Tag Archives: email

Everything Old is New Again: Newsletters See Revival

newsletters are perfect for many communications projects

Newsletters—the Swiss Army Knife of Engagement

Death and taxes notwithstanding, newsletters and press releases are core elements of every marketing enterprise since the modern era of public relations began over a hundred years ago.

And once again newsletters are in the spotlight, or at least the footlights, as an old made new again viable medium to be utilized in the never-ending task of B2B and B2C marketing.

Google cast a fresh eye on the tried and found to be true tradition of newsletters as a vehicle for delivering searchable content. It should be mentioned that just because a newsletter, or any form of online content, attracts Google’s eye, that doesn’t automatically qualify it as engaging enough to attract and hold a reader’s attention. Continue reading →

Is Your Email Marketing Displaying Properly?

what email newsletters look like when there's no text and the images can't be loadedWhen Email Images Fail to Display

Have you ever clicked open a marketing email you’ve subscribed to — I use Apple Mail, but other email clients like Outlook are also affected — only to discover those email newsletters aren’t loading the images that are integral to the message? When the images that form the heart and soul of structured email content aren’t displaying, showing up as only a question mark on a blue background, it’s a big problem for both sender and recipient.

If you’re using a web browser for email; Gmail, Yahoo, etc., then this isn’t a problem. It may be, though, for anyone using a desktop client to retrieve their mail.

Of the many approaches available for digital marketing and customer communications, email newsletters are the bedrock of forging and maintaining a solid relationship. A staple of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) long before digital marketing and the acronym it represents came along, newsletters were and are the bread and butter of consumer B2C, and are essential for B2B outreach. Continue reading →

Mailchimp Founder Credits Creative

to be successful don’t do what you love – love what you do

edit: Since this original post, MailChimp’s been acquired by Intuit, best known for the Quicken line of financial software.

MailChimp founder Ben Chestnut talks about his path to success as the creator of one of email marketing’s best known brands in this enjoyable, entertaining, and informative 40-minute Creative Mornings video. What works for Ben might not work for everyone, but he makes a great case for including creative as part of a business that succeeds using a non-conformist approach.

For more creative inspiration, start your daily routine with a visit to Tina Eisenberg’s swiss miss blog. It’s great with that first cup of coffee.

don’t count email out yet

email will remain as a constant in web connectivityYesterday’s anticipated iPad intro was a major step towards a future imagined by Ben Parr over at Mashable, a world where we stay in touch by bypassing typing in favor of voice-to-text, where we’re surrounded by web connectivity via t.v., cars, and uncomputer like computers, where content evolves from text-driven to video-viewed and where social media becomes the driving force, not the passive voice.

Well. That’s quite a list, and will probably arrive sooner rather than later. In a disapointing Harris poll, two out of five adults no longer read a newspaper. Forty percent, if you’re keeping score. Worse, fewer than 25 percent of 18-34 year olds read a paper. And most readers say they won’t pay for online content.

According to Folio, magazines lost nearly $20 billion with a B in ad revenue last year. Yet despite dismal numbers for traditional mass media, teens and tweens are spending what many see as an unhealthy amount of hours online – by one study, over seven and a half daily spent surfing, gaming, texting and in general being connected.

How’s the mundane notion of email fit into the web world just around the corner? It’s not going away, it’ll just be interpreted differently. Professionally, you’ll still need an address that communicates authority. That’s the topic I tackled in my January newsletter. Read how to build a better trust score with an individualized account of your own.