On one hand, New Year’s resolutions are just plain silly. On the other, who are we to fight the almost genetic need to organize your sock drawer and counter-tops before digging in to the year ahead? What we can tell you though, is that having goals and a strategy to achieve marketing greatness is key…I mean you can’t reflect on what you’ve achieved unless you have a solid handle on where you were and where you want to go. So let’s have a look at some common resolutions that might resonate with you and trigger your own marketing make-over.

Resolution #1: Lose Weight

No, we’re not talking about love handles – rather outdated and excess content that’s weighing down your email newsletters. Emails today are leaner and meaner than their counterparts from years past. Marketers tend to fluff boilerplate into their newsletters (like “about us” content, un-compelling navigational links, footer call-to-actions). Not that these things are bad, but when’s the last time you really looked at your email as a whole? Take some time to read over the content again, review your past highest performing clickthroughs and trim out the fatty content.

Resolution #2: Exercise Weekly

No, we’re not talking about treadmills – rather moving to more frequent communications. Instead of sticking to the typical once-a-month mailing, try out a new tactic and increase the mailing frequency to once a week. While imperative to keep these relevant and interesting, with the right content and target mailing, it might be just what you need to beef up your marketing campaigns this year.

Resolution #3: Stop Addictive Habits

Drats – whether it’s smoking or spamming – cease all activities that are dangerous to your health and well-being! Using non-permission tactics to increase your subscriber base is bad for your brand. After the initial rush of power has ended, you’ll soon see the effects like blacklisting, negative posts on social sites and just plain bad karma. All of these will eat away at your deliverability and online reputation. Kick the habit now and resolve to grow your list the ‘ole fashion way with permission based opt-in practices. It’s easier and faster than you think.

Resolution #4: Spend Quality Time with Loved Ones

Nope, we are not suggesting you start to fall for your subscribers, but take the time to look at things from their perspective. Whether it’s hanging out in social portals, examining all the messaging and touch points within your communication cycles, even thanking them for their business, digging into your support desk – it makes a difference. Your subscribers will thank you. So don’t be afraid to get a bit personal, try a “Note from the CEO” or write a few articles in first person. It’s a great way to bridge the gap between customer and company, cultivating an ongoing relationship, instead of just “buy me,” “buy me” all the time.

Resolution #5: Learn Something New

Just when you think you’ve got it nailed, there’s some new-fangled gizmo on the web. If you stand any chance in succeeding in the real world, let alone the email marketing world, you have to be continually learning new tactics on how to reach your subscribers. Don’t fight it, just do it.  Try a few new tactics in your next newsletter like integrating video, using social media share tools or using image personalization for improved segmentation.

Resolution #6: Eat Better

You are indeed, what you eat. In email-speak, we’re talking list health. If you are not filling your email list with new healthy subscribers it’s going to get old, run-down and stale. Start by making sure you have a working optin form on your website to gather new subscribers. If you already have one, then revisit the form, make sure it actually still works and is collecting the data you need. Make sure you have one on every page, and at every touch point you have with subscribers…social networks, order forms, popular landing pages what have you. Fuel your business for months to come.

Resolution #7: Get Organized

List makers rejoice! The new year is the perfect time to organize your marketing campaigns and get off to a fresh start. Spend some time brainstorming new marketing objectives and organize an action plan moving forward. Examine your mailings, creative, content, reports, frequency, social media tactics, online video and more. Set quarterly goals and make it rain!

Resolution #8: Save Money

Email marketing still has the best return on investment (ROI) on the planet. But it can’t give you that return unless you’re diligent about keeping up your schedule and keeping your list healthy. Take control of your list, clean out bad emails and leverage retries and global bounce logs to determine deliverability. Getting busy? Don’t neglect your campaigns, rather invest in CMS services to have folks lend a hand to make it happen for you. Not sending should never be the solution. You can’t generate traffic, sales, conversion, response, community, incremental dollars and excitement if you aren’t communicating.

Resolution #9: Stress Less

Don’t tense up…the number one stressor for email marketers appears to be hitting the “send” button on an email campaign. With the proper preventative measures, you can achieve a sense of zen when sending your campaigns rather than fear and trepidation. First, always and we mean always, send a test or multiple tests of your email. We might send half a dozen to various parties (easily). Encourage multiple proofers ensuring they always double check the links. This will prevent mistakes, making the scheduling process the easiest step you’ll take. Namaste.

Resolution #10: Fall in Love

Yes, it’s time for you to fall in love again…with your job, your industry, your team, heck, even your email marketing service. Just like a relationship, things can grow stagnant after a while. Take time to reflect, rejoice, reposition, revise, renew yourself and your professional relationships. From our side, we can promise that 2012 will be a year of transformation here at Mail Dog. Whether you simply take advantage of new tools and wizards or reconnect with us here on a personal level, we look forward to working with you and helping you achieve your own marketing superstar status.

But, horror of horrors…what if it’s (gasp) ugly? Confucious wrote, “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” This a marketer’s “worst” nightmare, or should be frankly after all your labors.

Since all email readers (the actual inbox) were designed by a wide variety of companies they all have specific ways they choose to render your HTML email message. Which means your email might have a very different look in Outlook 2003 than it does in Gmail or Yahoo or Mac Mail.

But all is not lost! There are steps you can take to ensure your email message is a beauty queen and renders as consistently as possible. Your email might never look 100% consistent in all the various readers, but you can get it as close as possible to perfect.

101 BEGINNER’S DESIGN GUIDE

If you know nothing about HTML code and/or use a template-based system to code your messages, the following tips are for you!

Stick to the Basics

Emails are fundamentally different in design and layout than your website design and print newsletter design. While you should try to keep the branding consistent between the two, you need to free yourself from the need to match completely. Think more simply and SWAT-like. Start your email with a nice logo or masthead, follow up with your text and finish with a footer and contact information.

Use a Template

Leave the coding guesswork to the experts. Using a pre-coded template to base your email newsletter off of can ensure the building blocks of a properly coded email are in place. Mail Dog has over 150+ templates you can use which have been tested in all the major email readers to ensure consistent rendering.

Use Alt Tags for ALL Images

Majority of email readers turn off images by default. An Alt Tag is a bit of text that will be displayed when your image is not seen. Use the Alt Tag to describe your image and prompt users to click to download and view that image.

Stick to 600 pixels wide

Many people will never fully open your email message; rather they choose to view the message inside their preview pane. On average, a preview pane is around 600 pixels wide, which is why it is important to design your message (and image content) to stay at that controlled width. Anything larger could force users to scroll left to right to read all your content.

Use Text Links

Your primary call-to-action should not be displayed with a pretty graphic. It should be text-based, tricked out with fonts and colors. It’s impossible to promote clickthroughs if your readers can’t see the “click here” link. Keep it simple and use pedantic text for users to understand what you want them to do…like “click here”.

JavaScript/Video/Form Code = Junk Email

You cannot, unfortunately, include any type of fancy coding into an email message, this includes javascript, flash, form code, object embed code. Adding this code to an email message will greatly increase the chance of getting sent directly into the junk folder. Instead host your videos, forms, active elements online and add text links from the email for readers to access.

Let Users Go with Grace

Not only is it the law, but it’s just good email marketing ethic to have an unsubscribe link at the footer of your email messages. And once users go, let them be. While some readers might unintentionally unsubscribe, most times readers just can’t handle all the email in their inbox. Hiding the unsubscribe link or continually following up off-line might win back a few readers, but will also frustrate the majority of your audience.

Always Include Plain Text

Unfortunately, not all mobile devices can render HTML messages and many mobile users prefer to view emails in plain text. While you don’t get all the fancy formatting like including images, clickable hyperlinks and HTML font options, you are still able to get your message read by users.

Send Tests

This is so important – probably the most important step here. So important in fact, we expanded on the main ways to run and test campaigns. See below…

DIY HTML CODERS

For the more techy lot that want complete control and program their own HTML messages the following tips are for you! Newbies, skip ahead to testing tips.

Stick with Tables

That’s right, design like it’s 1999. For proper rendering all emails must be designed using tables. Minimal CSS styling can be used, but proceed with caution. Many email readers will not render CSS properly.

Do NOT Set Widths or Heights to Images

If images are off by default (and most will be), their width and height dimensions will stay intact and be displayed by white blank space.

Use Inline Styles

Most email readers will strip out CSS styles, so while it’s not as much fun and takes more time, you will achieve more consistent results by using inline styles. Elements like font type and size can be used within the tag, but individual styles should be placed on the td’s.

Don’t Rely on Background Colors

Email clients only take the code within the body tags, and will strip out the body tags. So the only way to achieve a background color is to create a 100% width table with a color applied to “fake” the background effect.

Steer Clear of Background Images

Background images are stripped out of some email readers. For the most consistent rendering, just stick to solid colors rather than images for the backgrounds for your text. If you want to use funky gradients and images, design them to the side where text does not need to be coded on top.

Encode All Characters

When viewing emails in various email clients, there is no guarantee of the charset every website is using, so encoding characters ensures that all characters are displayed as they should.

TESTING

Test, Test, Test and Test again…

Pay Attention to the Small Details

These newsletters are a reflection on your company and brand. Bad grammar, misspelled words and broken links speak volumes about the professionalism of your company. Likewise a poorly designed HTML message can look elementary and cheap.

Test in Web Browsers

Yes, it’s not only the email inbox you have to be concerned about but also which web browser your client is using to access that email reader. Try and test your message in as many web browsers as possible. At the very least get the major ones: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

Test in Email Readers

Testing your message in the various email readers will help you determine where your problem areas are… if any. Don’t rely on your corporate Outlook or Lotus Notes to be the main testing platform. Instead get a few free accounts and see how that looks. Start with Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo and Mac Mail.

Need More?

Want some more specifics and design how-to’s? Check out Emailology.
Tired of all the email rendering issues? Fight back with the Email Standards Project.

The musical comedy has become a pop-culture phenomenon boasting a hugely loyal fan phase, millions of downloads, gold albums, 19 Emmy nominations and just plain fun for fans of all ages.

On one hand, it’s pretty formulaic…it offers many of the standard vehicles used in popular sitcoms in history. There’s the underdog, the villain you love to hate, the biting humor, good old-fashioned song and dance and a cast of characters that you want to grow old with. On the other hand, the show manages to transcend cliché by surprising you with the creativity and almost celebration of these archetypes, by meeting them head on, with fervor.

So what can today’s online marketer learn from Glee? Tons. In fact, you might even find it excellent “marketing research” and that it inspires your professional development. Finntastic!

Gleespiration 1 – The underdog can succeed

Whether you’re a big company or small company, you have a marketing team or you’re a one-man-show, don’t let the big dogs dictate what’s possible. Stay positive and focused on your brass ring. You can make it work and you can succeed. After all, “Regionals” is not the be-all or end-all. Consistency, dedication and sticking with the winning formula are key. Need help focusing? Brush up on the formula and create your campaign checklist each month in …

21 Email, Social and Online Video Marketing Tips to Live By >>

Gleespiration 2 – Leverage the power of the people

Sure getting more customers is great, but creating advocates of your brand and product will move the sales meter and generate bigger and longer-lasting results. Fire up your social network, create an environment where you can create your own fan club. People want to belong to a club where they can fit in. Need some tips on how to integrate your social media channels with your email campaigns?

Quick Tips on Using Social Media to Boost Email Stats >>

Gleespiration 3 – Your reputation precedes you

Let’s face it, bad news (even rumors) travels fast and the same reason that social networking can work in your favor, can also mean that you need to zealously protect your reputation from spam reports, bad customer service, poor product quality and more. Sue-isms make for a fun night, but you want to make sure your communication channels and front-line staff all reflect a positive and professional brand.

See tips on keeping a clean house >>

Gleespiration 4 – Humor goes pretty darn far

Every industry is rife with situations that merit a good chuckle. One can argue that it’s not love, but laughter is what makes the world turn. Every brand, regardless of how “straight” your industry is, can approach leveraging humor in a relevant and engaging fashion. Be memorable (yet tasteful) and give your readers something worth sinking their teeth into, or passing on, or sharing at the water cooler. Now more than ever, your target audience is bombarded with messaging. Marketers need to shake up their own routine and remember how to make their messages Gleepic!

Bad News for Boring Marketers >>

Gleespiration 5 – Reinforce your message with multi-media

Regardless of your personal talent, anyone who’s a Gleek is not afraid to belt out the anthems. While catchy and inspiring, they are critical reinforcing the theme or life lesson being conveyed. Visually the performances are mesmerizing and foot to the theme. You can’t help but learn. Stimulate your own target audience with video, audio and visual graphics to drive home your creative, promotional and educational messages. Need some guidance?

Common Online Video Mistakes >>

Never Ever SPAM

You must obtain verbal, written or digital permission from the people you email. Otherwise you will be sending SPAM which can result in black-listing and email blocking.

77% of internet users say their privacy is invaded when receiving unsolicited email

>> learn what happens every time a marketer buys an email list

Define Your Strategy

First things first -think through and plot out your email communications strategy. A clear strategy will guide all of your creative, marketing and planning efforts and result in a successful permission-based email program.

Email is the number one reason people turn on their computers

>> read 5 gold star email design tips

Make Opt-In Easy

Display Opt-In forms prominently on your site. Have sign-up cards readily available throughout your store. Ask for permission when talking to customers and prospects. Make sure you’re clear about what they will be receiving: newsletters, updates, special offers, etc.

50% of consumers say they would be more likely to purchase online from opt-in email campaigns

>> read 29 list growing tactics you must know

Segment Your Lists

Rather than sending the same email campaign to everybody on your list, break up your list into segments based on interest and other qualifying factors and then send targeted campaigns to each of the segments.

There are about 1.1 billion email users worldwide. That makes about one in every six persons on the earth use email

>> Mail Dog’s Super List tool is perfect for list segmentation

Don’t Overdo It

Sending too much email to your lists will result in a high rate of unsubscribes. Establish an appropriate frequency and stick to it: newsletters every 3 to 4 weeks; coupons or special offers every 1 to 2 weeks; critical updates as needed.

Email marketing consultants consider an open rate of about 20% and a click-through rate of 4% to 5% to be a highly effective email campaign

>> read increase email frequency without upsetting your list

Identify The Sender

Make sure that the “name” and “reply to” fields in the header of your email is immediately recognizable to the recipient. Remember to use a functioning “reply to” address that will be checked regularly.

50% of consumers who open and read email marketing messages also are likely to purchase other items on impulse

>> Mail Dog’s campaign management gives you complete control of your email campaigns

Keep Subject Line Brief

Make it compelling and use as few words as possible (about 35 characters). The subject line is the single most influencing factor in getting your email opened and read.

There are more than 227 million business email users in the United States

>> read how to make your subject lines count

Send HTML & Text

HTML email generates much higher response rates than plain text but a small percentage of email browsers can’t view it. Prepare a text version and send it in a MIME format (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) which facilitates the automatic delivery of the appropriate format.

80% of email marketers use HTML as their primary email format

>> Mail Dog’s message creation tools automatically send out plain text emails

Keep The Message Brief

Less is more when it comes to composing your messages. Features should consist of one or two short paragraphs max. If you’re linking to content on your site, think of your message as a compelling preview designed solely to trigger the click-through to your website or landing pages that contain more info.

More than half (51.2%) read the first few sentences and then decide whether or not to continue

>> use Mail Dog’s Landing Page Publishing tools to host additional web pages

Get Social

Social media is the bees knees! Adding links in your email to send readers back to your social network (whether it is Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc) allows yet another contact point between you and the customer. People want to know who a company really is, not just see some slick advertisements.

Social media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. 80% of U.S. is engaged in social media networks.

>> download Join the Social Media Conversation (pdf)

Encourage Sharing

Even if your company personally does not engage in social networks, I guarantee your customers are actively engaged and searching the web for what’s new and cool. Add social media share tools (including send to a friend links and Facebook Like buttons) into your email newsletters is the number one way to spread your message. Allow your readers to share your email on their network and watch your exposure exponentially explode.

Roughly 80% of marketers say that social sharing “extends the reach of email content to new markets” (81%) and “increases brand reputation and awareness” (78%).

>> use Mail Dog’s Social Media Integration Tools to connect with audiences like never before

Offer An Incentive

If you’re presenting your recipients with a call-to-action use an incentive to heighten response. Free gifts, discounts, special offers and relevant information are all used very effectively.

Free shipping is the No. 1 offer that customers look for and will respond to in an email, per online marketing firm

>> read how to turn your customers into advocates

Use Strong Link Copy

Using and tracking links help you segment your lists, profile your recipients and measure the overall performance of your campaign. It’s essential that your link copy is a strong call-to-action, while still avoiding “spammy” text.

Two thirds of US companies claim that sales increased as a result of using email marketing

>> learn how to test call-to-action links in 5 email test ideas (to gloom)

Show Your Story

If a picture is worth a thousand words, than video is the gold ticket Willy Wonka bar. Adding branded video players to your website to show off product demonstrations, testimonials, messages from CEO, will show a whole new side to your customers.

Video increases the buying decision by 72% because people prefer video 6 to 1 over a static website

>> read why YouTube stinks for business applications

Incorporate Video Into Email

Unfortunately embedding video into an email isn’t the best idea (majority of readers will strip out player code). The easiest way to incorporate video into your email is by including a screenshot of your video (that’s just an image) and a link to where the video is hosted online. The video can be hosted on your website (using Mail Dog Online Video tools), YouTube, Blogs, Facebook, etc.

Video E-mail messages generate 2-3 X higher click-thru rates compared to static E-mails.

>> see Mail Dog’s video marketing integration tools

“Spam-proof” Your Copy

Your message must travel through cyberspace encountering spam filters at both the ISP and personal inbox level in most cases. Don’t run the risk of your carefully crafted email getting “junked” by overlooking key words that trigger spam filters.

Once you review the list, you’ll never look at the word “free” the same way! Estimated number of non-spam email messages sent worldwide each day, 25 billion

>> Mail Dog’s Campaign Boosters preview your messages in 33+ emails readers prior to launch

Always Offer Unsubscribe

Always offer recipients a way to unsubscribe from your list. A short line in the footer section of your email is the generally accepted location and methodology. Make the unsubscribe process easy and once Unsubscribed never send email to that recipient again.

Email marketing is cheaper and generates bigger response rates than traditional direct marketing

>> read Mail Dog’s anti-spam policy

Schedule Carefully

When is your audience most likely to open and read your message? Usually mid-day delivery is better than mornings or evenings. Choosing the right day of the week is also important. Consider your campaign’s timing carefully.

Monday had the highest week-day open rate -35.7%.B2B recipients overwhelmingly prefer email on Monday and Tuesday

>> Mail Dog’s Auto-Pilot Responder campaigns make scheduling repeat messages a breeze

Test, Test, Test

Have you proofread the headers and email copy thoroughly? Have you checked all links to be sure they work properly? Have you sent yourself a test message and previewed it in AOL, internet mail, Outlook and other common email browsers?

64.7% of online merchants are conducting more email campaigns than a year ago

>> learn the ropes in insider email shortcuts

Be Prepared

Before you schedule the delivery of your campaign make sure that all internal resources are prepared to handle immediate response, the majority of which will occur within 48 hours of delivery. Notify employees and all related departments about the campaign.

Jupiter Research reports that spending on email marketing will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 24%, rising to $6.1 billion in 2008

>> make sure your email looks its best by reading the truth about images in your email

Monitor Frequently

Make sure that you have ample tools immediately available to you for monitoring and studying response statistics. Track opens, bounces, unsubscribes and click-throughs. Studying statistics frequently in real time will reveal many important trends and characteristics of your recipients.

83% choose email marketing as the most important advertising media they planned to use in 2007

>> Mail Dog’s real-time Reports give you up to the second data on your email campaigns

Refine and Improve

The key learnings of each campaign will help you improve future campaigns. Keep on experimenting and tweaking your subject lines, messages, offers, links and schedules until you achieve a solid “control” that performs up to your expectations.

73% said they’d made an online purchase as a result of receiving an email offer

>> learn more ways to improve with the quintessential list of online marketing gizmos you must know

Mail Dog’s Marketing Bytes is a serialized cartoon that pokes a little fun at our industry and highlights best practices for today’s marketer. Let’s face it…navigating the in’s and out’s of online marketing today can be perplexing!

Here at Mail Dog, the only thing closer to our hearts than helping our clients grow their business through the use of permission email marketing and online video is our love of puppies! Anyone who has called in for custom support can hear our talkative pups yelping in the office.

When we learn the puppies of the world might be in danger due to the careless practices of some less than permission based lists and sketchy marketing practices, we had to take action. We are proud to announce, we’ve joined forces with The eMail Guide and their Email Marketers Association for Puppy Protection.

See what happens when a marketer buys an email list in Help Save the Puppies! (Don’t Buy Email Lists) blog post.

Mail Dog’s Marketing Bytes is a serialized cartoon that pokes a little fun at our industry and highlights best practices for today’s marketer. Let’s face it…navigating the in’s and out’s of online marketing today can be perplexing!

“To survive in 2011 and beyond, small and large businesses alike MUST provide a way for their best customers to become advocates of their products and services.” – Brad Wendkos, CEO and Founder of TrueFire & Mail Dog

Don’t get us wrong…social media is a true marketing powerhouse, but, in order for it to work, you have to give your network a reason to connect with you. They are including you in their inner circle, so to speak, so be sure to respect the medium and be a true friend!

Are your best customers already advocates? Do you have the right tools in place to encourage and measure advocacy? Read on about Turning Customers in Advocates.

1. Utilize the Preview Pane

   

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   69% of at-work email users view emails in their preview panes (80% of those use Outlook).

   The preview pane or reading pane is basically the tiny portion of the body of your email that can be seen automatically (roughly 2-4 inches), before a user opens your email, displays in full view or scrolls. So, the top-left section of your email might be all the reader sees in their email inbox. You don’t have a whole lot of room or a whole lot of time to convince readers to open your email marketing message or scroll down. Putting your company logo or your newsletter masthead or something eye-catching in the top-left corner of your email might not be the best option, especially if the reader chooses not to view the image (see#2).

   MARKETER’S ACTION PLAN
   Start with your call to action (link) or your key point of the email (what the email is about). Then put your logo or pretty graphics beneath that primary message or to the right of it. While a fancy banner graphic makes for great visual impact, keep it as narrow as possible keeping the key “text” message as close to the top left corner of your email as possible, accessible within the preview pane without scrolling. ‘Eye Tracking’ research proves the human eye scans text in an “F” pattern (i.e., from top left to right or down). Ignoring this key fact could cost your readers’ attention.

   MAIL DOG ACTION PLAN
   See how your emails render first hand with Mail Dog’s Campaign Booster tool. It allows you to preview how your email renders in 33+ email readers, inside the preview panes and with image turned on or off.

2. Design Without Images

   

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   Most email clients block images by default. This means that unless readers specifically turn images on (by clicking on a link or button to ‘show images’), they’ll only see empty boxes in place of those images.

   MARKETER’S ACTION PLAN
   Use images as support for the text in your email, not the main topic. Make sure readers can grasp the main topic and action plans even if no images are visible in your message. Always use “ALT’ tags as text that could be displayed when the images are not shown. But note, different email readers block images in different ways. When Gmail blocks images, it displays Alt tags, but when Hotmail blocks these same images, it blocks the Alt tags, too. Regardless, it’s a good rule to always populate “ALT” tags for images so for readers who have image blocking on, at least they will see a short description of the image, which may encourage them to activate it.

   MAIL DOG ACTION PLAN
   Use the ALT tag fields given inside the Wizard when adding images into your message. Also, use the Campaign Booster tool to preview how your message renders in 33+ email reader both with images on/off and inside the preview pane.

3. Invisible Actions Create Invisible Results

   

   (click to view full image)

   Your primary call-to-action should not be displayed with a pretty graphic. It should be text-based HTML, tricked out with fonts, borders, and colors. Same goes for your newsletter masthead. It should be designed in such a way that your company name or the name of the newsletter is visible at all times, by all readers. And the only way to do that is text.

   MARKETER’S ACTION PLAN
   Be sure to design key messages (e.g., Register, Read more) in text. This way if image blocking is “on,” the key point of your message can still be viewed in the preview pane since HTML text will always display. Design email templates to be no wider than 650 pixels; for 2-column templates we usually aim for 600-625 pixels wide. This helps reduce the risk of horizontal scrolling.

   MAIL DOG ACTION PLAN
   Use the Link Text/Link URL fields inside the Template Wizard to insert great, easy to read, text based links at the bottom of every main topic of your email.

4. Include a Plain Text Version of Every Message

   

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   Unfortunately, not all mobile devices can render HTML messages and many mobile users prefer to view emails in plain text. While you don’t get all the fancy formatting like including images, clickable hyperlinks and HTML font options, you are still able to get your message read by users.

   MARKETER’S ACTION PLAN
   Including a plain text copy of every HTML message that you send eliminates potential issues for subscribers with mobile email applications that do not support HTML. If their mobile device doesn’t support HTML, subscribers will still see the plain text version of your message.

   MAIL DOG ACTION PLAIN
   Use the ‘TEXT’ box with every email message that you design by simply pasting the text of your message. Mail Dog automatically inserts your footer and a ‘view this email online’ link into every plain text message. Plus our MIME-encoding platform will automatically decide which version of your email is accepted by each user.

5. TEST, TEST, TEST

   

   (click to view full image)

   These newsletters are a reflection on your company and brand. Bad grammar, misspelled words and broken links speak volumes about the professionalism of your company. Likewise a poorly designed HTML message can look elementary and cheap. There are dozens of different email readers (like Outlook, Hotmail, Mac Mail, Entourage, Yahoo) each with their own specification on how the email will render. Be sure to test how the email will appear to your readers, not just to your internal corporate inbox.

   MARKETER’S ACTION PLAN
   Always send a “test” email to yourself before sending to the masses. Be sure to check ALL links to make sure they are working properly. And consider sending “test” emails to addresses outside your corporate’s mail server.

   MAIL DOG ACTION PLAN
   Use the “send test” button in your campaign to send an internal test of your message, and consider including a few different personal email accounts to preview how the message renders to your users. Also use the Campaign Booster tool to preview how the email renders in 33+ email readers.

Not sure if you are doing the best you can? Mail Dog clients can now take advantage of our Email Design Check-up Program. Click here to learn more…

And we’re not alone…Marketers everywhere must go through these same tasks to broadcast their news electronically over their digital channels. After 10 years of sending these monthly newsletters, most of the steps are second nature. While it takes no more than an hour to get an email sent out (once the story is written that is) it wasn’t always the case. When we reflected on earlier days, the tasks above seemed downright scary! So, this month we figured we’d take you on a journey to learn just how these Dog Paper newsletters get delivered to you each and every month and more importantly, share a few shortcuts along the way.

1. Writing the Content

   Figuring out what to write about each month takes the most amount of time and energy. But there are so many amazing writers and bloggers out there so don’t be afraid to use their concepts for inspiration. In fact, if others are writing about it, then it’s a good sign that folks want to hear about it too. Use these trends to your benefit. Chime in with your position. Here are some resources we tap into when formulating a topic.

   Shortcut of the day: Find blogs, websites and feeds posted in your industry or segment. Use these portals as a guide to take the pulse of your industry. Use them for inspiration (but don’t plagiarize of course and cite or credit accordingly)!

   Mail Dog Yard Resource Center – Compilation of talented marketing gurus and must follow RSS feeds.
   Email Marketing Reports – A collection of stats and information on the popularity of different webmail services and email in general.
   Marketing Sherpa – Resource that publishes useful news, case studies, and best practices data about internet and integrated marketing.
   MarketingProfs – One source for online marketing resources, marketing articles, online seminars, case studies, conferences and events for marketing professionals.

2. Populating the Blog

   Currently the Dogmata blog is powered by WordPress, which is fabulous and very easy to use (once installed). If you’re not blogging yet, maybe it’s something you should consider. In fact “77% of Internet users read blogs according to Universal McCann” And the best part is, you can integrate your blog into Facebook and Twitter to increase your readership.

   Shortcut of the day: Make your content work double-duty for you. Strategize how your content for your email newsletter can be integrated in to your other media channels. These alternate channels can help you with your SEO initiatives and building your online presence!

   Recommended DIY Blogs:
   WordPress – The No.1 best blog management tool
   Blogger – A free blogging tool for web designers
   Weebly – Free website and blog engine

3. Creating the Email

   Working for Mail Dog, we’ve got the easiest, most flexible email creation tool on the block (and over 250+ great looking customizable templates). This means, creating the HTML code for my email design is a breeze. That being said, there are some tips to make your life easier when creating HTML messages, regardless of who creates your code.

   Shortcut of the day: Take a look at the emails you like to get best. What do you like about them? What motivated you to take action or say, “hey, that’s a darn good-looking email!” We like to subscribe to lots of marketer’s lists so we can see what’s happening in design and functionality to keep us fresh.

   a) NEVER use text that had been copied directly from Microsoft Word, an email, a web site or anywhere other than Notepad. Doing so will inadvertently add messy, yucky, and unruly code to your email which can negatively affect the way your email looks in the inbox. The easy fix is to simply paste your text in Notepad (pc) or SimpleText (mac) prior to inserting into your HTML editing wizard OR if you are a Mail Dog client, use the “paste as plain text” icon installed inside your HTML editor tool. I promise, this little step will save you much heartache in the long run.

   b) DON’T go crazy with formatting fonts. Sure you need a bold or an italic here and there. But adding 6 different fonts with varying sizes and colors not only looks unprofessional, but also can get your email flagged as spam in the inbox (because it looks like spam).

   c) KEEP things short. No one reads long blocks of text in an email. Include 2-3 paragraphs of the most compelling content inside the email and include a “click here to read more” link. In the Dog Papers, we send people to our Dogmata blog to read more, but you can use your website, facebook, blog OR if you don’t have web hosting capabilities you can use Mail Dog’s Landing Page Publishing tools to host additional webpages inside your account.

   d) PLAIN text version is a must. There are still some users who can’t receive HTML coded messages, so always include a plain text version and send the email with MIME encoded. Mobile readers are also on the rise, who sometimes only get the text version. If you’re a Mail Dog client, we do this for you automatically; if you’re not a client then what are you waiting for?

4. Take a Coffee Break

   Yes, a breather is needed every now and again and what better than a nice, large cappuccino. Yumm! Use this break to research and poke around online at what other folks are doing – this way your break is completely legit! Ok, now back to it…

5. Format Images

   Finding the perfect image to support your text is a must. We like to use Google Image, Istockphoto.com, or Mail Dog’s Stock Gallery when searching for the perfect image. Always use ALT Tags when using images in an email. It allows for text to be read even if that image is disabled inside the users inbox. Now, having the luxury of Photoshop, we can easily resize images to the exact size we need. If you don’t have Photoshop, try using one of these FREE online image resizing websites:

   Pixlr – Free – quickest and easiest way to get the job done
   SplashUp - Free – offers a fun and casual image editing experience
   Picnik - Free, easy to use, fabulous, fun and powerful editing tool
   Adobe Photoshop Express - Free – offers some slick advanced tools

   Shortcut of the day: Ask your art director or graphics department to create low resolution, email-ready images when they are preparing promotional materials so you’ll have things handy when you need them. Create a folder on your computer of cool images that you ‘might’ use at some point so you can go there in a pinch as well. We find that even if we don’t have use for something immediately, inevitably it will be perfect!
   

6. Test, Test and Re-Test

   We cannot stress enough the need for everyone (yes, we mean you) to always send tests of your message before you hit send. And always send to someone who is better at grammar than you are. Proof read, spell check, click all the links and make sure the email is rendering properly in multiple readers. Don’t just rely on your inbox to do the testing. Test to free and corporate inboxes as each might render (or display) your email just a tad bit different. OR if you are a Mail Dog client use our Campaign Booster tool and we’ll send you a report of how your email looks in 33+ email readers.

   Shortcut of the day:  The great thing about the Mail Dog’s platform is we can schedule campaigns in advance. So thanks to a little pre-planning and Mail Dog’s future scheduling tool we could be in Tahiti while you are reading this. We’re not, but we could, so that’s kind of like being in Tahiti, right?

   We hope you learned a few shortcuts. Feel free to shout out if you need any other tips. We’re here to help you with your own email adventures!

We are saying that if your subscribers aren’t reading your emails out of disinterest or sheer boredom, then your deliverability is at stake. So don’t be complacent. Even if you are getting in to the inbox now, you might not be tomorrow if you don’t jazz things a bit, wake up (your readers), make them smell the java and what not.

Bad News for Boring People Alert!

Gmail and Hotmail have recently released a version of a “priority inbox” filtering system, which “trains” inboxes on which emails are most important and which emails are junk. If your subscribers are reading the mail, it gets prioritized, if not, well, it gets de-prioritized and moved out of view. Subscribers can even mark a message as “priority” – this is the brass ring for marketers!

While this is a great time-saving tool for the user, it can be a bummer for some email marketers. Without email interactivity from your subscribers you could find your email hitting the junk folder or getting lost behind more “important” emails.

I know, I know, your emails are different, right? Your customers can’t wait to get your emails and savor every last drop of email goodness, right? (Did you catch that sarcasm? Check out tip #2 below).

If you’re not familiar with the new changes to Gmail and Hotmail check out the 411 to Priority Inboxs. It’s important. However, in the meantime, let’s reveal out a few ways to keep your emails from being labeled unimportant…aka bbbooorrring!

How NOT to be Boring with your Emails

1. De-Uglify your Emails

   Ugly, boring emails are the Achilles heel to any email. If the email is not appealing looking or hard to read or designed poorly it does not matter how great your content is.  You want to make an impact with your design, but a good one! The good news is there are so many examples of good looking emails out there, you don’t have to have a design background as much as learning to follow in the footsteps of other design-capable marketers. For example being a Mail Dog client, you get to test run over 240+ fabulous looking templates at any time, talk about walking in the path of genius.

   Here are a few places you can find inspiration for your email designs…

   Mail Dog Template Gallery: 240+ templates for easy
   HTML Email Gallery: website designed to help marketers find email inspiration
   Free Email Templates: free email templates are ready-to-use and downloaded-able
   Theme Forests: fabulous HTML templates at a minimal cost

   ** Find something you like but don’t know how to manage the HTML code? Mail Dog can program any template design into the Design Wizard for easy management of the template layout! **

2. Be Shocking

   Overly polished copy or long copy can be boring. You need to shake things up a bit. Try adding a little sarcasm or humor into your writing style (see above, make sense now?). Or better yet, shock your readers with a bit of honestly about your product. Meet fears or objections head on. While not directly related to email marketing per say, there is one such campaign currently shocking audiences and making people think twice about their product. It all stems from the  Miracle Whip vs. mayonnaise controversy.  Instead of just “selling” their product, the Miracle Whip marketing department has chosen unleash a few “shocking” yet honest TV commercials. You may not be on the Miracle Whip side of the fence, but these ads will make you pay attention, and… who knows, you might just give it another shot.

   “We will Not Tone it Down” (YouTube video)
   “Take a Side” (YouTube video)

3. Stop Selling ALL the Time!

   Yes, we know you have a great product and you want people to buy it, but who cares? Seriously, if I don’t know how to use the product or why I should use it then no amount of discounts or badgering will convince me. Try spending some time telling your subscribers why they need your product, give examples of various ways it can work, and how it can benefit them…then seal the deal with a discount.

   Moo-ningful Example – Moo.com sells these pretty cool little business cards, with beautiful designs and swanky packaging. Sounds kinda cool, but in reality I have no idea why I would NEED those. So last month, instead of just offering me a discount because of Valentine’s Day, their last email offered creative ways I could use these cards during the holiday. Sometimes seeing is believing and your subscribers need to be able to visualize how your product can benefit them. Check out Moo in action in their February newsletter!

4. Give away the baby WITH the bathwater!

   That’s right, give it all way… one crazy discount at a time! Well, maybe don’t give it all away, but try a crazy ridiculous offer and see who bites. It’s called a “loss leader” and basically means that the revenue generated from the sale of that product or service might be less than the value of that customer to you in the long haul. Try teaming up with 1-a day discount venues like Groupon and Living Social to get new customers. Send out an email to your own subscribers and let them in on the offer. You’ll be surprised at how many new clients you’ll get.

Seriously, now is not the time to be complacent with your emails (new technology is proving it). An email campaigns cannot be just a marketing deadline you must meet. You can’t just throw together some content and wonder why your open and clicks are declining. The marketing world is ever changing and having relevant, engaging emails is the only way you will survive.

Gmail’s Priority Inbox

Priority Inbox can help save you time … [which] attempts to automatically identify your important incoming messages and separates them out from everything else. “

To predict which of your incoming messages are important, Gmail automatically takes into account a number of signals from the user’s perspective:

• Who you email
  (For example, if you email Bob a lot, it’s likely that messages from Bob are important.)
• Which messages you open
  (Messages you open are likely more important than those you skip over.)
• What keywords spark your interest
  (If you always read messages about soccer, a new message that contains those same soccer words is more likely to be important.)
• Which messages you reply to
  (If you always reply to messages from your mom, messages she sends you are likely to be important.
• Your recent use of stars, archive and delete
  (Messages you star are probably more important than messages you archive without opening.)

Hotmail’s Priority Inbox

Now let’s check out Hotmail’s filtering criteria:

• Messages read, then deleted
• Messages deleted without being read
• Messages replied to
• Frequency of receiving and reading a message from a source

As shown above the key to getting your email into the priority inbox and viewed at “important” is timing (frequency of mailing) and most importantly relevance of content. The user is now actively teaching filters what they want to read, so every mailing should be as useful and engaging as possible. Check out 4 ways to …

Why You Should Care

More than ever, Marketers need to stay current, relevant and connected to their subscribers. You work hard to grow your list, acquire subscribers, make your mailing deadlines and hustle up the next big project. But it’s all moot if what you’re sending out is not sparking that critical response.

What You Can Do

Investigation and tracking will serve you well. First off, keep a close eye on campaigns sent. Do you know which features are of more interest? Can you tell which links were clicked? What can you learn here to either use more of, or, remove or replace with other content? Once you have a handle on where you’ve been, now you need to shake the cob-webs off your right brain and flex the creative muscle. Check out “Bad News for Boring Marketers” to learn about some strategies to leverage to excite your target audience. Try some things. See what works, what meters you can move and stay vigilant!