It’s getting more likely that the people who are reading your emails are doing so on a mobile device than they are on a computer. Two recent pieces of information back this up: Last week, a Morgan Stanley analyst predicted that use of SmartPhones will surpass usage of PCs by 2012. And then at the DMA’s Digital Marketing Days conference this week, I saw the following tweet:
The third most-clicked-on link. That means many people are clicking on that link (when it exists) more often than they’re clicking on some of the content in the emails they’re receiving.
Are your emails mobile-friendly? The good news is that you don’t need to start over with a new template to answer “yes.” Here are six ways to make sure that when someone reads your email on an iPhone, Droid, or another similar device, that your message will get through.
It’s getting more likely that the people who are reading your emails are doing so on a mobile device than they are on a computer. Two recent pieces of information back this up: Last week, a Morgan Stanley analyst predicted that use of SmartPhones will surpass usage of PCs by 2012. And then at the DMA’s Digital Marketing Days conference this week, I saw the following tweet:
The third most-clicked-on link. That means many people are clicking on that link (when it exists) more often than they’re clicking on some of the content in the emails they’re receiving.
Are your emails mobile-friendly? The good news is that you don’t need to start over with a new template to answer “yes.” Here are six ways to make sure that when someone reads your email on an iPhone, Droid, or another similar device, that your message will get through.
I have a confession to make: I have a mild addiction to social media. Like you, I was attracted by the prospect of connecting not only with friends and colleagues, but with customers, potential customers, industry leaders, and people at similar businesses. I thought it’d be great to be in touch and to engage with these people in a less formal way.
Suffice it to say, it didn’t take long for my social media activity to become a bit overwhelming. Every day I was triaging many Facebook friend requests and direct messages, reading all the things people had to say about Constant Contact, learning what was on the mind of small business owners, seeing what experts and others had to say about trends and the business climate in general, observing what our competitors were doing, and more — and that doesn’t even include my personal connections.
With my busy schedule, I was only able to pay a limited amount attention to this activity, and I likely missed a lot. Having a handheld device helped: In between meetings, as I ran from one place to another, I could take a quick glance at my various accounts in an effort not to miss anything. But I needed more assistance to stay on top of my social media marketing activity and my normal business obligations.
Well, NutshellMail helped — and then some. In fact, it’s no exaggeration to say that it changed my social media life.
Our ISP Relations group received inquiries last week from customers who saw an increased number of bounces. Specifically, these were for emails sent to AOL email addresses that were deemed “non-existent.” Many senders were worried that this was due to some type of block.
First, I just want to give kudos to those of you who are watching your bounces close enough to notice this! Monitoring your bounces shows good list hygiene and is an overall industry best practice. Addresses that bounce multiple times should be regularly removed from your list.
However, I’d like to assure you your emails were not bounced due to a block or a technical error at AOL. Instead, AOL was simply practicing good hygiene themselves.
Here’s another thing you can blame on Ashton Kutcher.
People who are new to social media hear about the erstwhile Punk’d host’s success on Twitter (more than 5 million followers!!) and think all they have to do is sign up for an account and they, too, will have a large online following. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Like building your email list, finding social media followers requires a bit of time and patience.
The good news, though, is that you don’t need to be married to Demi Moore or play practical jokes on celebrities to build a social media presence. And, while doing so may take time, that doesn’t mean it will take up a lot of your own time.
Here are 5 easy ways you can start building your online following, most of which are things you can implement and then let work on their own.
As the owner of a small yoga studio in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, it’s important for Karen Lee to get the word out about Breathing Time Yoga and fill workshops as efficiently as possible. A big part of her marketing mix are Email Marketing and Event Marketing, which she uses together to stay top of mind with customers and to make it easy for them to register and pay for the classes they want to attend. Watch as Karen and her assistant, Rachel Silver, discuss the vital role email and online event registration play in Breathing Time Yoga’s operations:
I have always loved that our more than 350,000 customers are not shy when it comes to telling us about their challenges and frustrations with running a small business or managing a nonprofit or association. One thing we hear often is that our customers need help; they just don’t have enough time in the day to do all the things that need to be done, or they’re not sure even what needs to be done or how to do it.
Those concerns are what led us to create our brand new Constant Contact MarketPlace. The MarketPlace is where you’ll find Solution Providers who have proven experience and expertise, and who can help you make the most of your marketing efforts — consultants, writers, designers, SEO and social media marketing experts, and much more. You’ll also find applications that will seamlessly integrate with Constant Contact’s Email Marketing tool (through our open AppConnect APIs), making it even easier for you to capture new email addresses or accept donations, for example. (Integrations with Event Marketing will be coming later this summer.)
The Constant Contact MarketPlace is the only free, online MarketPlace that is exclusively focused on the needs of small businesses and nonprofits. We make it easy for you to search for solution providers and applications based on your business need, industry, geographic location, or any other keyword. You’ll find the help you need and can get right back to doing the important work of focusing on your business or organization. And, you need not be a Constant Contact customer to take advantage of the MarketPlace.
If you were to look at my Outlook Calendar for any given day, you’d see that I typically have meetings stacked back to back from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (and many days, after work too). The constant gauntlet of daily meetings makes it hard for me to keep up with the ephemeral nature of social media, particularly Twitter and Facebook, in real time. I’m sure many small business owners have similar feelings: How can I can run my operation and keep an eye on my social media connections at the same time?
That’s where I’ve found the beauty of NutshellMail. I can get caught up with all that’s happening on Twitter and Facebook in a couple of minutes at the beginning and end of each workday. The key to NutshellMail is that it gives very busy people the ability to check in with social media on their time. No need to keep one eye on customer operations and another on a browser window at all times.
This is a great time to be a small-business owner for so many reasons. For example, online marketing tools are exceedingly affordable, and the opportunity to reach broader audiences continues to grow through a variety of social media channels.
Small businesses that are hosting their own events understand the value of communicating directly with people who are interested in what they have to offer. Face-to-face meetings are an effective way to build relationships and trust with your customers. It’s the many intangibles you experience when interacting with people in the same room that make hosting an event such a worthwhile effort.
Here are six simple best practices to maximize attendance at your next event.
I’m not going to lie: Despite my many years of playing the sport as a child, I’m not all that worked up about the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament that starts this weekend. (Yes, I know it’s called football everywhere else in the world.) However, many of my coworkers are, and we’ve put together a sort of virtual bracket to see which teams people think will win in the first round and advance to the next round of the tournament.
If you don’t know how the tournament works, here’s a little primer on the first round: There are eight groups (A–H), each composed of four teams. The teams in each group play each other, and the two teams with the most points advance to the next round. (That’s why we’re asking you to pick two teams in each group.)
joestanley
Here’s another thing you can blame on Ashton Kutcher.
I have always loved that our more than 350,000 customers are not shy when it comes to telling us about their challenges and frustrations with running a small business or managing a nonprofit or association. One thing we hear often is that our customers need help; they just don’t have enough time in the day to do all the things that need to be done, or they’re not sure even what needs to be done or how to do it.
I’m not going to lie: Despite my many years of playing the sport as a child, I’m not all that worked up about the 
