About the Author James Milligan Follow me on:

Recent Posts

How Channel 4 made data sharing fun for me – no really!

An email I got from Channel 4 the other day got me thinking about data privacy from a consumer’s perspective. I recently registered on 4oD so that I could watch stuff from the archive, which meant sharing some personal data. Like most people, I don’t do small print and always click on the ‘I agree’ button to avoid wading through pages of legalese, or what I like to call ‘porridge’.… Read more

What sales teams can tell marketers about product launches

It’s the biggest argument that you will hear in the bar after every conference or product launch. The sales team will be puffing up their chests and showing their tail feathers like peacocks. The marketers will be coughing “bullsh*t” under their breath. The marketers firmly believe that they’re the reason for the success of any product in the market. They base this for good reason on some very solid foundations.… Read more

Have you heard the good news about telemarketing?

Probably not. That’s because the media tends to focus on the few rogue companies that operate outside the law or not within best practice (bad news travels fast).

Could getting rid of CTPS be a wasted effort?

Many of you will be aware of the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which is essentially a ‘do not call’ list for consumer telephone numbers. But what about Corporate TPS (CTPS)?

“All marketing is direct” says Harper Reed

Marketers need to create genuine communities if they are going to talk with people one to one in a very real way, Harper Reed, chief technology officer of Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, told delegates at the DMA Technology Summit on 30 April 2013.

Navigating the treacherous waters of Big Data

Conversational marketing: The art of conversation

In an age of the consumer, mass communication and consumption of disposable information, marketers face the challenge of offering consumers a unique, engaging dialogue. As the way we interact with each other changes, it poses the question, have we lost the art of conversation? With the proliferation of digital channels where we are swamped by volumes of ‘Big Data’, how can marketers rise over the cacophony of competitors to make their voice heard?… Read more

Have we lost sight of the value ‘human interaction’ can bring to sales?

Recent research conducted by SCi Sales Group across a variety of companies, indicated that over 68% of buyers had some form of human interaction with a sales person prior to making their last three purchasing decisions; either a telephone conversation or a face to face meeting. These figures become more revealing when we examine the size of order. The average order value with human interaction is £68,032, but only £1,018 without.… Read more

In pursuit of creativity

I was reminded in a recent pitch of the definition of a very important word; a word that drove me to leave the client side and venture into the agency side; a word that is at the very heart of what we are about.

Is ‘lean marketing’ a pipedream?

You’d have to be kidnapped and isolated on a desert island or live a media reclusive life not to be aware we are living through a massive global ‘correction’. A collision of financial, supply and demand, shifting superpower and technology dynamics, occasionally exacerbated by natural disasters, plays constant havoc with accepted customer connection models and business stability.