Archive for April, 2012
Come and see Adestra at Publishing+ PPA Annual Conference
As strategic partner to the PPA, Adestra are proud to sponsor the 
2012 PPA Annual Conference, Publishing+.
The theme of this year’s conference is that its not all about publishing. There is more to professional publishing today than there has ever been. The world in which we all now operate – both in Consumer Magazines and Business Media – is increasingly about brands communicating with their audiences across a multitude of potential platforms. It’s no longer just about publishing…
This year, alongside the main conference sessions, the PPA will be running a series of free seminars and workshops on the exhibition floor, to tackle some key issues including:
- Unlocking the potential to monetize Twitter
- The development of knowledge-driven content
- Multi-channel marketing
- New ad formats
- Audience development and fulfillment
Why not come along and see Adestra present on “Four email marketing strategies publishers can’t afford to ignore” at 14:30? In this presentation, Harry will go through some key strategies to help improve and streamline your email marketing activities, to improve your results and save you time. From automating your email content, subscription renewal programmes to structuring your email account correctly, Harry will use real case studies to demonstrate these strategies that can help you to deliver results from your email marketing.
Publishing+ takes place at the Hilton Metropole, London on 9th May 2012.
You can find out more on the PPA Conference website here >
The art of conversation – encouraging your email addresses to spread your message
Thank you to those who joined us for our webinar on Wednesday and a special thank you to James Lewis from Celtic Manor for joining us and sharing his successful social sharing strategy.
Key take away from Tom and James was:
The key to engaging your customer and transforming them into brand advocates is to talk to them intelligently and appropriately. During the webinar we discussed how the use of interesting campaigns, strategically placed social facilities and the use of incentivisation, can all help to convert your users into brand advocates. Well produced and interesting content can also work well to activate your customers and is an incentive in itself. By including unique and relevant content in your campaigns, you are engaging your customers and again increasing the likelihood of your campaigns being shared socially.
Do your research and get to know what makes your clients tick – Then and only then will you be able to engage your customers and make them your brand champions.
In the Q&A we discussed how you should deal with those who have only signed up to take advantage of the incentive. This is where your targeted VS load and blast approach to email should come in. You can continue to nurture those who are engaging with targeted emails. But those who aren’t can be segmented into more generic or engagement campaigns where you try to discover what makes them tick.
You can download the webinar here or read the Celtic Manor case study here.
If you would like to know more about MessageFocus or our social sharing feature email us today.
Have you registered for the next webinar?
Simple testing strategies that improve email marketing results
Date: Wed 23 May 2012
Time: 12:30 – 13:00 BST
*Post webinar a recorded version will be sent to all
registrants whether they attended or not
The Adestra and Econsultancy Email Marketing Census 2012 revealed that only 31% of companies surveyed regularly test their email marketing campaigns. What’s more, 81% of these companies that DO test, report great ROI from their email marketing, compared to only 37% of those who don’t. The good news is email testing will improve your results and it doesn’t need to be difficult. Small changes can make a big difference.
1. How to create a testing plan suited to your needs.
2. To determine an appropriate testing methodology and success criteria.
3. Learn from real examples of how testing has improved email results for our clients.
Adestra Think: Beyond The Tactical roundtable
An afternoon of email marketing innovation
On Tuesday we hosted our 2012 Spring Roundtable at the Millbank Tower in London. We had a great turn out and all delegates brought ideas, solutions and email marketing challenges to discuss and debate. Below we have a synopsis from each table leader covering the key points from their sessions.
Load & blast vs targeted emails
Creating the balance to maximise ROI
Advantageously all participants knew the importance of sending targeted emails over the old load and blast method, meaning we could get on with discussing the methods of doing this. The sessions saw a mixture of people who currently do send targeted emails and those who currently don’t but would like to.
Common barriers and solutions include:
- Not knowing where to start: Start with a load and blast method and then start to target based on behaviour and response.
- Not having the data to start sending targeted emails: Start by asking your audience what they want and they just might tell you. Or as above use passed behaviour.
- Not having the time to set it up: Targeting can be set up to run automatically based on behaviour, so spending time and resource to set it up intially will ultimately save you time in the long run.
The subjects covered included using dynamic content in order to serve relevant content to recipients, segmenting data based on the information held rather than sending to your whole database, segmenting based on the previous behaviour of recipient, as well as testing. The results seen from delegates who were sending targeted emails around the table clearly an improvement in results comparedto load & blast emails.
Email Automation
The benefits in terms of both time and money
‘Automation’ means different things to different people. Whether it’s with regards to content population via XML feeds, scheduled email programmes, recurring campaign sends or even tight integration with CRM systems, the fact remains that there are substantial time savings to be had by optimising and automating your processes.
The key take away that came out of the session was that you should start small with a proof of concept and then increase the scope of the automation with what you learn. Value is not derived from copy-and-pasting all day – so why not remove such repetitive tasks and focus on what you do best: marketing!
Mutli-channel Focus
Email, Social, Mobile: Connecting the dots is the recipe for success
Each individual marketing channel like social or mobile, provides marketers with a powerful tool to build relationships with current and potential clients as well as promote their products/services. By combining various channels marketers can amplify this effect significantly.
In this session we had examples where social media like LinkedIn was used to increase traffic to the company’s website. Some found that those who came from a social site tend to stay longer on the site as they were “warmed up”. Adding mobile into the mix can help build relationships with clients by i.e. sending event reminders, weather updates for destinations they booked to go to, follow up messages, etc. However as it is a rather personal and even intrusive channel, marketers have to be very careful they don’t over use it and that they have permission from the recipient to contact them on this channel.
The biggest challenge seems to be converting Facebook “likes” and Twitter followers into email data which is owned by you, and not the social media site. One solution is incentivising people to subscribe to newsletters by i.e. offering a competition entry, exclusive email only content or a free sample. This however may not be effective or relevant for all sectors and hence organisations like charities may need to put more thought into encouraging people to becoming their email recipients as opposed to just a fan on a social site. How do you attribute value and qualify them?
Data is the heart
The formulation of data strategies for performing databases
As you might expect, the breadth of subjects covered was quite wide across the day.
That said, some key discussion points were:
- Data cleansing
- How to both grow your database and add much needed demographic information into records lacking in much more than email address and name.
- Re-activation strategies and what can define whether someone is regarded as an in-active subscriber.
- Why bounce management is key and what can be done to follow up with records that are bouncing.
Alongside these main areas we also touched upon the planning and technical requirements for CRM integration, the upcoming ‘cookie law’ and thoughts around permissions for existing and new records on email lists. All in all, an interesting and I hope useful set of discussions.
Thank you to all those who attended and made the day a great success. We are looking forward to the next one later in the year. If you would like more information on the aobve topics or how we can help you with your email marketing strategy email us today.
Come and see Adestra at Publishing+ PPA Annual Conference
As strategic partner to the PPA, Adestra are proud to sponsor the 2012 PPA Annual Conference, Publishing+.
The theme of this year’s conference is that its not all about publishing. There is more to professional publishing today than there has ever been. The world in which we all now operate – both in Consumer Magazines and Business Media – is increasingly about brands communicating with their audiences across a multitude of potential platforms. It’s no longer just about publishing…
This year, alongside the main conference sessions, the PPA will be running a series of free seminars and workshops on the exhibition floor, to tackle some key issues including:
- Unlocking the potential to monetize Twitter
- The development of knowledge-driven content
- Multi-channel marketing
- New ad formats
- Audience development and fulfillment
Why not come along and see Adestra present on “Four email marketing strategies publishers can’t afford to ignore” at 14:30? In this presentation, Harry will go through some key strategies to help improve and streamline your email marketing activities, to improve your results and save you time. From automating your email content, subscription renewal programmes to structuring your email account correctly, Harry will use real case studies to demonstrate these strategies that can help you to deliver results from your email marketing.
Publishing+ takes place at the Hilton Metropole, London on 9th May 2012.
You can find out more on the PPA Conference website here >
The art of conversation – encouraging your email addresses to spread your message
Thank you to those who joined us for our webinar on Wednesday and a special thank you to James Lewis from Celtic Manor for joining us and sharing his successful social sharing strategy.
Key take away from Tom and James was:
The key to engaging your customer and transforming them into brand advocates is to talk to them intelligently and appropriately. During the webinar we discussed how the use of interesting campaigns, strategically placed social facilities and the use of incentivisation, can all help to convert your users into brand advocates. Well produced and interesting content can also work well to activate your customers and is an incentive in itself. By including unique and relevant content in your campaigns, you are engaging your customers and again increasing the likelihood of your campaigns being shared socially.
Do your research and get to know what makes your clients tick – Then and only then will you be able to engage your customers and make them your brand champions.
In the Q&A we discussed how you should deal with those who have only signed up to take advantage of the incentive. This is where your targeted VS load and blast approach to email should come in. You can continue to nurture those who are engaging with targeted emails. But those who aren’t can be segmented into more generic or engagement campaigns where you try to discover what makes them tick.
You can download the webinar here or read the Celtic Manor case study here.
If you would like to know more about MessageFocus or our social sharing feature email us today.
Have you registered for the next webinar?
Simple testing strategies that improve email marketing results
Date: Wed 23 May 2012
Time: 12:30 – 13:00 BST
*Post webinar a recorded version will be sent to all
registrants whether they attended or not
The Adestra and Econsultancy Email Marketing Census 2012 revealed that only 31% of companies surveyed regularly test their email marketing campaigns. What’s more, 81% of these companies that DO test, report great ROI from their email marketing, compared to only 37% of those who don’t. The good news is email testing will improve your results and it doesn’t need to be difficult. Small changes can make a big difference.
1. How to create a testing plan suited to your needs.
2. To determine an appropriate testing methodology and success criteria.
3. Learn from real examples of how testing has improved email results for our clients.
Adestra Think: Beyond The Tactical roundtable
An afternoon of email marketing innovation
On Tuesday we hosted our 2012 Spring Roundtable at the Millbank Tower in London. We had a great turn out and all delegates brought ideas, solutions and email marketing challenges to discuss and debate. Below we have a synopsis from each table leader covering the key points from their sessions.
Load & blast vs targeted emails
Creating the balance to maximise ROI
Advantageously all participants knew the importance of sending targeted emails over the old load and blast method, meaning we could get on with discussing the methods of doing this. The sessions saw a mixture of people who currently do send targeted emails and those who currently don’t but would like to.
Common barriers and solutions include:
- Not knowing where to start: Start with a load and blast method and then start to target based on behaviour and response.
- Not having the data to start sending targeted emails: Start by asking your audience what they want and they just might tell you. Or as above use passed behaviour.
- Not having the time to set it up: Targeting can be set up to run automatically based on behaviour, so spending time and resource to set it up intially will ultimately save you time in the long run.
The subjects covered included using dynamic content in order to serve relevant content to recipients, segmenting data based on the information held rather than sending to your whole database, segmenting based on the previous behaviour of recipient, as well as testing. The results seen from delegates who were sending targeted emails around the table clearly an improvement in results comparedto load & blast emails.
Email Automation
The benefits in terms of both time and money
‘Automation’ means different things to different people. Whether it’s with regards to content population via XML feeds, scheduled email programmes, recurring campaign sends or even tight integration with CRM systems, the fact remains that there are substantial time savings to be had by optimising and automating your processes.
The key take away that came out of the session was that you should start small with a proof of concept and then increase the scope of the automation with what you learn. Value is not derived from copy-and-pasting all day – so why not remove such repetitive tasks and focus on what you do best: marketing!
Mutli-channel Focus
Email, Social, Mobile: Connecting the dots is the recipe for success
Each individual marketing channel like social or mobile, provides marketers with a powerful tool to build relationships with current and potential clients as well as promote their products/services. By combining various channels marketers can amplify this effect significantly.
In this session we had examples where social media like LinkedIn was used to increase traffic to the company’s website. Some found that those who came from a social site tend to stay longer on the site as they were “warmed up”. Adding mobile into the mix can help build relationships with clients by i.e. sending event reminders, weather updates for destinations they booked to go to, follow up messages, etc. However as it is a rather personal and even intrusive channel, marketers have to be very careful they don’t over use it and that they have permission from the recipient to contact them on this channel.
The biggest challenge seems to be converting Facebook “likes” and Twitter followers into email data which is owned by you, and not the social media site. One solution is incentivising people to subscribe to newsletters by i.e. offering a competition entry, exclusive email only content or a free sample. This however may not be effective or relevant for all sectors and hence organisations like charities may need to put more thought into encouraging people to becoming their email recipients as opposed to just a fan on a social site. How do you attribute value and qualify them?
Data is the heart
The formulation of data strategies for performing databases
As you might expect, the breadth of subjects covered was quite wide across the day.
That said, some key discussion points were:
- Data cleansing
- How to both grow your database and add much needed demographic information into records lacking in much more than email address and name.
- Re-activation strategies and what can define whether someone is regarded as an in-active subscriber.
- Why bounce management is key and what can be done to follow up with records that are bouncing.
Alongside these main areas we also touched upon the planning and technical requirements for CRM integration, the upcoming ‘cookie law’ and thoughts around permissions for existing and new records on email lists. All in all, an interesting and I hope useful set of discussions.
Thank you to all those who attended and made the day a great success. We are looking forward to the next one later in the year. If you would like more information on the aobve topics or how we can help you with your email marketing strategy email us today.