Are You Maximizing E-mail's Lead Gen Potential?

With e-mail marketing generally rated as the most effective online tool for lead generation, a well-crafted e-mail strategy is a digital marketing priority. According to the latest business survey by Ascend2, 48% of respondents ranked e-mail as the most effective lead generator, outdistancing paid search or online advertising (23%), social media (26%) or search engine optimization (37%). So what can marketers do to optimize e-mail's great lead potential? Here are some ideas from a recent post for the HuffPost Business blog by business consultant Larry Alton. He cites the following five top tactics in the e-mail lead-gen arsenal: Collecting e-mail addresses via a high-value e-newsletter; triggered e-mails to automate lead nurturing and follow-up; segmentation by subscriber behavior to better tailor e-mail messaging for new signups, failed conversions or nonresponders; "gated" content to gather contact data in exchange for free but valued material; and sharability, including requests to forward, social sharing buttons and embedded pre-formatted tweets. For more details and examples, read http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-alton/email-marketing-best-prac_b_8054350.html

Add Digital Power to Direct Mail to Rev Results

If your direct mail is plodding along its traditional response path, it may be time to give it a digital technology boost. A recent Direct Marketing News magazine article cited five tech trends for energizing mail strategy: triggered digital content, delivery-triggered campaigns, retargeting, enhanced personalization, and marketing automation/CRM. Trigger digital content with a scan, swipe or tap of a mobile device by enhancing physical mail with QR codes or other mobile bar codes, augmented reality (AR) video, and even near-field communication chips (NFC). Delivery triggering uses delivery tracking based on conventional or USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode data to automatically launch relevant multi-channel contacts, via mobile text, e-mail or app inbox, and can make use of location, time-of-day and other context-sensitive delivery data for extra impact. Retargeting will boost long-term mail results by going beyond immediate response and conversion to track pURL, QR, site visits, searches and other unique digital actions of non-buyers so that they can be modeled and retargeted for sales. Enhanced personalization means more than printed data fills today; pURLs or unique bar codes in the mail piece can lead to customized, personalized online content. A custom AR app can even be promoted digitally after the mail is sent. Finally, marketing automation and CRM systems can be leveraged to individualize messaging and sync channels around a direct mail campaign, including insight from social media analytics. For more detail, read http://www.dmnews.com/direct-mail-goes-digital/article/400201/