Search advertising - The new full contact sport

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 by Rob McLaughlin
If you have not experienced running a search advertising campaign in awhile, you might be missing out on the latest and greatest full contact sport.  It is getting crazy out there.  So many companies trying to win so many search terms both organically and paid it is truly the new Colosseum of marketing. 

Recently, with the launch of Aprimo Marketing Studio, we have begun to invest more in search advertising.  One of our battle ground topics is email marketing.  Over the past 3 months, over 2 million people searched for email marketing software.  If you add on top of this all the other derivatives (email marketing solutions, blast email marketing, business email marketing software, etc.), there are tons of searches to win and many potential prospects to capture.  However, no one, and I mean no one, can simply "buy" themselves to the top anymore.  It is just too expensive.

For example, there are so many vendors now fighting for the key email marketing terms, some clicks skyrocket to over $20 per click on a given day.  Yikes.  $20 just to get a click if you want the top position for certain terms on a given day.  In this environment, everyone needs to start having strategies that go beyond just paying more to maintain a position and include finding ways of getting your qualified traffic in the most efficient way possible.  

Once you get a click, you also need to make it count.  So, all the landing pages need to take a step up in terms of testing, quality, and conversion measurement.  Winning in this environment requires both a sophisticated strategy, a robust measurement system, and the tenacity to work on it each and every day.

To be blunt, there is no "auto pilot" in search marketing any more.  If you sit idle, you lose.  If you do not keep challenging yourself to try more, measure more, test more, you lose.  For marketing, this can be an exciting time.  There are few other marketing arenas where you get to daily compete with your top competitors.  Where you can literally "out think them" on a daily basis.  It gives marketing the feel of a true full contact sport.

I know Aprimo is not yet a favored contender in this competition.  Frankly, we have done most of our marketing through a traditional sales centric approach.  However, we love the competition.  So, here's to having a good day on the search advertising field of play.  We are happy to be here.
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The Trend Toward All Image Emails - Pitfalls and Solutions

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 by Jim Stafford

More and more, I'm getting emails that are all images.  Many email clients and personal settings make these types of emails just plain uncompelling to open.  Here is an example of one I just got from a large retailer. 

It's obvious the sender is not embracing email marketing best practices.  Note the fact that my personal settings are blocking the image downloads -- a typical setting for many people.  Also note that many of the ALT-text comments (a good practice that is often overlooked) aren't obvious or are hidden.  This retailer may have the best microsite pages personalized for a visit.  But, if I'm not drawn-in by this message, I'll never see them.

So, how do email and interactive marketers develop rich image-based emails that are flexible enough to increase open and click-through rates?  Best email marketing practices should include:

1) Use some plain or HTML text in the body of the email so recipients that are blocking images get more of a sense of the message -- one which is deeper than the Subject Line.

2) Use captions under the pictures for the same reason stated above.

3) Use ALT-text descriptions so a text explanation of the image/offer is available.

4) Put a text-based link on the top of the page that offers a web page version of the email.

4) Consider using personalized emails where just a couple of content blocks and images will appear based on customer attributes and stated preferences/interests.  See the examples below.
 
The email to the left renders information specific to a fictitious "high value"  bank customer about a Personal Financial Plan.  

















The email to the left here has an identical look (standardizing the brand) and some similar content and links to other information, but it presents an offer on a 2nd Free Account to a "Low Value Customer."  Both emails were created from the same single template (developed in Aprimo's email marketing solution) but rendered differently based on customer attributes.

Relevant content that is not "image laden" may keep more email recipients from universally blocking all email images, thus helping everyone in the email marketing space.

Getting the prospect to open and click on a link are the first two hurdles.  Using personalized Microsite Pages (covered in a forthcoming post) to increase conversion rates is the next.
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Email Marketing - Write the Email that Gets Read

Sunday, October 18, 2009 by Kelly Turner
As a copywriter and editor, I read a fair share of copy that flies around Aprimo. As you can imagine, this runs the gamut, from collateral writing, to website copy, to emails. Majority of our sales reps take it upon themselves to write emails that they want us to send out to our prospective customers - i.e. ALL OF YOU. Who better to talk shop than those selling it, right?

I see a major pitfall with email copy that I want to share with all of you and I have definitely noticed it with the email marketing that I receive as a consumer as well. Companies and individuals who email prospective customers want to talk about themselves - talk in the company speak and toot their horns - instead of thinking about or talking through the problems a consumer may be facing where the solution would be the product.

This should be the number one approach in email best practices - talk about the pain points of the consumer, don't talk about your company first. Let your customers or potential customers know that you understand what they are going through. As a provider of email marketing solutions we see this mistake firsthand. You lose your prospect before they ever really were one.

In your next email blast, address the pain points of your customer first before you educate on everything from soup to nuts about your company. They don't care yet.
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