I often hear people compare unwanted email to junk postal mail. There is some validity to the comparison. I know there have been times our home mailbox has been crowded (if not full) with offers that I never asked for. At certain times of the year, we get catalogs galore, and probably half are from stores we’ve shopped. The others range from alleged partners of those stores to the completely random. This says nothing of the numerous offers from local businesses wanting me to paint my house, whiten my teeth, or dine at their restaurant, just because I’m within a given radius from one of their locations. And there are different levels of personalization. If you’re sending me something, you should know I’ve never been too fond of being referred to as “Current Resident“.
But I don’t find myself getting as angry about postal junk mail as I do about email. Perhaps it is because I work with permission-based email for a living. Maybe it is the frequency or volume. Maybe it is the types of offers being sent (I’ll guarantee my postal mailbox doesn’t get nearly as racy as what I see via email.) But more likely, for me anyway, it is because I know that there is a significant cost associated with postal mail. If I receive a big, glossy catalog in the mail from someone I have no interest in purchasing from, I know it set them back a pretty penny. If they’re going to waste that on me, so be it. My only concern at that point is how to dispose of it (can I put that in curbside recycling or do I have to take it somewhere?) I suppose I could be more environmentally conscious and ask them not to send to me any more (reducing the paper, ink, power and fuel needed to get it to me) but that’s seems like a lot of work. There’s no “unsubscribe” button on my mailbox. So, I take the approach of, “if I don’t buy anything, they’ll stop sending it. And typically that is what happens.
Last week we announced that we have integrated Cantaloupe.tv’s new VideoHereTM online video platform with our own email marketing platform, giving marketers an easy way to add and manage videos within their email marketing campaigns. This platform also closely tracks which members viewed the videos and for how long. Signup for the Webinar Today!
Learn how Delivra, one of the original email software and services providers, has integrated Cantaloupe.tv’s new VideoHere™ online video platform with its own email marketing platform, giving marketers an easy way to add and manage videos within their email marketing campaigns. This platform also closely tracks which members viewed the videos and for how long.
Facilitatiing the webinar is Carissa Newton, Director of Marketing joined by Andy Falkenstein of Cantaloupe. Join them to learn how easy VideoHere will be and how it can effectively help you engage your audience!
On Friday, February 12, I tuned in to watch the Olympic opening ceremony. I had already read online about the untimely death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, a member of the Georgian luge team who died following a crash in training earlier that day, so I wasn’t surprised that NBC opened its programming by covering the story.
Don’t believe government jobs reports. Unless you don’t want a job…
Delivra is hiring. Businesses are hiring. Jobs are out there. But job seekers must be flexible and proactive to land a position.
I see many resumes weekly. They come in through our website form. How many of these job seekers follow up with a phone call or just walk in the door of our office to follow up?
I have been watching the debate shape up surrounding the emergence of social media, it’s surge to success, and how it relates to email marketing. The debate goes on where one camp believes social media will replace the need for email entirely, whereas another camp believes when combined effectively with email marketing, it can only increase it’s reach and results. I’m sure if you’ve read earlier posts by me, you can probably guess which camp I choose to sit in.
I saw an interesting video today on a blog I follow called, Social Email Marketing that really emphasizes that point well. Check out the video below and let me know your thoughts, which camp are you and why?
Recently, I was meeting with a social media consultant and talking about the ways social media can virally spread a message effectively to tens of thousands of people that might not have seen it before. This consultant’s response, “Email marketing is old school, social is the way to go.” Then proceeded to say, “I only use social to market my services, in fact I don’t see a need for email marketing.” Now in listening to this I have to say I was a bit taken aback…I mean don’t all web-based services require that you have an email address? Don’t all social sites require an email? Aren’t social sites now gathering email opt-ins and data to aid in this process? I get that this consultant should live and practice what is preached, but aren’t you missing a prime opportunity for additional reach and further engagement if you don’t integrate?
Here’s the latest spin on why email marketers shouldn’t have to worry about opt-ins. According to the CEO of one marketing database company, this time, it’s the economy. Because, really, who can afford to follow best practices these days? Desperate times, desperate measures, and all that. Naturally, his company is there for you in these troubled times. Go ahead and read the whole thing, including (especially) the comments. I’ll wait right here…
Sometimes I feel like I have beat this social media trend into the ground, but just when I take a break, I see some genius marketing execution out there on some update or post.
Like just about everyone else, I’ve been watching the Winter Olympics. I am amazed at what athletes can accomplish on skis, skates, luges, sleighs and snowboards. After the slalom qualifications, my knees and back hurt for days in sympathy.
Watching the Olympics has also given me a greater appreciation for all the coordination that has gone on behind the scenes to make these events a reality. The scope is mind-boggling. The infrastructure and facilities for the nine Olympic venues in the greater Vancouver area and in Whistler cost the city of Vancouver nearly $6 billion.
As I watched the drama unfold at the games, it occurred to me there are several lessons from Vancouver 2010 that can be applied to email marketing. Read my full article from MediaPost here!
Now that our user interface has had its recent facelift, it’s time that our online help pages were revised as well, for all the same reasons. For too long, we have relied on help content provided by our main technology partner, but that content no longer makes enough sense to our users since we’ve added new technology partners and made so many improvements of our own to the Delivra platform.
So we recently hired a technical writer to create an online help file that would be unique and proprietary to Delivra. Our writer was new to email marketing, so had some research to do before he could start authoring help content. One day, after he read about our clickstream- and purchase-tracking capabilities, he told me something like this:
Including a signup form on your website is easier than you might think.
Delivra’s system has an easy to use subscribe form builder (found under the “Web Forms” options in the “Utilities” section) which lets you choose what data you wish to collect. Additionally, you’re also able to control the subscriber’s experience after they sign-up with options like directing them to a specific landing page or sending them an automated confirmation message. Once you’ve selected your options, just click “Get HTML” and the system will provide you with the code to paste into your website.
I often hear people compare unwanted email to junk postal mail. There is some validity to the comparison. I know there have been times our home mailbox has been crowded (if not full) with offers that I never asked for. At certain times of the year, we get catalogs galore, and probably half are from stores we’ve shopped. The others range from alleged partners of those stores to the completely random. This says nothing of the numerous offers from local businesses wanting me to paint my house, whiten my teeth, or dine at their restaurant, just because I’m within a given radius from one of their locations. And there are different levels of personalization. If you’re sending me something, you should know I’ve never been too fond of being referred to as “Current Resident“.
