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Editor-in-Chief

The View From Here

By Melissa Campanelli

About Melissa

Melissa Campanelli is the editor-in-chief of Target Marketing's eM+C brand and Retail Online Integration, a monthly print magazine, website and e-letter (The ROI Report) that's all about the integration of sales channels, including print/catalog, transactional websites and retail stores, as well as email, mobile, social media and more.

Prior to becoming editor-in-chief of eM+C, Melissa spent ten years at DM News, where she was first a senior editor and then deputy editor. She's also a leading expert in small business e-commerce and author of the books "Entrepreneur Magazine's Open an Online Business in 10 Days" and "Start Your Own e-Business."

 

15 Minutes Ahead

Margie Chiu
Tearing Down the CRM Barriers
Aug 5, 2010

In networked CRM, there's no tightly defined “conversion path.” Instead, every social media touchpoint serves as a point of entry,...



Engagement Matters

Stephanie Miller
A 'Back-to-Business' Email Optimization Checklist
Sep 2, 2010

Back to school is also back-to-business time. Set aside a few hours this final week of summer to freshen up...



Ways of Thinking

Thorin McGee
A Facebook Fan is $136 in Lifetime Value, $3.60 in Media Impressions
Jun 29, 2010

The lifetime value of a Facebook fan is about $136 to top brands, according to this study on Facebook fan...



Redefining Performance Marketing

Craig Greenfield
Affiliates: Redefining the Original Performance Marketing Channel
Aug 26, 2010

As the original performance marketing channel, affiliate marketing has been effectively driving performance-based sales since the mid-90s. But the characteristics...



Inside Mobile Marketing

Michael Becker
Researching the Mobile Marketing Opportunity
Aug 12, 2010

Mobile marketing is a case in point: A forthcoming Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) survey of U.S. advertisers and...



DM Hiring Down

By Melissa Campanelli | Posted on April 15, 2008
 
Just when you thought it was safe... While the economy has been a thorn in everyone's side over the past few weeks, we have heard some encouraging words about the online and digital marketing world. Online sales are up, we've heard, and digital marketing may increase in a recession. So all wasn't so bad. But in my inbox this morning, I was greeted with a real clunker: According to a press release from Berhart Associates Executive Search, continued layoffs and more hiring freezes appear to be on the horizon for direct marketers this spring. According to the latest Bernhart Associates employment survey, 54 percent of the companies responding said they will be filling new positions during the current spring quarter, down from 58 percent last quarter. The percentage of companies that have imposed a hiring freeze jumped to 19 percent, compared with 13 percent last quarter and more than double the rate just six months ago. Planned layoffs remained unchanged at 12 percent. A total of 129 companies responded to the random survey that waa e-mailed the week of April 1. Jerry Bernhart, owner of the Owatonna, Minn.-based search firm that conducted the survey insists, however, that there is some good news in all of this. "If you look at what's going on now and compare it with what happened during the last downturn in 2001-2002, things are still holding up better on the jobs front," said Bernhart, in the release. "All of our indicators were weaker back then. Direct marketers this time around are turning more to hiring freezes and doing what they can to avoid significant cutbacks in staff. They know that when things turn around, talent will be more difficult to come-by." Even in the current environment, said Bernhart, many companies are still having a challenging time finding qualified candidates for certain positions. "Nearly three-quarters of those responding said they are having some degree of difficulty filling openings," said Bernhart. "For the most part, these jobs are more specialized lower to mid-level positions, or they are in geographic locations where the available direct marketing labor pool is relatively small." When asked what positions will be in greatest demand during the coming three months, Bernhart said sales dominated the list. "This is similar to what we saw during the last downturn. Many companies apparently believe that a good way to weather an economic downturn is to increase the effectiveness of their sales force, and that's exactly what many of them are doing." Bernhart said analytics was a close second, followed by account managers. So, I guess there is still some hope, I guess.

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