10 Advanced Subject Line Strategies for Maximizing Your Email Open Rates

Despite sentiment to the contrary, even in a text message heavy world, email marketing still gets traction, especially for business-to-business (B2B) marketers.

However, the success of any email marketing campaign hinges on one crucial factor: the open rate. If your emails aren’t being opened, they’re not doing their job. One of the most important factors affecting open rates is the subject line.

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Direct Mail — The “Snail Mail” Kind — Never Goes Out of Style

A number of years ago, a colleague of mine gave me a book on fractals to read and it was fascinating! At least I thought so. It was all about how nature is made up of fractals that operate in a systematic way to create patterns (in clouds, in leaves, in trees—in everything!). It’s all very mathematical (and I didn’t understand much of the really technical content…) but the images were fascinating and the idea that there are patterns—often predictable patterns—in everything around us, was Continue reading “Direct Mail — The “Snail Mail” Kind — Never Goes Out of Style”

Shining a Light on the Dark Funnel

Chris is in the market for a new car. Chris, like most consumers, is broadly aware of the many types of cars on the market and can see them on the road, on car lots, in advertisements, and online. While deciding which car to buy, Chris not only draws on his own awareness that has been created through these channels, he is also likely to become much more proactive in seeking information—asking family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues for their advice; perusing review sites; following hashtags on social media channels; gathering information through Google searches; and, eventually, visiting car manufacturer or dealer websites to help narrow the choices. Then Chris is likely to visit a local car dealership to take a test drive and talk pricing. Continue reading “Shining a Light on the Dark Funnel”

The Power and Potential of Local Search

Think about how you use search engines (most likely Google) to find information about goods and services you are planning to purchase. Chances are, in most cases, your searches are local. Sure Amazon is a top consumer site when purchasing things, but since the pandemic and in a tight economy, there’s a growing interest in “buying local.” Continue reading “The Power and Potential of Local Search”

Digital Marketing and the Small Business: A Perfect Match

Most small businesses don’t have the big budgets that big brands have. Yet they need to make an impact through their marketing and communication efforts. That, obviously, can be a challenge.

Digital marketing, though, represents significant opportunity for small businesses.

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Generating Responses, Followers, and Referrals—An “A-ha!” Moment

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A while ago I experienced an interesting phenomenon related to the release of my monthly e-letter. I’d gotten into the practice of posting notices to various LinkedIn groups when a new e-letter was available, inviting new subscribers. I had been doing this for about 14 months and Continue reading “Generating Responses, Followers, and Referrals—An “A-ha!” Moment”

When It Comes to Hyper-personalization Use Your Spidey Senses

Digital technology available today makes it possible to hyper-personalize communications with customers and prospects. But, just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I think the biggest mistake that marketers can make in pursuing hyper-personalization Continue reading “When It Comes to Hyper-personalization Use Your Spidey Senses”

You’re Using LinkedIn the Wrong Way—Here’s What We Recommend Instead

social media marketing, how to use linkedin, twitter, facebook and other channels to achieve marketing results

I’ve had a LinkedIn profile since 2009. It has become the top source of referrals for my content marketing and marketing consulting services. Not because of the “brilliant” posts I share. Not because I get tons of likes and shares. Not because I write clever copy.

So how have I successfully leveraged LinkedIn to generate leads—and new clients—consistently? Continue reading “You’re Using LinkedIn the Wrong Way—Here’s What We Recommend Instead”

5 Simple Website Mistakes That Many Businesses Make

market research, marketing researchWe work frequently with clients to evaluate/audit and make recommendations for improvements to their websites and write website content. In addition, Linda serves as a digital marketing specialist with the State of Wisconsin’s Business Intelligence Team and Purdue University. In this role she reviews and makes recommendations to websites of small but growing companies.
Through this work, we tend to see some very common (and, fortunately, easy to fix) mistakes being made. Here we take a look at “5 Simple Website Mistakes That Many Businesses Make.”

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Use Digital Platforms to Drive In-Store Traffic, and Vice Versa

In the modern retail landscape, digital is no longer a threat to the in-store shopping experience. In fact, smart retailers have come to see e-commerce as a tool to boost in-store foot traffic. This represents a new phenomenon called ROPO (research online, purchase offline), where consumers start their shopping journeys online but complete them in-store.

This is a strategy used by 82 percent of consumers, according to Retail Customer Experience. Because of this, experts stress how important it is for retailers to have a strong presence in both physical and digital environments.

In the modern retail landscape, digital is no longer a threat to the in-store shopping experience. In fact, smart retailers have come to see e-commerce as a tool to boost in-store foot traffic. This represents a new phenomenon called ROPO (research online, purchase offline), where consumers start their shopping journeys online but complete them in-store.

This is a strategy used by 82 percent of consumers, according to Retail Customer Experience. Because of this, experts stress how important it is for retailers to have a strong presence in both physical and digital environments. Continue reading “Use Digital Platforms to Drive In-Store Traffic, and Vice Versa”