The Importance of Social Media Today

If you are serious about making money in any niche then you need to be using social media. Check this out!

Lessons From a Country Music Duo to Make Your Business 'Big & Rich'

Every entrepreneur starts their business with dreams of becoming big and rich. This column is about what you can learn from a different kind of Big & Rich, as in the country music duo. On Thursday night I attended their concert in my hometown of Lewiston, Maine.

What I got wasn't just a concert, it was an experience filled with some great lessons for entrepreneurs. The questions I’m about to ask you are the same questions I asked myself about my brand as I reflected on my experience at the concert.

Their performance actually began the night before the concert. When Big Kenny and John Rich arrived in Maine, their first stop was at a popular club in town where they unexpectedly showed up and bought the entire bar a double round of Crown Royal shots. Not simply a nice gesture, but also built-in guerilla marketing that’s congruent with their brand. This move was straight out of the lyrics from their song "Save a Horse." 

I buy the bar a double round of Crown and everybody's getting down.

They don’t just sing about it, they do it. Their generosity reinforced their brand message, won them some new fans and got people on social media talking about the upcoming show.

As an entrepreneur, you’re also in the marketing business first and then you’re performing your job. Is your marketing creating a buzz in a way that reinforces exactly what your brand is about? What is something unconventional and thought-provoking you can do to harness the power of word-of-mouth marketing?

The week before their Maine show I went online and watched Big & Rich perform at Comerica Theatre in Phoenix live via Yahoo Screen. Suffice it to say, Comerica was a significantly larger venue with a much bigger audience, which clearly made it a bigger (and richer) payday for the duo.

But what we got was every bit as much of a performance. They brought the same level of energy and quality to their performance in small town Maine as they did in big city Phoenix. What a great lesson for entrepreneurs. We should be putting forth as much energy and effort into every interaction, big or small.

Today more than ever before, customers have an almost insatiable appetite for quality and service. Do you treat your smaller clients with the same level of service excellence as your key accounts? If not, someone else will.

I’ve attended hundreds of country concerts. Name the artist and I’ve probably seen them, twice. On Thursday I learned you don’t just attend a Big & Rich concert, you experience Big & Rich. They take audience engagement to a whole new level in three ways:

1. Personal connection

Between songs, they told jokes and shared personal stories about how they met, got their start and how Kenny’s inspiration for writing the song “Last Dollar” was literally being down to his last dollar in Vegas in 2002. Through these conversations they made the audience laugh, cry and think.

Sharing personal stories can help you connect with your audience too. Do your clients know why you do what you do or how you got started and some of your stumbling blocks? It will ratchet up the respect and admiration they have for your brand.

2. Sharing the spotlight

The duo literally shared the spotlight with everyone, taking turns complimenting each other and their band members, and frequently shining the spotlight on the crowd to sing along. At one point, they asked everyone in the audience who served in the military to rise for a standing ovation, then handed the mic to a U.S. Navy veteran in the front row and asked him to speak about his service.

They didn’t just paint the picture -- they painted the audience into the picture and let us help paint the picture that night. Your job is incredibly similar to theirs in that regard. Want to be a more compelling communicator? Share the spotlight by painting your prospects into the picture, then let them help paint the picture.

3. Details amplify

Lots of performers play the guitar, but how many have it outlined with rhinestones so the guy in the worst seat in the house can see it sparkle just as well as the girl in the front row? There are lots of distractions at a concert. The lights dancing off the rhinestones on the guitars keeps you focused on the artists.

How do you keep your clients' attention? How many artists use their guitars as cue cards to elicit a desired response from their audience? The only ones I’ve ever seen do it were on Thursday night. The duo used guitars with different messages in big letters on the blank space on the back of it. Instructions such as “Scream” and “Louder.” When they wanted the audience to scream louder they flipped over their guitars and held them up. Why? Because energy is contagious. They took something that was already going on and amplified it.

Energy is contagious in your business too. How do you accentuate your audience’s response? Details of any customer experience impact the emotional connection people have with your brand. The back of your business card, your apparel and your company vehicle are great blank spaces you can use to amplify your message and shine brighter.

The biggest lesson was gained from one simple question. They don’t ask you if you’re having a great time, they ask if you’re having a “Big & Rich time.” A Big & Rich time is a one-of-a-kind experience. It’s a feeling.

You’re not selling a product or service, you’re selling an experience. That’s your competitive advantage. Anyone can copy your product, but they can’t duplicate the value in the unique experience only you can provide. What experience does your brand provide? Compare your answer to that question to how your fans would actually describe it.

Instead of thinking of what you do as a job, think of it as a performance. Your business is just like performing music. It’s about connecting with your audience of customers and employees. Each of our performances leaves a mark on our respective markets. Is it strong or weak? Positive or negative?

Like great musicians, great entrepreneurs leave a powerful, positive mark on their market.

Source

Your SEO Checklist: 4 Steps to Optimizing Your Website

In his book Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Website, SEO and online marketing expert Jon Rognerud shows you how to build a high-performance website and get top ranking on all search engines. In this edited excerpt, the author outlines a broad strategy for successfully optimizing your website.

The goal of search engine optimization is to have the search engine spiders not only find your site and pages but also specifically rank the page relevance so that it appears at the top of the search engine results. The process of optimization is not a one-time process but requires maintenance, tuning, and continuous testing and monitoring.

Below is a broad four-step process for a strategy for search engine optimization. Use this as your top-level checklist.

Step 1: Target Market Business Analysis

• Website analysis. Analysis of meta sets/keywords, visible text and code to deter­mine how well you're positioned for search engines. For example, how much code do you have on a page compared to text?
   
• Competitive analysis. Examination of content keywords and present engine rank­ings of competitive websites to determine an effective engine positioning strategy. Pick the top five results in the Google listing results to begin this process. Expand as necessary. Use tools such as Semrush.com and Keywordspy.com.
   
• Initial keyword nomination. Development of a prioritized list of targeted search terms related to your customer base and market segment. Begin with this: What would you type into a search engine to find your business website or page? Then, ask your customers!

Step 2: Keyword Research and Development

• Keyword analysis. From nomination, further identify a targeted list of key­words and phrases. Review competitive lists and other pertinent industry sources. Use your preliminary list to determine an indicative number of recent search engine queries and how many websites are competing for each key­word. Prioritize keywords and phrases, plurals, singulars and misspellings. (If search users commonly misspell a keyword, you should identify and use it). Please note that Google will try to correct the term when searching, so use this with care.
   
• Baseline ranking assessment. You need to understand where you are now in order to accurately assess your future rankings. Keep a simple Excel sheet to start the process. Check weekly to begin. As you get more comfortable, check every 30 to 45 days. You should see improvements in website traffic, a key indicator of progress for your keywords. Some optimizers will say that rankings are dead. Yes, traffic and conversions are more important, but we use rankings as an indicator.

• Goals and Objectives. Clearly define your objectives in advance so you can truly measure your ROI from any programs you implement. Start simple, but don’t skip this step. Example: You may decide to increase website traffic from a current baseline of 100 visitors a day to 200 visitors over the next 30 days. Or you may want to improve your current conversion rate of one percent to two in a specified period. You may begin with top-level, aggregate numbers, but you must drill down into specific pages that can improve products, services, and business sales.

Step 3: Content Optimization and Submission

• Create page titles. Keyword-based titles help establish page theme and direction for your keywords.
   
• Create meta tags. Meta description tags can influence click-throughs but aren't directly used for rankings. (Google doesn't use the keywords tag any­more.)
   
• Place strategic search phrases on pages. Integrate selected keywords into your website source code and existing content on designated pages. Make sure to apply a sug­gested guideline of one to three keywords/phrases per content page and add more pages to complete the list. Ensure that related words are used as a natural inclu­sion of your keywords. It helps the search engines quickly determine what the page is about. A natural approach to this works best. In the past, 100 to 300 words on a page was recommended. Many tests show that pages with 800 to 2,000 words can outperform shorter ones. In the end, the users, the marketplace, content and links will determine the popularity and ranking numbers.
   
• Develop new sitemaps for Google and Bing. Make it easier for search engines to index your website. Create both XML and HTML versions. An HTML version is the first step. XML sitemaps can easily be submitted via Google and Bing webmaster tools.
   
• Submit website to directories (limited use). Professional search marketers don’t sub­mit the URL to the major search engines, but it’s possible to do so. A better and faster way is to get links back to your site naturally. Links get your site indexed by the search engines. However, you should submit your URL to directories such as Yahoo! (paid), Business.com (paid) and DMOZ (free). Some may choose to include AdSense (google.com/adsense) scripts on a new site to get their Google Media bot to visit. It will likely get your pages indexed quickly.

Step 4: Continuous Testing and Measuring

• Test and measure. Analyze search engine rankings and web traffic to determine the effectiveness of the programs you’ve implemented, including assessment of individual keyword performance. Test the results of changes, and keep changes tracked in an Excel spreadsheet, or whatever you're comfortable with.
   
• Maintenance. Ongoing addition and modification of keywords and website con­tent are necessary to continually improve search engine rankings so growth doesn’t stall or decline from neglect. You also want to review your link strategy and ensure that your inbound and outbound links are relevant to your business. A blog can provide you the necessary structure and ease of content addition that you need. Your hosting company can typically help you with the setup/installation of a blog.

25 Amazing Business Books From 2014

Whether you're planning a much-needed vacation or gearing up to visit the family during the upcoming holidays, now is the perfect time to find a book to help you kill the time during your travels. But why not get something more out of your reading?

Here are 25 amazing business books from 2014 that will inspire, motivate and offer priceless advice for the entrepreneur, business leader, or hopeful business owner for upcoming year.

1. "The Virgin Way: Everything I Know About Leadership" by Richard Branson

As the founder and chairman of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson is currently estimated to be worth $5 billion. That’s why the latest book from this eccentric entrepreneur and adventurer is a must read. Branson shares his unorthodox leadership techniques that have made him one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the last forty years.

2. “The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution” by Walter Isaacson

Author Walter Isaacson follows-up his incredible Steve Jobs biography with a chronicle of some of the most disruptive minds in the technology industry. It begins with computer pioneer Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Lord Byron, who developed computer programming back in the 1840s. It also explores the minds of everyone from Robert Noyce to Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Related: Bill Gates' 5 Favorite Books of 2014

3. “How Google Works” by Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg

Were you ever curious about how Google’s business model worked? If so, check out this informative book from Google executive chairman and ex-CEO Eric Schmidt and former SVP of Products Jonathan Rosenberg. It illustrates how you can make a business successfully by fostering a creative environment.

4. “The Hard Thing about Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers” by Ben Horowitz

As of one of Silicon Valley’s most respected entrepreneurs, Ben Horowitz has proven throughout this career that he knows how launch and manage startups. This is easily one of the essential books every business leader should read if they’re looking for proven and honest management advice.

5. “Economics: The User’s Guide” by Ha-Joon Chang

Written by Cambridge University economist professor Ha-Joon Chang, this book breaks down the history and real-world applications of the real-world economy in a lively and easy-to-understand context.

6. “Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future” by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters

While this is intended for entrepreneurs, this book has info useful for anyone in the business world. It offers practical and original advice for anyone starting a business - all in under 200 pages.

7. Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation by Blake J. Harris

How could anyone take-on the powerhouse that was Nintendo? Blake J. Harris chronicles how a scrappy business named Sega took on Nintendo with a vision to become a market leader in a matter of years. Whether you’re a Gen X gamer or starting a business, the origin stories of how Nintendo and Sega are entertaining and inspiring.

8. "The Shifts and the Shocks: What We've Learned — and Have Still to Learn — from the Financial Crisis" by Martin Wolf

Martin Wolf, the chief economic commentator for the Financial Times, explores the origins of the recent financial crisis, analyzes why we may still be in trouble and examines how the global economy has since changed.

9. “How We Got to Now: Six Inventions That Made the Modern World” by Steven Johnson

This fascinating book takes a look at how innovation has changed our world. Perhaps most intriguing is how Johnson can relate seemingly unrelated inventions - such as the invention of air conditioning - to the largest migration of humans in history.

10. “The Moment of Clarity: Using the Human Sciences to Solve Your Toughest Business Problems” by Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel B. Rasmussen

Christian Madsbjerg and Mikkel B. Rasmussen explain how human behavior has led to ineffective problem-solving methods. By using the social sciences, the authors introduce a new methodology known as sensemaking.
Related: 14 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read in '14

11. “The Power of Habit:Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” by Charles Duhigg

This best-selling book from New York Times investigative reporter Charles Duhigg takes a look at how identifying patterns in our daily life can help us become successful. Duhigg states once we are aware of these habits, we can become able to change them and become more successful.

12. "A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas" by Warren Berger

This thought-provoking book examines how successful individuals are also expert questioners. By asking questions, we are able to solve problems and develop innovative ideas.

13. "Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)" by Christian Rudder

Rudder, co-founder of the dating site OKCupid, argues how we can use big data to monetize and optimize. While that may sound like a dull topic, Rudder is an entertaining and witty author who presents a completely original book.

14. "The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World’s Most Important Company" by Michael S. Malone

Through extensive and unprecedented access to Intel's archives, Malone describes how each of these vital members of Intel brought various skills and talents to the company to make it the giant it is today.

15. "Location Is (Still) Everything: The Surprising Influence of the Real World on How We Search, Shop, and Sell in the Virtual One" by David Bell

Even if you run an online business, it's still important to understand how your location can determine it's success. Through years of research and experience, Wharton professor David Bell explains how the online and offline worlds are connected and how you can ensure your business will succeed.

16. "Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success" by Shane Snow

Serial entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow explains how successful individuals use "lateral thinking" to think outside of the box and grow their brands and companies faster than the normal rate.

17. "Smart Tribes: How Teams Become Brilliant Together" by Christine Comaford

By using neuroscience techniques, Comaford will help you figure out how to hire the right people for the right positions so you can build a company culture that motivates, inspires, and brings out the best in team members.

18. "Outliers: The Story of Success" by Malcolm Gladwell

Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell suggests we should stop paying attention to what successful people are, and pay more attention to where they came from. By examining everyone from Mozart to Bill Gates, Gladwell argues that successful people aren’t lucky, they “rise on a tide of advantages”.

19. "Crazy Is a Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags" by Linda Rottenberg

Between research, inspiring research and the personal experience of author Linda Rotenberg details how all businesses should embrace the mentality of an entrepreneur - meaning that they take calculated risks, being flexible and unique.
Related: 14 Classic Business Books You Can Download For Less Than $5

20. “This Changes Everything” by Naomi Klein

This powerful and profound book examines how we need to make changes to the current economic situation in order to save the planet.

21. “The Motivation Manifesto” by Brendon Burchard

What makes this such an inspiring read is that Burchard doesn’t just provide tactics that will make you successful. Instead, he explores the inner psychology of humans and discusses how doubt and fear hold us back and how you can break free to live the life you want.

22. “Scaling Up Excellence: Getting to More Without Settling for Less” by Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao

By using case studies and examples of industry leaders, Sutton and Rao explain how you can create a successful business by looking at every aspect of your company or startup.

23. "Me, Inc.: Build an Army of One, Unleash Your Inner Rock God, Win in Life and Business" by Gene Simmons

Gene Simmons is more than the bass player from KISS. He’s an extremely successful businessman that delivers honest, and actually words of wisdom, for entrepreneurs and anyone aspiring to launch a business empire.

24. “Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t” by Simon Sinek

Sinek, author of the best-selling book Start with Why, details how biology makes us feel secure in groups. When leaders create an environment built on trust, cooperation, and security, employees will actually love going to work.

25. “The Promise of Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change” by Adam Braun

This inspiring book follows Adam Braun, the founder of Pencils of Promise, and how he turned $25 into over 250 schools by combining a for-profit business approach with social sector idealism for an idea known as "For-Purpose."

Every book on this list has inspired me to become better today that I am tomorrow. Ever since I became an entrepreneur I have been reading business books and learning from entrepreneurs who have been there. I hope you find this list as inspiring as I did.

4 Ways to Make Mobile Work for Your Customers

The fact that your business needs a mobile presence is by no means news. Brands today know that being accessible to the increasing number of smartphones and tablet users is a must — now, the goal is to provide a top-notch user experience.

"Mobile is opening the door for designing new experiences that complement a brand's physical presence," Young Pham, chief strategy officer at design and strategy agency Comrade, said in a statement. "The context of when, where and what a customer is doing during their day allows companies to enhance a person's interaction and customize device-specific experiences."

Comrade recently conducted a survey of 225 mobile users to delve further into the relationship between consumers and their devices. Based on the results, the company predicted that brands will need to meet the following mobile experience expectations in 2015.

Mobile apps and mobile Web. Got a mobile app but not a mobile-friendly website, or vice versa? You might want to put your energy into leveling out your mobile presence. Consumers are about equally split when it comes to their preference of app versus browser: The percentage of users who prefer their mobile browser when completing a task (28 percent) is only slightly higher than the 23 percent that prefer to use an app. Both app and Web designs are critical for businesses in the mobile space, so it pays to do them right.

CRM through mobile marketing. Mobile marketing isn't just for acquisition anymore. Today, it's about boosting loyalty by using mobile for customer relationship management (CRM). According to Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers's 2013 Annual Internet Trends Report, consumers always have their mobile device on them and check it more than 150 times a day. Businesses can communicate with their existing customers through alert notifications, in-app, email and mobile Web. But don't overdo it — the Comrade study said that key to maintaining an effective relationship is doing so in a complementary way, giving users what they need when they need it.

Combating fraud through mobile. This past year has seen a lot of high-profile corporate data breaches, and 2015 will likely see some as well. Mobile users want to safeguard themselves against fraud, and 56 percent are willing to deal with a slightly more complex user experience if it means greater protection, according to Comrade. Businesses can provide an intuitive, high-quality mobile experience that also protects against fraud by offering to validate transactions, set fraud controls and generate unique payment IDs through the user's mobile device.

Complement, not copy. E-commerce providers must leverage mobile to complement the user experience, rather than provide a replica of what users get through a Web browser. Comrade's survey found that nearly 4 in 10 mobile users are most likely to use their mobile phone for shopping, so businesses need to ensure that those customers are getting something unique from their mobile interaction.

Source

The Difference Between Successful and Very Successful People

I recently met with a capable and driven executive and asked him, “How are you?” He gave me a rapid-fire answer of all of the things he was doing: travelling, business updates, career changes and his children’s innumerable activities. It sounded like an intense but satisfying life.

Then I asked him again, “How are you really?” And the moment I did, he became emotional and the reality of his life just flooded out of him: his stress, his frustration of trying to juggle it all, his sense that he had no time to really think, or play with his children or enjoy any of it. The (cute) summary is this: his schedule was always filled but his life wasn’t fulfilled. What is less cute is the idea that he, and many of us, have been sold a bill of goods.

We’ve been sold on a heroic ideal of the uber-man and super-women who kill themselves saying yes to everyone, sleeping four hours a night and straining to fit everything in. How often have you heard people say, “I am so busy right now!” But it almost seemed like a back-door brag.



But it’s a bogus badge of honor. It suffocates our ability to think and create. It holds otherwise hard working, capable people back from our highest contribution. Below are a few of the myths of success that hold us back from becoming very successful.

Myth 1: Successful people say, "If I can fit it in, I should fit it in."

Truth: Very successful people are absurdly selective.
As Warren Buffet is credited with having said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything."

As I wrote in a piece for Harvard Business Review, this means, "Not just haphazardly saying no, but purposefully, deliberately, and strategically eliminating the nonessentials. Not just once a year as part of a planning meeting, but constantly reducing, focusing and simplifying. Not just getting rid of the obvious time wasters, but being willing to cut out really terrific opportunities as well. Few appear to have the courage to live this principle, which may be why it differentiates successful people and organizations from the very successful ones."

Myth 2: Successful people sleep four hours a night.

Truth: Very successful people rest well so they can be at peak performance.
In K. Anders Ericsson's famous study of violinists, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell as the "10,000 hour rule," Anders found that the best violinists spent more time practicing than the merely good students. What is less well known is that the second most important factor differentiating the best violinists from the good ones was actually sleep. The best violinists averaged 8.6 hours of sleep in every 24 hour period.

Myth 3: Successful people think play is a waste of time.

Truth: Very successful people see play as essential for creativity.
Just think of Sir Ken Robinson, who has made the study of creativity in schools his life's work. He has observed that instead of fueling creativity through play, schools actually kill it: "We have sold ourselves into a fast-food model of education, and it's impoverishing our spirit and our energies as much as fast food is depleting our physical bodies. Imagination is the source of every form of human achievement."

Myth 4: Successful people are the first ones to jump in with an answer.

Truth: Very successful people are powerful listeners.
As the saying goes, the people who talk the most don't always have the most to say. Powerful listeners get to the real story. They find the signal in the sound. They listen to what is not being said.

Myth 5: Successful people focus on what the competition is doing.

Truth: Very successful people focus on what they can do better.
The "winningest coach in America" is Larry Gelwix, the former Head of the Highland High School rugby team. His team won 418 games with only 10 losses in over 36 years. One of the key questions he challenged his players to ask was “What’s important now?" He didn't want his players getting distracted with what the other team was doing. He wanted them to play their own game.
Last week I took a tour of the Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts. One of the quotes there grabbed my attention. John F. Kennedy said, "The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic."

The myth here is celebrated in modern culture: it’s someone who is capable, driven and wants to win and be popular. They have been rewarded for their willingness to take it all on, fit it all in and just make it happen. They believe doing more is better than doing less. I call this type of person a Nonessentialist.
Still, there is a new hero in our story. She asks, “What is essential?” and is willing to eliminate everything else. He says no to the less important activities so they can give themselves fully to the few things that really matter. It is a path that takes courage. It may require making the tradeoff between short-term popularity and long-term respect. It leads to a greater sense of control and even joy. But as an added benefit it also seems to be the thing that distinguishes the successful from the very successful.

Source

10 Quick Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing

With more than 90 percent of consumers checking their email on a daily basis, businesses are quickly realizing this is one of the best ways to reach their target audience.

Whether it's to spread company news, promote a sale or highlight new products and services, companies are finding great value in their email marketing efforts.

"2014 showed email's continuing momentum as the best marketing tool to drive (return on investment)," Dan Forootan, president of StreamSend Email Marketing, said in a statement.

To help businesses improve their email marketing campaigns and make sure their efforts are paying off, StreamSend offers a number of tips.

• Measure it: One of the greatest aspects of email marketing is just how easily it can be measured. Take advantage of tools that show who read what and where and who didn't as a way to best determine when to build on successful efforts or fix lagging results.
• Use video: Adding videos to emails increases return on investment and monthly revenue by 40 percent. Additionally, click-through rates increase by as much as 3 times when marketers include a video in an email.
• Go mobile: Mobile devices offer marketers a way to reach customers wherever and whenever they want. However, this makes creating a solid campaign more critical than ever, since the email will often be judged with just one glance.
• Increase open rates: To make an impact, emails need to stand out. Review open rates to see which emails are getting the most interest from your consumers. Make sure each email is serving the customer.
• Be recognizable: Since you may have only a second or two to grab your customer's inbox attention, use a consistent look, format and subject line to make it easy for them to recognize your emails.
• Click-through: Since click-through rates gauge your success, be sure to make your call to action loud and clear so consumers have a reason to click on your links. You also need to measure links clicked to guide future content.
• RSS feeds: Businesses with regular RSS updates – syndicated live Web feeds -- can more effectively connect with their audiences and attract new followers. Sharing RSS content allows organizations to multiply their number of readers, which helps draw in more customers in the long run.
• Use templates: Often the easiest and most reliable way to send emails with a branded look and optimize reader response is to take advantage of email templates.
• Add social: Emails that include social-sharing buttons have a click-through rate 158 percent higher than emails that don't. Adding social media to an email strategy can produce large campaign results.
• Bottom line: When creating email campaigns, ensure they align with your overall business goals so you can best guide content and strategies.