B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®

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Don’t Do That: Email Marketing Lessons From My 26 Year Spam Archive

Smiling woman holding laptop image.

What makes for strong long-term email marketing, and what can email marketers learn from a 26 year archive of spam?

In 1994 I started archiving the funniest and most outlandish spam emails I received, and throughout the rest of the ‘90s I sent out an annual holiday compendium of the year’s top unsolicited messages.

Over the years friends and associates began sending me their own wild spam finds, and although I ceased my annual updates long ago, I’ve kept up my spam archive — a trove of email marketing horrors, hi-jinks, and oftentimes hilarity that I still hope to turn into a book someday.

For now, I’ll crack open the archive and share five email marketing lessons taken from analyzing 26 years of spam, to help illustrate how we can adapt, grow, and innovate — and how not to follow in the footsteps of atrocious spammers.


Don’t Do That: Email Marketing Lessons From My 26 Year Spam Archive

Return to Sender: Email Marketing Is NOT Dead, But It Needs Rejuvenation

Email Marketing Is Not Dead

Oh, look. Another death of email marketing headline. All too often, we see posts that lead with this provocative clickbait proclamation, while keeping the contradicting nuances under the surface.

Ironically, this kind of practice is exactly WHY email marketing has seen its reputation tarnished. The focus has shifted too far toward style at the expense of substance. Marketers became so singularly obsessed with compelling opens and clicks, through irresistible subject lines and poppy CTAs, that many of us lost touch with the core value of this digital channel: direct, one-on-one engagement.

I’m here to tell you that this value still exists, and might be more essential today than ever, in spite of (maybe even because of) the waters becoming so muddied. Recipients will welcome a little freshness and clarity in their inbox, from those brands and influencers that are willing to buck the trend.


Return to Sender: Email Marketing Is NOT Dead, But It Needs Rejuvenation

This Changes Everything: How AI Is Transforming Digital Marketing

How AI Is Transforming Digital Marketing

Will artificial intelligence (AI) put marketers out of work?

It’s a question I’m seeing a lot lately, and to me, it’s a strange one. It’s like if everyone 150 years ago was asking: “Will the tractor put farmers out of work?” Of course, John Deere didn’t put farmers out of business; better tools just made them more efficient and better able to scale.

Granted, the tractor did reduce the demand for horses and farmhands. So, no, AI will not put you out of work…as long as your work is creative, innovative and intelligent. If all of your daily work can be done by a machine, eventually it will be.


This Changes Everything: How AI Is Transforming Digital Marketing

What’s Your Open Rate? How to Write Compelling Intros for Mobile Email Marketing

How many of your current marketing tactics are over five years old? Marketing is a fast-paced profession; even if you’re still using the same channels, odds are your strategy has changed. How about ten years old? Twenty? Thirty?

It’s surprising, then, that a marketing channel nearly forty years old is still one of the most relevant for digital marketing. Email marketing has been a steadily effective channel for decades, and advances in technology only make it easier to track, personalize, and optimize your campaigns.


What’s Your Open Rate? How to Write Compelling Intros for Mobile Email Marketing

5 Email Marketing Platforms for the Modern Marketer

Ashley Zeckman
Ashley Zeckman
Email Marketing

Email marketing has stood the test of time. The first email marketing campaign was sent in the 1970’s and the early 1990’s saw the first mobile email experience. No matter how many new tactics come on the market, email is still a strong force.

In fact, recent research has found that email marketing is 40% more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter. While most brands have not abandon email marketing completely, it’s taken a backseat to flashier advancements in digital marketing.

Email is probably the greatest owned media channel for brands. @joepulizzi Click To Tweet

But the numbers don’t lie, email marketing can still be an incredibly successful digital marketing tactic, if executed correctly. Part of developing a successful email marketing strategy means having the right tools in your arsenal. This post covers 10 different email marketing tools (in no particular order) that can help you take your email marketing from good to great.


5 Email Marketing Platforms for the Modern Marketer

Mathew Sweezey of Salesforce Shares 6 Ways to Improve the Value of Your Email #CMWorld

mathew-sweezey-salesforce

Today’s customers are busy, savvy and frustrated. But why? They’ve taken on too much and are looking for ways to improve their own efficiency, old email marketing tricks no longer have an impact and they’re tired of receiving pitch after pitch that doesn’t add value.

However, email marketing is just as important (and effective) now as it has ever been, especially when it’s integrated with marketing automation.

And if you’re going to learn about the intersection of email and marketing automation from anyone, Mathew Sweezey of Salesforce is the person to listen to. In his session at Content Marketing World, Mathew covered some of the top values that exist within email marketing today.

Value #1: Email is a Mobile Strategy


Mathew Sweezey of Salesforce Shares 6 Ways to Improve the Value of Your Email #CMWorld

7 Ways to Step Up Your Email Marketing Game in 2016

Caitlin Burgess
Caitlin Burgess
Email Marketing

7-email-marketing-tips

Email marketing is a great, cost-effective way to engage prospective customers and nurture relationships with current customers. And email is actually welcomed by consumers. In fact, recent research has found that a whopping 91% of Americans say they want to receive promo emails.

But let’s face it. With email being one of the most common forms of communication these days, your customers inboxes are most likely a little full. And it’s time for you to step up your game if you want to continue connecting with subscribers and encouraging them to do business with you.

While we’re almost halfway through 2016, there’s still time to make the most of the latest email marketing tricks and trends. Below are seven considerations for creating an emails that will resonate with your audience and help you up your game.


7 Ways to Step Up Your Email Marketing Game in 2016

7 Ways Sales Emails Fail & 7 Ways to Win

 

7-ways-to-win

Like you, my email inbox is filled with email marketing newsletters, requests for information, spammy emails that managed to make it through my filter and the urgent things I actually need to respond to. Each day as I watch the number of unread emails grow, it takes more and more convincing for me to open the emails that do not come from people I know.

In my role as the Director of Agency marketing for TopRank Marketing, I receive a steady influx of emails each day from sales reps at various companies trying to meet with me about how their solution will make me more effective at my job. Nine times out of ten, I have had no previous contact with these reps, nor have I signed up to receive emails from them.


7 Ways Sales Emails Fail & 7 Ways to Win

The TopRank Marketing 7 Point Email Marketing Engagement Cheat Sheet

Ashley Zeckman
Ashley Zeckman
Email Marketing

email marketing engagement

Email marketing presents a whole host of opportunities (and challenges) for companies that want to engage prospects and customers on an ongoing basis. You may have found that creating quality email content on a consistent basis can seem like a lot of work. Which leads you to question if it’s really worth the effort.

In 2014 eMarketer found that email marketing was cited as the most effective digital marketing channel for customer retention in the United States. With research like that backing up the usefulness of email marketing, it’s a tactic you can’t afford to ignore.

If you’re tired of seeing your unsubscribe and spam rates increase at a steady pace, incorporate these 7 steps to connect with your email audience on a more engaging level.


The TopRank Marketing 7 Point Email Marketing Engagement Cheat Sheet

5 Elements of a Successful Email Based Lead Nurturing Program

Ashley Zeckman
Ashley Zeckman
Email Marketing

email lead nurturing

Today more than ever, sales needs marketing’s help. Busy customers are making traditional sales methods less and less effective. Sales metrics that once had sales teams fist pumping around the office in success, are making for discouraged sales teams.

In fact, B2B sales prospects often go through 57% of the sales process before even talking to a sales team. The modern buyer educates themselves by reading blogs, downloading white papers and signing up to receive more information.

That means that the chances of catching them on the phone is highly unlikely. According to a past study from MarketingSherpa, 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance.


5 Elements of a Successful Email Based Lead Nurturing Program

4 Creative Email Marketing Campaigns That Inspire Action

email-marketing-

Email is a private experience. Unlike social media where comments are public email provides a safety zone for both B2B and B2C customers. What does that mean?

You can receive an email, and take no action. Alternatively, a personalized email may be the tipping point that determines that you will make a purchase.

According to a study from MarketingSherpa, 7 in 10 people have made purchases influenced by email marketing. Interestingly, that study also found that the vast majority that do purchase, are not just making purchases online.
While it’s true that some businesses do not fit under the in-store or “over the phone” model, many do. A well developed email campaign will solve a pain point, inspire action and make you feel connected.


4 Creative Email Marketing Campaigns That Inspire Action