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No, we’re not talking about love handles – rather outdated and excess content that’s weighing down your email newsletters.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.

Visit R.E.D. to open a support ticket

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.

Read Marketing Bytes

Play the Lucky Breaks Game

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.