It is considered a best practice to clearly inform people of what they are signing up for when they are put on a list. If you are buying a list, the people on that list have no reason to expect a message from you, and certainly haven’t given you permission to send it. These are not prospects who are interested in building relationships with you and your brand. It is likely that you will experience extremely high opt out rates with purchased lists, and in many cases recipients may even flag your message as spam.
Getting to Know Google Chrome
Marketers are constantly faced with the challenge of keeping up with emerging technology. Just when you learned to format everything to render correctly in Firefox, IE and Safari, another browser comes along that’s sure to be popular. That browser is Google Chrome.
Avoiding the Spam Folder
One of the most frequent questions I get from clients is in regards to deliverability. Spammers out there have made it tough for legitimate email marketers to send messages without having to worry about triggering spam filters or ending up in someone’s junk folder.
End the Sibling Rivalry Between Marketing and Sales
A common topic I read about is the departmental feud between Marketing and Sales. In one regard, they are siblings that clearly act as one. One blames the other for the lack of quality, quantity, or a variety of other items. Although each department comes from the same family (company), their approach towards one another [...]
Oversending as an Email Marketing Tactic
Oversending: an outgrowth of the old “send until you break even” direct mail model. Combine this with the low-cost nature of the email channel and that’s a lot of emails. Repetitive messaging may be a “do” in marketing, but repetitive sending is a “please don’t” which is often formalized by the dreaded “mark as spam.”
Change Things Up to Avoid ‘Banner Blindness’
When your template remains static, readers learn where ads are located and tend to skip over that section of the messaging. The full article contains some striking images from an eyetracking study, illustrating viewing patterns over time.
The Ins and Outs of Inbound and Outbound Leads
Marketing, especially B2B Marketing has its own unique language. Attend any professional event and you’ll hear jargon tossed around as freely as the coffee flows at the refreshments table. Sometimes it is important to return to the basics and make sure you review the terms so that you can keep up.
Components of a Successful Marketing Email
The success of your email marketing campaign depends on a combination of aspects. Subject lines, email content, formatting and timing are key factors contributing to open and conversion rates.
Marketing Sherpa: Never Send Unqualified Leads into your CRM
In Marketing Sherpa’s recap of their B2B Lead Generation Summit, they designate one point as the summit’s key takeaway. The “most scribbled-down-tip” was when Jackie Kiley of Sybase explained the importance of passing only qualified leads into your company’s CRM.
An Experiment in Landing Page Optimization
A web clinic conducted in June by MarketingExperiments provided an in-depth look at multivariate testing and landing page optimization in action. This summary illustrates the impact of friction vs. incentive and how to find the right balance.
About
I am the co-founder and COO of Pardot, a B2B marketing automation provider. This blog covers my thoughts on B2B marketing, startups, and client service.
Follow @adamblitzer on Twitter