Is email the “digital glue” that holds our online lives together?  Will email remain the dominant form of communication, or will it be replaced by new means of online communication such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikis, etc.?  How do so-called “Millennials” view email?

Continue reading "Middle School Marketing Recap: The State of Email Marketing"

I can't stand most banner ads. They just get in the way of my browsing and annoy me. However, like so many other technologies, it's not the technology's fault, it's how we use it that's the problem. I came across a group that is running an excellent integrated digital marketing campaign; rockin' some sweet banners, a cool microsite, and some other essential online marketing tactics.

Continue reading "(Good) Banners + Microsite = Effective"

Oh boy, it's everyone's favorite topic right now.

The economic slowdown.

But despite all the very real concerns, products still need to be moved, sales need to be made, and companies still need to advertise. As we are all too well aware, the marketing budget ususally the first to get slashed when times are tight. So how do you accomplish more, with less?

The veritable brain trust that is the Middle School Marketing crew tackled just such a topic this week in our monthly meeting.

Continue reading "Middle School Marketing Recap: Marketing in a Recession"

Recently, a client posed this question:

“Some of the people with whom I work think we should collect email addresses from colleagues, friends, and associates who are affiliated with our industry. They want to add these contacts to our email newsletter mailing list. We work hard to make our newsletter content relevant to anyone in our industry, so they feel the contacts wouldn’t mind receiving the mailing. What are your thoughts on this strategy of growing our list?”

In my response I tried to go light on shaming her for even thinking that adding people to an email marketing list without their permission is appropriate. Instead, I wanted to emphasize that something of real value is at stake when they take this approach to list building. I also pointed out that there are better ways to ‘take advantage’ of colleagues who MAY enjoy their newsletter. I summarized my response to her below; let me know if you have a different take.

Continue reading "Build Email Relationships, Not Spam Lists"

We're always recommending that clients complement their new web sites with marketing strategies that will drive traffic. With online marketing talk focused mainly on the realm of social media, well, call me old school, but it's inspiring to see impressive returns using good old fashioned email.

One of our clients, Rebecca Shambaugh of SHAMBAUGH Leadership, came to us last summer to redesign her company's site. She was open to the idea of blogging. She had just written a book and was no stranger to getting her ideas and experiences in writing. However, her core audiences aren't guaranteed blog readers. So what better way to reach more traditional corporate audience members than by email, a tool they're comfortable and adept at using?

So, whenever this CEO publishes a new post on Becky's Blog, she also sends out a quick email to about 2,500 contacts. The email is usually just the first paragraph or two of the blog post with a link to read the rest on the site itself. Since she started this process in March, she's averaged a 37 percent click-through rate of those emails that were opened; meaning that of the 20 percent (500) or so who open the email, nearly half (250) click through to read the rest of her posts online. 

That's about 250 readers who likely don't have RSS readers and who almost certainly would not have received her blog content otherwise.

Email catches flak with spam abounding, but it's still a viable, core component of business online.

Recently, a client posed this question (I’m paraphrasing): "I have a list of 350,000 email addresses that I collected over the last 5 years. I don’t know how many of them are legitimate. I haven’t used their email addresses for anything before. I want to announce our re-launch and re-engage users. What’s the most cost effective way to get value from these email addresses?"

The first thing I did was verify that all 350,000 email addresses had, at some point, been willingly provided by individual users. The client confirmed that, while it may have been five years ago, all of these people gave an email address willingly. This is essential, but may still not be good enough (see below).

The second thing I focused on was the idea of "cost effective." Most ESP's will charge for every email sent.  Therefore, it’s tempting to find a way to scrub the defunct email addresses prior to sending the message. I’ve heard of people using email validators; but, I haven’t used one myself. 

Quickly, however, I shifted my attention to trying to understand the potential value of this big list. What makes these email addresses precious to the client? Conversely, what’s at stake if we misuse them?

Continue reading "Wrestling with Big, Old Lists"