Authors

The Four Rights

The Four Rights


The Four Rights
Jeffrey K. Rohrs
, ExactTarget’s VP of Marketing,
explores the four "rights" of permission
marketing: right message, person, time & medium.

Reason #2,451 to Hate Email Spam - Global Warming

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
As if you needed another reason to loathe spammers:

According to “The Carbon Footprint of Email Spam Report,” released by the security firm McAfee, the annual energy used to transmit, process and filter spam totals 33 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh).

And just in case you needed a spiffy visual to underscore the problem:

Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Spam

So, if you're a permission-based email marketer who's looking to do their part during Earth Day tomorrow, keep working to ensure that the email you send is relevant & requested--Mother Earth will thank you!

They Might Be Giants at Connections '09!!!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
They Might Be Giants at Connections '09It is my great honor to announce that we have just added legendary alt-rock pioneers, They Might Be Giants, to the Wednesday entertainment line-up at this year's Connections '09 ExactTarget User Conference!  They round out a bill that will also feature The Second City and should make for a memorable night for all. 

For those not familiar with They Might Be Giants, here's a rundown of their accomplishments courtesy of Wikipedia:

They Might Be Giants (commonly abbreviated to TMBG) is a double Grammy Award-winning American alternative rock band which began as a duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, and currently also includes Marty Beller, Dan Miller, and Danny Weinkauf. Formed in 1982, they are best known for an unconventional and experimental style of alternative music. The group has found success on the modern rock and CMJ charts, in the children's music genre, and in theme music for several television programs and films.

TMBG's best-known songs include "Birdhouse in Your Soul" and their cover of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" (both from the 1990 album, Flood), "Don't Let's Start" (from 1986's They Might Be Giants), and "Ana Ng" (from 1988's Lincoln). Their appearances on the show Tiny Toon Adventures also gained recognition for the song "Particle Man" and for their cover version of the Four Lads song "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". Their song "Doctor Worm" was a surprise hit in Australia, ranking 13th in the Triple J Hottest 100 for the year 1998. Two TMBG albums have been certified gold: Flood and the 2005 children's music album Here Come the ABCs.

Their song "Boss of Me" served as the theme to the Fox Television Network comedy series Malcolm in the Middle and earned them a Grammy Award in 2002. They have also contributed theme songs to Comedy Central's The Daily Show, The Oblongs, Adult Swim's The Drinky Crow Show, Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Higglytown Heroes, along with a commercial for Dexter's Laboratory and Cartoon Network's Courage the Cowardly Dog.

The band was the subject of the 2003 documentary film Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns), directed by AJ Schnack. The band has sold over 4 million records in total.
 
Most recently, TMBG won the Grammy for "Best Children's Album" for their 13th release, "Here Come the 123s." 

To say I'm a fan would be an understatement.  We played a lot of TMBG back in my radio days at WOXY, so leading up to Connections '09, I look forward to introducing the ExactTarget Nation to some of my favorite TMBG tunes.

In an ironic twist, let's begin with "Don't Let's Start," their first single & music video from their 1986, self-titled debut album.  Enjoy--and go register for Connections '09.  It's going to be a blast!

Email Summit: Dan Heimbrock of Hyperdrive Interactive

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
Dan Heimbrock of Hyperdrive InteractiveOne of our great FoETs (Friend of ExactTarget), Dan Heimbrock of Hyperdrive Interactive, addressed the troops today at MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09 on the topic of "Email and Word of Mouth Marketing." Dan shared a case study of how Dreamfield's used email and WOM to promote it's low carb pasta that appeals to diabetics, low carb dieters, and people seeking higher fiber in their diet (and no, I wasn't paid for that plug--but I should have been!). 

To tap into the buzz about the product, recruit happy customers to spread the word, and translate it into tangible sales, Dan's team undertook several efforts including:
  • Reaching out to "hives" within diabetic and other important communities to discuss, review & promote the product.
  • Advertising within more traditional social networks that reach the target audience.
  • A word-of-mouth email marketing series that included a "Brand Fan" invitation to receive a "Taste & Tell" WOM kit (product samples, recipes, coupon flyers to share, etc.)
So what were the objectives of this effort?  Dreamfield's had a few:
  • Viral coupon distribution
  • Conversation with friends and family
  • Driving enthusiastic consumers into groceries stores to get them to carry Dreamfield's (in fact, Dreamfield's shelf space in Giant Eagle stores is due to consumer advocacy!)
  • Get enthusiasts to serve Dreamfield's to friends
Dreamfield's Low Carb PastaOver 4,000 consumers are now involved in the Dreamfield's WOM program; moreover, permission remains at the heart of Dreamfield's efforts (music to my SUBSCRIBERS RULE! ears). Members of the program continue to spread the word, provide feedback, and advocate on behalf of Dreamfield's Pasta.

One other interesting note--Dreamfield's realized pretty quickly that they had to address concerns in the medical community to educate them about how the product can be used to control glucose levels and be a healthy addition to their diabetic patients' diets.  To address the medical community, Dreamfield's:
  • Developed a specific communication program
  • Offered a sample kit with unique branding that included product samples, patient education pamphlets, medical research, coupons, and recipes
  • Created a dedicated microsite dealing with the medical aspects of the product
  • Sponsored health care events
Through this campaign, Dreamfield's engaged over 15,000 medical professionals who requested kits that led to the distribution of over 1 million coupons with up to 26% redemption at retail!!!

Thanks to all of these efforts, 53% of medical professionals participating in the program surveyed now say that they recommend Dreamfield's to their patients.  

Kudos to Dreamfield's and the Hyperdrive Interactive team for the great results.  I'd write more about their success, but for some reason, I'm feeling really hungry...

Email Summit: Dan Flanegan on SMS & Mobile Email Marketing

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
Dan Flanegan of Brand AnywhereDan Flanegan of Brand Anywhere offered up a case study on "Mobile Email Marketing" this morning at MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09. 

The first part of his presentation actually went through the nuts and bolts of SMS marketing (i.e., text message marketing), and suffice it to say that it is a VERY different world from email marketing.  Not only do you only have 160 characters to communicate, but you must also navigate the wild, wild world of SMS short code acquisition.  

The other critical difference between email and SMS marketing revolves around user expectation.  While consumers are used to the email opt-in process, they aren't always too keen on regular communications via SMS.  As a result, if you plan to have an ongoing promotional campaign via SMS, you need to use double opt-in (where the subscriber texts you, you auto-respond with a request to confirm the opt-in with a text message, and then the user replies with the required message like "confirm").

The power of SMS is often, however, in its instant, call & response usage.  For instance, you have a point-of-purchase call to text in to receive a discount or enter a contest.  That message expresses the consumers intent to participate in that limited program, but it does not convey a permanent desire to receive messaging via SMS.  Such call & response text messaging can work great if you have a physical storefront or other physical presence. 

In short, SMS is a whole different creature than email marketing.  As a result, marketers in this area should dig in on the wealth of educational resources out there on the topic--including our very own R.J. Talyor's Emerging Messaging Blog where he covers the wild, wild world of SMS/text messaging, voice messaging, and smart phones.

Email Summit: Karen Dayan of Microsoft Office Live Small Business

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
So the winner for best session title here this year's Marketing Sherpa Email Summit might have to be "The New Microsoft Comic Strip: Innovating Content and Design that Resonates in Business Marketing."  Microsoft? Comics? Yes, I had to attend.

Karen Davan, the Senior Marketing Manager for Microsoft Office Live Small Business, was the presenter, and she shared Microsoft's creation of "Margie" a comic strip character through whom Microsoft could explore the business problems & solutions needed by small businesses.

Here's a sample strip:

Margie Comic Strip from Microsoft

Personally, I love marketers (or, the more friendly "marketeers," if you prefer) who are willing to take risks like this.  Using humor and characters in marketing--let alone email marketing efforts--can go horribly awry unless you REALLY know your audience.  Fortunately, in this case, Microsoft not only new their audience, but they were also to have her share the perils of starting and running a small business.

It was this empathy that helped the strip connect with customers and prospects.  As a result, Margie not only ran in Microsoft's email newsletter but also the email newsletters of affiliates who liked the comic strip so much that they wanted to share it with their subscribers.

Beyond the email newsletter, Microsoft also pushed Margie to the web and appropriate social networks to increase exposure and engagement.  The net net is that Margie helped Microsoft Office Live Small Business increase awareness of their product offering within that tough-to-reach small business/entrepreneurial crowd.

So what's Karen's advice to marketers considering doing something innovative like Margie?
  1. Thinks about creative!  Break out of the mold to stand out.
  2. Utilize a personality that customers can relate to.
  3. Enable a variety of avenues to acquire information (email, portal, social media, PR, search, etc.)
  4. Give your customers opportunities for interaction.
  5. Provide a clear call-to-action.
If you'd like to learn more about this campaign, Karen has recently hung out her own shingle at Kindle Marketing Strategies, so you can reach here there.

Email Summit: Brooks Bell Discusses AARP's Email Newsletter Strategy

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
Brooks BellTesting is a big theme of any MarketingSherpa event, and this year's Email Summit is no exception.  In her session, Brooks Bell from Brooks Bell Interactive shared some behind-the-scenes about the testing they did for AARP in order to improve the performance of their member email newsletter.

The first step they took was to segment their audience as follows:
  • Active: Clicked at least once in the last 4 sends
  • Passive: Opened in last 4 months but hadn't clicked
  • Inactive: Hadn't opened or clicked in last 4 months
Next up, they set up a testing plan specific to each segment that included:
  • 4 subject line tests
  • 3 email newsletter design tests
Based on the performance data, they then worked to scrub the Inactives.  To do this, they implemented a 3-part "scrubbing series" created a sense of urgency to get recipients to click & reengage.  The series was a solid success managed to reengage 2% of the list.  As a result, AARP now runs the scrubbing series every six months to remove true Inactives (i.e., non-responsive subscribers).

The testing also allowed AARP to undertake a major redesign of their newsletter.  The interesting part of the story, however, is that Brooks' initial designs actually underperformed the control newsletter layout.  It took them a few different designs to get the lift they were seeking--but from there, they have been able to make constant improvements that continue to boost opens, clicks, and engagement.

Overall, the testing effort:
  • Helped lift the email newsletter to AARP.org's second-highest traffic driver (behind only organic search)
  • Increased their active subscribers by 59%
  • Increased open rate 39%
  • Lifted CTR 180%
  • Helped maintain email marketing's status as AARP's most cost-effective marketing program
Brooks offered a lot more of their learnings about subject lines and designs that worked, but my cursed fingers are too slow to capture it all.  Accordingly, I encourage you to subscribe to MarketingSherpa's Email Newsletters as they will be sharing many of the conference presentations and/or turning them into the case studies in the coming weeks.

Email Summit: Jim Harper from Olympus Corporation

Tuesday, March 17, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
It's Day Two of MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09, and Jim Harper from Olympus Corporation of the Americas kicked things off with his presentation on "User-Generated Content with Email Newsletters for Enhanced Engagement."

Olympus e500Olympus's 'Capture It All" newsletter was the Gold winner for consumer newsletters back in 2007, and it's easy to see why.  They quickly understood that one of the ways to increase readership and engagement was to incorporate user-generated content (UGC) into each edition of the newsletter.  The types of UGC included:
  • Use consumer-submitted photography with attribution and information about the camera used
  • Answers to consumer-submitted questions
  • User photo gallery & contest
Olympus's UGC strategy didn't stop with the email newsletter.  They began to integrate more user-submitted photography into their website and, as a result, they saw a growth in visitation to their website as well as a spike in new email subscribers. 

Kudos to Olympus for this approach--what a great way to give email subscribers and loyal customers a greater sense of ownership and contribution to the brand.  It's definitely a strategy that more companies should pursue.

Email Insider: Marc Majers from the Cleveland Institute of Art

Monday, March 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
Cleveland Institute of ArtOne of the pleasant surprises on today's agenda at MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09 was that an old friend of mine, Marc Majers of the Cleveland Institute of Art, was scheduled to share his case study. 

Marc is always a ball of energy, and today was no exception.  He shared that when he joined CIA about a year ago, they were sending email from 4 different systems (including 3 ESPs) across all parts of the Institute.  Alumni had something different. The Cinematheque used something else.  Recruiting something else.  You get the picture.

Marc was able to change things quickly by focusing on three key activities:
  1. Identify and learn about your audience and what you are currently doing.  As a new employee, Marc got to know the different departments within the Institute to build credibility and a sense of teamwork.
  2. Design and deploy a consistent (1) email broadcast platform, (2) look & feel, and (3 a process to ensure each email is created and delivered according to the process.
  3. Optimize by leveraging analytics, click-through data, and testing to make incremental changes to your email program that make it better.
The net result is that the different departments are seeing increased response.  They are also bought-in to further optimization because Marc didn't pull content creation out of their hands.  Rather, Marc empowered his departments to use their expertise to create the emails while he managed the broadcast & optimization process. 

And perhaps that is the most important takeaway from Marc's presentation--that email programs cannot happen without strong collaborative relationships within your organization.  Allow people to own a part of the process, and they will have a greater stake in seeing your combined email marketing efforts succeed.

Email Summit: Allstate Email Marketing Case Study

Monday, March 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
John Heidrich and Joe Nettum of Allstate presented a great case study this afternoon at MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09.  Entitled "Combining List and Trigger-Based Campaigns to Fully Leverage Your Database," the session focused on how they took their email program from an inconsistent, somewhat haphazard approach to a more structured methodology that not only valued and respected email subscriber interests but also improved ROI.

An interesting point was how the team tackled what they termed "credibility gaps" between the email subscriber's experience and their desired brand experience.  Through an audit of their processes, John & Joe determined:
  • Marketing & IT owned different pieces of email process, broadcast & delivery
  • Email addresses were spread across a variety of databases and were often not up-to-date
  • Proper value wasn't being placed on the email address let alone the communication process
This story isn't so different than many I've heard from clients over the years.  And much like those situations, rather than hyperventilate, Allstate's team took a very strategic approach to the problem by:
  • Locking down processes around email address management
  • Instituting re-engagement efforts to clean up their subscriber database
  • Formalizing the email marketing production process
  • Getting marketing to collaborate to identify triggered and other automated messaging that would deliver quick wins
  • Sending email closer to moments of greatest customer influence in the insurance purchase/renewal process
The net effect of their efforts has been to:
  • Improve delivery and response rates for all email marketing communications (triggered or campaign-based)
  • Improve acquisition of email subscribers through agents (as they have seen real benefits from the changes and, therefore, what all of their customers/prospects in the email marketing loop)
A final interesting note, Allstate mentioned that it works with Pivotal Veracity to ensure that emails render as intended.  If you haven't seen the ExactTarget's Inbox Preview powered by Pivotal Veracity be sure to contact us today!

Email Summit: Heather Marsh of Johnston & Murphy

Monday, March 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
Heather Marsh of Johnston & MurphyOne of ExactTarget's good friends and clients, Heather Marsh of Johnston & Murphy, has taken the stage here at MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09.  After a quick survey of the men in the audience as to how many love to shop (4 out of about 250+ raised their hands), she shared a bit about their strategy:
  • Data is the critical foundation of their email marketing program.
  • Data allows them to segment to make their emails more offers more relevant to different customer groups.
  • To create their segments, they work with Customer Portfolios to do predictive, behavioral modeling. This allows them to find commonalities that they translate into usable email segments.
  • Segmentation cannot work without data; accordingly, it is imperative that they create incentives for store associates to capture email addresses.
  • To ward off fraud or authorized opt-ins, they have checks & balances in place to review in-store opt-ins closely.
The three types of email that Johnston & Murphy sends include:
  • Email marketing "blasts" to everyone
  • Lifecycle emails (Welcome Series, Repurchase Series & Reactivation Series)
  • Lifecycle emails (which take priority over email blasts to avoid inundating subscribers with too much email volume)
For more on Johnston & Murphy's email marketing strategy, be sure to view our recent webinar, Building a Retail Email Marketing Powerhouse, featuring Heather as well as Nick Godfrey from Customer Portfolios.

Email Summit: Rok Hrastnik on Email as Branding

Monday, March 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
Rok Hrastnik of Studio ModernaRok Hrastnik is the International Internet Director of Studio Moderna, and he's just taken the stage here at MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09 to share his thoughts on why email marketing is all about branding.

Rok's thesis is that too many marketers see email marketing strictly as a sales funnel.  In real life, the purchase is not a straight line.  As a result, you need to always measure indirect impact on sales--not just direct impact.

A few key points from Rok:
  • When you measure indirect impact, you find that email marketing positively impacts direct purchases through other channels (such as search marketing)
  • Shifting your view of email requires a shift of your email marketing strategy (need to mix in engagement calls-to-action along with sales CTAs)
  • Segmentation is key to creating desired brand impression within different demographics
  • Subject lines aren't just about getting the email opened--it's also about motivating specific segments with language that motivates them according to their interests.
  • Don't just segment content, segment presentation.
So how should you measure and assess indirect email marketing impact?
  1. Readership & engagement (time on pages, interactions on website)
  2. Churn (not just unsubscribes but also decline of engagement)
  3. Delayed conversions (with long-term expiration and no conversion variable overwriting)
  4. Short-term cross-channel measurement
  5. User behavioral changes (increased engagement, cross-channel interactions, etc.)
All in all, I think Rok's message is one that every email marketer needs to hear.  In order to get the respect & budget you deserve, you must:
  1. Demonstrate clear direct sales impact
  2. Measure & demonstrate clear indirect sales & engagement impact
  3. Segment, segment, segment
  4. Integrate email into your brand marketing efforts
  5. Advocate for your awesomeness--don't be shy about your successes, share them with leadership and at conferences like the Email Summit.

Email Summit: Research Update from Stefan Tornquist of MarketingSherpa

Monday, March 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
Stefan Tornquist of MarketingSherpaStefan Tornquist, MarketingSherpa's Research Director, had the honor of kicking off this year's Email Summit, and he did so with 30 minutes of fast & furious email marketing insights.

The high level take-aways:
  • 72% of consumers report a noticeable increase in emails from opt-in relationships over the past few months (MarketingSherpa has yet to survey B2B recipients, but assumes that this increased volume will hold true there as well).
  • Company churn is making it harder to grow in-house email lists because there's no staff or strategy stability.
  • As our own Morgan Stewart has hypothesized, overall benchmark stats are declining as marketers becoming for desperately frequent with their email programs.
  • Way too many consumers are still getting email without opt-in
Some good news:
  • More consumers--including Millennials (51%) agree that "Email is more important to me than the phone.
  • Email is still driving more online purchases than other online media
Some calls to action:
  • Marketers must be more clear in opt-in privacy & guarantees not to share email addresses--consumers will respond positively. 
  • Go fix your opt-in form to expressly state that emails will not be sold or shared
  • Be more clear in value proposition for opt-in at time of opt-in (the quid pro quo I've blogged about previously)
And if you can only do one thing, Stefan recommends:
  • Introduce a "Welcome Series" for new subscribers as right after opt-in is the moment of greatest opportunity and response.
  • Conduct a "Transactional Email Audit" as this form of email communication with thrive and survive due to its importance to the recipient.
  • Start or upgrade your "Preference Center" in order to give greater control to subscribers (dare I say, SUBSCRIBERS RULE!).
If you're interested in getting some more of Stefan's insights, you can catch him on two of our recent Email Intelligence Webinars:
Stay tuned for more to come from MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09!

Email Summit: Dr. Flint McGlaughlin of MarketingExperiments

Monday, March 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
Dr. Flint McGlaughlin of MarketingExperimentsDr. Flint McGlaughlin of MarketingExperiments is up now at MarketingSherpa's Email Summit.  He's sharing some landing page optimization case studies.  While I can't share his screenshots, I can share some of his thoughts on optimization and where the money might be leaking out in your current marketing spend.

His main points:
  1. We need a simple systematic way to discover the changes that we should test.
  2. We need to apply this methodology to live landing pages
Dr. Flint also shared that in his experience:
  • Consumers evaluate purchases based on "is it worth it"--i.e., is the value proposition worth more than the risk of purchase/participation
  • One of your goal is to limit consumer anxiety with your landing pages.
As a result, the main questions you need to ask as you optimize landing pages are:
  1. Why should my ideal prospect purchase from me rather than any of my competitors?
  2. How can I minimize all of the elements in my sale path that cause psychological resistance?
  3. How can I counter all of the remaining psychological resistance with an extra incentive?
  4. How can I over-correct all of the elements which cause psychological concern in my sale path.
Dr. Flint also reminded the audience that there are three questions you must answer within 3 to 5 seconds when people come to your website:
  1. Where am I?
  2. What can I do here?
  3. Why should I do it? (this is where your value proposition comes in)
Finally, Dr. Flint shared MarketingExperiments' Conversion Formula:
Confused?  Go to the MarketingExperiments website and all will become clear--I guarantee it!

Blogging from MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09

Monday, March 16, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09It's a beautiful day here in Miami, Florida, for Day One of MarketingSherpa's Email Summit '09.  For those who couldn't make it down this year, I will be blogging from the event today and tomorrow in the hopes of sharing some of the insights gleaned from this year's presenters.

In the meantime, be sure to follow the following ExactTarget folks on Twitter--they will be tweeting from the event:
You can also follow the entire Email Summit Twitterstream by searching for #emailsummit on Twitter.

Stay tuned...more to come shortly!

Email Acquisition Tip of the Week: Coupons

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
USA Today's Money cover story entitled Coupon Search Clicks: Sweet Sound for Web Marketers caught my attention today as did one of the stats it included:
  • Coupon distribution and redemption was flat in 2008 until the fourth quarter, when coupon distribution rose 7.5% and redemptions rose 15% vs. a year earlier (Promotion Marketing Association)
The article goes on to discuss how marketers are using paid search advertising to drive coupon distribution, but this got me to thinking--how many advertisers are leveraging their coupons to get more email subscribers.

What if each coupon also includes a call-to-action to subscribe to receive ALL future coupons for that product or company?  If coupon distribution and redemption is up in 2009, shouldn't it stand to reason that consumers' willingness to subscribe to coupons via email would also have increased?

Just a thought...and one that may help you increase coupon distribution while growing your subscriber database.

Redbox: Using Email to Drive Blog Traffic

Thursday, March 5, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
Redbox MachineAs the father of an 8 year-old and 4 year-old, I am an expert in all manner movie renting.  Because when your kid has to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua for the 8th time, she has to see it NOW!

One of my favorite rental options is Redbox, a network of self-service DVD vending machines sprinkled outside groceries stores in my town.  The $1/night price is right (especially for any movie with talking dogs), and the vending machine experience is like having a little slice of Tokyo in my own backyard. 

What's most impressive about Redbox, however, is their use of email.  Rent a DVD and within seconds, you receive a confirmation email. Return a DVD and ditto.

On the promotional side of things, I love what Redbox is doing this month.  In the email they sent earlier this week, they announced their "March Movie Madness" promotion.  The email links recipients to their "Redblog" where every Wednesday they publish a code good for a free Wednesday movie rental.

While Redbox could have put the free code in the email, driving folks to their blog has the added benefit of exposing customers to Redbox movie reviews and new release updates--content that helps increase customer loyalty.

The takeaway? If you're giving something of value via your email marketing efforts, don't be afraid to use it to drive engagement through other, relevant marketing channels.  It could be the perfect way to jumpstart traffic to a new blog, microsite or application.

Redbox Email That Drives Blog Traffic

Email Acquisition Tip of the Week: Twitter

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
TwitterWith 1 in 10 adult Internet users having microblogged on Twitter or elsewhere, we have been besieged in recent weeks with questions about how email marketers can leverage Twitter to their advantage. 

The most obvious way is email subscriber acquisition. If you or individuals within your company have built up a loyal group of followers on Twitter, simply be sure that you enlist them to tweet about your:
  • Email newsletter subscriber benefits (coupons, discounts, etc.)
  • Webinars
  • Whitepapers
  • Contests
  • Promotions
Twitter allows you to embed links (usually truncated via services like TinyURL), so each tweet about your various offerings can direct followers to the specific opt-in page of your choosing. 

Will everyone that clicks convert? Nope. But for minimal effort, you will gain new subscribers -- subscribers who are now listening you across multiple channels (Twitter & email).  Plus, there's always the chance that one of your followers will "re-tweet" your message (share it with their followers); thereby, amplifying your potential subscriber gains.

So, when it comes to growing your email subscriber base in 2009, don't forget Twitter (and to follow @jkrohrs -- even authors need their followers/subscribers!).

Friday Time Killer: Academy Awards Speech Generator

Friday, February 20, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
It's Oscar Time!With the Oscars set to be unveiled this Sunday, I thought it only appropriate that this week's FTK have a decidedly Hollywood feel.

Accordingly, I surfed on over to Atom.com's Oscar Speech Generator and whipped up the acceptance speech that I would be delivering Sunday had I actually made a movie and been nominated.  Here's my contribution to society:

Thank you so much. But really, it's just an honor to be nominated alongside so many other pampered actors. I want to thank my agent, who stuck with me after I was found punching that annoying extra. I'd like to also thank my extended family, and unstable fans. I better stop now before I say something sensible. Thank you, and excelsior!

And yes, there's is an email marketing tie-in since you can create & send your Academy Award acceptance speech to friends.  So start writing!  After all, it is just an honor to be nominated.
 
 

Inbox Insanity: The Future of Email Marketing - #2 with a Bullet on SlideShare

Friday, February 20, 2009 by Jeffrey Rohrs
I had the pleasure of speaking to MIMA, the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) this week.  My presentation, "Inbox Insanity: The Future of Email Marketing," was a new one that runs through a brief history of social media, inbox fragmentation, and the implications of social inbox evolution.  For a full overview of the presentation, be sure to check out my post on SUBSCRIBERS RULE!

The cool wrinkle to the preso is that it is the first we have posted to SlideShare, a service often referred to as YouTube for PowerPoints.  Much like YouTube, SlideShare allows you to share large PPTs (up to 100MB) easily and allow folks to embed them in their own blogs/websites.

As if that wasn't enough for a free service, I received an email overnight that Inbox Insanity was selected by SlideShare's editors to be featured on their home page today.  Nice!

So, without further adieu, here's "Inbox Insanity" for your clicking pleasure: