer's attention -- traditional tactics are no longer enough to influence the sale. Business-to-business (B2B) companies are looking to content marketing as a way to proactively boost their return on investment. “Informative, nonpromotional content i...