What Today’s Marketing Numbers Mean for Your B2B Business – Part 1: Email Marketing

Last week’s post featuring illuminating statistics from the NEDMA Marketing Technology Summit brought on a slew of questions: how do you turn today’s marketing numbers into actionable campaigns?

To help make internet marketing seem less daunting, this is the first of several posts in which we will explore a few ways to kick off your efforts while addressing the pressing needs of the online consumer.

Email: 294 billion emails are sent each day – 90% of email sent out every day is classified as spam

Many small B2B companies are making their foray into internet marketing by starting with email marketing. It’s proven to be an effective tactic acquiring continuing business, and can be a great way to inform current and prospective clients of company updates and new services.

But what’s the best way to utilize this medium (which you absolutely should) without being included in that 90% spam?

• The first step is to always comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, which means including opt-outs in every email and honoring each opt-out, avoiding deceptive subject lines or misleading header information, and using a credible third-party email service platform.
• Once your email is compliant, make sure you have a clean list of current and prospective clients with up-to-date email addresses. A high hard bounce rate is an indicator of spam email, and is often associated with email lists that are purchased instead of organically grown.

In terms of marketing and content your email should have:

• Valuable and relevant content, including links to articles, whitepapers, case studies, and other website pages
• A few appropriate images and graphics – too many become crowded and unrecognized by the browser
• Little scrolling and a clean layout
• Clear descriptions and calls-to-action to prompt click-through

RainCastle’s quarterly email newsletter is separated
into sections featuring different content including articles, blog posts,
whitepapers, and case studies

This welcome email from Living Social
has a prominent unsubscribe button,
clear call-to-action for a featured deal,
and contact information 

Bing’s email newsletter also has a clear
format, valuable content, a mobile version,
and social media integration

Stay tuned for the next post, in which we’ll address enlightening social media statistics and what you can do for your business.