US Data Corporation Direct Marketing Blog

9 Worst Marketing Emails Actually Received6:53 am

By US Data Corporation

Email marketing campaigns can be highly effective when targeted well, used sparingly, and presented in a professional manner. But as beneficial as they can be, they can also cause a lot of frustration for the recipient, embarrassment for the sender, and damage to a company's bottom line. With these 9 Worst Marketing Emails Actually Received, we hope you can learn both what to do -- and what not to do - with regard to your own marketing efforts. Good luck!

1. Anonymous Dance Instructor Definitely NOT Sleeping with his Students

A reader at MainStreet.com sent in her take on the dumbest email ever sent by a company, and while the site would not provide names, it did give a few juicy details -- or not so juicy, depending on how you want to look at it -- on what made the owner's missive a big-time marketing no-no. According to the email, the owner of a dance studio sent an email to a listserv of thousands, pitching some exciting classes that were on the horizon for the New Year as well as a few TMI details on his relationship to (wife?) Karen. Apparently, despite what the listserv may have heard, he was not maintaining an affair with a student.

"I know that I dance with many of the students but there is no significance to that dancing and I would appreciate if you would refrain from starting such rumors," the studio owner continued. "And Happy New Year, everyone."

Even if the owner's personal life reveal hadn't been so, well, revealing, this would have still been a marketing message he should have never sent. It's okay to be conversational and folksy with your customers, but this email brought way too much of the sender's life into a business communication that was intended to promote upcoming dance classes. There is a line separating folksy from TMI, and we think he crossed it in a big way.

1 Anonymous Dance Instructor 9 Worst Marketing Emails Actually Received

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2. You Have Been Accepted to UC San Diego (Kidding)

In 2009, admissions personnel at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) fired off 28,000 acceptance emails before realizing they had the wrong group. The "administrative error," UCSD admissions director Mae Brown called it in comments to The Los Angeles Times, gave hope to students like Cole Bettles. Bettles was beaming over his false acceptance. According to the newspaper, his mother booked a hotel in San Diego, and the extended family made plans to meet him on campus. Right before bed on the same day he got the good news, he checked his email again to find a retraction.

Universities may be institutes of higher education, but that does not exempt them from effective marketing. And the most effective marketing that a college or university of any kind can establish is a positive relationship with students and potential students from one generation to the next. While we've all sent an email to the wrong person at some point in our lives, those mistakes probably didn't have the same negative effect on the recipient as disappointing close to 30,000 college hopefuls. UCSD didn't sink as a result of the error, but given the fact this story made national headlines, we're betting they would like a do-over, so not to go down in modern history as "that school that accidentally accepted everyone."

2 UCSD Acceptance 9 Worst Marketing Emails Actually Received
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3 Things Abraham Lincoln Can Teach Us About Building A Brand7:00 am

By Linda Abbott

3 things abraham lincoln can teach about branding 3 Things Abraham Lincoln Can Teach Us About Building A BrandEven today, Abraham Lincoln is powerfully connected with values like honesty, integrity, and the American Dream. But he didn’t become one of our most respected presidents without knowing quite a bit about marketing his own cause. Here are three lessons we can learn from Abe about creating our own strong brand identities.

Know Your Brand
If you want to be a strong brand, you have to be a strong leader. Lincoln’s house-divided acceptance speech on the night of his nomination alarmed people in the South, who interpreted it as a direct attack on slavery. People in his own party worried as well; they thought it was too radical and had jeopardized his chances for election. His reply to these responses was: “You will see the day when you will consider it the wisest thing I ever said.”

Your brand must ultimately remain true to you and your values. Your customers can help you improve your products, and can even contribute to your brand image, but if you let them control the brand entirely, you’ll end up compromising and your brand won’t represent what you stand for. Let your passion and your belief in your products or service help you discover who you are, and inspire others to take that leap with you.

The best small business brands are extensions of the personalities that created them, so start with you. Ask yourself: what are the core values that you run your business by?

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How To Choose A Marketing List That Works7:00 am

By Linda Abbott

choose marketing list that works How To Choose A Marketing List That WorksWhen I think of choosing a marketing list for my business, I’m reminded of my baker friend, Emma, who once brought a platter of buttery, egg-based brownies to a party of strict vegans – all of whom politely declined. Was there anything wrong with Emma’s product? Not at all. I personally shoveled 4 of them into my mouth like I was suffering from a brownie deficiency. But even if you have a great offer and package it beautifully, it means nothing if you’re trying to deliver it to people who have no use for it. Here are some key reminders on how to choose a marketing list that won’t leave you with egg on your face:

Start with a Good Marketing List Broker

Speak to the person you’ll be working with so you can gauge their personality and expertise.  They should be accessible. Do they respond to your emails and calls quickly? Do you feel they’re invested in building a relationship with you?

A good broker can also make recommendations that you hadn’t thought of before. For instance, let’s say I needed a list of brides in a certain demographic. The list broker should also ask for more details like wedding date, lifestyle behaviors, income, magazines they subscribe to, etc. A good list broker will use these questions to help you strategically target a marketing list that will perform well for your particular needs.

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Finding New Customers for the New Year7:00 am

By US Data Corporation

finding new customers 20131 Finding New Customers for the New Year2013 is now in full swing, and as we all know, a new year is always a great time for new beginnings – and new customers. As the new year kicks in, this is the perfect time to refocus on marketing goals that you may have lost sight of in 2012, rekindle projects that got put on the backburner, and rejuvenate your customer base. Make new customer acquisition your priority in 2013 by following these 3 simple steps.

1. A New Year Means New Lists

If you’re still working off of last year’s mailing lists or email lists, it’s time to wipe the slate clean and either invest in a new marketing list, or give the old one a facelift with a list wash service. Lists become outdated within a matter of months, and an outdated list translates into wasted marketing dollars. Whether you target consumers or businesses, give yourself the best opportunity to find new customers by working from an updated and accurate marketing list. Your marketing budget will thank you.

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Our Top 5 TED Talks on Marketing7:00 am

By Linda Abbott

We love TED Talks for eye-opening inspiration from thought leaders around the world. Here are our 5 favorite TED Talks that inspire us to push our marketing to new heights. We hope you will enjoy them as much as we do!

1. HOW TO GET YOUR IDEAS TO SPREAD

Marketing guru Seth Godin explains in this passionate talk why marketing that works is less about the actual product and more about whether you can get your ideas to spread or not. Using a multitude of brands as examples for how to do it right, he shows us that creating a story that’s remarkable (read: not boring) is the new safest bet for your marketing success:

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How My Dating Life Will Save Your Marketing. (You’re Welcome.)7:00 am

By Linda Abbott

how my dating life will safe your marketing2 How My Dating Life Will Save Your Marketing. (You’re Welcome.)I’m face-to-face with a marketing problem. The problem is about 5’10, brown-eyed, and is talking about his mother with his mouth full. This is one of the many dates I’ve been on recently who had me at hello and then lost me shortly after. Why? Because, I realized, when it comes to getting someone invested in you, being smart and having a lot to offer just isn’t enough. (Sorry, Date #8.) If your marketing milkshake isn’t bringing all your clients to the yard, ask yourself these three questions:

Are You Engaging?

Do you only talk about yourself? Well, how do I say this nicely? Stop it. If all of your marketing content is blatant self-promotion, then you’re going to come off as self-centered. Worse, you’ll bore people. It’s fine if my date wants to show me 20 Instagram photos of his new dice collection – I could use a nap. But putting your clients to sleep probably isn’t your goal. Instead, be a good listener. Ask questions. What are your clients interested in? What are their challenges? What are they searching for?

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Top 15 Holiday Marketing Campaigns of 20126:59 am

By US Data Corporation

Last year we looked at the top holiday marketing campaigns of 2011 and found some true classics. From Crazy Target Lady to a Buster-approved message from Petco, the advertising ideas were certainly not in short supply. This year we have some familiar companies with some new approaches and a few new faces that will tickle your funny bones and touch your heart.

That’s right, it’s time for the Top 15 Holiday Marketing Campaigns of 2012. Check them out, and tell us what you think!

1. Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013: ‘Control Your Heart Rate!’

The new ad from Cabela’s is less Christmas-themed than last year’s spot for 2012 Big Game Hunter, but it does place the company’s most likely Christmas gift of the season front and center. The “Control Your Heart Rate” promotion emphasizes the new sawed-off shotgun controller that links with the Dangerous Hunts 2013 game to grow more difficult as your heart rate increases. In the commercial, we get a rather humorous look at what can happen when the controller reveals a little more than you want it to.

YouTube Video Link

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Response Rate vs. ROI: Which Marketing Metric Is More Important?7:00 am

By Melissa Cober

response rate vs roi marketing metric more important Response Rate vs. ROI: Which Marketing Metric Is More Important?Determining the success of a marketing campaign without solid numbers to analyze is like throwing darts in the dark; you may have a vague idea of where to throw, but it’s still a toss-up as to whether or not you’ll actually hit your target. If you are conducting marketing campaigns without measuring that campaign’s metrics, you are missing out on valuable insights that will tell you how to move forward with your future marketing efforts. Today, we will explore two metrics that are commonly misunderstood: Response rate and return on investment (ROI). Let’s take a look at why they matter, and how you can calculate them.

Response rate measures how many people responded to a marketing campaign. You can calculate this by dividing the number of responses by the total number of possible responses. For example, let’s say your company has conducted a direct mail campaign in which you sent 1,000 postcards, and you received 50 responses. Your response rate was 50/1000, or 5%.

Response rate is a very straightforward marketing metric, and because of this, many people like to rely on response rate as a benchmark for marketing success. Sometimes you’ll even hear people say that you must hit a certain response rate in order to have achieved success. Unfortunately, this can be a little misleading. An acceptable response rate varies from company to company, and from campaign to campaign.

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Email Marketing: A Balancing Act Between Images and Text7:00 am

By Melissa Cober

email marketing balancing act images text Email Marketing: A Balancing Act Between Images and TextImages are a great way to spruce up your email marketing; they make emails much more visually interesting than plain text, and often increase engagement metrics as a result. However, sometimes email marketers take this desire to design flashy emails too far, and end up turning the entire email into one big image. While these image-only emails may be very visually appealing, they also come with some big disadvantages that you may want to consider before jumping aboard the image-only email marketing train.

Why can too many images hurt your email marketing engagement? There are a few reasons for this. The main reason is that the majority of email providers initially block images for security purposes. This means that, when someone receives your email in their inbox, they will only see blank spaces where your images should be. They have to go through the trouble of enabling images for your email before they can view it properly. If all of your email content is contained within those images, then readers may not have any reason to enable images in the first place, since they don’t know what’s in it for them. This will decrease open rates and click-through rates on your email marketing.

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Digital Overload and the Power of Direct Mail Marketing7:00 am

By Melissa Cober

digital overload power direct mail marketing Digital Overload and the Power of Direct Mail MarketingHow many emails did you receive yesterday? Over 50? Over 100? As email marketing becomes more and more popular as a marketing medium, it is no secret that the number of emails filling up people’s inboxes is growing exponentially. Unfortunately, this is not a good sign for email marketers, because it means that every email has to overcome much more competition in order to get opened, let alone clicked on. We call this “Digital Overload”, and it severely limits the efficacy of email marketing efforts.

This concept of marketing overload is nothing new; it is a natural byproduct of any marketing technique increasing or decreasing in popularity. Direct mail has also seen its heyday in this respect. A couple of decades ago, when direct mail marketing was all the rage, we saw this same phenomenon: mailboxes were stuffed so full of promotional mail that the efficacy of each direct mail piece was significantly diminished.

As you may have guessed, this is why marketers are constantly trying to stay ahead of the game by discovering or inventing new marketing techniques before everyone else: They don’t want the efficacy of their marketing techniques to be diluted by a surge of popularity.

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3 Things Abraham Lincoln Can Teach Us About Building A Brand

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Finding New Customers for the New Year

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