The idea of the vacuum, or silo thinking, with any marketing medium is very dangerous. This is especially true for email marketing.
Continue reading »Email and Politics: Reputation and Value are Everything
I had the thought the other day that politics and email really are a lot alike. If you mess up in politics or email, the right people (the consumers or voting blocs you want) tune out. Here’s what politicians and email marketers alike need to think about in terms of message strategy: Provide value for your customers/voters (not yourself–at least obviously) The biggest problem politicians and email marketers both run into is the issue of being self-serving in their messaging. Email done right is not an ad, it’s a relationship builder. Relationships aren’t one-sided. Neither is politics. Think of politics and email like a savings account–you pay into the account (building credibility and establishing a brand), then you take out payments when it’s the right time to do so (either getting a vote or getting a sale). How do you build the relationship? By providing value. You provide value by learning about your customers and giving them the information they need to make an informed decision. Enable them to make the decision as quickly or as slowly as they need. Be persuasive, but don’t sell an empty cart of goods. Consumers will see straight through it. What this means in email (which politicians use) is connections to: Third-party reviews/Testimonials/Endorsements Whitepapers Demos Microsites with further information Free trials These are just some of many ideas for getting your message out there without forcing it down people’s throats. That leads me to my next “rule.” Respect your customers I know I’m not
Continue reading »The Secret to Effective Email Marketing: Setting Subscriber Expectations
Are your email subscribers clicking through to your websites, ordering your products, or registering for your events as expected?Instead are they simply unresponsive, unsubscribing or (gasp) complaining? Perhaps your email marketing program is not clearly establishing mutual expectations. Learn how.
Continue reading »How does your email marketing program stack up?
Compare the performance of your email marketing against this benchmark data, which was provided from various sources, to help you identify industry trends and compare your results against others.
Continue reading »How a 'Pharmá' Email Avoided Filters and Gained New Customers
For legitimate email marketer it’s often difficult to avoid the dreaded spam folder. Now imagine that you work in the pharmaceutical industry. Ouch. However through creativity and ingenuity this marketer got huge returns on their email marketing efforts.
Continue reading »Need to grow your email list? Here's a nifty tool.
ExactTarget recently recently unveiled a List Growth Advisor tool today that automatically offers personalized recommendations on how to grow an e-mail list after users answer a series of questions. It’s really a very good tool. which identifies what the marketer isn’t doing and advises them to do it.
Continue reading »Hassle-free Email Marketing White Papers
If you’re like me you’re always trying to improve your email marketing skillset but you hate having to register for what seem to be quality white papers. Fear not. We’ve already downloaded and assembled a list of pre-screened email marketing white papers for you. http://emailcritic.com/email-marketing-whitepapers-tips/
Continue reading »Brilliant Email Design: Apple’s New iPod Nano
Of course you’d expect tight, clean design from Apple but this most recent email for their new iPod nano, from a pure impact perspective, is impeccable. http://emailcritic.com
Continue reading »How to Use Humor in Email Marketing
Do you use your corporate personality to make your standard email marketing practices more engaging? If you’re anything like 99.9999999% of the marketing universe, probably not.
Continue reading »Preview Text: Overlooked, Untested, and Critical
Preview text, be it executed through pre-header text, snippets, image alt tags or a combination thereof, are the most often overlooked, untested, yet critical, components in crafting effective email marketing messages. http://emailcritic.com/
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