What are the functions of the marketing channels?

What are some good new online marketing channels for direct response?

• I run marketing for a company called Trunk Club and I'm trying to identify new marketing channels to test. We're familiar with the traditional PPC, display, affiliate and remarketing opportunities but would love to learn about new channels that have proven successful for direct response campaigns. For example, has anyone seen success with Pandora, promoted Tweets, video campaigns, advertising on dating sites, site sponsorships, etc.?

• Answer:

  I have seen success in targeting Twitter conversations. You can do a direct search using keywords and seek out conversations to participate in. However, the current best tool for online direct response in my mind is still email. It can be measured and tested better than anything out there, which as we know is the top criteria for direct response. Email used to be all about promoting, now marketers are learning that it's best to be an information source for your target market and mix a small amount of promotion in of about 5% - 10%. This keeps them from unsubscribing and allows you to focus your messages even better to test individual products as you limit the amount of "shameless plugs." Building email lists should be a top priority, they're world their weight in dollar bills.