The Modern Marketer: Part Artist, Part Scientist

Today's guest blogger is Matt Wesson, a Marketing Content Specialist at Pardot. 

The marketing profession is changing. The Mad Men-style era of marketing, which prized creativity above all, has evolved as technology provides new opportunities to track performance and create data-driven marketing campaigns. While many view this shift from creativity to data as a battle between two distinct and separate ideologies, the truth is that marketers can’t afford to pick sides.

The modern marketer needs to be multifaceted, with one foot planted in art and the other in science. The daily responsibilities of a marketer are not conveniently divided into quantitative and creative tasks and marketers that truly excel in today’s environment are those that can shift effortlessly between these two mindsets. Marketers need to become part artists and part scientist. We have put together the infographic below to help highlight the tremendous assets marketers can bring to the table if they are able to find a balance between the two.

Click on the image to see a larger version:

http://blogs.salesforce.com/company/2013/04/the-modern-marketer-part-artist-part-scientist-infographic.html

Creating Killer Email Marketing

Every company sends out emails, from contacting customers about a purchase order to sending monthly newsletters to sending out discounts. If you want your customers to open the email and read it, you're going to have to come up with some creative ways to get their attention. Here are some ideas:

1. Be personal. Don't be dry, add a real person's voice to the email and talk directly to the persona reading it. Make jokes and references and include analogies to make your customers feel more like they're getting something a little bit special.
2. Try focusing on one idea. Sometimes keeping it short, sweet, and visually interesting is the most effective strategy you can use (as long as you're not creating a newsletter).
3. Tell a story. Your newsletters (and other emails) should all contribute to the image of your brand. Free tips and relevant, interesting anecdotes can keep consumers engaged.

Remember, keeping your consumers engaged and happy is all part of a successful email campaign. So always remember to get permission before you begin sending emails and to always allow customers the option to opt out of the emails to prevent irritation.

Happy mailing!

Email is Still More Popular Than Social Media

According to this article on Mashable, although social media usage around the world has grown by leaps and bounds, the majority of internet users still mostly use the internet for email:

Private research firm Ipsos polled 19,216 adults in 24 countries last month and found 85% of them used the Internet for email while 62% used it for social networking.

In the US, there is a higher focus on social media: 61% of internet users focus on that more than email. Still, that leaves 39% of people in the US who use the internet more for email. It's definitely something to think about when preparing for your next marketing campaign. If your audience is global in nature, you may want to consider focusing more on email, whereas if your audience is mostly in the US, you may want to include a larger social media component.

How do you primarily communicate on the internet: email or social media sites?

7 Steps To Design An Email Marketing Program

I recently attended an event hosted by Blue Hornet and was reminded of some basic email program guidelines. Since I needed a reminder, I am going to go out on a limb and assume that some you might need a refresher course, too. Here are 7 easy steps you can take to develop, review and keep improving your email marketing program.

Step 1: Define the Program - What are you promoting? What is your business goal for this communication? Is it a customer win back program? Is it a welcome program? Is it a referral program? There are lots of options here based on your goal.

Step 2: Define the Customer - Who are they? Start to collect information like age, demographic, psycho graphic and more advanced info if you have it. The more you know about your customer the better you can communicate with something of value. What do you really know about your customer?

Step 3: Define the Challenges - Do you have an existing program? What has been the challenge in launching or improving this program? What is broken?

Step 4: Review New Program Opportunities - What are you missing? One note of caution: Do not include this step if a) you don't have an existing program or 2) your existing program is broken

Step 5: Prioritize - Choose your improvements and tactics based on your budget and your resources. Don't over-commit. Set yourself up for success!

Step 6: Develop Test Scenarios - Like any good Internet marketer you should "Always Be Testing". Test an image. Test the subject lines. Test the link placement. Test the offer.

Step 7: Execute & Measure - Develop a plan to measure what worked and what didn't. Adjust for next time and do it again!

InternetMarketingClub.org Presents Email Marketing What’s Old Is New Again

Join eMail Marketing gurus Jay Berkowitz, CEO of TenGoldenRules.com, Karen Talavera and others to learn about one of the critical components to your internet marketing mix – email marketing.

This presentation will explain the following topics:

- How to Build your Email Lists
- How to Manage your Lists
- What are the associated SPAM regulations
- Email Deliverability
- Email Database Best Practices
- Conversion Strategies

This free webinar will take place on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 12:30pmEST – 1:30pmEST. To register and for more information please visit: Email Marketing What’s Old Is New Again

A New Tool for List-Building And Email Marketing

One of the reasons that I've been able to actually succeed at Internet Marketing is because I'm always searching for new tools and techniques. As you have probably learned by now, this can be an extremely time consuming process that all too often leads down useless rabbit holes to nothing but dead ends.

It seems like there's always something else to read, to study, to download, to buy, etc. and it never ends. I went through a long phase where my stack of 'learning projects' was growing higher than I could go through and do them. Fortunately for anyone reading this, I've done a lot of that work for you (and spent the money). You'll just have to trust me on that. To that end, I'd like to tell you about something that's truly useful.

List-building and email marketing are two pillars of any Internet Marketing campaign and they are, of course, intertwined. One thing that I've recently discovered is a thing called ListWonderExtreme.com (LWE). This site combines list-building and email marketing with a completely 'in-house' system. It doesn't involve your email address or inbox at all and no one can ever accuse you of spamming.

If you want your own large email list and a way to send messages to it (that will get opened), then this is it. LWE will build it for you. All you do is just view five(5) messages a day and that's it. Everyday that you open five messages, everyone who joined the system that day is added to your list. It's quite ingenious, actually - and powerful. It's simple: You agree to open five emails a day in order to grow your list that you can, in turn, mail to.

Check it out: http://www.listwonderextreme.com/?mid=rustyshelton

Why Use An Autoresponder?

If your goal is to earn extra income online or to develop a full-time, online business, then you are going to have to learn all about email marketing.

Too many people link the words 'email marketing' with 'spam' and so hesitate to use email ads in order to expand their new affiliate marketing programs. Either that, or they simply don't know what to do or how to do it. In fact, as I first began to grow my own multi-tiered affiliate marketing businesses, I found that the number one obstacle to rapid growth in these programs was that my referrals simply didn't know what to do next after joining. That's a big problem, actually - and it's still a challenge today!

So, to that end, I took a look at my chosen MLM affiliate programs and decided to 'marry them together' by creating a plan - and especially a set of tools - that anyone can use to do the exact same things that I do every day. One absolutely essential tool for online business building is your autoresponder. It's the foundation of everything that you will do with Internet marketing. The autoresponder that I use is TrafficWave.net:

http://www.trafficwave.net/members/rustyshelton

TrafficWave is a core component of my 30-Day Success System (see the upper right corner of this page) and for good reason. It has everything that you will need when it comes to a toolbox for email marketing. But more than that (and this is the best part!), it is also a sizzling, red-hot MLM affiliate business. My philosophy is that everything you do online should be geared toward earning money. With that attitude, I'm not just going to use any autoresponder. I'm picking one for a reason. One of the primary reasons for choosing Trafficwave was (and is) the affiliate program. It's simply wonderful.

But in any downline-building business, the question everybody asks, is: How MUCH do I get paid?

That's the question that you need to have a very good answer for when talking to potential referrals - and that's why my 100%, without a doubt, FAVORITE program is TrafficWave. Not only do I use & recommend it, but it's all about the Affiliate Program. Check this out:

TrafficWave's three part compensation plan is a work of art!

Part I is a basic 3 X 10 matrix that pays out a residual $6.00 per person on your first level and $1.00 per person down an additional nine(9) levels. A whole lot of network marketing people just love matrix-type comp plans because of the "spillover" effect and TEAM concept.

Part II is a "Fast Track" Bonus. The first month you sponsor a new pro member, you'll receive a 100% commission on the new member's first month's membership fee! This is an incredibly important feature.

Finally, Part III of the Trafficwave compensation plan is a Leadership Bonus (paid in addition to your other bonuses!) whereby you can earn up to 50% of the commissions earned by the pro members you've personally sponsored!

Nice program, huh!?

http://www.trafficwave.net/members/rustyshelton

Look, there are other auto-responders out there. I know that. But TrafficWave is the TOTAL PACKAGE. It's a complete, self-contained business and you've just gotta' trust me: The advertising co-op is awesome. It filled my #1 matrix level the first month I was a member.

Folks, for some people, online marketing is nothing more than a hobby. Deep down, they're not really serious about it. It's why they fail. Want a hobby? Collect stamps, catch butterflies or glue macaroni on things. This is a business. And of everything I do online, the one program that I use the most and pays me the most is TrafficWave. And you want to know the best part? It's the most complete and affordable, stand-alone business on the web right now. There's nothing better. TrafficWave isn't fancy. There's no glitz. There's no glamor. It's kind of a plain vanilla, brown, paper wrapper sort of thing. It just WORKS.

If you're not an active member yet, come in - take the plunge and start running your new business right now, today. It's the best thing you'll ever do for yourself and your family.

CEO Jay Berkowitz live online radio interview 11:00 AM Wednesday August 6th

Ten Golden Rules CEO and Internet Marketing Guru Jay Berkowitz will be featured on the live radio show "The Business Counselor". The program is live on 1230 am radio in the South Florida market, and via the internet at www.wbzt.com as it streams live from 11:00am to 12:00pm, Wednesday, August 6th, 2008.

The topics for the show will include the power of on line marketing, how businesses can take full advantage of email marketing, Ten Free Tools to Prepare Your Company for a Recession, and personal branding and online job hunting.

A Great Idea! Fresh eMail Every Time!

In reading Rohit Bhargava's Influential Marketing Blog, I came across what may not qualify as the best new invention of 2008, but maybe it should. MintEmail provides a "temporary" email address for internet users.

Why would I need a temporary email address - essentially "disposable email"? Think of it this way. Next time you need to fill out a form on a website - and you need to be able to access a confirmation email, but you don't want to give out your REAL email address - you can simply obtain a temporary email address from Mint Email. This email address is good for four hours - long enough for you to login and get the confirmation email. But, it protects you from the inevitable spam that follows giving out your real email address.

This is an inspiring idea - that puts the power in the user's hands. As Rohit says, "a solution so simple, you wonder why no one else has done it first".

For marketers, this will make obtaining real email addresses even more difficult. But, that just means we have to work harder at gaining trust, cultivating a relationship and delivering value.