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Email Newsletters in the Age of Twitter
Our most recent survey asked SMB marketers how effective their email newsletters are in the "always on" era of Twitter, blogs, forums and social networks. The net: email newsletters continue to work well.
Out of 36 respondents, 21 (58%) currently have an email newsletter for small and medium businesses. Here’s their take:
- Performance is on target. 53% of respondents rate their newsletters as performing on or above overall goals. 48% say their newsletter performance is improving slowly, and 38% report no change in performance – in other words, roughly nine out of 10 newsletters are holding steady or improving, even as social networking dominates the B2B press.
- Well perceived. 48% of respondents say that their email newsletter program has become seen within their company as more important in the past year or two; another 48% report its perception is unchanged. Only 5% of respondents say their newsletter is seen as less important.
- Strong by comparison. When all survey respondents were asked to rate the performance of a variety of online marketing tactics, email newsletters ranked fifth out of 13 options. 74% of respondents rated newsletters as somewhat or very effective, compared to banner ads (80%), SEO (78%), educational resource centers (76%) and SEM (75%). LinkedIn and YouTube were least effective, both 24%.
Email us for the full survey results – including newsletter program goals, frequency and delivery timing, promotion tactics, metrics, format changes, open and clickthrough rates and content criteria. Contact us to learn how we can help you engage effectively with SMBs via an email newsletter program.
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>> NBC and AmEx Shine A Light
NBC Universal and American Express launched " Shine A Light," which enables individuals to nominate and vote for the small business that most inspires them. Judges include Ellen DeGeneres, Diane von Furstenberg and JJ Ramberg; the winner will receive $100,000 in grant and marketing support.
>> Intuit Sponsors "Love" Promotion
Intuit's "Love a Local Business" campaign lets individuals enter their favorite local business into a drawing for a $1,000 Intuit Growth Grant. 30 winners will each receive a $500 Visa gift card and $500 in Intuit services.
>> Administaff Announces $100,000 Sweeps
Administaff launched an "Enhance Your State of Business" sweepstakes, with a $100,000 grand prize. Entrants explore an interactive site with information on Administaff services and answer questions to qualify.
>> FedEx Launches Offbeat Campaign
FedEx introduced "1-2-3 Succeed," a series of three-minute infomercial parodies featuring actor Fred Willard. The videos are available on the FedEx site, YouTube, Hulu and other comedy video sites.
>> Cisco Sponsors Contest
Cisco launched a "What Happens When Your Network Goes Down" contest on Facebook. Entrants submit a story on what happens when their network goes down; one winner for each of four weeks will receive a Flip video camera.
>> Social Networking Site Postling Debuts
Postling, a centralized platform for small businesses to blog, share photos and post to social networks, launched this summer.
>> Egnyte Receives $6m Series A
Egnyte, which offers a variety of cloud services for small businesses, received a $6 million Series A from Polaris Venture Partners and Maples Investments. It reports 15% month-over-month growth in the past six months.
Send us your news.
>> Administaff: 58% of small businesses see economic recovery in 2010; 14% by the end of this year.
>> Principal: 66% of small business owner have no exit plan. Health insurance is a top concern, but 58% do not offer it.
>> NFIB: Downtrend in optimism, hiring plans, prices and earnings; inventories at record lows.
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MarketingSherpa B2B Demand Generation Summit
BBI CEO Stu Richards will present in San Francisco on September 24th and in Waltham, MA, on October 6th on enhancing relationships with SMBs via email newsletters.
New England Direct Marketing Association
Stu Richards will present on October 14th in Waltham, MA, on engaging SMBs online.
Small Business Banking Conference
Stu Richards will present on October 19th in Chicago on best practices in marketing online to small businesses.
Understanding Club Shoppers
For a major technology manufacturer, BBI surveyed warehouse club members and non-members to determine the market potential for a new concept. Contact us to discuss how BBI can provide unique and actionable market insight to support market segmentation, product development or marketing program assessment.
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