Return on Intelligence

Jim Gilbert has been creating direct marketing programs that drive superior ROI for almost 30 years. Fluent in consumer or B-to-B, creative, operations, and analytics, he marries the strategic and tactical sides of direct and social media marketing in a seamless fashion that gets results. He’s CEO of a multidiscipline direct marketing agency, Gilbert Direct Marketing, Inc., which focuses on direct mail, catalogs, DRTV, telemarketing, print, alternative direct marketing media and social media marketing. Jim has been involved in start-ups, expansions and turnarounds, and is an expert in helping multichannel marketers get to the “next level.” He’s a former adjunct professor, teaching direct marketing at Miami International University, and is President of the Board of Directors of the Florida Direct Marketing Association. Jim loves to talk direct marketing, and has done many lectures on direct and social media marketing.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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).…

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