As figures below show, email marketing remains a vital element of modern B2B and B2C marketing programs. More than four out of five internet users check their email first when they go online for business each day, and nearly three-quarters check email six or more times per day. Email messages generate 15 to 20 times the response rate of traditional paper direct mail—while costing much less and being more environmentally friendly. Email and social media play well together. With that in mind, what are the best practices for combining email with social media marketing? Adam Q. Email!” MORE >>

In the early stages of a recent client engagement, it became apparent that the schema already in place to determine and assign lead scores was, well: broken. The most glaring symptom was the absurdly high scores: hundreds of contacts had lead scores of more than 1,000, even though the supposed threshold for a sales-ready lead was a mere 100 points. Amongst companies who adopt marketing automation technology, the problem of lead score inflation is a common one, mainly due to the rudimentary way in which most companies first decide to assign those scores. and so on. download trial version). MORE >>

T here’s a decades old saying in advertising that bears repeating: “People don’t read ads – they read what interests them. Sometimes it’s an ad.” ” The man behind those words – Howard Gossage – was right. Sometimes it is an ad.  Sometimes. Every other time, it’s content. Sure, we all fell in love with the Old Spice guy , and the Most Interesting Man in the World campaign has played on giddy repeat for years. We dig the Visa ads telling heroic stories of athletes overcoming great odds to succeed. It useful and/or entertaining. MORE >>

Looking to generate more followers for your awesomely optimized LinkedIn Company Page ? It is awesomely optimized, right?) This morning, LinkedIn made it just a little bit easier to generate company followers with the launch of its new follow button. Like Twitter's follow button and Facebook's like button, LinkedIn's version makes it simple for your website visitors to follow your company's LinkedIn page with just one click. No navigating to the LinkedIn website required! And yes, you should want some more followers. 69%) and Facebook (.77%). It's easy! 2) Enter your company name or ID. MORE >>

We all know (but perhaps don't want to acknowledge) that brands shouldn't try to build relationships with their entire customer base; there is no need to focus on the person who buys once every ten months. Instead, spend your time, effort and resources on your top 10, 20 or 30% (depending on your business), increasing your understanding of your most valuable (current and potential) customers. To do that, you must think "direct". To clarify, "direct" has two distinct meanings here - there are those customers who choose to  buy  Direct from you (vs. They're little "ds" or " directs ".  . MORE >>