Patricio Robles says, “Donald Trump’s upset victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has sparked a vigorous debate about the role of the internet in promoting the spread of misinformation. Much of this debate has focused on fake news sites and how articles they published found an audience thanks to the algorithms used by social networks and search engines. In many cases, these fake news sites were not intended to sway public opinion but instead to generate ad revenue for their creators. According to BuzzFeed News, teens in a small town in Macedonia were behind more than 100 pro-Trump... [...]

Ben Davis says, “Artificial intelligence has many uses in marketing. This year the level of interest in AI has bumped up a notch, partly due to press coverage of Microsoft’s Tay, Google Photos, and IBM’s Watson (the list goes on). With many software-as-a-service companies acquiring or developing AI, I thought I’d round up some examples. Some of the solutions are fairly novel, and others have been around for a while. Obviously, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but it gives an idea of the maturity of machine learning. 1. Email copy – Phrasee Appropriately enough... [...]

Monica Montesa says, “If you specialize in mentoring and coaching others, the geographical limitations of doing so in person can be frustrating. You want to help people, but it becomes impossible to reach a mass audience beyond your native town or city. Last month, we shared how one AWeber customer uses email along with her Facebook community and paid ads to establish and nurture client relationships all over the country. But the possibilities don’t end there. This week, we’re featuring the story of Rachael Pontillo, AWeber customer and creator ofHolistically Haute. She created an online... [...]

Phong Ly says, “Chances are, your business needs something: more clients, members, customers, partners or publicity.: Whether you have an in-house team or hire a marketing company, you’ll want to create original, high-value content for those inevitable email campaigns. After launching our own company, we used the vast amount of data that powers our iSeeCars car search-engine to create interesting and useful studies, like the “10 Longest-Lasting Cars” and “New Cars Owners Get Rid of the Fastest.” We hired two PR firms to help us get media coverage, but the effort ended up being... [...]

Henry Hyder-Smith says, “Digital marketing has undergone somewhat of a transformation over the last decade, bringing email marketing into its centre. This is evident in a number of ways, not least when looking at email’s ROI rising from 66% in 2008 to 73% today; it has shown a spectacular growth compared to other channels in the marketing mix. In addition, 10 years of increased integration between the technologies and channels used now means better segmentation, increasingly sophisticated personalisation and customer-driven marketing. However, in order to make such a tactics and strategy... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Consumers say providing an option to receive emails less frequently is the most effective thing marketers can do to stop unsubscribes, according to recent research from Mapp. The report was based on data from a survey conducted in August 2016 of 1,765 consumers age 18-64 in the United States. Some 40% of respondents say that even if they had decided to unsubscribe from an email list, but a brand offered to send fewer messages instead, they might be dissuaded from leaving. Some 35%, however, say nothing could prevent them from unsubscribing, and 20% say more personalized/relevant... [...]

Emma Brudner says, “You probably didn’t get into sales to show off your wordsmithing skills, but the best salespeople today tend to be solid writers. In addition to using the phone to prospect, reps are relying more and more on email — and getting a response over email requires writing chops. Unfortunately, many salespeople shoot themselves in the foot by making silly mistakes. Commit any of these nine errors, and your chances of getting a reply decrease dramatically. 9 Deadly Sales Prospecting Email Errors 1) Putting 100% of your focus on the subject line … and none on... [...]

Monica Montesa says, “Advertising legend David Ogilvy once said, “Five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” Like a headline for a blog post or news article, the subject line for your email needs to capture people’s attention and convince them to open your message. A subject line can make or break the performance of your email, so it’s important to spend extra time crafting one that’s memorable and effective. Good subject lines get to the point, create a sense of urgency... [...]

Olivia Dello Buono says, “Crafting great content isn’t enough to get your content to go viral. In a world where sharing is social currency, social engagement is more important than ever if you want the world to see your content. And it could be the key to getting more eyes on your emails (more sharing = more website visitors and exposure to your email sign up forms). However, shareability is a skill that requires a lot of strategy and iteration. So we teamed up with our friends at AddThis to talk about social sharing. (After all, they are the experts.) Read on to see what to share,... [...]

John Thies says, “Conversion rates, clicks, and opens are just some of the metrics that email marketers spend ages analyzing and interpreting. Marketers frequently have the right tools to view this type of basic data regarding their campaigns, but they rarely go beyond such preliminary data to see more advanced information. Having the basic data in front of you is one thing, but acting upon the data and creating a new marketing strategy based on upper-level analytics is a step that all successful marketers have to take. To help you create email campaigns that influence your subscribers and... [...]