Capturing your audience’s attention and driving them to take action can be a challenge. Email marketers constantly seek innovative ways to stand out in crowded inboxes and encourage recipients to engage with their messages. One effective strategy is a countdown timer to drive visitors to click on your CTA to create a sense of urgency and scarcity, motivating readers to act before time runs out. Here are some examples of events or offers that can benefit from using a countdown timer to create urgency: Coupon Expiration: When offering promotional codes or coupons, a countdown timer can be used ..read more

Many years ago, I was a product manager over the API of an enterprise marketing platform. I sought feedback from customer service, developers, sales, marketing… and most importantly… our customers. While many people utilized our UI for the tasks that we focused on, I was almost always stunned at how innovative customers incorporated some amazing features. Specific to email, here were a few discoveries: QR Codes: Utilizing substitution strings in image source URLs, I found that our customers had implemented their QR code libraries to display personalized, trackable coupons in email. Countdown ..read more

The marketing and advertising landscape has become more complex and saturated than ever before. Consumers are inundated with messages across many expanding media channels and types. In this environment, having a well-coordinated, omni-channel marketing strategy is critical for businesses to cut through the noise, effectively reach their target audiences, and drive meaningful results. There are several key reasons why a comprehensive marketing strategy is essential: Coordination and Consistency: With so many marketing channels and customer touchpoints, it’s vital that your messaging and brand ..read more

Artificial intelligence (AI), data, and automation increasingly drive marketing strategies; we must establish a framework for responsible marketing practices as marketing professionals. While there are tools that can be used for consumers and businesses to defend against the onslaught of autonomous, personalized, and targeted communications that are coming… irresponsible marketers will still have destructive potential with minimal investment that can deluge potential and current customers. As marketers, I feel strongly that we must also agree on bridging the gap between potential and current ..read more

Search engines have revolutionized the way we access information online. Search engines have become the internet’s gatekeepers by developing sophisticated algorithms that rank web pages based on relevance and popularity. As more people rely on these platforms for their information needs, search engine companies have capitalized on this traffic by introducing targeted advertising (PPC), effectively monetizing the content provided by others. As a content creator, it didn’t honestly bother me because I benefited directly and indirectly from Google monetizing my listings. It was an equitable trad ..read more

You have a lot of published content, and you want to develop a winning content distribution strategy to show it to the world and achieve positive results as efficiently as possible.  On the one hand, it’s never been so easy to engage with customers due to the large number of content distribution channels — search engines (SEO), email marketing, social media, text messaging (SMS), chat — you name it.  On the other hand, it’s never been so hard to engage with customers since more content distribution opportunities led to more challenges like information overload, high expectations abo ..read more

Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) have emerged as powerful tools for businesses to understand their customers better and drive personalized experiences. However, amidst the promises and buzzwords, lies and misconceptions often lurk. Let’s explore what you need to know about CDP vendors and why CDP projects often fall short.  Claim 1: Complete User Interaction Capture One common myth that CDP vendors perpetuate is the notion of complete user interaction capture. CDPs fall short when it comes to capturing long-term user behavior.   Because most CDPs rely on tagging, you likely suffer from dat ..read more

Consumers increasingly rely on voice search to find information, products, and services. With the rise of smart speakers and virtual assistants, businesses face the challenge of ensuring their presence on these platforms to reach their target audience effectively. Here are some startling statistics on voice search adoption: 50% of U.S. adults use voice search daily, and 75% use it weekly. 76% of individuals who use voice search weekly utilize it to discover local businesses. Over a billion voice searches occur monthly, expected to double this year. VocalSeek VocalSeek is a unified solution ..read more

A colleague of mine requested my assistance after he migrated a client’s WordPress site to a new host, and the email notifications from their Gravity Forms weren’t making it to the client’s inbox. Response times are critical to closing business nowadays, and if you don’t respond quickly, a competitor that does will likely get your business. A quick look and we found that the emails were not authenticated from the new host so their ISP was routing the emails to their SPAM folder. Sending emails from your WordPress website can often be frustrating and unreliable. Many businesses struggle with p ..read more

Teams often struggle to create clear, engaging documentation and training materials for complex software workflows. Traditional methods can be time-consuming and fail to convey the necessary information effectively. As a result, employees and customers may struggle to understand and adopt new processes, leading to frustration and reduced productivity. Guidde Guidde is a generative AI (GenAI) platform that empowers teams to create stunning video documentation up to 11 times faster than traditional methods. Businesses can quickly and easily produce high-quality, AI-generated how-to videos that ..read more