Redefining SPAM: New Survey Results
In 2009, the Email Institute, Epsilon’s highly-regarded research and industry best practices organization, conducted a global study of the evolution of email marketing that included in-depth looks at how multi-channel marketing, social media, instant messaging, and mobile devices were affecting email marketers. The study also looked at how consumers define spam email, and what steps email marketing professionals should take in light of the r evised spam definition. One of the most important email marketing questions asked in that 2009 study was how consumers define spam email. The Distributed Marketing Blog decided to crowd-source an updated spam definition, so we Read More
Thought Leadership Marketing: The Basics
A couple of years ago (early in 2010), research giant Gartner, Inc. published a report from Rolf Jester, one of the company’s vice president’s and distinguished analysts, that noted that thought leadership marketing (TLM) was a powerful tool for multi-channel marketing communications success. Jester said that while it was once the province solely of consulting firms and service businesses, where it typically accounted for as much as 20 percent of marketing expenditures, it was emerging as an important tool for other businesses, too. In just two years, what was once an emerging discipline has become a major part of nearly Read More
Do You See What I See? On Google, Probably Not
If you and I use Google to search for the same keyword, do you see what I see? Probably not. I’m in Dallas, Texas, so the first thing that Google does is to look at my IP address, which tells it where I am. If you’re anywhere else – even in a Dallas suburb – Google will automatically adjust the search results according to location. Users get no say as to whether or not we want “local” results (and ads). Search history factors in, too. Google results are based on assumptions that are supposed to help make the results more relevant Read More
Efficient Email: 5 Time-Saving Steps
When European tech giant Atos banned email between its employees last year in favor of instant messages and a collaborative portal, the company said that workers were losing up to 28 per cent of each day due to interruptions, with email a major culprit. Besides, the company said that only about 10 out of every 200 emails that employees received every day were actually useful to their core job responsibilities. Many American workers have taken to reading email and social media, as well as skill-building tasks such as keeping up with industry news, or listening to recorded training sessions and Read More
Timing Social Media & Email for Best Results
To every purpose, there is a season…to every tweet, there is an optimum time. (Rephrasing Ecclesiastes…and the Byrds..with no intent to offend fans of either one.) It is true: there is a best time to send email, and timing social media for best results will deliver more leads and more sales than social media that isn’t properly timed. To be successful in email, content and social media marketing, you have to have three things: Interesting content that gives people value for their time. The ability to deliver your message at a time when your prospective customer is receptive to hearing Read More
Going Mobile in 2012: How and Why It Matters
Mobile web traffic has quickly become one of the fastest growing segments for businesses. More & more people rely on mobile devices to conduct transactions using their smart-phones, tablets, iPads and even an ebooks. As Marketers, we have to be ready to reach consumers all day, every day. Many companies are already catering to mobile consumers by offering direct updates via text, mobile apps and/or mobile optimized websites, while others haven’t developed a mobile strategy yet. Does my business really need a mobile site? If your business is having trouble deciding whether to develop a mobile optimized version of your Read More
Leveraging Email & Social Media for PR Results
Journalists and PR professionals are increasingly using all forms of media in their day-to-day reporting and now see them as legitimate channels for communication. MyPRGenie, a leading PR and marketing platform, recently conducted a research survey to see which of these channels are most popular among reporters and how they can be used effectively. The findings of this survey, to which over 2400 journalists and PR professionals responded, clearly point out that most reporters prefer to receive releases through email. Here are some tips for making sure that your email pitch stands out among the thousands of emails reporters receive Read More
Rethinking Print in the Age of Social Media
The corner newsstand may be a vanishing symbol of a bygone era for many of us, but printed materials remain a staple for most marketers. Business cards, direct mail, flyers, brochures, point-of-sale, forms and other printed items need to be produced and delivered to prospective customers, local offices, third-party fulfillment houses, trade shows and distribution centers. Once upon a time, that meant guessing how many pieces might be used, printing them all at once, and shipping huge bales of collateral to local offices which had to store them, manage the inventory over time, and ship them again to other places where Read More
5 PR Pitch Mistakes to Avoid
Around Christmas time, I helped a friend who is a columnist for a well-known national magazine cull through a large volume of pitches he was getting from a request for information that he’d posted on HARO (Peter Shankman’s great Help a Reporter Out service that matches sources with writers looking for experts). It’s possible that the task of culling through HARO looking for media opportunities the week before Christmas fell to the most junior staffer in the shop. But don’t they teach the basics of PR pitching in college anymore? I work with an undergraduate marketing intern who knows better Read More
5 Steps to Take Before A Social Media Campaign
Have you ever had an audience member ask one of those questions that seems out of context at first, but it nags at you until you realize how important it was? That happened to me several months ago when I was a presenter at a webinar with Christy Campbell of Socialware and Stephen Selby of LIMRA. We were talking about social media, and how marketers in a regulated industry could implement one without compliance problems. Christie Campbell was showing a slide on the social media lifecycle, and offering excellent advice on the pre-planning that implementing a successful social media campaign Read More
