It’s only the single most critical shopping day of the year. We’re either the shoppers fighting crowds to catch the best deals to fulfill our holiday shopping lists, or we’re the marketers behind the scenes creating the strategies that get them buying!   2017’s Black Friday represented 4.6% of revenue for the entire year’s sales, and this year, sales are projected to be better than ever. It’s important to prepare ahead of time for what’s to come, and to ensure you stand out from the competition.   That’s where a […]

LinkedIn has completely overhauled their LinkedIn Group’s experience, and I have to say that I am loving it. Back in February, LinkedIn completely scrapped their standalone Groups app, in an effort to reintegrate it back into the core user experience of the platform.   Last month LinkedIn introduced their new and improved Groups experience and here is what you can expect to see, according to LinkedIn group director of product Mitali Pattnaik: Enhanced group participation Group activity notifications Access anytime, anywhere   Check out all of the exciting details that […]

By now you’ve mastered the art of sending a weekly newsletter to your entire subscriber list. Your newsletter is an easy to read email that has established and maintained customer-brand relationships directing traffic to your website ­­– each section of the email dedicated to a particular topic (read more about the elements of a successful newsletter here).   But what happens when your newsletter’s open rate starts to decline and you realize that your audience isn’t all the same, therefore should not be targeted the same? How do you use email […]

As a digital marketing agency, we are highly focused on identifying strategies and tactics that will work to drive further engagement and conversion online. We love digital because of the high level of “measurability” we have when it comes to monitoring the tactics that we deploy. However, we also know that most businesses rely to some degree on their offline footprint to drive ongoing engagement beyond the typical digital channels like search, email, and social media. That’s where offline to online ad targeting comes in handy.   These business that […]

Every salesperson wants things right now, whether that’s quality leads, effective marketing materials, pricing or contract concessions. Whatever is needed to close more deals, reach their goals, earn more commission.   As marketers, we know that the problem is, not every prospect or client, even if showing initial interest, is on their same timetable. They may not have a big enough need to make a purchase right now. Or maybe they’re under contract, satisfied with their current vendor, other projects are taking priority, currently have no budget—or it’s simply taking them […]

First impressions are everything. That first point of contact is your chance as a brand to really shine and impress current and/or future customers. That’s why a welcome email series is so important to have in place! In this blog post, I’m going to cover some of the best practices and most compelling (if not obvious) reasons why you should be incorporating a welcome email series into your new customer or lead acquisition strategy.   Be Prompt with Your Welcome Email Don’t keep people waiting. I recommend sending your welcome […]

So you’ve got a new product to add to your ecommerce shop. That means it’s time to put together a marketing plan for your new ecommerce product launch.   Adding a new product to your ecommerce shop deserves a marketing plan of its own—one that’s not quite as involved as when you launched your shop in the first place, perhaps, but is still informed by the data you’ve managed to capture about your customers along the way. In this post, we’ll use the emfluence t-shirt shop to demonstrate how we’re […]

It’s not uncommon for me to hear marketers ask the question: how do I start building a marketing plan—and how do I know if the dollars I’m asking for are the right amount?   A better marketing plan starts with understanding your marketing metrics. By learning what’s working now, you can start to plan for campaign spending in the future. But first, you need to learn: How to efficiently use your marketing spend How to maximize your budget across multiple marketing channels and business segments How to ensure stakeholders feel […]

Email personalization continues to be a top email design trend. And with more marketers putting an emphasis on data quality, there are many opportunities for maximizing the impact of personalized messaging. Beyond incorporating first name variables into the subject line or body to boost engagement, brands can use personalization to serve the subscriber. If the data is accurate, timely, and serves a purpose, it’s likely to benefit the subscriber in ways that are advantageous for the brand. Here are a few examples from my inbox of ways brands used personalization […]

SEO can boost your marketing automation efforts in these three ways: Build leads and lists through qualified organic traffic Utilize existing organic data to optimize conversion points Use keyword research to send targeted content to specific lists Click on the links above to jump to that section. I recently discussed this topic at the And Then Some emfluence Conference 2018. Here is the video and SlideShare of my talk: How SEO Can Boost Your Marketing Automation Efforts from emfluence   But if you’re more into reading/scanning, the meat of the […]

You know the value in attending the emfluence And Then Some Conference. But how do you relay that effectively when asking for your company’s support in sending you? Getting time off and budget approval can be a real challenge sometimes, so here are three things you can share with the budget-boss in your life to help elicit a successful send-off: It’s designed to enhance your skillset. It presents an opportunity to connect with Kansas City’s brightest digital marketing minds and a variety of local, regional and national organizations. You’ll be […]

Let’s talk retention! So, you’ve put in all the groundwork to attract your “ideal” customer base – these are the customers who will get the most value from the product or service you’re selling. So now what? Retention efforts begin with activation and follow-up, ensuring these customers become active users and continue to do business with you. I’m going to share the 5 best email marketing strategies that will help you increase your retention rates and bring in more revenue:   Customer Retention Email Strategy #1: The Activation or Welcome […]

Summer is in full effect, which means it’s time to take a breather from those out-of-office replies and take a look at email marketing benchmarks for the first half of 2018.   If this is your first Email Marketing Benchmarks Report, this is our twice-yearly dive into the email marketing metrics compiled by the global users of the emfluence Marketing Platform. These email marketing benchmarks are designed to give you a starting point for comparing your own email marketing metrics. You’ll be able to scroll through comparison metrics based on industries, […]

In a previous blog post, I talked about how to build a social media strategy for ecommerce sales, however my main focus in that post was only on B2C brands. So today, I want to solely turn my attention to B2B ecommerce and why it is just as important for them to have a well thought out social media strategy to help drive brand awareness and increase their B2B ecommerce sales.   First, let’s start by saying that ecommerce is not limited to B2C. If you’re in B2B and you […]

For the past several years, Google has been pushing site security to webmasters. HTTPS has been an organic ranking signal since at least 2014. When browsing on an HTTP website, instead of HTTPS, a third-party can insert ads that aren’t on the original webpage, inject cryptocurrency mining software (here is a popular example of this recently), or redirect you to a different site in order to steal your username and password.   HTTP Not Secure Warning Starting July 24th, along with the launch of Google Chrome 68, Chrome will display […]

When you think about transactional messages you are probably thinking about the email receipt you get after a purchase or possibly a password reset email. But transactional messages really represent a much broader range of messaging. For marketers, there are a couple of great things about transactional messages. First, they are expected. Recipients often know they are coming and depend on them for important information. That means they often have a significantly higher open rate than marketing messages. Second, transactional messages take some of the chains off as they are […]

A Dirty Word? Let’s start with a bit of education on the topic. When I hear the word sweepstakes the first image is the memorable moment when an unknowing winner opens their front door to be greeted with a life-changing check. For those of you younger than me… you can google it.   Per Wikipedia, Sweepstakes are “a type of contest where a prize or prizes may be awarded to a winner or winners.” Who doesn’t want a prize, right?! Well when sweepstakes began, they started as a lottery related […]

Attracting the right kind of leads—you know, the ones that actually want to buy something from you—is one of the B2B marketer’s biggest challenges. You can pay for clicks or you can pay for impressions, and while both options have value, neither option guarantees you a high volume of truly interested, sales-ready leads.   Fortunately, getting those kinds of leads is exactly what pay per lead, or PPL, is designed for.   But first…   What Is Pay Per Lead Advertising? Unlike pay per click (PPC) or pay per impression […]

This story starts with t-shirts.   From our A/B Test t-shirts to our I Opted In to Get This Bag totes, emfluence has a long history of spinning digital marketing lingo into apparel. We like puns and we like marketing, and if we’re going to wear shirts anyway, why not have some fun with our brand? Turns out we’re not the only ones who like our shirts, and for years people have asked us: how can I get one of those shirts for myself?   So we did something a […]

Attention all e-commerce businesses…if you’re not running a bounce-back email campaign to your buyers, you’re missing out on some major additional revenue.   What is a bounce-back offer? Let’s first review…what exactly is a “bounce-back” offer? Think of something like this: We’re not talking email delivery failures here. Plain and simple, a bounce-back offer is created to entice the client to “bounce back,” or return and buy more from you in the future. Brick and mortar retailers invented the bounce-back with return offer mailers, and with good reason: the cost […]

Looking for ways to add visual content to your social messages and email campaigns? It’s easy to ❤ the personality emojis and gifs can bring to your brand, but they aren’t meant for everyone…or every situation.   Before you turn yourself into a marketing unicorn, read our tips on incorporating visual content into your messaging—without overwhelming your audience.   Here’s how:   🦄Understand Your Audience This is probably the #1 rule to remember when it comes to using visual content in your everyday marketing strategy. Understanding your audience should help […]

On May 25th, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will be officially in effect. The GDPR is designed to update the rules on personal data collection and retention and will significantly alter how all organizations can handle customer information. Check out Dave Cacioppo’s previous blog post covering the broader impact of GDPR for Marketers. This post is going to be focused on a more granular facet of the impact of GDPR – Google Analytics (in truth, all web analytics platforms).   What Does GDPR Mean for Google Analytics? […]

Making some big changes to your website? Change is good! But if you aren’t careful with site migration, it could be disastrous for your SEO presence. Here’s our site migration SEO checklist for changing domain names or moving to HTTPS: Ask Yourself: Why Are You Migrating Your Site? The two main reasons you may be migrating your site: A domain name change Moving from HTTP to HTTPS Both are long-term investments in the site’s future. A domain name change is typically sparked by a branding overhaul. Moving to HTTPS is […]

Summer vacation is almost here, but don’t swap your shoes for flipflops just yet. For marketers in higher education, this is the perfect time to map out your social media calendar for the academic year.   Social media is a key component of a good content marketing plan, and like any plan, you should start your social media calendar for the academic year with goals and KPIs. Here’s how:   Social Media Marketing Goals Content marketing is most successful when you understand what you hope to achieve. Setting goals (examples […]

I’ll be the first to admit that the amount of data available to marketers can be a little overwhelming. Consumers want their online experiences to be personalized, but if it’s too personalized, they get a little creeped out. How do we use the data that is readily available tastefully? And before that, how do we get started with sending personalized messaging to our customers? Here’s where a milestone email can come in handy.   What’s a Milestone Email? A milestone email is a type of behavior-based email you might send […]

With an increasing amount of attention and commitment to accessibility in recent years, you’ve probably given thought to optimizing your website for individuals with disabilities, but what about email accessibility? Natalie offers some considerations in a recent post on what you need to know about website ADA compliance, but it’s important to think beyond your website and consider how you can make all content you offer to your users online easily accessible. Among that list is your email content, which is an extension of your website user experience in many […]

If you’re reading this blog I’m sure that by now you’ve done some research and have heard the phrase, “Content is King.” Well, for most it’s a fact. For those to whom the phrase rings true, content marketing is a major component of ongoing digital marketing strategies. Establishing well-defined content marketing goals is the critical first step in developing a successful content strategy to drive business growth. But what makes it worthy of such a title? Creating unique, high-quality content that is engaging and useful adds value to your products […]