It takes a minutes to read through the chart – but it is with the read.
> August 9th 2012 – Five steps to successful Email Marketing
From our friends at PRWeb and iContact posted today some good information.
As well as attracting customers by sharing your news through SEO and social media, you should also connect with them directly.
Email marketing is one of the most effective online marketing channels, with a return on investment of $40 for every dollar spent.* Email helps your business stay top-of-mind, builds trust and customer loyalty, and is a great way of keeping in touch with both existing customers and new prospects.
But how can you make sure your emails aren’t deleted in the slew of spam that bombards customers every day? It’s just like everything else in marketing: have a strategy! Here are five steps to a successful campaign, each with a set of rules for making them happen. Follow them and you won’t go wrong.
1
Create a Plan
Know the goal of your email BEFORE you send. Who are you trying to reach and with what information?
Get to know your audience. Are you talking to customers or prospects? Are you reaching out to industry experts and peers, or to followers of your brand? What do they already know? Why would they want to hear from your brand?
Be purposeful. When you know who you’re talking to, the goal of the campaign becomes clear. Are you rewarding existing customers with a special deal or promotion? An introductory offer may be your route, for example.
2
Build a Contact List
Get permission. To avoid being relegated to the spam folder, get permission to send email. Include sign-up buttons on your webpage or put a sign-up book out if you have a store location. Use incentives to get customers to sign up.
Set up auto-responders. These can welcome people to your list, send out birthday reminders and special offers that go out on specific days.
Keep your list up to date.
Segment your list. You can divide it geographically, demographically, or by purchase activity for greater relevancy.
3
Craft your Message and Image
Keep your message simple. Get to the point, and quickly.
Be yourself. Write as if you’re having a conversation, and don’t be afraid to let the personality of your brand shine through!
Put your company name in the “From” field.
Use a compelling subject line. Avoid using all caps and phrases like “Click Here!” or your message will go straight to spam.
Check your formatting. Check that everything appears as you’re expecting in the body of the email by sending a test email to yourself.
Have a clear call to action. What do you want the reader to do? Tell them, and then make it easy for them to do it!
4
Hit ‘Send’ (after doing your homework)
Experiment with timing. Ideal timing of your messages will vary depending on your business and customers, so finding your groove may take some test runs.
Be consistent in frequency. As a rule, don’t overdo it so that people feel like they’re being stalked, but don’t go for months without sending an email.
5
Analyze and Improve!
Track your results. This is essential to making each email campaign more effective than the last.
Test to identify what works. Vary your subject lines, send time, and frequency to find what works best for your brand and customers. Test one variable at a time.
Don’t measure everything at once. Three straightforward measurements to start with are bounces, open rates, and click rates.
Benchmark against yourself. Compare your results to your own previous campaigns, not to competitors or industry averages.
Look for trends. Identifying trends in your data will point you towards what is connecting with your audience.
Email marketing may seem daunting, but it can be surprisingly easy with the right tools and it can deliver real results for your business. iContact email marketing from Vocus helps you build and send successful email campaigns; try it for yourself with a 30-day free trial and plenty of free resources.
*Direct Marketing Association, ‘Power of Direct’ report
> June 10th 2012 – MOBILE MARKETING IS NOW
MOBILE MARKETING IS NOW
Why?
As I have said before, mobile marketing is a revolutionary technology that is now having greater impact than the radio, television and personal computer….combined.
It’s because the smartphone and the tablet are really all 3 things combined in a much smaller and accessible 24/7.
Ok so we know that marketing to people in a mobile format is going to big. But is it going to be big for your business? I say yes. Here’s the reasons for now:
It’s relatively easy to set up and control.
It converts prospects to customers fast.
It’s not about size.
It’s very cost effective
The mobile device is highly personal and intimate to each owner. Each user tends to to view it from their own mobile perspective. They decide on what apps to download, who’s texts to accept, which videos to watch and who’s names to save. They realize they are in control and manufacturers, developers, carriers and now….small business will give them what they want.
We are in the midst of a marketing revolution much bigger than those brought on by the television or the computer.
Dallas Robinson
> June 5th 2012 – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SMARTPHONE
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SMARTPHONE
You have probably seen all the statistics. Four billion mobile phones in the world….91% of all their users have theses phones within reach 24/7 or by 2013 the primary way people will access the Internet is mobile phone. Well last month another milestone was reached., Nielson reported that just under half of American mobile subscribers (49.7 percent) are smartphone users.One year ago, smartphone penetration stood at only 36 percent.
First came the personal computer and then the Internet. Along the way in the early ‘80s, the cellular phone and networks were introduced. Basically used for voice calls, it all changed in mid-2007, with the introduction of the iPhone. This device, along with 3g and now 4g networks led to thousands of applications being developed and a dramatic increase in web browsing.
In my eyes the smartphone is now the game changer for marketers because :
Smartphones are personal. Always on, always close by and personalized by each user.
Smartphones do everything. It can do more in terms of communication than a cell phone and a PC.
Smartphones are time and location specific. With location based technology on a device someone always has ….is valuable.
Smartphones are everywhere. 95% of people have phones and now 50% are smartphones.
The smartphone is driving communication and they are now driving marketing.
Dallas Robinson
> May 20th 2012 – MOBILE GROWTH IS DRIVEN BY CONSUMER AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
MOBILE GROWTH IS DRIVEN BY CONSUMER AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE
The changing landscape of marketing that is now being led by the mobile revolution. While this mobile revolution can be compared to the Internet explosion that began in 1995 and ended in 2000…..this one is different.
Why?
The technology landscape is different.
Starting in 1995, venture capital money flowed and thousands of dot-com companies started up. The same is happening today in mobile, but this time businesses are familiar with the web, the network infrastructure is already there and most importantly…today’s mobile game changers have significant digital experience. The result: the mobile products are coming fast and furious….and their good!
The second difference is now…..the consumer is in control.
The mobile device is highly personal and intimate to each owner. Each user tends to to view it from their own mobile perspective. They decide on what apps to download, who’s texts to accept, which videos to watch and who’s names to save. They realize they are in control and manufacturers, developers, carriers and now….small business will give them what they want.
We are in the midst of a marketing revolution much bigger than those brought on by the television or the computer.
Dallas Robinson
> May 2nd 2012 – Global Mobile Media Revenues To Touch $150 Billion In 2012
Global Mobile Media Revenues To Touch $150 Billion In 2012
Revenues up 17% on 2011 to $149.8 billion; advertising spend up 85%, consumer spend up 13%
Boston, MA – April 20, 2012: 2011 was the first year that global consumer spending on media content, apps and services for mobile phones broke through the $100 billion barrier. According to the latest Global Mobile Media Forecast from Strategy Analytics, consumers are expected to increase this spend on mobile media by a further 13.4 percent from $121.8 billion in 2011 to $138.2 billion in 2012.
In contrast, advertiser spend on mobile media is expected to almost double (85.4 percent) from $6.3 billion to $11.6 billion, resulting in the total mobile media economy reaching $149.8 billion in revenue in 2012 – a 17.0 percent increase on 2011 (see Chart 1).
While the lion’s share of consumer spend (60.2 percent) is on data plans and web browsing – making mobile operators the key beneficiaries to the tune of $82.8 billion in 2012, up 9.5 percent on 2011 – a key driver of growth is the apps market on smartphones, such as the iPhone and Android devices. Over 23 billion apps were downloaded globally in 2011, increasing by 38 percent to over 32 billion in 2012. Apps are now the second largest category for revenues – for both consumer and advertiser spend – and are becoming the key distribution mechanism for media on mobile phones.
Apps are expected to account for 18.9 percent of global consumer spend in 2012 – $26.1 billion, up 30.7 percent on 2011 – but the strength of the apps ecosystem is also demonstrated by advertiser spend. For example, across the USA and major Western European markets as a whole, revenue from display ads on the mobile web ($934.5 million) has been overtaken by in-app advertising ($1.7 billion).
David MacQueen, Strategy Analytics’ Director of Wireless Media Strategies, explains, “Advertisers chase eyeballs so the fact that brands spend more on in-app advertising than the mobile web is a clear sign that apps are what consumers are glued to for an increasing range of activities. In the eyes of many advertisers, web browsing on the smartphone is playing second fiddle to the app economy.”
Despite remaining relatively flat in terms of spend, Music remains one of the top mobile media categories globally – accounting for $16.0 billion or 11.6 percent of 2012 consumer spend. However, the way consumers’ access and pay for music is changing. Ringtones are declining fast, but streaming music services such as Spotify, Pandora and Deezer – paid for by subscription or through advertising – are gaining good traction in Western Europe and the USA.
As with apps, growth of mobile video usage is increasing dramatically; 108 billion videos were watched on mobile phones in 2011, almost trebling to 280 billion in 2012. However, unlike apps, this isn’t translating into symbiotic revenue levels. Despite a 23.8 percent revenue growth, Video is likely to account for a mere 2.4 percent ($3.6 billion) of total mobile media revenues in 2012 (see Chart 2).
MacQueen explains, “Low revenues are down to many major mobile video services being free to the end user, either funded by advertising (such as YouTube) or “bundled” without additional cost by pay TV providers, such as Sky Go around Europe or AT&T U-verse in the USA. Despite the huge audience of 271 million users, ad revenues from mobile video are tiny – a meager $223m globally in 2011. While ad revenues will more than triple to $726 million in 2012, it is still clearly challenging for advertisers looking to reach consumers through video ads on smartphones.”
Revenue related to Social Networking content, apps and services is expected to increase by 16.1 percent to $17.6 billion – accounting for 11.8 percent of all mobile media revenues.
The US Mobile Media Economy
The US mobile media economy is expected to outperform the global growth figure, increasing by 22.1 percent to nearly $38 billion in 2012. US consumer spending is also expected to outperform the global rate (15.5 percent vs. 13.4 percent) rising to approximately $33.7 billion. Advertiser spend on mobile media is projected to more than double in 2012, increasing 128.9 percent to just under $4.2 billion.
US consumers are expected to spend $6.7 billion on mobile apps in 2012, a 24.6 percent increase over 2011, and accounting for 20 percent of all US consumers mobile spend. In direct correlation to this, US advertising revenue on mobile apps is projected to reach $1.2 billion in 2012, a 118 percent increase over 2011. Again, the strength of the apps ecosystem in the US is evidenced by the fact that in-app advertising revenue is more than double the revenue from mobile Web display advertising in 2012, which is only projected to reach $556 million.
124.9 million Americans are expected to access social networks via their handset in 2012, yet the amount of revenue this will generate for social networks is only expected to reach $412.7 million or $3.48 per mobile user during the year.
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