Jordan Ayan

Articles by Jordan All articles by Jordan

• Kris Kringle, Marketing Guru in Email Insider on 12/23/2009
  

  It's common for words like "expert" and "guru" to get tossed around in marketing circles, typically reserved for only the brightest of thought leaders. But we should all know by now that even the most successful marketers are forced to bow at the altar of the world's ultimate marketing guru -- Santa Claus.

  Now, granted, being Santa Claus does offer some inherent advantages -- such as flying reindeer access -- that your average marketer can't compete with. But the key to Santa's success (with all due respect to Mrs. Claus) is an adherence to best practices any successful email marketer would do well to emulate

• An Unconventional Approach Can Make A Lot Of Sense  in Email Insider on 11/25/2009
  

  Watching football on Thanksgiving has become part of the American tradition, but you might notice something nontraditional during the games this year that you can relate to your email program. Over the past couple of seasons, an unconventional offensive formation known as "the Wildcat" has spread throughout the NFL. Taking a conventional approach to your email marketing might seem a safer bet than trying new things, but an "unconventional" approach might not seem so risky if it's born of the same sound reasoning as the Wildcat formation.

• Get The Holiday Clock Ticking Well Before It Gains An Hour in Email Insider on 10/28/2009
  

  The holiday season is unique in that -- despite occurring at the same time each year -- it routinely catches many by surprise. Marketers are as guilty as anyone of falling victim to this phenomenon, cruising through the year until desk calendars start to shrink and someone in the office inevitably lets out a sigh and says, "I can't believe it's November." Translation: "We let it happen again."

• Five Questions To Consider Before Taking A New Technology Plunge in Email Insider on 09/30/2009
  

  Marketers know their audience and products better than anyone, and it should go without saying that what works for one company may not work for another. Here are five questions to consider before taking the plunge with any new email marketing technology.

• Smart Marketers Make Dense Emails in Email Insider on 09/02/2009
  

  Many email marketers usually assume that they have a small window of opportunity to communicate with recipients, but it isn't necessarily an all-or-nothing or -- or an open-or-delete -- proposition. Cheap storage, along with organizational tools such as filters, folders make it easier than ever for subscribers to keep their inboxes orderly without simply hitting the delete key. If recipients hold onto your old messages, they likely hold onto other marketing messages too. If messages from your competitors are also being saved, it only makes sense to optimize your messages with keywords specific to your industry as well as your products and services to make sure your message will show up in related searches.

• Eliminating Bruised Toes In An Organizational Email Program  in Email Insider on 08/05/2009
  

  In some organizations, the email marketing "department" still consists of one lonely soul pushing all the buttons. However, other organizations have embraced email to the point that the email marketing program is run by a team of staff members. Each situation creates a unique issue: overreliance on an individual in the first instance, and a greater chance for human error in the second.

• To Err Is Human; Sending An Email To Correct It, Questionable in Email Insider on 07/08/2009
  

  Most email marketers have at least one horror story of an email that managed to slip through their gauntlet of tests and get deployed with some sort of error. This can be especially disheartening after a concentrated effort has been made to adhere to best practices, but it's important to assess the situation rationally once the error has been discovered. In some cases, all is not lost; other times, an apology may be in order.

• Mass Retailers Need To Lose The Mass Mindset in Email Insider on 06/10/2009
  

  With email, it is easy to get stuck in a rut and send a message that lacks anything that will interest the majority of your readers. Every once in a while, it is worth stepping back, looking at your messages and asking the question, is this message boring?

• It's Time to Ignore The Law  in Email Insider on 05/13/2009
  

  A bill was introduced in the Canadian Parliament at the end of April titled the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA). This new legislation is the Canadian government's attempt at stemming the tide of unsolicited messages. If you typically send true opt-in messages, you are in good shape. However, if you read the bill in its entirety, it casts light on a shade of gray that many in the email world have used to opt someone into their list who -- from the perspective of the recipient -- did not want to be included. The ECPA raises the question of what a pre-existing relationship is, and when is it okay to communicate with an individual with whom you have a pre-existing relationship?

• Don't Let Your 'Children' Run Amok in Email Insider on 04/15/2009
  

  Most of us have been in a nice restaurant, maybe at a romantic dinner, where a parent fails to control the actions of a child who is running around like a banshee. In many organizations, organizational "children" are running free when it comes to email, and their parents aren't paying any attention, or have no idea how to control them. Unfortunately, the damage and pain these rowdy "kids" cause can be massive and expensive. These "children" are divisions, salesmen, distributors, franchisees, etc., (which for the purposes of this article, I will refer to as field organizations) that send email campaigns with little control or input from the parent organization.

Comments by Jordan All comments by Jordan

• Mass Retailers Need To Lose The Mass Mindset by Jordan Ayan (Email Insider on 06/10/2009)
  

  To answer Pete's question as to why I don't unsub - easy, I'm in the email business, and want to see what everyone is doing - plus it gives me ideas for columns. - Jordan

• Make Time For Creativity by Jordan Ayan (Email Insider on 02/18/2009)
  

  Rob Earl - Not sure what you mean when you state "Great value? You're kidding, right? "

• Earning Our Keep -- From Opt-in to Unsubscribe by Stephanie Miller (Email Insider on 11/26/2008)
  

  Stephanie, great article. The problem too often is that many marketers think "of course they will want to get this from me," and forget that email is a private communication channel where permission is granted but trust must be earned. If I granted you permission, but don't trust you any more because you have abused the relationship (by sending me stuff that matters to you and not to me), you have ruined a very good thing for both of us. The marketer ultimately loses the most because the recipient has total control the relationship. I love the title of the white paper.

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