Email Marketing Blog
When you create online elements for your website or email, you may work with a tool that asks foryour official colors in a specific format.
Colors online are designated in hex format, a pound sign followed by six characters. For example #000000 is black and #FFFFFF is white.
If you have loose brand guidelines and know what your colors generally are, like dark blue and olive green and need to find the closest standard color, then use this tool to find the most common web colors:
Every contact in your database is a valuable name. It's a relationship you have with that person. You need to maintain that relationship to keep permission to deliver to their inbox.
Sometimes you have a contact who you can no longer deliver email too. They may opt out, hard bounce or maybe it's a soft bounce. What does that all mean and is there anything you can do about it?
The busy holiday season is now behind us. I love the holidays...not just in the traditional way. I also love them from a geeky marketer's perspective. Every day leading up to December 24th we receive so many emails in our inbox, from all our favorite brands and retailers. That's a perfect opportunity to study email marketing get ideas for the future.
Here's a few of my picks from November and December of 2014. I selected one for each of three categories: traditional retailer, nonprofit and online retailer.
Traditional Retailer: Cabela's
Subject Line: Happy National Free Shipping Day!
What I like about this email:
* The subject line stood out from all the other discounts in my inbox.
* The Christmas lights at the top give the template a seasonal relevance and are animated...they blink and draw my attention.
* There's a clear, concise offer I can use on my orders at the top, then the main focus matches the subject line and explains the free shipping details.
* The email is highly personalized. Where it says at the bottom, "Experience your closest Cabela's Store" the email closed with clear directions to my nearest Cabela's location.
Nonprofit: Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Subject Line: Can we count on you as the year ends?
What I like about this email:
* The top banner image area makes 3 important pieces of information stand out: statement of need, reminder of year-end tax deadlines for me and a prominent call to action button to donate.
* This is followed by a more personal appeal. It's not lengthy or dramatic, but provides more connection.
* Closes with another prominent call to action button.
Online Retailer: newegg
Subject Line: ➋➍ HOURS ONLY: Our Ultimate Black Friday Codes UNLOCKED. Don't Miss Out!
What I like about this email:
* The subject line uses special characters to stand out in the inbox.
* The time-sensitive nature of the content is very prominent.
* I need to click through to see the deals.
* The "Don't Wait" button was animated - blinking at me.
* There are just enough examples of product discounts that I can see these deals are substantial and will want to click through for the rest. They don't give away all the deal info without clicking.
*It is anchored by a second category of deal offerings, which I can see happen every Wednesday. I'm going to want to open Wednesday's email.
Have you taken a look back at your own marketing from the fourth quarter? Now is the perfect time to review your campaigns and their performance. Take notes on what worked and what didn't to help you prepare next year.
Small businesses don't typically have photographers on staff, or a budget to have photos produced on a regular basis. When you need pictures for your website, email, blog or social media posts - where can you find photos that you can use without worrying if you have permission to do so?
Here are three sites you can look to:
Pixabay - Type in the subject matter of the photograph you need and Pixabay will search a database of hundreds of thousands of photos and return recommended matches. The first row of your results typically display sponsored photographs you can purchase. The rest of your results are usually free to download and use for commercial purposes. Be sure to look at the permission details as you download the images.
Every Stock Photo - This search engine also allows you to search plenty of images to return results for whatever subject you may need a photo for. Click any image that interests you for further detail on how to use them. Some have requirements to follow, like crediting the photographer.
RGB Stock - This site also offers licensed photos for purchase in the top row of results and free photos in your remaining results. Select any free photos you like from this search engine and download them for use. When you download you agree to the terms of RGB Stock's site.
Search, surf and enjoy the free resources that make it easy for you to find images on just about any topic. Keep in mind there are also times when you may want to pay for that photographer or licensed image. There are fantastic images available for anyone willing to pay for them. But for everyday purposes, free can take you a long way.
