We’ve compared SMS text messaging and email marketing before, with advice on the best situations to use each. But mobile marketing involves more than just SMS. Thanks to smartphones, your mobile marketing can have a wider reach in a number of mobile channels across apps, location-based services, email, mobile search and more. Let’s take a [...]

It’s no secret that email doesn’t enjoy the sizzle of social media coverage these days. My own first foray into email was producing newsletters for The Industry Standard back in ’99 — the year after AWeber launched. And when you’ve been around that long (email, not me), there just aren’t a whole lot of newsy, [...]

“To lightbox or not to lightbox, that is the question.” – Shakespeare’s most over-adapted (because it’s perfect) quote You’re browsing a site and suddenly, a form pops up in your face, blocking the page with an offer you didn’t ask for. Obnoxious, right? But plenty of sites use lightboxes to request email subscriptions. The common [...]

Imagine this: It’s your birthday. You check your email and see a message from your bank. “Happy Birthday from Capital One 360!” says the subject line. Lots of businesses send out birthday greeting to their customers, often with coupons or free offers. Hey, maybe the bank is giving my savings account some extra interest! Of [...]

Corey Koehler didn’t plan on making music his career. He was the guy that picked up the guitar by the campfire for fun, but his friends saw talent and encouraged him to record. He now has a full schedule of shows and music sales on his website. Smart email marketing helped get him where he [...]

Imagine you’re at your doctor’s office. Your doctor starts explaining the state of your health with colorful slang, maybe some expletives here and there, leaving you a little uncomfortable. Your doctor is supposed to use a professional tone, not a casual one. This situation can happen to your subscribers as well. People have an idea [...]

Trying to grow your email list? Then it makes sense you’ll be happy when new people subscribe to your list. But here’s a tale from Corrina Gordon-Barnes of You Inspire Me of why you should also be happy when people unsubscribe… When I started my email list back in 2006, Penny was one of my [...]

I love animals. I try to incorporate them into my work whenever it’s appropriate. I’m also not alone in my obsession. Animal pictures are constantly being shared and there are whole sites dedicated to cute animal photos. This got me thinking – will animal pictures and references bring more traffic for non-animal businesses? I thought [...]

Hey, you! Want to go down a slide? No, not our slides. But it’ll be fun. Ready? Let’s go: Wasn’t that cool? I made you scroll for a really long time. Scrolling used to be considered a hindrance to conversions on most sites, but not anymore. Facebook, Twitter and other social networks made it okay, [...]

“We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.” – Benjamin Franklin Since 2010, businesses have been increasingly adding game-like elements to their marketing campaigns. Viewers can participate, sometimes for the fun of it and sometimes to earn prizes. A fuller explanation of how it works is here [...]