Chris Connolly, president of Connolly Financial Services in Quincy, Mass., has tried e-mail marketing to reach his small-business clients. He tried mailers, too, but none of it worked.

Michael A. Brown is a telemarketing consultant, based in Austin, Texas. BtoB recently asked him about trends and best practices in outbound telemarketing.

Ottawa, Ontarioand#8212;E-mail marketing service provider Campaigner has added several new features to its e-mail suite aimed at small businesses.

Nonprofits support direct mail efforts with e-mail, social and other channels.

With more consumers viewing online video, advertising in the channel is also gaining traction as marketers, publishers and agencies establish standards for it.

Virtual Premise looks for a lead-gen lift, Follet Software offers a free trial, Century Novelty reworks pay-per-click.

DMNews gathered the best and the brightest young superstars in the direct, database and interactive marketing industry for its second annual 30 Under 30 feature. These successful up-and-comers were judged on their ability to initiate change, drive growth and achieve measurable results for their companies and clients. While these honored executive are not ranked per se, the top 10 we feel are particularly innovative standouts who deserve special mention.

Martin Stein, CEO of RMI Direct Marketing, died March 8 after a battle with cancer. He was 58.

Wunderman has named Mark Russell president of Wunderman Toronto and managing director of Blast Radius' Detroit, Chicago and Toronto offices, effective March 8. Russell reports to Trish Wheaton, global CMO of Wunderman and chair of Wunderman Canada, and Gurval Caer, CEO of Blast Radius.

Retailer Men's Wearhouse is conducting a viral campaign to promote tuxedo rentals during prom season. The effort encourages teenagers to sign up to be a "prom rep" for the chance to win a free tuxedo or a Chevrolet Camaro. The effort, launched at the end of last month, runs through July.

24/7 Real Media has partnered with Omniture to update its Open AdStream Web ad management platform, and integrate it with Omniture's SiteCatalyst tool. The goal of the integration, effective March 9, is to make ad buying more targeted for publishers and advertisers by combining analytics and ad serving.

Dr. Knoll Health Products changed list managers from Country Marketing to Macromark on March 5.

For marketers of technology products and services, the mere fact that consumers can receive and respond to the latest mobile ad technology serves as a pre-qualifier. Our experts discuss strategies and tactics

Database marketing has changed substantially over the past 20 years. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the industry was primarily driven by statistical modeling and data mining, and advanced statistics was the primary skill.

Video in e-mail is a hot topic on the e-mail vendor side, but I haven't seen a ton of messages from brands with videos in them. The trend is starting slowly.

Customer reviews and other forms of word of mouth make great fodder for e-mail campaigns. When measured against identical campaigns that don't include word of mouth, they generally drive higher click-through rates and sales. Two key benefits of e-mail and user-generated content include driving community participation and using trusted words of customers to market products.

What makes the world's most addictive consumer Web sites ? Adidas, Amazon, and Zappos ? so addictive? The secret lies in the developers' ability to blend design and usability principles to create a uniquely engaging user experience. The payoff? Ease of use will compel consumers to return again and again.

Chevron will cut a significant number of jobs this year from its marketing department as part of a restructuring effort.

Miles Technologies and Chief Contact Officer, LLC is launching a new e-mail marketing Web site tool called ChiefContactOfficer.com.

Time and again, mobile coupon redemption rates have proven to be exceptional when employed as part of both pilot and real-world marketing programs.

Brand advocacy is a term that is thrown around a lot within the social media spectrum. Conversations usually center on finding brand advocates who will serve as a social media lightning rod and generate an avalanche of user-generated content from a community based on their actions. Marketers are just as likely to find these mythical advocates as they are to track down Big Foot riding a unicorn.