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- 20 Mar
Business Email Read Rates and Unread Delete Rates, by Industry, Q1-Q4 2016
by Ayaz Nanji
It seems that 13% of emails sent by businesses in 2016 were deleted by their recipients. While that may not seem too worrisome, that was without being opened or read.An Impressive Data Sampling
This was according to recent research from Return Path, a company specializing in email deliverability. Their report was based on their internal email data from 17,000 of their commercial senders. It also included 2.5 million consumer panelists and spanned over 5 billion commercial email messages received in 2016.
Not surprisingly, what they found was that emails deleted without being read in 2016 varied widely by industry. But there were a number of surprises revealed as well. To see the data and insights, and to gain access to the original report, read the full article at MarketingProfs.com
NOTE: A Free Registration pop up opens on this site. Registration is not required to read the article.
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- 18 Mar
20 YouTube Tricks, Hacks & Features You’ll Want to Know About
When people talk about today’s most popular social sharing websites, YouTube often gets left out of the conversation in favor of sites like Facebook and Twitter. But don’t be fooled. YouTube has a lot going for it.Soooo Many Features, So Little Time . . .
After all, there are a ton of cool things you can do with YouTube that you might not know about. For example, did you know that YouTube automatically creates a written transcript for your videos. And that polishing those transcripts can help you get your videos found more easily in search? Or that you can use YouTube to easily create a photo slideshow. And you can even set it to music using its royalty-free audio library?
Mind-blowing stuff, isn’t it people. To help you make the most out of the still very popular platform, HubSpot has put together a list of 20 of the lesser-known hacks, tips, and features YouTube has to offer. So read the full article at HubSpot.com for all of them.
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- 18 Mar
Here’s How Marketers Fared Last Year in the Metrics That Impact Email Deliverability
from MarketingCharts.com
Close to one-third of US marketing emails fail to reach the inbox. This was according to an analysis released last year by Return Path. With deliverability having such an impact on email marketing success, Return Path has dug deep into its data [download available]. From this, they have been able to provide a host of new benchmarks across several metrics that can act as indicators for sender reputation.The Definition of Good versus Evil . . . for Email that is
In this report, they have defined positive indicators of email reputation. Those include metrics such as read and forwarded messages, along with messages replied to and those marked as “not spam”. Such actions act as indicators of subscriber engagement. And these are actively tracked by several mailbox providers. Negative indicators include messages marked as spam along with messages deleted before reading.
To see more on this report and some highlights across these indicators, read the full article at MarketingCharts.com
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- 17 Mar
How to Turn Cold Facebook Traffic into Red Hot Leads
If you are looking for success in Facebook advertising, the thing to remember is that Facebook is cold traffic. With nearly two billion people using it, it’s not the same as Google AdWords. There, when someone navigates to the search engine, types in “cheap smartphones phoenix”, and is served up an appropriate ad with organic results. That’s warm traffic. We know why they came there.You’re Getting Warmer . . .
On Facebook however, we don’t know why the visitors came to the platform. They might be updating their status. They may be looking at photos from friends and family. Or they may simply be checking the news. Or simply killing time. The good news? You can turn cold Facebook traffic into red hot leads if you use ads the right way.
To learn how it is done right, read the full article at KISSmetrics.com
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- 17 Mar
Most Purchases Are Made While Shopping Around, Not From Loyalty
from MarketingCharts.com
Do consumers tend to make the same brand choices time after time. Or do mostly shop around with successive purchases? Recent research from McKinsey comes to a troubling conclusion. It seems that few purchases are loyalty-driven. And the myriad new ways for consumers to judge brands and comparison shop doesn’t seem poised to change that.Ooops! Well, We May Need to Re-Think Our Approach Now
To arrive at this conclusion, McKinsey dug into its CDJ database, which it says covers more than 125,000 consumers shopping for more than 350 brands. After analyzing the data, it found that of 30 categories, just 3 were primarily loyalty-driven.
So, what does this mean for your brand? For more of the data and additional insights, read the full article at MarketingCharts.com
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- 16 Mar
YouTube Ads for Beginners: How to Launch & Optimize a YouTube Video Advertising Campaign
by Jami Oetting
You’ve spent months perfecting the script, storyboarding, finding the right talent, shooting, and editing. The end result? A blockbuster brand or product video.Building it in the Hopes They Will Come is Not a Marketing Strategy
But, with all that time invested, you can’t stop at just embedding the video on a homepage. And sharing it on social media and hoping someone watches just isn’t enough. You need to be proactive about gaining the attention of prospects and those unfamiliar with your brand.
Running a series of YouTube ads is one way to make sure more of your target audience finds the video content you’ve produced. But where and how to start? Here is the YouTube Ads for Beginners: How to Launch & Optimize a YouTube Video Advertising Campaign to help you out at HubSpot.com
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- 15 Mar
Email Marketing Benchmarks: 4Q16 Average Open, Click, and Bounce Rates
by Ayaz Nanji
So, how did email marketing perform last year? To answer that question, Experian asked their marketing clients, comparing 4Q15 and 3Q16 key metrics. What they found was that the volume of email sent by marketers in the fourth quarter of 2016 rose 14% compared with the fourth quarter of 2015.Size Matters, . . . for Some but Not Others
Though email volume grew across the board, the size of the increase varied significantly by industry. For example, travel brands sent 29.6% more emails in 4Q16 than in 4Q15, on average, whereas business products/services firms sent only 2.7% more emails.
For more of the data and insights, read the full article at MarketingProfs.com
NOTE: A Free Registration pop up opens on this site. Registration is not required to read the article.
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- 14 Mar
How Account-Based Marketing and Selling via LinkedIn Can Drive Revenue
Many social media and social selling experts say volume is the key. They claim that to succeed on social media platforms, including LinkedIn, is a numbers game. However, that type of shotgun approach may be better when you have a lower-cost offering and need as many leads as possible to get a return on your social media investment.If You Aim at The Target, Chances Increase You’ll Hit it
But when your offering supposes a hefty investment on the part of the buyer this may not be the case. Especially when you have a complex sales process. That means that you’d better be sure you’re focusing on specific audiences and that you are being relevant. A targeted, account-based marketing approach is key in this case.
Here are some real-life examples of how an account-based marketing and selling approach on LinkedIn can drive not just reach and awareness but also demand and revenue, at MarketingProfs.com
NOTE: A Free Registration pop up opens on this site. Registration is not required to read the article.
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- 13 Mar
The Beginner’s Guide to Small Business Marketing Online
According to Forbes, 80-90% of consumers research purchases online before buying. That means whether you’re launching a new business or already have one, having an strong online presence for your brand is extremely important.Digital Marketing is Critical to Success
Today, digital marketing is no longer a luxury. It is now a must-have. And it is central for promoting your products or services and has become critical to your business’ overall success.
However if you’re a small business owner with little experience in online marketing, this whole “online marketing” marketing thing might sound like a foreign language. But, have no fear. In this post, you can learn how to build and optimize your marketing strategy using inbound marketing, setting you up to attract new clients and ultimately grow your business at HubSpot.com
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- 11 Mar
Q4 Email Performance, By Time of Day
from MarketingChats.com
The best time of day to send email during Q4 – at least when comparing transactions to volume – was between 4PM and 8PM. This was according to a new study [download available] from Experian Marketing Services. More specifically, mailings in this time frame resulted in 21.1% of transactions relative to 14.8% of volume.That Was Then, This is Now
The results are interesting in light of the previous year’s data. Last year, it was the 12AM-4AM time frame that resulted in a disproportionately high share of transactions compared to send volume. This time around, that period was the least effective. It’s interesting to note that this early day-part seems to have become much more popular from one year to the next.
To see all of the data, more insights and to download the original report, read the full article at MarketingChats.com
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- 10 Mar
The Top Digital Channels for Generating B2B Leads
by Ayaz Nanji
B2B marketers say email, organic search, whitepapers, and webinars work. And, most say that LinkedIn is also in the mix as the most effective digital channels/tactics for generating leads. This was according to recent research from DemandWave.So, Who Did They Ask?
The report was based on data from a survey conducted in November and December 2016. The sampling included 179 B2B marketers in the U.S. And, respondents to the survey worked for firms in a range of industries. The largest share in the study came from the software (39%) and business services (17%) verticals.
Surprisingly, the most applied digital channels currently used by B2B marketers are social media, and email. Now, to see all the top digital channels and best types of content for generating B2B leads are, read the full article at MarketingProfs.com
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- 09 Mar
7 Little-Known Lead Generation Ideas Revealed
by Dan Stelter
What tactics, strategies, and techniques can you use to generate more leads for your business?Sometimes Raw Emotions Like “Fear” Can Work
One suggestion comes from a recent study from Citizen Relations Canada. They found that 68% of Canadian millennials have bought because of a “fear of missing out” (FOMO) marketing approach. And, additionally they discovered that 45% couldn’t go longer than 12 hours without checking their favorite social media platforms.
So that means that FOMO is powerful indeed. In fact, so are urgency, scarcity, exclusivity, surprise, and social proof. But those are not the only ones. Here are 7 lesser known lead generation marketing ideas you may not know of at WordStream.com.
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- 08 Mar
Engagement Secret Sauce: Learn From Social Networks to Attract and Keep Audiences for Yourself
Social networks have become an uphill battle for marketers. They’re literally addictive to consumers, who now spend 40+ minutes on social media every day. But for marketers, who now face a sea of competing content and little to no unpaid reach, social networks are simply no longer the most effective way to reach those consumers. So a growing number of marketers are beginning to rethink social networks, and many are driving traffic to their own websites and mobile apps instead.Bringing your audience home has huge advantages. Consumers who want to stay in touch with your brand are nearly three times more likely to visit your website than to engage with you on Facebook. And the more time a consumer spends on your properties—whether shopping, discovering, or researching products—translates into a longer, stronger relationship between that consumer and your brand, according to a study from Kantar Media. So how do you make your own properties as captivating as a social network? Here are four ways they do it, and how you can, too…
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- 07 Mar
What Consumers Expect of Local Businesses on Facebook
by Ayaz Nanji
Nearly three-quarters (73%) of US consumers say Facebook is the most important social media platform for local businesses to have a presence on, according to a recent report from G/O Digital.The report was based on data from a survey of 1,000 social media users in the United States. Some 12% of respondents say Google+ is the most important social network for local businesses to have a presence on; Twitter is third (3%), followed by LinkedIn (2%), and Instagram (less than 1%).
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- 21 Oct
How to Track Your Tradeshow ROI
From renting floor space to designing and building your booth, the costs involved in exhibiting at a tradeshow can quickly add up. Even a small tradeshow can cost your business a five-figure sum, particularly if it’s located in another city.Because tradeshows require such a significant investment, it’s essential to measure not just how much you spend on a tradeshow but also how much you earn as a result of the event. This is the ROI of your efforts but, measuring the ROI of your tradeshow marketing is slightly more complicated than tracking and measuring online marketing ROI. However, with the right strategy and tools, you can get a clear picture of how much profit your next event produces.
So, here is How to Track Your Tradeshow ROI
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- 09 May
How to Tweet on Twitter: 12 Templates to Get You Started
Not sure what to tweet to get your followers to engage with you? Whether you’re just getting started with Twitter or you’ve been using it for a while, but feel like you’re in a rut, it can be hard to come up with new ideas for what to publish. Sometimes, it can help to follow some tried-and-true tropes. Here are several Twitter “formulas” you can follow. Just make the following changes to each one:- Fill in the “blanks” where the [BRACKETS] are.
- Edit the #hashtag with the actual hashtag you’d like to use (e.g. #marketingtips). Hashtags make it easy for people to find your tweets when they’re tracking that hashtag, so you can find more relevant followers.
- Replace @TwitterHandle with a person’s real Twitter handle (e.g. @HubSpot).
Note: Each audience is different, so you may find that some of these formulas work better than others to grow your following.
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- 08 May
Your Email Marketing Campaign Isn’t Attracting Millennials (for Good Reasons)
How do you guarantee a Millennial will mark your business email as spam? Include a subject line like this: “Why Hipsters Prefer [Your Brand.]” Why? For so many reasons.Let’s look at how marketers are self-sabotaging when trying to attract this demographic. And if you’re making any of these mistakes, the solutions are all simple fixes.
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- 08 May
Customers Prefer Your Knowing Their Needs Over Your Knowing Their Names
by Giles House
We’ve all received direct mail marketing offers and emails from businesses that believe they’re on a first-name basis with us. Most of the time, the greeting might as well say, “Dear INSERT YOUR NAME HERE,” because it’s clear from the context that the company just purchased data from a third party and has no idea who we are or what we need.Personalization—including use of a prospect’s name in a marketing pitch—is a well-established tactic used by millions of marketers… but does it work? Research suggests not. A study at Temple University’s Fox School of Business revealed that adding a prospect’s name to a greeting was more likely to be perceived as a turn-off than to create a warm lead. More than 95% of study participants reacted negatively to being greeted by name in an email.
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- 07 May
How People Phrase Online Searches
by Ayaz Nanji
Half of consumers search online using fragments (e.g., “swollen ankle”) and half use more fully formed phrases (e.g., “causes of swollen ankle during sleep”), according to a recent report from Blue Nile Research.The report was based on data from a study of 183 online adults who were given three scenarios and asked to input the search query they felt would best result in the information needed. The three scenarios tested were: Coffee maker does not turn on; swollen ankle; and in the market for a new laptop. Exactly 50% of respondents used “fragment queries” (2-3 words) to search when given the three scenarios, and 50% used “full queries” (4+ words).
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- 07 May
How to Turn Webinars into Networking Events and Become an Authority in Your Niche
When we think of webinars, we picture hour-long presentations with mediocre audio and outdated PowerPoint templates. Their promise of teaching us something new keeps us tuned in longer than we’d like, and then we move on, forgetting it ever happened. But today, more than ever, we have the tools to re-imagine the webinar experience and create something more dynamic and productive for our audiences. For instance, we can enable them to use webinars as vehicles for networking and socializing.Think about it, you have a group of people (your webinar attendees) who registered for an event that covers a very specific topic in your industry; clearly, they have something in common with each other. Shouldn’t you be helping them build their networks? Absolutely. Even though nothing beats going to seminars in person and rocking the networking events until the seams in your pockets rip from the growing stash of business cards, your online audience can come close to achieving similar results when you incorporate the following networking strategies into your webinars:
- 1+360 303 1585
- info@DanLHoff.com
