Posted by: Christy Roth, Project Manager

Most marketers are in the same spot: do more with less money. As you’re facing this challenge, here are three things that you can do to improve the efficiency and results of your lead generation program:

#1 – Stay Visible Even in a Tough Economy
Through these tough times it is more important than ever to stay visible to prospects whether or not your competitors are doing the same. There are many cost-effective and even free opportunities to help us accomplish this. Use social media and social networking sites to your advantage. Even though it may be out of your comfort zone, consider being present on tools such as Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, and more. In addition, if you are planning online media buys for 2009, work to negotiate tactics that include freebies such as e-newsletters and ad units. All of these things help keep you in front of potential leads.

Posted by: Rosemary Riley, Senior Copywriter

If our recent series of posts on e-mail marketing hasn’t convinced you yet, check out these findings, courtesy of an eMarketer article from October 15th based on MarketingSherpa research:

Highlights of the full story include:

• E-mail ad spending was up 15% to $230 million during the first half of 2008 compared with the first half of 2007.
• As of Q1 2008, online marketers in the US said they were least likely to decrease e-mail marketing spending in case of a recession. Just 5% said they would cut their spending on e-mail if times got tight, compared with 41% who said they would cut display ads.

It seems e-mail isn’t going anywhere… at least not yet.

Posted by: Caitlin Diehl, Marketing Coordinator

With businesses investing more and more in interactive marketing efforts, it seems like there are hundreds of new e-newsletters popping up every day. How do you know which ones to subscribe to? Which ones are helpful, and which ones will only take up space in your inbox? Below is a list of some of my favorite e-newsletters available today and details on how they manage to stay on top with new competitors emerging all of the time.

·         MediaPost’s SearchINSIDER

o   INSIDER guarantees good content in a short, easy-to-read format. The blog is available through free subscription. It is sent to your inbox every day and provides valuable information about the search engine industry. Topics range from tips on word-of-mouth branding to social media marketing and even Google engine updates.

http://www.mediapost.com/blogs/search_insider/

Posted by: Rosemary Riley, Senior Copywriter

Over the past month, we’ve been covering topics related to email – from benchmarks to best practices. Now MarketingSherpa has issued a new Guide with research in which marketers reveal top strategies for email during an economic downturn.

They offer a timely, special fourteen-page PDF as a free excerpt from the Guide. It includes:

• Stats showing email’s resurgence as a marketing tactic during the economic downturn
• Marketers’ attitudes toward email budgets and correlation with performance
• An eyetracking heatmap on how to overcome image-blocking
• And an outline of opportunities for international email marketing

Posted by: Kelly Hall, Account Manager

When you’re mobilizing to create an email campaign for lead nurturing there are two very important considerations to make. Number 1, timing.

We’ve all gotten them – the automatic email you receive, after registering for something from a company, thanking you for your interest. Great, right? Definitely. But what about when you get another email, pushing you to take action less than a day later? And they just keep coming, every day? All of a sudden you’re not quite as interested in what that company has to tell you. Instead, you may be tempted to unsubscribe, or worse, put them on your blacklist. We, as marketers, need to walk the fine line of staying top of mind for our prospects, and simultaneously not being annoying.