Keep Those Marketing Questions Coming

Thank you for sending your questions and responses to our January 28th blog post . We read each and every one, and we appreciate the feedback.

So keep those marketing questions coming. No question is too basic.

If you'd prefer to have your question posted and answered anonymously, just mention that in your email and we'd be happy to oblige.

Thanks again for reading.

—Jason @ Ideavise

Marketing Trends & Tactics - What Works?

Interesting article from eMarketing yesterday, which reinforces other studies that we've been reading lately.

"Social and community sites were the most popular way to engage leads, and the proportion of marketers using them increased from Q3 to Q4 2009. Qualified leads also received e-newsletters in increasing numbers."

Looks like social media continues to be the number one way that brands are choosing to engage their marketing leads. It's also interesting to note that email newsletters still hold down the second spot. Compare those, however, with the numbers for catalog—evidence of how the internet has changed things...

When it Comes to Social Marketing—Are You Wasting Your Money?

Recently, I was sent an article on the effectiveness of marketing via social sites like Facebook and Twitter. The article even went so far as to break down the data to show distinctions between the B2B (Business-to-Business service providers) and B2C (Business-to-Consumer providers). I'm sharing the gist of the article, but if you'd like to read the full article you'll find it here at eMarketer.com.

Marketing via social networking sites is the hammer that you use to build the house, not the house itself.

Email Marketing Isn't Dead... So Use It!

Much has been said about the demise of email thanks to some of the new social networking tools that we now have at our disposal. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. have changed the game of connecting customers to companies. But what of email? Is it no longer valid? Has it been passed over by quicker, "tidier" methods of communcation?

Not according to a study published by eMarketer using data from sites StrongMail and ShareThis. According to the study:

A study of sharing activity across the ShareThis network in October 2009 also revealed that e-mail was the top channel for distributing content to friends, with 46.4% of all shares. About one-third of shares went to Facebook and less than 6% were tweeted.

Overall, Twitter did post the highest click-through rate in both studies quoted. But email came back swinging with higher page counts after click-through.

So how can you and I apply this to our businesses?

1. Make sure that you have an email marketing strategy for your business. If you're short on time/bandwidth, don't fret—it doesn't need to be a weekly investment. Shoot for sending out an email once per quarter. Recap important news, and give your customers an opportunity to engage with the brand. Launch a contest, ask for feedback, announce a promotion specifically targeted to customers on your email list. The end goal is to make them feel like they have the inside track on what's happening with your brand.
2. Email marketing is just one component of a well-rounded online strategy. As are Twitter, Facebook and the myriad of other social networking opportunities out there. Go ahead, start a Facebook fan page. But don't rely on it solely to carry your online marketing efforts. And just as Facebook shouldn't be your only online marketing effort, you shouldn't rely on direct email marketing to carry your voice by itself.

If you have questions on how to implement an email marketing strategy (hint: it's much easier than you think), drop us a line using the email address above or the comments box below. We've designed and implemented many successful emarketing campaigns, and can help you avoid the pitfalls that many people face when they're just starting out.

Thanks for reading!

—Jason @ Ideavise