I joined the discussion on Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian’s blog quite late, but since I gave it some thought, I decided to share my response with you.
In mid November last year Dr. Mani published a list with his predictions about what will be IN and what will be OUT in 2010 (↑).
The first item on his list
1.) Email Is OUT, Social Media Is IN
I am buying the second part of his statement immediately, but
“Email OUT”?
I had to think about it a couple of seconds longer than usual, ’cause a couple of respectable experts like
Chris Brogan (↑),
Warren Whitlock (↑), and
Willie Crawford (↑) already had left comments on Dr. Mani’s blog post.
Here is the re-print of my reply:
I don’t think email is OUT in 2010.
I rather would say, we have to use and nurture email marketing differently than in the past.
A strong email list is still an asset, like your website. I hope you have purchased your own domain.
Who owns—and most importantly who has jurisdiction so to speak over—your social media profile?
The inherent benefit of email is it’s independence from any given email marketing service provider on the sender side. Maybe the Google Wave protocol will push email type communication into this century and at a same time allow a merger with social media. I am looking forward to it. Maybe in 2011, 2012.
What’s the deal with email marketing in 2010?
You would be crazy to stop building an email list. But on the same token you would be insane not building your social media presence.
In case you are sitting on the fence and don’t know whether you should put the subject
email marketing into the IN or the OUT bucket. Think about why businesses are complaining. You hear two main reasons:
- Low open and response rates resulting in less sales.
- Deliverability problems.
Now ask yourself or your team a couple of questions and revisit the response rate issue. For sure you will find a couple of areas where you can improve.
- Is my aging email list outgrowing my content, my offers?
- Do my offers mature in-sync with my subscribers?
- Am I (trying to) milk my members or am I graduating them?
- Does my offer evolve over time and stay fresh and state-of-the-art that it appeals to new subscribers as well.
- And now probably the most important question: Am I sending brochures, pitches, or am I building a relationship with that person who reads my email message. (Hint: Even outside of internet marketing consumers already can smell automated follow-up messages.)
One kind of email marketing campaigns did especially well in 2009. It’s called
customer reactivation. But that is just one tactic that worked.
Maybe your email marketing activities need that sort of a botox treatment.
(LoL)
Lots to think about.
Don’t dump your e-mail opt-in box, yet.
Yours
John W. Furst
P.S.: [Admittedly I have procrastinated (check out the edutaining video) with this blog post for some time.]
I joined the discussion on
Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian’s blog quite late, but since I gave it some thought, I decided to share my response with you.
In mid November last year Internet infopreneur, author and social entrepreneur Dr. Mani published a list with his
predictions about what’s IN and what’s OUT in 2010 (↑).
The first item on his list:
Email Is OUT, Social Media Is IN
I am buying the second part of his statement immediately, but “Email OUT?”
→ Continue reading:
Seth Godin does not exactly have the reputation of writing How To books for dummies. And his latest book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (↑)
— to be released on January 26, 2010 (audio book on February, 9) will not be an exception.
Let me talk a little bit about this amazing book. I also had the honor that Seth answered me a couple of questions about the book. All here in this blog post. Stay tuned.
Update January 12, 2010:
Review of the whole book by Becky Blanton
…and even more reviews by my friends from <Triiibes.com>.
→ Continue reading:
A couple of days ago I have removed my do-it-yourself Tweet-it button and put the button from Tweetmeme (↑) on this blog.
It's more encouraging for website visitors to retweet a story that already has been retweeted a lot.
People follow the crowd.
Besides that the button looks pretty, too.
However, as simple as it is to put a button on a blog or website I still got it wrong.
Browsing the Web I can see that I am not alone.
Therefor I decided to write a short article about how to get Tweetmeme up right.
The problem on my site was as follows:
- Blog visitor clicks the tweetmeme button
- A new window opens
- (If they have not done this previously, they need to authorize tweetmeme for their twitter account. Eventually they also need to login to Twitter.)
- The following text is suggested for being retweeted:
Do you spot what's wrong?
At first, it should be my twitter username that's retweeted, shouldn't it be.
Secondly, the text is not really informative or encouraging a retweet, isn't it.
Thanks to
Andy Beard (↑) for shooting a quick email to me and pointing this out. Andy is someone whose suggestions got
picked up by the tweetmeme developer team (↑) after his blog post in May, 2009. Now Andy uses Tweetmeme on his blog.
Setting Up The Tweetmeme Button Correctly
Obviously I have screwed up this rather simple task. Shame on me.
→ Continue reading:
The recording of a
free tele-seminar call from last Thursday is online now.
The host
Robert Skrob (↑) discusses with his guests — both experienced lawyers in Internet respectively direct response marketing and related fields —
Peter Hoppenfeld (↑) and
Michael E. Young (↑). If I remember correctly the call is about 1 hour 12 minutes and packed with great information.
They do not simply rehash general information that’s already circulating on the Internet about those
new FTC guidelines in effect since December 1, 2009 in the USA. This is an
advanced call for experienced marketers.
Actually they start answering real world questions from their members right away.
Not only that I was listening live myself, I also had submitted a question which was answered during the call.
→ Continue reading:
Without a doubt it seems that “Viral Marketing,” is a powerful buzzword. Just tap into an existing social network and have your marketing message spread — essentially — for free.
Sounds like a big money saver that can slash your advertising costs dramatically while increasing response. Your message is not yelled at a cold prospect but instead delivered by a friend.
And it spreads, … if it is done right.
- Usually big corporations are prone to not doing it right.
- Corporate managers are listening to their agencies …
- Agencies are doing it wrong because they still believe you can buy attention and sales for big money. Their share in this kind of deal is not insignificant.
Viral Campaign For Turning TV license dodgers Into Paying Subscribers
The idea is fun and spreads but I don't see much potential for making people pay a mandatory fee which they refuse to pay up to this point. Especially because the idea seems to spread more outside the intended target audience.
Have a look. I made a viral video for myself.
Note: Unfortunately the application has severe browser compatibility issues. If you cannot access it try the lower quality YouTube version (↑) I have made from it.
My wife and and my sister in law have been stunned when I surprised them.
→ Continue reading:
