Text Marketing

Andrea Vahl (@AndreaVahl) wrote a great blog post about How Your Business Can Use the New Facebook Cover Photos. While she goes into much more depth, the two primary items to keep in mind are 1) cover photos may not include more than 20% text, and 2) cover photos are no longer disallowed to incorporate calls to action, websites, or address information.

Marketers should definitely keep #1 in mind to ensure they don’t go through official Facebook reviews like I mentioned in my last blog post. Meanwhile, #2 provides some great new opportunities in taking advantage of your Facebook presence.  Even...

When it comes to email marketing in the B2B space, one of the hottest new trends is drip-nurturing campaigns created with marketing automation. With the adoption of marketing automation reaching as high as 76% in the most progressive industries, it is easy to see why nurturing is the new “black”. So let's look at one of the biggest mistakes people make when creating lead nurturing emails.

First, let's talk about what a nurturing program actually is. Whatever term you use--drip-nurturing, lead nurturing, email nurturing, etc.--a nurturing campaign is an email program that executes automatically...

It’s amazing to think that just a little over two decades ago, consumers had only two options to communicate across long distances: telephone and mail. In today’s mobile, post-PC world, consumers have countless ways to communicate with each other.

They have similar options when it comes to communicating with brands. The question is, how do consumers determine the proper channel for their communication needs? The decision appears to boil down to six factors:

CONTENT: Is this a marketing message?
As we document throughout the Channel Preference Survey, consumers are much more selective about the...

Chances are you don’t wear the same kinds of clothing today as you did when you were a teenager. And much like wardrobes, the channel preferences of consumers evolve and mature with age. Without major life responsibilities (e.g,. a job, a spouse, a mortgage), teens have lots of time on their hands to communicate (and dress) as they please.

Teens are more likely than any other age group to use text messaging, Facebook, and Twitter. They are also more likely to communicate through a greater number of channels on a daily basis, picking the right channel based on speed, convenience, and privacy.

When...

When Seth Godin introduced the concept of permission marketing in 1999, it was a big idea: ask customers to accept marketing messages from you. Looking at the best uses of mobile, I believe we are at a new crossroads; one where customers request marketing messages.

Never forget that digital messages rendered on mobile devices are personal and intrusive. On the Advertising Aggravation Continuum (shown below), they are most comparable to telemarketing. We all know what happened to that traditional marketing channel and the impact on brands that abused it.

In the middle of the continuum, people...

There’s no doubt that today’s consumers are mobile. They’re constantly on-the-go, sending and receiving communications of all types, and they’ve come to expect that information be (literally) in-hand at all times. Consumers in the UK and around the globe are no longer sitting at their computers searching for information—instead, they expect information to be available all around them. At the same time, they expect that information to be relevant to their lives.

The hyper-connected consumer expects brands of all sizes and industries to start meeting them where they are. It also provides new...

It was no suprise to us that Australians are leading the world in their adoption of technology, and in partiular how they connect with brands on mobile devices. The unparalleled adoption of smartphones in Australia (49% of us own one!) means that today’s always-on, hyper-connected consumer is placing demands on marketers that can often seem bewildering. What was once seen as the "multi-channel opportunity" is now a "cross-channel imperative" as our audiences continue to adopt technology that opens up an increasing array of brand engagement mechanisms.

SMS is just another way to adapt to the...

There’s no doubt that today’s consumers are mobile. They’re constantly on-the-go, sending and receiving communications of all types, and they’ve come to expect that information be (literally) in-hand at all times. Consumers are no longer sitting at their computers searching for information—instead, they expect information to be available all around them. At the same time, they expect that information to be relevant to their lives.

It was no suprise to us that Australians are leading the world in their adoption of technology and in partiular how they connect with brands on mobile devices. The...

It’s safe to assume that technology, devices, and user behavior will continue to evolve over time. Whatever happens, marketers need to deliver a positive experience for every user.

With that in mind, let’s consider two solid approaches to design optimization:

• Mobile Aware
• Responsive Design

Mobile Aware: Simple Design Improvements

This approach uses design-only tactics, making simple improvements to enhance both the desktop and mobile experience. The goal is to create a single, mobile-friendly visual framework that works in all viewing environments. Here are few tips to create mobile-aware layouts:

• Fo...

The mobile inbox is a powerful tool if used the right way. We know that smart phone penetration in the US has reached 55% and mobile email open rates are over 40%. Almost half of your database is opening email via their mobile phone. Are you designing your emails to display correctly?

You could be leaving money on the table by not designing effective mobile email. Actually, you ARE leaving money on the table. Here are four design tips to help you design for the mobile inbox. Need more tips? Check out our Designing for the Mobile Inbox white paper.

1. Design for Your Audience

Know your...

How do we manage to drive more interaction for email through the mobile device? For email marketers, the key is to deliver content that’s easy to consume on any device, remembering the mobile experience is part of the path to conversion. In other words, marketers should approach mobile optimization by focusing on the overall experience, respecting all inbox environments.

Breaking Down the Mobile Experience

The mobile experience is highly interactive, and every email is viewed in stages. Whether they realize it or not, readers decide to continue or exit at each stage, so it’s important to know...

When it comes to daily usage of various online channels, our Marketers from Mars research reveals some interesting trends and differences between marketers and consumers. In many ways, usage rates follow similar trends of prior reports, with email, text, Facebook, and Twitter rounding out the top four.

What’s interesting to note is the higher rates of consumer usage in emerging channels such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Foursquare. While marketers use nearly every digital platform more frequently than consumers, these platforms show different usage patterns.

If consumers are there, should...

Permission-based email has become the foundation of successful one-to-one marketing, and a company's database of email subscribers is one of its most valuable assets.

And with good reason! As our 2012 Channel Preference Survey revealed, 66% of US online consumers report making at least one purchase that was triggered by an offer received via email. And for BtoB marketing, nothing tops email for aiding the customer’s buying decision. In a 2012 article, BtoB Magazine reported that 59% of BtoB marketers say email is their most effective channel for generating revenue.

At the recent 2013 MarketingShe...

The arena experience is changing; ticket prices are rising and attendance is dropping. While technology is increasing rapidly, the in-arena experience at sporting events remains relatively static. Yes, Jumbotrons are getting even more jumbo and teams are becoming smarter with their social media marketing but for the most part, the experience is not improving fast enough to entice fans away from their couch and 75-inch HD television... until now.

It should be no surprise that the brand new Barclays Center is stepping years into the future with their social media and mobile marketing strategies....

You've launched your mobile program, and fine-tuned to increase customer engagement. Your mobile program is finally in full swing, and you’re looking to create highly personalized messages that are consistent across all areas of your business. Since you know your customer lifecycle well, why not seize the opportunity to streamline interactions using mobile?

Here are some ideas to create a truly engaging mobile experience in months 7-9.

Empower customers to interact with your brand in real-time. Mobile doesn’t have to be a one way conversation—a simple text response allows subscribers to tell...

Once you've got your mobile program up and running, you want customers to feel engaged and have an opportunity to interact with your brand on the spot. And as your mobile efforts mature, it’s critical to provide relevant and dynamic information that keeps subscribers wanting more.

Here are some ideas to help spark real-time customer engagement in your second three months.

Increase real-time mobile interactions. Mobile isn’t just about gaining email opt-ins anymore, so it’s important to continue growing your program in other ways. Consider creating a mobile voting campaign or text-in survey to...

When you’re just starting to put your mobile strategy into action, email is probably your bread and butter for reaching customers. At this stage, using mobile to beef up your email list is a good first step—but there’s plenty more you can do to get your mobile program off the ground!

Here are some ideas to help jump-start your mobile efforts during the first few months.

Grow your email opt-in list via mobile. If gaining email opt-ins is your goal, then create plenty of opt-in opportunities via text message—like, “Text JOIN and youremail@address.com to 12345 to subscribe to our program”—or add an...

Convenience, ease-of-use, and efficiency are no longer wants, but necessities in our fast-paced society. Auto bill pay, GPS, and other developments in technology continue to automate our lives. Marketers are working to stay at the forefront of their customers’ interactions across channels—including mobile.

Mobile SMS and push messaging are some of the easiest ways to cut through the clutter and get directly in front of customers. Yet, to have a robust mobile presence, it’s the magic behind the display that makes it possible.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) arm marketers with the...