With all the buzz about artificial intelligence, email marketers need to have a plan for adding AI tools to their marketing mix. For most of us, it's not quite that easy. As with big data and content marketing, there is a lot of thought and planning required before you are ready to add AI to your email marketing. Here are four steps to help you get ready:

It's quite all right to be a lifelong email marketer, since demand is certainly high. Many, however, want to leverage their skills to advance down a different path. If you're an all-knowing specialist/generalist in email marketing, here are ideas on where you can take your career next:

I believe the world will change and all messaging will become intelligent, adapting to behaviors observed and expressed, controlled by consumer preference versus Pavlovian style promotional windows. I also believe the world will become more transactional in nature (think interaction management versus promotional messaging).

Now that we're deep into the NBA playoffs (that's basketball, for non-fans), it's time to roll out an idea I've been bouncing around. Data geeks and analytics have become as important to basketball strategy as instinct and deep understanding of the game and players. It's the same "Moneyball"-style phenomenon that reshaped baseball strategy, and it can guide your email marketing decision-making.

How convenient would it be to have a focus group available to you whenever you had a burning question on the direction you should go with your marketing efforts? I have good news for you. You already have it! Every interaction with your consumer is a chance to learn and apply the results to pivot in a different direction.

The other day, a friend sent an email saying she had declared email bankruptcy. With one mighty click and a mass email explanation, she accomplished the unthinkable: deleting all messages in order to begin anew at inbox zero. The irony wasn't lost on my overcrowded inbox, but when I received her message, the email marketer inside of me gulped. How many relevant offers - offers my friend actually wanted to engage with - had just been obliterated?

Getting into the inbox has become more challenging than ever at Gmail. Many email marketers have seen their inbox placement rates fall over the last few quarters at this important mailbox provider. The general consensus about how Gmail makes inbox placement decisions is "engagement," in addition to more traditional reputation.

You need to proactively try to prevent problems that could develop into a brand embarrassment, potentially causing revenue loss and increased customer attrition. Here are four audit practices to perform on your email program on a quarterly or biannual basis.

Last week at a conference, a marketer asked, "How do I get started with email marketing in my new role?" That's a great question. Every time you start a new job, you need to figure out once again how to proceed with email. The details will be different depending on the industry you are in and how advanced your new company is.

Forrester Research says intelligent agents (cognitive marketing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, chatbots, etc.) will eliminate 6% of U.S. jobs by 2021. But machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are already making inroads in marketing areas usually reserved for humans. Is it time to push the panic button? Will marketer jobs as we know them today become obsolete in five, 10 or 15 years?