Posted by Mindy Dolan in email marketing.
Tags: businesses connecting to social networks, connect email to social networks, email content, email marketing, email to blog, email to RSS, email to SMS, email to social, Facebook, landing pages, LinkedIn, social network influencers, social networks, trackable email marketing, Twitter
Businesses are quickly catching on to the need for creating social network pages for their business in order to keep connected and in front of the consumers mind. Once they have created their social network page, the next struggle they tend to encounter is creating content to be used for each network. The content for each social network (like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn) isn’t usually the same since it’s targeting different groups of people.
Rather than having to take the time to post to each social network site, use the content you’re storing in your email marketing library, and post it to your social network sites from the email marketing system. Most email marketing systems are now adapting to this, and it’s trackable. You can also start to see who your social network influencers are (the people who spread your information virally), and perhaps even start to send them some of your better content through email since they do such a great job at promoting you. This saves time and money, and you don’t have to rewrite or copy and paste content in order to post to each of the networks. You can also use email marketing systems to host your landing pages so that you can continue to track what they’re doing.
Email marketing is definitely not dead. It’s just had a rebirth and will continue to grow with the digital world. It all really does start with email…
Email >> RSS
Email >> Social
Email >> SMS
Email >> Blog
Posted by Mindy Dolan in email marketing.
“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” — Plato
Simply said, but not followed enough. If you don’t have something relevant to send to your subscribers, don’t send it. First off, you’re wasting money to send the broadcast with unimportant information. Second, you could cause people to ignore you when you actually do have something relevant to send, or worse, they could mark you as spam or remove themselves from your list. Consider the damage that could be done by sending irrelevant emails, and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE follow Plato’s words.
Posted by Mindy Dolan in email marketing.
Tags: aquisition newsletters, customer retention, drip campaigns, dynamic content, email marketing mix, email testing, happy birthday or anniversary emails, list segmentation, newsletters, order confirmation emails, renewal emails, service policy emails, surveys
Should you do more drip campaigns or newsletters? Will order confirmations and “thank you” offers bring add-on business? Should you mail more often (or less) to prospects?
How many renewal notices before rock-bottom pricing? What? How many? How often? When? To whom?
The correct answers to these questions would yield increased sales and profits. But, unfortunately, there are no totally correct answers — only informed guesses.
What’s a marketer to do? (more…)
Posted by Mindy Dolan in email marketing.
Tags: automated email reports, drip campaigns, dynamic content, email marketing features, email marketing program, email solutions, flexible templates, high tech email features, integrating API, integrating Google Analytics, lead lifecycle campaigns, lead nurturing programs, lead scoring, relevant content, triggers
It’s obviously important to keep in contact with your customers on a regular basis – it’s part of the ongoing sales cycle. However, these days, customers have different needs and don’t all follow the same path. Email marketers develop killer campaigns for all the stages of the cycle and yet typically have a difficult time implementing them effectively within an email marketing system. Amazingly enough, even the most popular email service providers have a difficult time integrating all the key programs that lead to an email marketers success.
So we sat back and thought about this for awhile. What are the ideal features (beyond the basics) for an email service provider to offer, that would allow a marketer to operate a fully functional and successful email program at no or a low additional cost?
- Client data or content management system integrated into the email service provider’s system.
- Easy way to create and deliver tailored and relevant email for each subscriber dynamically.
- Combine marketing and sales email camplaign efforts by creating flexible templates that can be changed centrally in the system and then dynamically insert different salesperson imagery, content, and contact information.
- Lead scoring and nurturing programs built into the system.
- Automated drip campaigns/triggers delivered based on subscriber open/click behavior.
- Reports automatically emailed to the team a set time after the broadcast has been delivered.
- Google Analytics integration with the system so that clicks are seamlessly tracked once the subscriber leaves the newsletter and lands on the website.
If you’re an email marketer or a sales person looking for a way to truly connect with your subscribers, then these are the tools you need to get there. Ask your email service provider to put a program like this together for you. If they’re not able to provide these solutions for you, then you need to start looking for a provider who can. Features like these don’t need to cost you an additional $5,000-10,000 a month. If you can’t find a provider who can offer you these features, then call us – we can!
Posted by Mindy Dolan in email marketing.
Tags: email campaign checklist
There are so many things to think about as you’re preparing your email campaign and getting it ready to send. We wanted to put together a thorough checklist so that you can be sure you didn’t miss anything.
(Printable version)
Subject line:
- Is it between 50-60 characters long (or less)? Make sure the first 15 characters can draw them in (for recipients reading it on a BlackBerry or other mobile device).
- Does the subject line relate to the content that is in the email campaign without looking like spam?
- Have you used any spam-filter words or punctuation that could send it to the junk folder? (Note: the TailoredMail application will automatically notify you by a pop up of words that you may have used that could cause the email to get caught by a spam-filter).
- Have you written down or tested multiple subject lines to determine which one would be most effective?
- Does your brand/company name appear in the subject line or “From” address?
(more…)
Posted by Mindy Dolan in email marketing.
Tags: email marketing, List management, opt-in email list, organic email list, purchased email list, tips to build an email list, tips to sign up for a newsletter
You want to start doing email marketing but you’ve got a small list. Your boss wants you to send to as many subscribers as possible. How do you quickly grow your list so that you’re reaching more people? Should you purchase the list or just build it organically?
Organically build your list: If you want to build a positive relationship with your subscribers based on trust, then be patient and build your list organically. Here are a few suggestions of how to build your list:
- Add a “sign up for our newsletter” button/link on your website pages, blogs, social media pages, and email signature.
- Add an option on the checkout page on your website for consumers to sign up for the newsletter/updates from your company.
- Ask staff to collect email addresses at the retail location, or have a computer set up for customers to add their info in. Make sure to let them know how often they’ll be receiving it and that you won’t be selling their information. Build the trust up-front.
- Promote your newsletter in other media outlets as a free incentive to keep notified of important updates/promotions. Give them a quick link that they’ll remember to go to when they are ready to sign up.
- Add a “forward to a friend” button/link in your newsletter.
- Tell everyone you know to sign up, and ask them to tell everyone they know to sign up.
A helpful way of showing the value of your newsletter, is to give an example of an actual newsletter. Once they see the perceived value, they’ll know what to expect from you. Right after they sign up, make sure they get a welcome/thank you email. And now that you have them, keep them interested by staying committed to sending out your newsletter in a consistent and timely manner with relevant information – this is the easiest way to build the relationship.
Purchasing a list: Buying a list can get you (and your email service provider) into trouble, and we don’t recommend that you do so. A purchased list contains subscribers who have typically signed up to receive information from a particular company and then checked the box that said they would be interested in receiving information from third-parties. They don’t know who you are when you start sending to them, and will most likely hit the spam button before they even open your email. So now not only have you just paid for an email list, but you’ve also paid for a broadcast to send to this email list (and basically paid for them to hit the spam button and lower your reputation). If you do decide to purchase a list to send to, we advise you consult with your email service provider and understand their policies and procedures on sending to purchase lists.
Posted by Mindy Dolan in email marketing.
Tags: email clients, email rendering, Email Standards Project, Gmail
Here’s a funny video for all of you desperately trying to get your emails to render correctly in all email clients – especially Gmail.