Entries from May 2009
On-site registration and capturing information through call centers are the most effective email list-growth tactics for marketers, according to research by ExactTarget, Ball State University and the Email Marketers Club.
List rentals and outbound call-center attempts to solicit information are the least effective tactics, according to the email marketing research.
“Overall, the study found that the best way to grow email subscriber lists is to collect customers’ email addresses during times of high engagement and on occasions when the consumers’ perceive the marketer as adding value – at the point of sale, during online shopping and in-store via text messaging. These on-site list growth tactics rated as much as 60% higher than offline methods such as list rental and mass advertising.” (MarketingCharts)
Email subscription via text messaging is forecasted to grow by at least 500% in the next year, more than any other growth tactic, according to ExactTarget. They also predict that the practice of enabling subscribers to share email content with others in their social networks will increase almost 350% in 2009.
What are marketers’ top priorities for 2009?
- 51% wanted to improve conversations
- 41% will focus on improving email relevance
- 38% are concerned with growing email lists
- 5% list lowering costs as a top priority
The study also found a major rift in B2B vs. B2B email marketing. It turns out that B2B marketers are more successful in driving new subscriptions with ‘incentivized’ registration, while B2C marketers find more success with ‘non-incentivized’ subscriptions.
“The best performing list growth tactics are built on gathering subscriber data rather than hunting for it,’ said Morgan Stewart, ExactTarget’s director of research and strategy. “Whether you are a B2B or a B2C marketer, the best way to grow your subscriber list is to collect information during customer-initiated interactions.” (Marketing Charts)
Email list-growth tactics for marketers
Categories: Email marketing
Tagged: b2b email, b2b marketing, business to business email marketing, business to business marketing, email, email list growth tactics, Email marketing, email marketing tips, internet marketing
Categories: b2b marketing · web 2.0
Tagged: 2.0, b2b marketing, business to business marketing, internet marketing, social, social media, social media marketing, social networking, tips for small business marketing, web 2.0, web 2.0 marketing tip
The latest reports on direct mail show that it’s doomed, eternally doomed.
What’s to blame for direct mail’s sad demise? Email and online coupons.
“The kudzu-like creep of the Internet is about to claim its third analog victim,” according to the latest research report from research firm Borrell Associates.
“Direct mail has begun spiraling into what we believe is a precipitous decline from which it will never fully recover,” Borrell predicts. More specifically, it is projecting a 39% decline for direct mail over the next five years, from $49.7 billion in annual ad spending in 2008 to $29.8 billion by the end of 2013. (MediaPost)
If Borrell’s predictions pan out, direct mail will no longer be the top placeholder for ad revenue and will fall to the fourth spot. The leaders will then be the Web, broadcast TV and newspapers.
“Email advertising is indeed skyrocketing while its traditional counterpart plummets,” Borrell notes. “In fact, last year, email advertising quietly moved to the No. 1 online ad category spot, surpassing all other forms of interactive advertising.” Last year, advertisers spent $12.1 billion on email marketing, more than they spent on display/banner advertising or search advertising.
The firm is also forecasting that most of the growth in email marketing will be local. Borrell expects local email advertising to grow from $848 million in 2008, to an estimated $2 billion in 2013.
However, the report also warns against jumping into email marketing without being prepared for potential risks.
“Managing large e-mail marketing campaigns require database marketing expertise, a savvy sales force, adequate e-mail management software, familiarity with the rules and regulations and a lot of patience.”
Categories: Email marketing · b2b marketing
Tagged: business to business, business to business email marketing, direct, direct mail, direct marketing, direct marketing best practices, Email marketing, email marketing tips
Enlightening eytracking study
Want to know whether your homepage layout is effective? Or if readers prefer short paragraphs over long ones? And if your ads are in the best place to be noticed by your audience?
Take a few minutes out of your day and read over the latest findings from Eyetrack III (via ProBlogger and the Direct Creative Blog). Their research could give your team a better idea of where to start and what to fix when it comes to your Web site design.
You can check out the full article for a complete overview of their findings, but here are some of the main points:
Headlines first, then pictures. When people first land on a page, they tend to look at dominant headlines before looking at pictures. Headlines located in the upper left of the page got the most attention.
The first few words in a headline are most important. A headline will grab less than a second of a visitor’s attention and it appears that the first few words need to be the most eye-catching. People scan the first couple words before deciding to read on.
Use large type for scanning, small type for closer reading. Smaller type is harder to read, so visitors have to focus when they want to find out more. As always, large type should be used for headlines to allow for easy scanning.
Short paragraphs have a better chance of being read than longer ones. Long paragraphs, especially on the Web, look difficult to read. Short paragraphs are more appealing.
Ads in the top and left portions of a homepage get the most attention. Our eyes tend to look at the upper left of a page when we first arrive on it.
Bigger ads are better. Bigger ads have a better chance of being seen. When ads are also placed next to popular content they’ll generally get more attention.
Categories: b2b marketing
Tagged: b2b marketing, building content, business to business marketing, business to business marketing tips, content marketing, creating a business blog, Email marketing, internet marketing, marketing, online advertising, web copywriting tips
In the presentation above, David Alston of Radian6 outlines the biggest worries businesses have about using social media as part of their marketing mix.
I’m sure you’ve heard most of them before – executives are worried about ROI, worried about failing, and it’s tough to measure. But the real meat of the presentation starts at slide 30: Top 10 conversations to listen for in social media. They include the complaint, the compliment, the competitor, the crowd and the influencer.
Listen to your customers (because they are talking about you) and answer the social phone by having a conversation. Your ability to know what customers are saying about you and how they’re saying it can determine your ultimate success in social media, according to Valeria Maltoni of Conversation Agent.
Her best piece of advice: “The social Web is mature enough that it’s time to get off the sidelines and start responding to customers online.”
Categories: Uncategorized
Yes, everyone is well aware that we’re in a recession and customers everywhere are looking for a great deal. But relying on that fact alone is the wrong reason to start reducing the price of everything you sell.
Instead, during these lean times it’s best to fatten your offer, according to Judy Kirkland from Echo Point Marketing partners in a Business Management Daily post.
The problem is, she says, is that when you “only focus on price you’re vulnerable to any competitor who undercuts you by a couple dollars.”
When you “fatten your offer” with something extra, you’re giving customers an added reason to buy from you.
Don’t have the money to add anything extra to the sale? No problem. It’s easy to find “extras” in things you’re already doing for your customers.
For example, the Wyndam hotel print ads offering to make sure your favorite snacks and beverages are in your room when you arrive. Since the hotel already stocks mini bars with a variety of snacks, allowing guests to make requests requires little to no extra effort on the hotel’s part.
Or the kitchen remodeling company that offers an added concierge service to help clients clear out their cabinets. The company had been doing it for years until they started positioning the service as an added bonus for signing a contract promptly.
Whatever your product or service is, odds are you can find something “extra” to help fatten the offer.
Think about giving customers added content with their purchase, such as a white paper or tip sheet. And what about offering free customer service for the life of the product?
In what ways does your company “fatten the offer” when selling their product or service? Any ideas to share with the rest of us? Leave a comment and let us know.
Categories: b2b marketing
Tagged: b2b marketing, business to business marketing, business to business marketing tips, content marketing, customer service, customer value, HR product marketing, marketing ideas, new marketing ideas
As marketers, we’re under constant pressure to prove that our tactics are working. In order to show that what we’re doing is effective, we need numbers – cold, hard, measurable numbers to back up a high return on investment.
Unfortunately, when it comes to social media, finding those measurable numbers can be quite challenging.
Marketers cited the “inability to measure ROI” as one of the largest barriers to adopting social media tactics by their company, according to MarketingSherpa research.
“This barrier is more of a perception than a reality because social media often requires qualitative measurement rather than the quantitative metrics that online marketers have become accustomed to,” say the Sherpas.
In order to measure ROI, you need two numbers: an investment cost and income returned. The easier you can find these two factors, the easier it is to measure your tactic and show that what you’re doing is working (or not).
MarketingSherpa’s most recent Chart of the Week reveals the social media tactics marketers find to be the most accurately measurable.
Proving the ROI of social media
The top three most measurable tactics include advertising on blogs or social networks, online news release distribution and user reviews or ratings.
Instead of throwing out the bottom tactics – forums or discussion groups, blogging on a company blog, creating profiles on social networks – the Sherpas suggest factoring in more qualitative values into your perceived ROI.
“Those who don’t include qualitative factors in the planning of their social media programs may find themselves employing much less effective tactics, simply for the sake of perceived measurability, resulting in a loss of confidence in performance.”
Categories: b2b marketing · web 2.0
Tagged: b2b marketing, benefits of social media, business to business marketing, internet marketing, marketing roi, roi, social media, social media program, social networking, tips for small business marketing, web 2.0
Surpassing all other business-to-business media categories, online revenue had the most impressive growth in 2008, according to a recent report by The Jordan, Edmiston Group.
In 2008, the online category increased 15.1%, a shift mainly credited to the shift in ad dollars from magazines to online channels. Magazines have been declining in revenue over the past few years, showing an 8.4% annual decline in 2008.
“Advertising dollars continued shifting from print vehicles to online outlets, as magazine net ad revenue declined,” said Richard Mead, Managing Director at Jordan, Edmiston.
Where are most B2Bs putting their money? In online display and search advertising.
Online display and search advertising account for more than 50% of total online revenue and gained more than 12% year-over-year in 2008.
Categories: b2b marketing
Tagged: business to business marketing, internet marketing, marketing, online advertising, online marketing, search, search advertising
