Jim Gilbert

Jim Gilbert

Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success. 

After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was” and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth. 

Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.

Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.

If Amazon Did This, it Could Be Huge!

Two-and-a-half years into my foray going from consultant to owning my own e-commerce business, I've realized a few things. No matter what we do, what other platforms we do business on with Premo Guard, Amazon.com is still the 800-pound gorilla in the room. And that frustrates the (insert expletive here) out of me. Now I'm…

Customer Service is SO Annoying (Tips to Make it Less So)

Don’t get me wrong, this post is really about great customer service. There will be tips, too. But first, a quick update to my readers: In late 2019, after 20 years, I gave up my marketing consulting practice. I was done, burnt out, sick of dealing with C-levels and, most importantly, making them a fortune…

Apple iOS 15 and Privacy Issues: Why I'm Not Worried

There has been a lot to say by marketers lately about Apple’s latest iOS 15 release and how it will harm, even destroy our digital businesses. In short, if you've been living under a rock, Apple has put consumers in the driver’s seat allowing them to be selective in who they want to be tracked…

Truth in Advertising in the Age of Coronavirus

Here's an update to my last post about marketing automation in a time of crisis: Some of you have made adjustments to your automated emails and funnel-triggered messages, but frankly many have not. For example, Ruby Tuesday offered me a dine in buy one, get one (BOGO) offer. (To the restaurant chain's credit, I was…

Coronavirus and Marketing Automation: Let's Be Careful Out There

I'm no stranger to writing about disaster preparedness and crisis management. I live in an area where we get hit with a hurricane every few years. And while we're in uncharted waters here with the COVID-19 Coronavirus, there are some things that marketers forget about doing in times of crisis. I will leave up to…

Marketing Offers 101: Make ’Em an Offer They Won’t Confuse

Making offers. Those finnicky little things marketers do in order to generate an order. Free this, bogo that, buy now and we will back up a semi-truck with all kind of freemiums to your home or office. All kidding aside, the offer you make is designed for one purpose: to reduce the friction between “should I…

Starbucks Clover: A Missed Revenue Opportunity

What is the greatest coffee secret at Starbucks you never knew? Simple answer: a cup of coffee from its Clover machine. I will get to the sales and marketing point of this blog post in a moment. But first let’s talk about a subject most of us love: coffee! If you've never had a "Clover," you're…

Marketing During a National Crisis Like Hurricane Irma: The Good and the Bad

I live in Florida. We left for Boston three days before Hurricane Irma was supposed to make landfall there. As I write this article (the first in a long time, sorry fans — been really busy), Irma has not hit yet. The situation in Florida? People as you know are scared (to say the least).…

‘Tra-Digital’ Marketers Get the Job Done

To many who “grew up” in digital marketing, I look old. (Even to me, I look old these days.) For the record, I'm a marketer who is in my 50s. However, despite that, I'm NOT a marketing dinosaur. All you young guns in digital, don't count us old-school marketers out. It was our generation that…

Don't Let ‘Weasel Words’ Ruin Your Offers

Recently while I was in the mall, I saw the sign below in a storefront window. Marketers can drive revenue by making strong offers, either online or in this case at retail. I wouldn't consider this example to be a strong offer. Take a look. Can you tell me why? While the offer, “30% Off…

LinkedIn Pulse Adds Demographics, Stats and More to Blog Posts

When I post an article anywhere as part of my content marketing strategy, I need to know how it's performing so I can improve my writing and, hopefully, improve lead generation for my marketing consulting practice. So I was pleasantly surprised yesterday morning when I found a new button on each of my LinkedIn Pulse posts allowing me to track my results!

How to Beat the 140-Character Limit on Twitter

A few weeks ago, Twitter made a major change to its user interface allowing marketers to break the barrier of the 140-character limit. To those of us who found the 140-character limit challenging, this is excellent news. To others just wanting to "say more," you're going to love this new feature.