Wednesday, 31 January 2018
Tuesday, 30 January 2018
10 FREE Valentine’s Day GIFs Your Subscribers Will Love
Time to get all mushy: Our readers and subscribers are the absolute best.
To show our appreciation this Valentine’s Day, we wanted to send you each a dozen red roses and a lobster dinner — but, according to our finance department, that would put us out of business. So, instead, we had our amazing designers create a bunch of super-fun GIFs to put on your site or in your emails.
Check them out below, download your favorites, and then pass on the love to your own readers and subscribers.
Not an AWeber customer yet? You're missing out! Create your free account right now!Download Your GIFs
Step 1: Find the animated GIF below that you want to use in your email.
Step 2: Save it to your computer by either right clicking the image and selecting “Save Image,” or by dragging the image to your desktop.
Step 3: Upload the image into your email template.
… And that’s it!
1. Falling Hearts
2. Love Ya
3. Happy Valentine's Day/Heart Day
4. Cutest Valentines
5. Hugs
6. Love Fireworks
7. Full of Love
8. Heart so Full
9. Pop Hearts
10. Be True
Show your appreciation year round
Want to show your love for your customers the other 364 days of the year? Here are some clever ways to deliver awesome experiences.
1. Send personalized notes.
Have you ever received a tweet from your favorite company? Or a lightning-fast response from tech support when you’re having an issue? It feels good to be acknowledged, doesn’t it?
Do the same for your customers and send a bunch of individualized emails. You can say “thank you for your business” to a new or interesting customer. You can send a quick note of thanks to your subscribers who gave your product, service, or program great reviews. Or maybe you can send followup emails to the ones who didn’t gave you good reviews — and ask what you can do better.
Include your contact info and tell them to get in touch with you if they ever have any questions.
2. Deliver seasonal content.
Get creative and think outside the traditional holiday seasons. For example, if you’re a coffee shop owner, you could send your subscribers a special coupon that they can use for a pick-me-up during tax season.
3. Reward your customers.
First-time customers could use a push to buy again and return customers deserve to be recognized. Give them a little something — like free shipping on their next order, a free consultation, or a downloadable resource that can help them make a buying decision.
4. Turn your 404 page into an opportunity.
A 404 doesn’t have to be a dead end. Instead, use it as a chance to delight.
One quick example: If you stumble upon a 404 page on the site Flooring Supplies — the UK’s largest online flooring company — it says “Floor…Oh … Floor!” Here are some more awesome 404 ideas.
5. Respond to questions and comments.
Join in on your customers’ conversation. Forums, Twitter chats, and your own social profiles are great places to start. When someone gives you a digital shoutout, respond! It’s a fantastic way to retain customers and maintain stellar customer service.
If a customer has an issue, give them your undivided attention. By simply listening and working with them to solve it, you can turn a negative situation into a position one. Check out these ideas for turning customers into raving fans.
Have more ideas for delighting your customers? Tell us in the comments!The post 10 FREE Valentine’s Day GIFs Your Subscribers Will Love appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.
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Monday, 29 January 2018
Sorry Snapchat, it’s time to say goodbye
I’ve been a Snapchat power user for the past four years. But, because Instagram has won my heart, I’m saying goodbye to the little ghost taking up 460 MB on my phone. I first heard of Snapchat’s controversial disappearing messages back in December 2013. I was skeptical of the concept, but at the same time, intrigued. So naturally, I went to the App Store and downloaded the app. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but because of its billing as the “next big thing,” I still had high expectations. When I opened the obnoxiously yellow, mysterious app for the first…
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Friday, 26 January 2018
Alyssa Milano plans online protest for Trump’s State of The Union
Alyssa Milano is at it again. She’s staging an online protest, in the form of digital counter-programming, during President Donald Trump’s State of The Union speech next week. The revolution will not be televised: it’ll be tweeted. Dubbed #StateOfTheDream, the movement continues Milano’s digital activism as part of what she, and many others, refer to as “the resistance.” This peaceful protest will occur online, across most popular social media platforms, at 6:00PM PST / 9PM EST, on the 30th, during the president’s speech. Please join us! Resist and persist with digital counter-programming to Trump’s #SOTU! Check out and share this google doc…
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Why Collaboration Has Replaced Competition in the Agency World
I’ve seen many changes in the agency world since the mid ’90s. There was a time when an agency would take on any project–whether or not they had the capability to, in order to win business. Clients would orchestrate a game of creative war by telling us which agencies we were competing against. Account and creative teams would work through the night while the CFO would pour over financials, disclosing everything but her shoe size.
The end goal? To secure a massive request for proposal (RFP) with the most clever, over-the-top pitch.
As social media and content marketing shifted from buzzwords to business strategies, brands began to sit-up and take notice. It was around this time that Forbes declared that the traditional RFP was an archaic exercise in wasted time. And while this statement might have been premature, the business publication was on to something.
Today marketers focus less on expensive, elaborate ‘dog and pony shows’ and more on finding ways to create deeper relationships with their customers. This takes authenticity and transparency on the part of brands and their agencies. The modern strategies that have transformed traditional marketing best-practices and democratized business have made it more affordable and accessible for organizations of all shapes and sizes to reach, engage and convert new audiences. As agencies, we don’t need to be experts in every discipline. What we need to do is think and work smarter and more collaboratively.
When two great talents join forces, incredible things can happen. Steven Spielberg and John Williams created iconic moments in movie history from “Jaws” to “Jurassic Park.” When The Atlantic and Allstate partnered to create The Renewal Project, both teams were able to advance social good and contribute to civic innovation. St. Louis-based agency Second Story was born from this type of thinking. It takes a mindset shift from ‘what can I gain?’ to ‘what can we offer?’ And that requires setting ego up on a shelf and focusing on what’s best for a client.
That said, working with other agencies isn’t always easy. After all, ego is part of what drives creative personalities to do their best work. It can be difficult to make decisions and determine things like billing structure and workflow.
At Second Story, we’ve found that following six guiding principles can ease the process.
Identify a Clear Lead
Agencies are used to managing clients, creating workflows and leading client meetings and conference calls. With more than one agency in the picture, the workflow can become muddled. Who’s in charge of this project, anyway? If you’ve put the program together, you’re the lead. That doesn’t mean you have better account management skills than your partner agency, it just means someone has to be a clear lead on the project so that the client knows who’s in charge and how the work will be completed.
Stay in control by setting up a weekly touch base meeting and creating a timetable that includes each task, its due date and who is responsible. Be sure to let your partner agency weigh in, especially on the tasks where they are the experts. But all admin documents and meeting invites should come from you.
Focus on Expertise
Maybe you’ve landed a healthcare client because of your content marketing expertise, but you know a local agency that specializes in the healthcare industry. You don’t have to turn over your business, but hiring them on as a consultant for the project will only serve to make the end result more effective. Modern clients appreciate and reward transparency so don’t be afraid to let them know you’re pulling in another source. Plus, any agency you partner with will likely hire you in return for your expertise.
Be Respectful
Second Story is routinely given direct contact with other agencies’ clients in order to work for them. That’s because we’ve worked to earn our partner agencies’ trust. You can do the same by:
- Always speaking with their brand voice in mind.
- Putting your relationship with the partner agency above any potential relationship with the client company.
- Working through your agency contact for approvals and communication until and unless you are given access directly to their clients.
We’re proud of all the work we do, including projects through our partner agencies. But we also want to respect the privacy of those agencies, so rather than creating case studies that delve into the specifics of each project, we simply created one case study that shows the client logos and explains why we don’t share the details. You can check it out here.
Level Set Client Expectations
We’ve had our clients’ clients ask us about working directly with them. Each time, we are 100% transparent and clear. We will not compete directly with our agency clients. If they design websites, we will not design websites unless asked by our client to do so. However, we have had client companies ask about services outside of their agency’s area of expertise. In this case, reach out to your client to let them know and ask their permission to provide their client with information.
Understand & Communicate What Sets Your Agency Apart
Every agency started with a specific type of expertise. Maybe yours is design, maybe it’s content creation, digital advertising or social media management. Maybe it’s your experience working within a niche industry or vertical. Your agency doesn’t have to do it all. You just have to do one thing really well. Set yourself apart from other agencies with that distinction and you’ll be the name they remember for that service.
Pitch Clients As a Team
Partnering with another agency that has a different specialty than your own can increase your chances of gaining new business. Rather than competing for the same client business, pool your resources to pitch together and work as a team to bring them on board—and provide twice the service and expertise than you could alone.
The proliferation of content has made today’s business culture much more transparent and kindness and kudos are an important part of social media culture. The combination has created a business environment that isn’t afraid to complement (and compliment) rather than compete.
There’s room for all agencies and each one brings something unique to the table. When we work together, our clients get the best of everything and they’ll continue to come back for more.
This post Why Collaboration Has Replaced Competition in the Agency World originally appeared on Sprout Social.
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Thursday, 25 January 2018
How Twitter has shaped the Oman monarchy’s relationship with its citizens
Research conducted by the Dubai School of Government into the Arab Spring of 2010-11 found that mass protests on the ground were often preceded by revolutionary conversations online, and that social media such as Twitter played a central role in shaping the political events. Having studied changes in internet traffic and social media use, they concluded that social media during the Arab Spring played a critical role in “mobilisation, empowerment, shaping opinions, and influencing change”. In some cases, such as in Dubai, the government used social media to engage citizens and encourage participation in institutional rather than revolutionary change. In…
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Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Why This Art Director Is Ditching Design for Text-Only Emails
Sometimes the stripped-down version works best. Like the acoustic version of your favorite song. Or the Instagram photo with zero filters. Or the film without the 3D effects.
But can the same be said about email design?
In this episode of "Win at Email Design," I discuss the pros and cons of stripping away images, GIFs, colors, header images, footers, logos, navigations, social icons, buttons, and columns. When all of those elements are deleted from a template, can you still even call it design? Can the email do as good a job of communicating as a heavily-designed email?
Not all text-only emails are created equal, either. I lay out some simple rules — like proper text size, alignment, hyperlinking, and word count — that you should still follow.
Watch the video above, and then let me know your thoughts in the comments below: text-only emails or heavily-designed emails?For more AWeber "Win at Email Design" episodes with yours truly, check out my YouTube page. There, you’ll find tips on how to create a compelling welcome email and ways to rock a newsletter design.
And if you’re not sure what to write in your emails? Download these 45+ FREE writing templates. Learn how to craft the perfect message or just fill in the blanks!
The post Why This Art Director Is Ditching Design for Text-Only Emails appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.
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Tuesday, 23 January 2018
University of Michigan happiness study may have found the sweet spot for screen-obsessed teens
From the 1990s onward, teens in the United States benefited from a steady ascent in adolescent happiness levels. As indicators like life satisfaction and self-esteem reached new highs, few knew that two decades later it would all come crumbling down. 2012 was an important year. For the first time since its debut in 1992, the smartphone crossed the 50 percent threshold. Just five years after Steve Jobs first unveiled the iPhone, smartphones wedged their way into each our daily lives, becoming a pervasive device that began to eat away at the time it once saved. 2012’s importance didn’t end there.…
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Monday, 22 January 2018
Rupert Murdoch’s crazy idea to fix Facebook might just work
Media mogul and longtime internet adversary Rupert Murdoch today released a statement calling on Facebook to begin paying trusted publishers. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. The memo calls on Facebook to begin paying a carriage fee, much like the model used by cable companies for networks like CNN and ESPN. “Trusted” publishers would receive a take of overall revenue in exchange for increasing user trust on the platform. Facebook and Google have popularized scurrilous news sources through algorithms that are profitable for these platforms but inherently unreliable. Recognition of a problem is one step on the…
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A Reddit mattress conspiracy theory got even weirder after top comment got deleted
A comment about mattress stores on the Reddit thread “What conspiracy theory do you 100% buy into and why?” recently received over 41k upvotes and sparked hundreds of responses in a matter of hours. And then it was mysteriously deleted. It’s tinfoil hat time. The Redditor — whose name we’re omitting just in case they’re currently on the run — theorized that popular retailer Mattress Firm was engaged in a money laundering scheme. The reasoning? Where the poster lives there are numerous stores within a couple city blocks of one another. And then came the replies. One poster stated “Surprise!…
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I hate you Goodreads. I really, really hate you
This is a cautionary tale, and one that could have been much worse. I’m an avid reader. You can often catch me, Kindle Paperwhite in hand, admiring prose from authors like Truman Capote, or Googling how much LSD it takes to actually kill a man after reading Hunter S. Thompson. On any given weekend, I might be in the mood to read poetry by Maya Angelou or perhaps dream of throwing away all my worldly possessions and moving to a cabin in the woods a la Henry David Thoreau. These were masters of their craft, and I enjoy being transported into their world,…
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Saturday, 20 January 2018
Friday, 19 January 2018
Apple CEO becomes latest tech bigwig to warn of social media’s dangers
Apple CEO Tim Cook is the latest in a series of tech entrepreneurs and c-level executives to warn of the potential risks of social media. Speaking in the UK on Friday, Cook said: I don’t have a kid, but I have a nephew that I put some boundaries on. There are some things that I won’t allow; I don’t want them on a social network. He didn’t stop at social media. Cook also said he didn’t believe in the idea that the best technologies are those we become obsessed with. “I don’t believe in overuse [of technology]. I’m not a…
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‘Bloggergate’ fiasco leads Dublin hotel to ban bloggers in the most hilarious way possible
An Irish hotel has banned bloggers and other influencers after a 22-year-old YouTuber broke down in tears when she was refused free accomodation. Elle Darby, a UK-based social media influencer first emailed Charleville Lodge in Dublin to seek a tit for tat arrangement seeking a free five night accommodation in exchange for bringing attention to the boutique hotel. She touted her 87,000 YouTube subscribers and 76,000 Instagram followers before continuing: My partner and I are planning to come to Dublin for an early Valentine’s Day weekend from Feb 8th to 12th to explore the area. As I was searching for…
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#SproutChat Recap: The Basics of SEO
When it comes to professional development it’s key to explore the various aspects of marketing, outside of your daily duties. SEO, for example, can play a significant role in your social media strategy. Having baseline knowledge of this field can come in handy for you and your professional growth.
In this week’s #SproutChat, Dominique Jackson, Sprout Social’s SEO Strategist, joined us to discuss some common misconceptions about SEO and how to improve your inbound marketing strategies using SEO tactics.
Change Doesn’t Happen Overnight
It’s common for folks to expect immediate change when implementing adjustments to strategy. However, this isn’t the reality. Find out some SEO myths that participants shared with the community.
A1: One big misconception is that SEO is all about stuffing your pages with as many keywords as possible. Google’s algorithm is a lot smarter than it was in 2012. #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 17, 2018
A1: Marketers need to focus on creating content that solves the problems of their audience/customers. Some of the most successful content creators out there don’t know anything about SEO and keywords, but they know their audience. #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 17, 2018
A1: One of the biggest misconceptions about SEO is that it can happen overnight. It takes time. #SproutChat pic.twitter.com/XWJ3ZEUD7l
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) January 17, 2018
A1 that keywords are more important than content #sproutchat
— Toby Metcalf (@Toby_Metcalf) January 17, 2018
A1: A lot of people seem to think SEO is set it, and forget it.
It's a constant processes of measurements, trial/error, and tweaking.#SproutChat— Jeff Higgins Loves The Smell Of Bath & Body Works (@ItsJeffHiggins) January 17, 2018
A1: in my experience with clients, they tend to think SEO will give them immediate results. I always have to make the point that SEO is a gradual and slow build that will pay off in due time. #SproutChat https://t.co/liGYT5Xhs2
— the unburnt (@alaw312) January 17, 2018
A1: that just knowing SEO is going to solve all your problems. Or making minor SEO tweaks without rationale/goals implemented. #SproutChat pic.twitter.com/pdvwMBHroe
— Julie Lichtenberg (@jalichtenberg) January 17, 2018
A1
Misconceptions about SEO:
❌That it's a thing you do, once, and forget about it
❌That anyone, at any skill level, can do it *well*
❌That there's only one "right" way to do it
❌That it's only relevant when you're building a site or writing a post#SproutChat— comfortwriter 📱🤓📝 (@ComfortWriter) January 17, 2018
A Little Research Goes a Long Way
When brainstorming new content ideas, take the time to do keyword research and see what keywords resonate with your audience or the audience you’re trying to target. Knowing this information can help you in the long run as these small moves tend to have big impact overtime, particularly with higher rankings in searches.
A2: Spending a little time doing keyword research is super helpful for content creation. Learning how your target audience searches can give you endless content ideas that your audience actually wants to read. @semrush is a great tool for keyword research. #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 17, 2018
Q2: It helps you keep your focused – keep your eye on the prize providing what's most relevant for the reader, avoiding what might just be cutsey. #sproutchat
— heinrich (@heinrichmktg) January 17, 2018
A2: When we brainstorm content, we think of a topic and then ask, "What keyword do we want to target with this?" Then we research the keyword and determine if it's feasible to rank for it. If not, we ask, what other angle can we take on this? #SproutChat
— Olive & Company (@oliveandco) January 17, 2018
A2: By optimizing your content for search, you can ensure that more people will find it and engage with your brand. #sproutchat
— Val Vesa | Social Media & Travel Photography (@adspedia) January 17, 2018
A2 Study trends and let it guide your strategy…
What's already working and why?
Which keywords, links, content is driving action?
How can you extend all of this?#sproutchat— Carolina (@YoursTrulyCaro) January 17, 2018
A2: Focus on creating quality content instead of a lot of content. Then make sure you are distributing it on the social channels most suitable to your target audience. #SproutChat https://t.co/mKPhb5sq6M
— Simply Measured (@simplymeasured) January 17, 2018
Build Relationships
Getting inbound links back to your site is likely part of your current overall marketing strategy, but one thing to consider shifting focus toward is building relationships. Befriend other content creators and ask them to include links back to your site, when applicable, and reciprocate as much as possible.
A3. Two biggest things are (1) Create resourceful content that people actually want to link to. (2) Build relationships with other content creators that can potentially link to you. #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 17, 2018
A3. Also, when you’re building relationships, start by bringing value to the other person. If the first time they hear from you is when you beg them for a link, it looks a lot like SPAM. #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 17, 2018
A3: Grinding hard on link building & pitching. Make sure you have something to offer in the form of reach & conversions. #SproutChat https://t.co/fCm1HShIVs
— the unburnt (@alaw312) January 17, 2018
A3 #SproutChat : Making sure content is linking to the appropriate landing page, not always just your general homepage.
— Jenny S. West (@jennyswest) January 17, 2018
A3 Like always: high quality content, guest blogging, check for broken links.. #SproutChat
— meks (@meksHQ) January 17, 2018
A3: This is tricky. One-to-one relationship building works best here. Starting with the inner circle (i.e. customers, partners) and then moving toward building relationships with thought leaders and influencers that target similar keywords #sproutchat
— LookBookHQ (@lookbookhq) January 17, 2018
Keep Social Content Consistent
Providing the most up to date information on your social pages and posting consistently will keep your feed fresh, as well as ensure that your content will be included in searches.
A4 (1): The two major social networks you should try to index content from are Pinterest and YouTube (Medium too if you’re counting that). For Pinterest, it’s important to optimize your boards. @neilpatel has a great guide here: https://t.co/94zoYIAYQD #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 17, 2018
A4 (2): For YouTube, educational/how-to videos tend to perform really well in Google. Think of the questions and problems your audience/target customer has and create videos that address them. #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 17, 2018
A4 Yep. Search engines index social media posts. So while you won't have the same focus on keywords or ranking, you can post on consistent topics e.g. tech/science, & optimise your profile. Stimulate discussion – replies will probably contain relevant keywords, too. #SproutChat
— comfortwriter 📱🤓📝 (@ComfortWriter) January 17, 2018
A4: Yes search engines index pages and posts. Be sure to keep your content fresh and populated on your social media platforms. Don't be on a platform that you can't contribute to regularly. #SproutChat
— Netvantage Marketing (@netvantage) January 17, 2018
A4 Sure do! Twitter, Google+ are a go/to sm channels to use in that matter #SproutChat
— meks (@meksHQ) January 17, 2018
A4: Yes! There are many ways to do this. One way is to put a HTML tag on your social content (like a description for articles or alt-text for images/pictures) that tells search engines exactly what your content is about. #SproutChat https://t.co/ME3nZJmSeS
— Simply Measured (@simplymeasured) January 17, 2018
Put Those Skills to Work
If you’re focusing on personal branding and trying to get the word out about your expertise, start writing content and pushing it live on platforms like WordPress or Medium. Remain consistent in your work and remember that change doesn’t happen overnight but the more you produce and engage, the more relationships you’ll build and the more improvements you’ll see.
A6 (1): Make a site with WordPress or use Medium, to create content showcasing your expertise in your field. As it starts to rank in search engines, you’ll build traffic and grow your personal brand. #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 17, 2018
A6 (2): My personal blog helped me get clients as a freelancer, and even land my job here at Sprout! I’ve received plenty of emails from people wanting to work with me that start with “I found your article about XYZ, and….” #SproutChat
— Dominique Jackson (@djthewriter) January 17, 2018
A6 competition research, see their soft spots, upgrade yours, compete with better content and know how’s. Use the results to optimize yourself better #SproutChat
— meks (@meksHQ) January 17, 2018
A6: Potentially unpopular answer here, but I hardly even think about it. My personal brand exists for reasons far different than my clients' brands; on my own site/blog, I just talk about what I want to talk about/am interested in/am good at, and the viewership comes! (1/2)
— Olive & Company (@oliveandco) January 17, 2018
A6: SEO is perhaps the most valuable channel in your personal branding because it is earned. Mold & optimize your personal brand to the career & positions you line up with perfectly. #SproutChat https://t.co/Gwk8q1fN3u
— the unburnt (@alaw312) January 17, 2018
A6 If you're trying to branch out into starting your own business or freelance full-time, this is just one more way people can find you. #SproutChat
— Cristy (@lacristysalinas) January 17, 2018
#SproutChat will be on break next Wednesday, Jan. 24, as we’ll be tuning in to Sprout Sessions and continuing the conversation on social. In the meantime, be sure to join our Facebook community so you can connect with other folks in the industry.
This post #SproutChat Recap: The Basics of SEO originally appeared on Sprout Social.
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Thursday, 18 January 2018
5 Email Marketing Trends You Can’t Afford to Ignore in 2018
1. Hyper-segmented email automation
In 2018, a single automation series won’t be enough. As inboxes flood with more and more emails, you must be different to stand out. Hyper-segmented automation, when you create custom automation series for subscribers with different needs, interests, or characteristics, will play a big part in this. The more segmented and targeted your automation, the more it’ll resonate with subscribers. This leads to higher open and click-through rates. In fact, targeted emails can drive up to 77 percent of your overall email ROI, according to the Direct Marketing Association. One way to hyper-segment your audience? Allow subscribers to choose the type of content they receive. This is called self-selected email automation and it can skyrocket email engagement and sales. By making subscribers the decision makers, you’re taking permission marketing to a whole new level. Seth Godin coined this concept in his best-selling book Permission Marketing. Godin says that permission marketing is “the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.” With subscriber-selected automation, you can be 100% certain your subscriber wants your message. After all, they chose it. Here's an example of how a company might use self-selected automation to segment their automation. Tasty Treats, a fake bakery I invented for this example, has a food blog where they share gluten-free recipes and recipes with gluten. They also sell gluten-free cookbooks and cookbooks with recipes that contain gluten. When a subscriber first signs up, Tasty Treats sends this welcome email to find out if their new subscriber is gluten-free or not: 
Once a subscriber clicks on one of the purple buttons, they are tagged with either "gluten-free" or "not gluten-free." Tasty Treats then uses an email marketing platform — like AWeber — to automatically send an email based on the tag their subscriber has. (AWeber's Click Automations can help you do this!) If they have a "gluten-free" tag, they automatically receive this email one day after their welcome email: 
By giving subscribers the ability to segment themselves, Tasty Treats can send their audience more relevant content and increase sales by promoting more relevant products. This example is a simple one, but you can apply this same concept to send hyper-segmented automation series. Truity, a company that offers online personality and career tests, does just that. Using AWeber’s Click and Open Automations, Truity created custom automation series for each of the 16 personality types their subscribers might have. In the second email of their first automation series, Truity asks people to tell them their personality type by clicking the link that matches their type. Then, they are automatically added to the customized personality series which aligns with their choice. 
By hyper-segmenting their automation in this way, Truity can send emails series dedicated to the 16 different personality types. It's perfectly tailored to an individual. This increases subscriber engagement and better serves their audience. Want to create hyper-segmented automation with AWeber's Click Automations? Try AWeber free for 30 days.
2. Text only emails
While beautiful, image-heavy emails (like the Godiva email below) remain popular with huge retail brands, small businesses will continue to adopt simple, text-only emails in 2018. 
Text-only emails, although they may be less eye catching for subscribers, are popular among entrepreneurs and small businesses and will continue to be. For two reasons:
- They feel more like a personal message and less like an advertisement. People tend to put up their guard when they think marketers are selling them something. Text-only emails, since they look like the messages you receive from friends, family, and coworkers, seem less like marketing and more like a conversation.
- They’re easy to create. For text-only emails, all you need is written content. No more scouring the internet for free stock images or fidgeting with a clunky email template. Simply type your content and send. For time-strapped businesses, this simplicity is attractive.
< Personalization
People love content when it speaks to them directly. That’s why email personalization is so effective and will continue to play a massive role in 2018. Personalization can take many forms. It can be simple, like this example found in Weekly Coffee, a productivity newsletter created by AWeber’s Product Marketing Manager (and host of our Ask Me About Anything Podcast series!), Tom Tate. Tom very naturally places his subscribers’ first names in the second paragraph of this email: 
Or, it can be complex, like this email from KickStarter which dynamically inserts the number of pledges a subscriber’s KickStarter project has earned: 
No matter the complexity, personalization is a powerful way to engage your subscribers. And the top-performing email marketers will use it heavily this year. Here’s a few ways you can be one of them:
- Add your subscribers’ first names in your email content. But be creative! Instead of “Dear [insert first name],” try incorporating a first name in the middle of a paragraph.
- Email your subscribers on their birthdays. They’ll love a celebratory message!
- Thanks your new customers for purchasing a product, give them advice for using it, and then recommend similar products they might like.
4. Conversational voice
Stop thinking of email as an advertisement in 2018. Think of it as a conversation. A business-like, formal tone will be increasingly disenchanting to your audience this year. People want to know that you’re a person. They’ll resonate with you more and find your messages more interesting. Instead of jargon, use familiar words. Write like you 
They use humor, self-deprecation, and great word choices to show off who they are –– really cool people who love emails. Their conversational voice gives them a brand identity that’s irresistible and makes subscribers want to open their emails. Even if their logo and branding went missing, you would still know this email is from Really Good Emails because of its distinctive tone. 
5. Storytelling
Once upon a time, in a castle surrounded by a cactus forest, lived an undersized platypus named Pluto. Good stories involve your imagination. The details and plot catch the reader by surprise. Instead of merely telling them to “Buy, buy buy,” you're creating a relationship. You're giving them a glimpse inside your life or your business. And this builds connections. In 2018, businesses will capitalize on the power of the story in their email marketing. They’ll begin their emails with a story that catches their subscribers’ attention, then relate it back to the actual point of their email. To make his email content more interesting and catch the attention of his audience, John Corcoran, founder of Smart Business Revolution, shares a personal anecdote and ties it back to his webinar in this email:
These 5 best practices are just the beginning ...
Now, you need to make them happen in your own email marketing. You got it! Want expert help for your 2018 email marketing strategy? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter all about email marketing. You’ll get our best blog posts and exclusive courses, webinars, and workshops –– delivered directly to your inbox.
The post 5 Email Marketing Trends You Can’t Afford to Ignore in 2018 appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.
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