101 Tools to Grow Your Business in 2016 by @ChristinaBaldas | Dramel Notes

There are many things that can contribute to business growth, but, more often than not, what tools businesses use can make a significant difference to the bottom line. Whether they’re looking for increased productivity, better customer service, easier billing, more professional looking content, or finding a tool that silently speeds up project completion, every business needs a solid framework for growth.

I have compiled a list of 101 tools I believe can make a big difference in the vast majority of businesses. Chances are you are using some of them already; maybe you will find some more to add today or even a tool that seamlessly connects all the tools you have been using. The list is based on my personal experience as well as popularity among businesses.

Disclosure: I am not paid to mention any of these companies in this article. Some of them are clients, some are not. I only recommend what I think is truly helpful.

Here are my top tool picks for 2016 sorted by category.

Content & Social Media:

1. Openr: Turns everything you share into a call to action. Share on social media and automatically add targeted promotional calls to action onto any page you share.

2. Freepik: Free graphics, vectors, and icons. (Attribution required and provided ready to be copied and pasted.)

3. Hootsuite: Social media management. Great for businesses with 12-50 profiles and pages to maintain.

4. Buffer: Social media management. Limited to the biggest platforms and great for up to 11 profiles and pages. Beautiful design, flawless app.

5. Canva: Use templates for perfect social media headers, flyers, Facebook post images, featured images with custom dimensions, and more.

6. Alltop and HolyKaw: Use Alltop to find out what’s most popular on specific websites. If you need to curate content for Twitter profiles and the like, this is your website.

7. Hashtags.org: Find out quickly what the most popular hashtags are so you can jump on the trend and get more visibility for your posts.

8. Hyperlapse: App from Instagram. Use this to create time-lapse videos.

9. Layout: App from Instagram. Use this to create collage images.

10. Boomerang: App from Instagram. Use this to create looping short videos.

11. easel.ly: Intuitive and quick way to create professional looking infographics.

12. Fontawesome Icons: Steal any of these icons to enhance your blog images. They are free and come with transparent backgrounds (as vectors).

13. PicMonkey: Free online photo editing. Filters, collages, overlays, and more.

14. Pixlr: Free online photo editing. Use the free Pixlr Express web app to resize images, for instance.

15. Sprout Social: Social media management software. This is a Guy Kawasaki favorite.

16. PremiumBeat: Royalty-free sound effects and music. Extremely useful for videos.

17. Socedo: Automatically generate list of potential customers based on keywords, hashtags, or other search criteria. Ideal for finding leads on Twitter.

18. Tweetwall: Project tweets in real-time at events or on a wall in your office to show tweets that include your signature hashtag.

19. Bitly: Shorten URLs so they fit the character limit of Twitter and other social networks. Also tracks cross-channel marketing strategies, among other things.

Digital Marketing:

20. Google Web Designer: Create banners for any device.

21. Instagram Ads: You don’t need an Instagram account to show ads on Instagram. Use Facebook to create an ad that shows up on Instagram and leads directly to your website.

22. Facebook Lead Ads: Lead ads were awesome when they were in private beta, but they weren’t practical. Now that Facebook has unleashed lead ads for all advertisers, this feature is one of the best tools out there for small businesses to generate leads and scale it up quickly.

23. Facebook Power Editor: If you aren’t using the Power Editor already, it’s time! 600 targeting options for the good old boosted post are awaiting you among other neat options like bulk editing.

24. Google AdWords: Use everything Adwords has to offer and get your campaigns on steroids with location bid adjustments, dynamic keyword insertion, ad extension, converted clicks, separate device targeting, video ads, shopping ads, behavior-based remarketing, and a ton of other things you might not have tried yet.

25. Bing Ads: Bing powers the web search on Twitter, Apple’s Siri, the Kindle Fire, the Amazon Fire phone, Xbox, and many other things. So get your Bing ads up and running to no longer miss out on Bing traffic!

26. Cross-Channel Remarketing: Show ads on Twitter and Facebook to people who came to you via Google AdWords. Connect the platforms to convert customers wherever they are.

27. Facebook Audience Insights: Use it in reverse. Upload people who already purchased from you and get insights on demographics, what pages they like, location, household composition, and more.

28. SEMrush: Find out what keywords your competitors are using for their paid search campaigns, among other things.

29. VWO: A/B testing. Split test ad headlines, website designs, website copy, and more.

Business Organization and Productivity:

30. ToutApp: Email tracking that integrates with Salesforce and analyzes buying personas. In other words, this platform automatically finds a pattern of what wording works best with what type of clientele.

31. Phone.com: Cloud based VoIP Business Phone Service. There are too many neat features to name just one, but one of the biggest advantages is that they can handle whatever volume of calls you are getting.

32. Salesforce: CRM solution. Systemize business processes such as lead management and conversion; manage projects; synchronize it with your mailbox and calendars; and get some automatic data about your business to present to banks, investors, or simply for your own knowledge.

33. Insightly: Stripped down CRM solution for small businesses. Integrates with Google Apps.

34. Skitch: This is the quickest tool I know to insert arrows and text in images. Also very useful to use to pixelate information you don’t want to share—such as sensitive data when sharing “how to” tutorials with screenshots. It integrates with Evernote and it’s for Mac only as far as I know.

35. Evernote: Use this to manage your notes in an organized fashion. Use the web clipper to save websites for later or simply stay organized by synchronizing across devices.

36. Zapier: Connects hundreds of apps you use, automates tasks, and maximizes productivity. Apps include, Evernote, Salesforce, Trello, Google Calendar, Twitter, Slack, MailChimp, Dropbox, Google Drive, Typeform, among others.

37. Google Apps for Work: It’s cool to have your corporate email run via Google’s server. Besides that, you get all the Gmail features and Google App goodness. It’s practical and makes sharing and storing things easy.

38. Intranet with Google Apps: One of the most overlooked features of Google Apps for Work is the possibility to create an intranet. Automatically update it with your Google+ page feed and use it as the place to go to for internal trainings, company updates, and other information that shouldn’t be public.

39. Google Drive: Create folder trees to store information and keep things organized. Employee resumes, bios, profile photos, projects—you name it, Google Drive is a handy cloud storage and file backup solution.

40. Screencast: Record your screen and send the video links.

41. Camtasia: Screen recorder and video editor for Windows.

42. Google+ Hangouts: If the quality of video conferencing with Skype doesn’t live up to expectations, try a regular Google+ hangout. When you send Google calendar appointments, Google automatically sends a video link with it, so it’s easy for everyone to join.

43. Google Calendar: Use personal and shared calendars to keep track of appointments on all devices. It integrates with nearly everything and loads fast.

44. Notes: Use the default note program on your laptop or smartphone to keep all your thoughts somewhere. If you are a Harry Potter fan, think of this as your pensive. There are countless useful versions for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and more.

45. Skype: Get a phone number from Skype and forward it to your cellphone. This way you never miss a call from a client even when you are traveling.

46. Tripit: Trip planner app with real-time flight alerts.

47. Basecamp: Project management for service businesses.

48. Desk.com: Help desk solution for small businesses that integrates well with Salesforce.

49. Sidekick: See who opens your emails and when.

50. AngelList: Post jobs to recruit someone from a startup-loving community with Silicon Valley vibes, raise money, or invest.

51. Asana: Tracks time spent per project.

52. Harvest: Tracks time and issues invoices accordingly.

53. SwiftKey: Multilingual keyboard with smart prediction for mobile phones.

54. Time Doctor: Manage the productivity of your team. Tracks people’s work time.

55. dashlane: Get a grip on your password mess with this password manager.

56. InvoiceBerry: Track business expenses, send quotes and invoices.

57. Upwork: Platform for freelancers, formerly oDesk. Get your projects done by recruiting the right team.

58. Trello: Visually organize emails, spreadsheets, sticky notes, and other things by project.

59. ReferralSnip: Create your own referral program to keep track of word-of-mouth better.

Website:

60. Google PageSpeed Insights: See how fast your website is on desktop and mobile. Automatically generates list of things to improve.

61. Google Web Designer: Create graphics that look good on any device.

62. Google Mobile-Friendly Test: Get a mobile friendly label below organic search results if you pass the test and an overview of what can be improved to make your website even more mobile friendly. The test consists of submitting your URL. It’s free!

63. Uberflip: Show different content on your website depending on who is looking at it.

64. Mashshare: Social sharing plugin that looks like Mashable’s sharing buttons

65. Publicize for WordPress: Automatically shares blog posts on Google+ profiles and other social media accounts.

66. GoToMeeting: Set up meetings and set automatic reminders for everyone. Professional look and top quality audio.

67. Zopim: Live chat for websites.

68. Yoast SEO: Free, handy WordPress plugin to check your blog posts for the right keyword density and preview posts in organic search results. There is a lot more to it, but I find this is the most useful function.

69. Instapage: Quick landing page creation with templates.

70. Unbounce: Quick landing page creation with split test integration.

71. CrazyEgg: See exactly where your customers click on your website. This goes into detail, for instance it shows where on a photo or button people click. Helps to find out why they leave your site and where to position the most important call to action.

72. W3 Total Cache: WordPress plugin that increases server performance. In other words, this makes your website load faster.

73. timetrade: Online appointment scheduling with concierge and analytics.

74. Autosend: Automatically sends personalized emails and text messages to (potential) customers based on what they do on your website.

75. Picreel: It’s inevitable that some people will leave your website without converting. Show them customized exit offers based on what they did on your website.

Branding and Promotions:

76. AgoraPulse: Social media management. Useful for Facebook contests and promotions, as well as reporting.

77. Mobile Roadie: Create a mobile app for your business.

78. MailChimp: Intuitive and cost-effective email marketing.

79. Intercom: Email marketing with event-triggered emails, among other communication features.

80. Infusionsoft: CRM for small businesses. E-mail marketing, sales platform, customer relationship management, marketing automation, lead capture, and more.

81. Tinyletter: If you send any newsletter to someone in Silicon Valley you better have the tiny letter logo on it. It’s the way to go.

82. Etsy: Get creative with your print collateral. Or better yet, have other people do it for you. For example, get business card-sized envelopes and put a note with your story inside. This is a unique card that people will remember and keep!

83. QRstuff: Get a free QR code and send people to exciting landing pages (think contests, limited edition products, behind the scenes insights, industry reports, etc.)

84. Postcardly: Upload a photo and have it sent as a postcard. Upload addresses in bulk. Great for the Holidays!

85. Google Photos: Use the automatically generated gifs to have more content variety for your social media profiles/pages.

86. YouTube Live Stream: Start a live stream in your office or during an event.

87. Google+ Hangout on Air: Have a hangout that is streamed publicly in real-time so other people can join. Not to be confused with regular Google+ hangouts that are not public! Google+ Hangouts on Air can also be broadcasted on your Google+ page.

88. GoToWebinar: Great for webinars. Intuitive and good quality.

89. Paper.li: Website/blog based on feeds and auto-generated like a newsletter. People you feature will automatically get Twitter mentions which helps to get more traffic.

90. Powtoon: Create animated videos and business presentations.

91. Google Alerts: Get a notification when someone talks about your brand.

92. mention: Find out who is talking about you or your competitors on the web and view reports on your online performance.

93. Oktopost: Social media management for B2B marketing.

Education:

94. Udemy: Sell courses and/or learn from others.

95. Flipboard: Mobile app with customized newsfeed. Stay up-to-date on the go!

96. My Alltop: Sign up free and choose what websites you see the most popular posts of. These are typically the most informative and you are up-to-date on what’s trending in your industry.

97. Medium: Minimalistic blogging with in-depth articles. Write and/or read articles with specific topics.

98. Reddit: Find your topic of interest and get more info than you could read in a lifetime.

99. BuzzSumo: Find what’s most shared and trending.

100. Teachable: Sell your online courses.

101. Google Trends: Find out what the world is talking about on Google and where those searches are.

What Helped Your Business Grow?

This is a list of my favorite tools, but there are many more useful ones out there. If you have used or are using some of the tools mentioned in the list, feel free to share your experience in the comments to help others decide what’s best for them. If you have additional tools to recommend, please share them in the comments as well.

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Christina Baldassarre
In-post Photo: Image by Christina Baldassarre
All screenshots by Christina Baldassarre. Taken December 2015.

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Become A Data Master With This Course Bundle For $39 | Dramel Notes

Just about any company out there needs people who understand how to use data. Going a step further, most businesses use some sort of database in order to keep track of their data. As such, people who understand databases, and how to use them effectively, are always in high demand.

You can be one of those people with this awesome data mastery course from MakeUseOf Deals. The value of these courses on their own is over $600, but you can get access to all of them for just $39 for a limited time!

Buy: Essential Data Mastery Bundle

7 Courses for Less Than $40

In total, you’ll be getting seven different courses for $39. That’s 94% off the normal price. If you’ve ever had the desire to learn database management in order to better your career prospects, this is the time!

Let’s take a look at the courses you’ll be getting!

Projects in MongoDB: Learn MongoDB Building 10 Projects

MongoDB has quickly become one of the most popular cross-platform NoSQL database solutions available. Companies will continue to need people who understand it to work for them, and the 67 lectures in this course will most definitely prepare you!

Learning SQL, MySQL & Databases Is Easy

The knowledge you’ll gain in this class will come in handy in any type of MySQL environment, which you’re quite likely to face if you work with databases for any amount of time. Whether you want a career in web design or data analysis, you’ll learn a lot in this course.

SQL Server Fast Track for Novices: Tables

If you have even a bit of experience with databases, you know tables are incredibly important, and also quite difficult to understand. That’s why there’s a whole novice course dedicated to just SQL Server Database Tables. At the end you’ll have a strong understanding of them.

Taming Big Data with MapReduce & Hadoop

This course is all about analyzing large amounts of data with MapReduce and Hadoop. If you work for a large company, they are going to have lots of data on all kinds of things, and understanding how to make sense of it all is a required skill to have. This course will give you that skill and much more!

Collect, Extract & Use Online Data Quickly and More Easily

This course starts to get into the more advanced aspects of data management, as it teaches you how to actually collect and extract data from large databases.

Beginner’s Guide to PostgreSQL

This course will help you start the route to PostgreSQL mastery. You’ll learn how to use it, install it, and manipulate data with it. Also, it will teach you more general things about how databases are structured, which will come in handy for any type of database worker.

MySQL Database Training for Beginners

This is a nice general course that will teach you all the basics you need to know to build and manage a database with MySQL. It has 41 lectures that cover a wide range of topics, so by the time you make it to the end, you’ll have a strong foothold into the MySQL world.

Hurry, Deal Ends Soon!

It’s time to start working on those New Year’s Resolutions! What better resolution is there than learning a new skill that could lead to a lucrative new career? Snag this database course bundle for just $39, and you could be well on your way!

Buy: Essential Data Mastery Bundle

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Which Comes First: SEO Strategy or Budget? NEITHER! by @stoneyd | Dramel Notes

It may not be the “chicken or the egg” conundrum (I have documented proof it’s the chicken!) but in the wide world of web marketing, the question of “What comes first, the budget or the strategy?” is about as brain twisting as it gets.

I think most businesses tend to operate on the idea that you build the strategy and then decide if it fits your budget. Unfortunately, that idea lasts about as long as a new sitcom airing on NBC. But nobody wants to be the guy who holds out his hand with a wad of cash and says, “How much for that?”

In truth, the budget/strategy determination is very similar to a circular reference in a spreadsheet. That’s when the price of Item Z is determined by adding Items X and Y, where the cost of Item Y is determined, in part by the price of Item Z.

Confused?

Now you realize why this has so many marketers and businesses pondering how best to proceed with their web marketing campaigns. If you start with the budget, you run the risk of not having the right strategy. Yet if you start with the strategy, the cost may not fit your budget. So, where to begin?

Well, let’s start by looking at each of the two options, and then a more ideal situation.

When the Web Marketing Strategy Comes Before the Budget

As I noted above, I think this is where most companies begin. And it makes sense. Many businesses looking into web marketing for the first time probably have no idea how much it costs, so the first order of business is to get some sort of baseline on the costs.

However, that in itself is dangerous because the cost is almost entirely dependent on the strategy that the quoting company puts together. You can get “SEO” from as little as a few hundred dollars on up to several thousand dollars per month.

Imagine someone visiting us today from the 1800’s. They are really interested in trading in their horse and buggy for one of those newfangled automobiles. Not knowing much of anything, if they gallop from car lot to car lot, they’ll find prices are all over the place. Used cars, new cars, luxury cars, race cars, utility vehicles, commercial trucks, etc., etc. Heck, even the same car can have two different stickers on it depending on the year or their features.

So what’s our time traveler to do? He has to compare the differences between the vehicles. That’s easy for us because we have some built-in knowledge of how much certain vehicles are worth. We understand that a used Porsche will often cost more than a brand new Camry. In fact, we expect that due to knowledge we already have.

But our time traveler doesn’t come equipped with that knowledge, so he needs to be educated on what makes a Porsche different from a Camry. He needs to understand the nuances of why different vehicles have different prices even when they have similar features, or are simply sold from a different location.

As the business leader looking to invest in web marketing, you’re just like our time traveler. Or at least someone like you, who’s interested in web marketing for their business. Comparing on price alone gives you absolutely no indication of the value of what you’re getting. You need more information—a lot more—in order to be able to begin to assess the value of one proposal to another.

The budget for investing in web marketing must, then be determined by the strategy.

When Web Marketing Budget Comes Before the Strategy

Ultimately, even with companies that seek to consider the strategy first, the final decision comes down to the cost of services. After all, there is only so much room in the budget to invest in marketing. We all have budgets to stick to and powers above holding us to them.

But, as I said above, nobody wants to tip their hand, spilling the beans about how much they have to spend before they know what they will get for it. The fear is that as soon as you tell the web marketing company your budget, the “cost” will end up being eerily similar. You worry that what would have cost $1,000 now costs $1,500 because that’s what fit the budget.

If you have ever bought a car, this is often the approach of the salesperson. They want you to tell them how much you can afford each month, and then they’ll magically produce a payment model to fit. They get you focused on the monthly payments rather than the price of the car. So long as it meets your monthly budget, they’ll try to sell you anything. Who cares if you end up paying for the car for 15 years!

The problem is, without a budget, the SEO company has no idea of how aggressive it can or should be in its efforts. The web marketer might want to spend 15 hours per month investing in a social media campaign, but for the more budget restrictive, five is a decent place to start. Or they may want to focus on keyword optimization of your content while fixing critical site issues, but they may be able to make decent progress doing one over the other if you can’t afford both. If you have hundreds of pages that are in need of optimization, trying to optimize them all within the first 12 months might be way outside of reason. But tackling them at a rate of four per week, or one per week or even a couple per month will make a drastic change in your monthly web marketing costs.

You see where this is going. A specific web marketing plan can be completed in one year, three years, five years or longer, all just depending on how much you can afford to pay.

The strategy for the web marketing campaign must, then be determined by the budget.

Letting Goals Determine the Web Marketing Strategy and the Budget

Comparing strategies and budgets from one SEO provider to another can get tricky. One strategy might focus more heavily on organic SEO while another might tilt toward social media marketing. The costs between the two might be roughly the same but will have very different outcomes.

On top of that, two strategies might include both fixing site architecture issues and social media marketing but each to vastly different degrees. One SEO will value one over the other, yet their proposals will look remarkably similar with “fixing site issues” and “social media marketing” as included services. What you might not see is a list of issues that need to be fixed (unknown until the time is spent to uncover them) and how many hours of social media marketing is needed (depending on how involved you are).

This creates a problem in that even if you want to scale up from what was originally proposed, the proposal might look exactly the same except for the price tag. What changed? Mostly just the total amount of time the SEO team will be involved.

So what’s the solution? Making sure both your strategy and budget are determined by your goals.

Ultimately, goals come first. What do you want to achieve? If you’re looking for branding, social media strategy might be the place to start. If you want to improve conversion rates, you might want to focus on conversion optimization. If you’re finding that your site lacks in search engine traffic, dig into some keyword research and optimization.

If you don’t know what your goals are, your SEO is left just trying to throw anything and everything at you and hope it fits your budget. There is nothing wrong with going with the Rolls Royce of web marketing plans where everything is included, but that likely won’t fit your budget.

Instead, set your goals and determine which goals are a priority over the others. Let your web marketing team put together that Rolls Royce plan but then use your goal priorities to scale it back to 1) what is most important, and 2) within a budget you can afford.

Sometimes it’s good to get a little of everything, but only if you are in no hurry to achieve your goals. Either way, based on your budget, some goals will have to wait or be slower in coming. If you have to scale back budget-wise, focus on one or two goals at a time and turn up the aggressive meter until you’ve got both a strategy and a budget that fits your needs.

What’s more important, is having a strategy designed to fit your goals and expectations. If you don’t know your goals, any strategy is just a shot in the dark. Instead, start with your goals and adjust them to fit so you have a strategy you can afford.

Do you agree? Share your thoughts in the comments.

 

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Stoney deGeyter
In-post Photo #1: IgorSaveliev/Pixabay.com
In-post Photo #2: HeatherPaque/Pixabay.com
In-post Photo #3: DS-Foto/Pixabay.com

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7 Valuable Email Marketing Strategies to Increase Open Rates by @Ryan1SEO | Dramel Notes

Email is the preferred method of communicating with businesses for 72% of adults in the United States, according to a recent study conducted by MarketingSherpa. Like any other marketing initiative, email requires a strategy to inspire your audience and grab their attention. When used correctly, email has proven to be the most influential and cost-effective marketing platform.

The goal is not to get your message into that crowded inbox. Your goal is to have your subscribers open your message, and it is the content’s job to reel them in and complete that call to action.

The standard open rate for a marketing email message is 11-15%, with a click-through-rate of just 2-5%, laid out in an infographic by MarketingProfs. If you’re falling behind the curve, you need to fine-tune your strategy, adding personalized and humanization to your campaigns.

To increase open rates, you need to inspire your customers to click your message. Half of all emails will be opened within the first six hours after delivery. As emails pile up, make sure yours doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.

Once the email is opened, you need to grab their attention with valuable information like a promotional offer or image. Customize your subscribers, understand what they’re looking for, and tell your story in a unique fashion. Your first impression has to hit home to keep your customer engaging with every email you send.

Marketing is all about testing and trying to find a strategy that leads to success. You can’t talk about conversions when your emails aren’t being opened. If you’re encountering a low open rate, test and try these strategies to improve your deliverability and increase open rates.

Subject Lines

A presentation by Jay Baer entitled “What Your Customers Really Think of Your Email Program,” revealed that 35% of email recipients open email based on the subject line alone.

The subject line will make or break or open rate. Personalize the subject lines and make them descriptive so your subscriber has a reason to open. Subject lines must be inspiring, strong, and eye-catching to stand apart from the crowd of emails your customers are staring at and weeding through.

Concise

The most effective emails are those with short subject lines. A recent study by SendGrid found that three-word subject lines have the highest engagement rates (21.2%) although just 1.6% of emails are that concise. Make sure your subject is well-crafted and descriptive without overwhelming your reader with buzzwords.

Avoid “Spammy” Buzzwords

Although you might think that your reader will want to take advantage of your “sale” or “reminder,” MailChimp advises you to avoid those terms. Having words like “free,” “x% off,” “guaranteed,” or “click here” can negatively affect your campaign and open rate.

If you’re consistently using these buzzwords in your subject lines, many subscribers won’t see your messages as they’ll be directed to spam folders in their inbox. Even if your message lands in the inbox, spammy words often deter readers from your campaign.

It’s okay to promote a sense of urgency if a sale is ending or the time to register for an event is closing. An example like “Sale ends tomorrow at midnight!” shows a user that action is required immediately.

Personalization

If you can add a custom field into your message, and speak directly to your subscriber, the open rate will increase significantly. MailChimp offers you tools to strategize your customization to see what is most effective in your campaign.

Spelling and Grammar

Always remember to use proper grammar and spelling. Punctuation is an essential component of your message, but don’t come off as too salesy or speak too urgently.

A subject in all capital letters, one that includes misspelling, or uses unnecessary exclamation detracts from your message. Asking your users a question and ending the subject in a question mark has a 44% higher open rate than exclamations about your promotion, according to a study found on ClickZ.

One of the biggest factors that influences open rates is to test multiple subject lines with various strategies. Evoke emotion and reel in your audience.

Inspire them to open your message by asking a question that you will answer in the email. Keep it personal, keep it casual, and speak to your customers directly.

List Segmentation

List segments help you further personalize and narrow your audience. You can choose the subscribers on your list that you want to receive a particular message. Segment based on custom fields to utilize your message more effectively.

• Occupation
• Location
• Interests
• Industry
• Date Subscribed
• Purchase/Conversion History
• Gender
• Age

Plus, take it a step further and think about the topics and content that your subscribers have engaged with in the past. Be as personable as possible. When your subscribers provide you with information that makes it easier to target your messages, use the data to your advantage.

Look at your list, and analyze the metrics to see the content that your subscribers have opened in the past. Move away from mass email blasts that deliver the same message to hundreds and thousands of people. Econsultancy shows how important this tactic is for numerous industries that group their email list.

Learn the program you’re using, and access the list segmentation options to break down your subscribers. You’ll see that some segments have a better response and open rate than others. Build on the data you’re experiencing through segmentation for a high-performing campaign.

When you’re not segmenting your list to deliver personalized messages, you can’t craft relevant subject lines for your audience. Segment your lists, offering unique content that addresses demands. The better your segmentation, the more effective your email marketing will become.

Split Testing

What aspects can you test to get the most out of your campaign? Try variations and tests on your subject lines, body text, call to action, personalization, or the design of your email. Send different versions of the same message to different portions of your list.

Tools like MailChimp and Active Campaign offer support for simplified A/B Testing, or you can split up your subscribers manually to test your campaigns. The initial goal is to get your subscribers to open the email. If you do not see the improvement you anticipated with two versions of the email, try additional versions to see what your audience responds to.

Every aspect of an email affects your conversions. Your open rate is affected by the quality of the subject line. Look at your overall campaign and determine how you want to improve. Experiment with different styles of headlines and personalization.

Variations of split testing include:

• Send Time (Morning vs. Evening or Morning vs. Afternoon)
• Sender/From Name (noreply@example.com or Joe from Example)
• Length/Terms in Subject Line
• Personalization in Subject Line

When you’re testing different strategies, keep to a minimum sample size of around 100 subscribers. Accurate testing will help you figure out which strategy leads to higher engagement. Get to know your list and watch how a small difference in your strategy impacts the performance of your campaign.

The unsubscribe rate for every email sent is between .11 and .2%. For every email that is unengaging and feels like you’re pushing your products or services will result in unsubscribes from your campaign.

Test engagements for multiple emails with the same overall message. Your email marketing platform should allow you to test factors and differences in your message quickly and efficiently.

Mobile Mindset with Responsive Design

Your email has to have a responsive design. Maintain a consistent user experience no matter the device they’re using by optimizing your campaigns for a mobile-first environment.

Mobile devices account for 51% of all emails opened, per a recent study by Constant Contact, and over 75% of subscribers will delete your email if they can’t read it on a mobile device.

It’s best to assume your audience is viewing your message on a smart phone. Make sure your entire subject line will display on a standard smart phone screen. While your customers are on in a meeting, waiting for coffee, or on the train, they’re screening their emails from their mobile inbox.

If your open rates have dipped in the last year, mobile screening could be a leading factor. Follow the behavior of your audience with a mobile responsive email campaign. Increase the open rate by using the words in your subject line more effectively (keep it around 30-40 characters), and design the layout for mobile.

Even if your user opens the message, can they read it? Does the width respond to the display? Do the images take too long to load? Are there multiple columns that force a scroll? Simplify and modify your design.

Send Frequency

The frequency in which you contact your subscribers presents numerous challenges. Should you be contacting your list just once a month, as much as once per week, or every quarter of the year? The answer varies across industries.

Keep in mind, your customers are receptive of your communications and messages, but they don’t like untimely messages that are irrelevant. There is no perfect frequency, but there are risks associated with sending too many or too few emails.

According to the DMA’s National Email Client Report in 2015, email marketers are becoming strategic with their approach, contacting their audience less. Most companies are now sending between five and eight emails per month.

You want to stay relevant to your audience without overwhelming them. You can get a better grasp of how often to send messages to your subscribers by testing and segmenting your audience. What works for one brand will fail miserably for another.

Marketing Sherpa published a study asking consumers how often they’d like to receive promotional emails from companies. They found 91% of Americans want to receive your emails, but only 15% like to receive them daily.

For the 85% that want an email at least monthly, where is your middle ground?

• Give customers an option to sign up for their desired frequency.
• Reduce frequencies automatically for subscribers that aren’t opening your message.
• Change the frequency for various segments in your campaign.
• Change the tone to provide useful information instead of promotional materials.
• Send active subscribers more frequent emails, and cut back communication with those who haven’t been interacting or opening your material.

If you’re overwhelming your customers, they’ll delete your message before they read what you have to say or see what you’re offering. Test your list to determine how they interact with your brand. Once you get to know your customers, you’ll see the open rate of your email campaign increase through an appropriate frequency of messages.

Time Sent

As your marketing campaign is under way, track your data and click-through-rate to determine your engagement patterns. Timing is everything when it comes to your open rate. WordStream goes into great detail about the best times to get your audience to open your emails.

According to WordStream, weekends have low open rates, as well as Mondays and Fridays during the beginning and end of the work week. Tuesdays through Thursdays during business hours (1-3 pm) is the optimal time to ensure your email’s open rate is increased.

You must know your target audience and the message you’re sending. Understand the time of day that your subscribers are typically checking their emails and the device in which they’re using. Still, it’s the subject line and the words in your message that make the most impact. Make them count.

Update Your List and Keep it Fresh

Your open rate suffers when you have a list of outdated email addresses or inactive subscribers.

Companies go out of business and employees leave company email addresses behind. Accounts are abandoned as new ones are created. If you have the same list from five years ago, you’re losing money by sending emails to abandoned inboxes.

To improve your results and leads to increased sales, a clean email list leads to better deliverability.

Take the time to look over your subscribers to ensure everything is in order. If you see a misspelling like “@gmal.com” instead of “@gmail.com,” fix it. Don’t waste marketing efforts sending to an email address that won’t receive your message.

Here are a few more ways to update your list:

• Eliminate Duplicated Addresses
• Check for Accuracy
• Reconfirmation Campaign
• Update Details & Change of Information from Contacts

Think about what updating your list means to your bottom line. Make sure your message gets delivered. If your deliverability rate is low based on your list, email service providers will mark your messages as spam.

Many platforms such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, iContact, and AWeber help manage your list to avoid duplicate accounts and check for accurate addresses. Setting up your campaign with a reliable platform gives you access to plugins and API’s that allow signups to your email marketing campaigns directly from your site.

Update your segmented lists and place all subscribers that haven’t opened your messages in the past few months into one list. Send a customized message with a subject line tailored to them.

Reintroduce your brand to their lives. Surprise them with a bonus offer and give them a fantastic customer experience.

Keeping your email list fresh presents your brand to interested consumers. If you keep your messages relevant and list updated, your open rates will grow, and your audience will maintain its engagement.

Conclusion

Don’t be afraid to try new techniques and approaches. Steer away from the same bland approach to your subject lines and newsletter content. Even if your message appeals with images, videos, GIFs, and a unique design, the campaign is failing when your subscribers are just moving your message to the trash.

Customize your strategy to jump-start your marketing efforts and reach your goal of an increased open rate. Email is core to your business. Answer questions your subscribers have, continue testing, and get creative.

When your message arrives in a crowded inbox, how are you enticing your user to open that message and click-through to your next goal?

Deliver your audience a thought-provoking subject line and segment campaigns to deliver relevant messages to every subscriber on your list. Effective email marketing will increase your bottom line and engage new customers in a cost-effective manner.

What is holding back your email marketing campaign? As your subscribers grow, so too should your sales. Make sure your message is heard. Keep testing and keep trying new techniques to meet your goals.

 

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Gabrielle Frake. Used with permission.
In-post Photos: Image by Gabrielle Frake. Used with permission.

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Announcing: Survey for SEJ’s Annual Report 2015 by @dantosz | Dramel Notes

How much do most businesses spend on Google ads each month? Are podcasts still a viable content marketing strategy? Is content marketing really a thing, or all hype? 

If you have ever asked yourselves these questions, you are not alone. At SEJ, we spend a lot of time thinking (and talking) about the digital marketing industry, and we had some questions.

So, we decided to start an annual survey of digital marketers to see what you have to say about the changes in our industry. (Plus, we like numbers, so there’s that.)

The State of Digital Marketing

In order to see where our industry is growing and how strategies are changing, we created a short survey—and we need your input.

Please, if you have the time, share your thoughts about the state of digital marketing in this short survey.

The survey has four sections: SEO, PPC, social, and content marketing. Each section has around five questions, for a total of 23 questions. Then entire survey should take no more than ten minutes of your time. (We timed it at six minutes, so it might take you way less time if you are quick!)

Please answer the questions to the best of your ability, and feel free to choose the “not sure/not applicable” answer if a question is about an area you aren’t familiar with. Please note that all answers are anonymous. BUT we do ask for your email address — but for good reason.

Win a $100 Amazon Gift Card

We’d never ask you do to something for nothing, which is why we are offering every person who completes the SEJ Annual Survey the chance to win one of two $100 Amazon gift cards. (Only one entry per person!)

Buy your self something pretty, get started on Christmas shopping, or, you know, be responsible and buy food or something. It’s totally up to you.

Take the survey now and get registered to win an Amazon gift card. Do not forget to give us your email at the end of the survey, or you won’t be registered to win! (Don’t worry, we won’t add you to any mailing lists or send you the results unless you check Yes!)

 

Image Credits

Featured Image: Image by Paulo Bobita
In-post Photo: TCmakephoto/Shutterstock.com

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