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Category: E-Mail Marketing
10 Mar 2010Once you decide to invest time and budget resources to upgrade your list quality, one of your first targets should be winning back the segment of your mailing list that has gone inactive. That segment could be pretty sizable, given that 50% or more of a typical B2C list can be inactive.
A recent article, published by ClickZ, explains why some list subscribers go inactive and offers some tips on how to wake-up your sleeping subscribers.
Why Do Subscribers Go Inactive?
Any one of these conditions can increase your inactive segment, but you probably have two or more working together to amplify inactivity:
As with any e-mail marketing effort, there is a right way and a wrong way to manage your inactive subscribers. For starters, don’t just chop off addresses that have no clicks or opens associated with them. Often you’ll be asked to come back to these folks months later. Because they haven’t heard from you in a while, they often tend to forget they signed up many moons ago.You could also lose subscribers who are reading your e-mails but blocking images (thus not recording an open), or who aren’t in the market more than once or twice a year.
Given the money you spent to acquire those addresses, you are better off creating a multilayered campaign to identify who’s still engaged but not recording opens, who needs a nudge to unsubscribe, and who has abandoned their e-mail addresses without unsubscribing.
This has a deliverability impact, too. ISPs are beginning to include engagement (subscribers opening and clicking on your messages) in the formula for deciding whether to deliver your e-mail to the inbox, route it to the bulk folder, or block delivery.
Reactivation Program Tips: Open With a Survey or Profile Invitation
Reactivation programs work best when they become an automatic element of your e-mail marketing program, like a welcome series.
But, first things first. I often begin with a subscriber survey or an invitation to create or update subscriber preferences. These messages can replace a mailing if you send e-mail more often than once or twice a week. If you mail less often, you can send a survey or profile-update request in mid-cycle.
With this first campaign – test your subject lines, message content, and segmentation strategies. See what works best before moving into a more permanent program.You can also establish a baseline for inactivity, showing you more precisely how much of your mailing list is asleep or absent.
Watch for Complications
Once you send your campaign, you’ll want to measure how much activity it generates, beyond opens and clicks on the message itself. Also, watch your delivery reports and be on the lookout for more spam complaints.
To avoid a sudden surge in spam complaints, it is best to send messages in small batches instead of all at once. This strategy will help keep your more important e-mail marketing programs from being blocked or filtered because of spam complaints your reactivation campaign might generate.
Placing an unsubscribe link at the top of the e-mail message in the preheader region can also deter complaints.
To read the entire article, click here.
Category: Hotels Resorts & Travel| Retail/Grocery| Stevens & Tate Speaks
5 Mar 2010The majority of taxpayers expect refunds this year. Although this is a smaller number than last year, the National Retail Federation’s recent survey purports that more recipients will spend their money on non-essential purchases they have delayed over the last two years, including electronics, furniture, cars and vacations, if not used to pay off debt or build savings. This is good news for marketers. And, with the continued growth in use of e-filing (now used by over 50% of filers) AND early filing (over 60% have completed their taxes by end of February), these refunds continue to be received earlier each year. So now, early Spring is the time for retailers, travel companies and investment firms to advertise for their share of the funds.
Category: Search Engine Marketing
4 Mar 2010Press releases are a great tool to use to promote your business and web site online. SiteProNews has recently published an article that further explains three good reasons why companies should try to create and distribute at least one press release each month.
1. Press Release Distribution is Good For Organic Search Engine Rankings
One of the most important components to getting ranked high on the Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., search page results – is the number of external web sites that link to your web site.
Your news release appearing on an online or industry news site, a social networking site, a newswire such as BusinessWire or PR NewsWire, or even on a directory of press releases, helps improve your web site’s overall organic search engine rankings. In addition, many other sites and blogs may pick up your release and print it on their pages, further increasing the search engine results for your web site and business.
Did you know that a good news announcement could show up on hundreds or thousands of different sites?!
Most major news sites only keep their press releases online for about a month or so, you need to keep posting new press releases and news announcements every month to maintain your SEO rating and web page search results positions. By optimizing your press releases and embedding hotlinks, you can further increase how high up your web site will appear in the search results.
You should also make sure to post your press releases on your own web site. By posting your press releases on your site, you increase the amount and quality of content on your site. For most search engines, the two of the most important factors towards getting a high search page result are the amount of quality links pointing to your web site and the amount of quality content you have on your site. News announcements can fulfill both.
2. Press Releases Inform Potential Customers About Your Company & Products
Most people and businesses now rely on a web search as an integral part of their search for products, and services. Seeing your news announcements all over the web – at the magazines they read, at various blogs, and as a result of web searches, can greatly help boost your company’s brand and product awareness in their mind. It is also useful to have news announcements that inform current and past customers of what is new and that you are still successfully in business.
3. Distributing Press Releases May Increase Company Press
Press outlets that come across your press releases may be interested in your news and want to include it as a standalone announcement or as part of a trend article or column. They may be doing an industry overview or product round up. It is also useful to occasionally inform press that you are an expert in your industry and are available for comment as needed. If they don’t see press releases from your company on a regular basis, you may drop off their radar screen. You need to show ongoing, consistent news and growth or the press will forget about you.
To read this article in its entirety, click here.
Category: Media News| Retail/Grocery
3 Mar 2010Mobile phones are quickly becoming the way consumers find coupons, research products, compare prices and make purchases. It makes shopping easier for consumers, but that doesn’t mean retailers are thrilled at the prospect of consumers consulting mobile phones from their aisles – after all, does Best Buy want you to know that the item in your cart can be had cheaper at Amazon – and purchased right now on your phone?
“There is fear, but it is the new reality,” said Dan Butcher, a reporter at Mobile Marketer. “Retailers are becoming aware that consumers are using their phones in the store to make decisions. They’re realizing that they need to support that platform.”
Indeed, retailers who don’t embrace the technology now will be left to play catch-up in the years to come. But there is reason for retailers to be excited about the shifting mobile landscape. Many of the mobile applications coming onto the market actually benefit bricks-and-mortar retail by improving the in-store experience or driving traffic to stores that are either nearby or boast the best deals.
A recent article on AdAge points out some of the recent retail-related mobile applications on the market today:
SHOPSAVVY
What it Does: With this app, users can comparison shop by scanning a product’s bar code with a camera phone. ShopSavvy finds the lowest prices online and at nearby brick-and-mortar retailers, as well as coupons, and lets users make transactions. Last month, ShopSavvy reported more than 42 million scans. Available on the iPhone, iPod Touch, Android and Nokia phones.
YOWZA
What it Does: Using GPS to determine shoppers’ locations, Yowza delivers coupons to nearby stores. Users can set the parameters between 1 mile and 50 miles. The app boasts more than 1 million unique users on the iPhone and iPod Touch and an additional 4 million users through a syndication deal for BlackBerry, Android and Palm.
RETREVOQ
What it Does: More of a mobile advisor than an application, RetrevoQ uses texts and tweets to dispense info. Shoppers can text 41411 or tweet @retrevoq including the make and model of the electronics product they’re considering, and RetrevoQ will respond with advice on whether it’s a good buy, a fair price, the price range available online for that product and a link to reviews at Retrevo.com, a consumer-electronics shopping and review site.
FASTMALL
What it Does: This iPhone and iPod Touch app provides interactive maps of malls, highlighting elevators and the quickest route to stores, as well as helping shoppers find food vendors and remember where their cars are parked. A shake of the phone turns up the nearest restroom location. Shoppers can also make lists and access coupons.
THEFIND: WHERE TO SHOP
What it Does: Shoppers can find which stores carry the products they’re looking for and where those stores are located, as well as compare prices with nearby retailers and online retailers. The app will even calculate the driving cost to each store. It is available on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
GROCERYIQ
What it Does: Coupons.com acquired the popular grocery app in January 2009 and released version 2.0 in December. The iPhone and iPod Touch app allows consumers to create grocery lists, organize them, access coupons and share lists with others. Shoppers can also take photos of bar codes to add items to their lists and create lists of frequently or previously purchased items.
To read the article from AdAge in its entirety, click here.
Category: Web 2.0
25 Feb 2010Microsites are developed to showcase a unique product or service offered by a larger entity. They typically mimic the messaging of the brand and are not afraid to drive users to the corporate website for further investigation.
A microsite is not a landing page. Typically, a landing page is one page that links the reader to your Web site or makes a simple call to action. A microsite, if used to its full potential, can provide you with an opportunity to move your customers closer toward a buying decision or next level of the sales cycle. A true microsite is multilayered and can be thought of as a launching pad for myriad marketing opportunities.
Microsites work well when they are used as:
One of the advantages to using microsites is that you can tailor them towards segments of your audience versus trying to reach the masses.
Tips on strong microsites include:
Category: Search Engine Marketing| Web 2.0
24 Feb 2010Landing pages are typically one page websites that are developed to generate a conversion. They are simple and direct and ask for whatever the conversion may be. They rarely lead one to the actual website. Landing pages are primarily used for direct marketing and search programs.
Tips on what makes a good landing page:
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