Multiple studies have shown that the subject line is the most important factor in driving digital marketing results. You can spend hours composing a truly informative email for clients and prospects, but it’s a waste of time if no one reads it. The good news is that you have many more characters in the subject line than you’re using—about 85. The average email subject is only 45 characters. What a waste! As long as you put the most important information at the beginning, use up as many of those 85 characters as you can. BTW--You Actually Have Two Lines - Not One In addition to the subject line, you also have the From line, which you can configure however you want. Most companies use the Fr
To develop a successful organization---there’s nothing more important than creating a foundation of excellence. This means knowing what you do better than anyone else and then bringing relevant products and services to a market that appreciates those unique capabilities. Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi wrote the seminal work on this topic; a book called, The Essential Advantage. Although I don’t follow and/or agree with everything, it is an excellent book. And actually the premise---breaking away from the pack by focusing on your core capabilities---is very similar to a current business best seller---W. Chan Kim’s and Renee Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy. Too often, organizations look fi
From the buyer’s perspective, the brand is both a shortcut and an insurance policy. It assures them that they can expect certain qualities from a product or service and it frees them from doing much (or any) investigation themselves. This is why people in a hurry are more likely to choose brands they know. While this is true for low-ticket items, it’s surprisingly true for high ticket items as well---especially if those items are complex. Badgered on all sides to make a purchase decision on complicated technology and having few resources to verify claims, risk-averse decisions makers will go with the well branded products and services every time. The lesson for businesses with unbranded or
Since we serve the technology industry, the ability to predict trends with some accuracy is a big asset. In short, a craze is the tidal wave and a trend is what’s left on the beach after the tidal wave recedes. Anyone can recognize a trend once the tidal wave has receded; the trick is to predict what will be left on the beach while the tidal wave is still on the horizon. Following are 5 traits of a true trend. 1. It is Obviously Useful While novelties have obscure value, trends are straightforward—it’s easy to think of ways to take advantage of a trend. An example is hybrid cars. When Audi introduced the first hybrid to the market in 1997, the technology was new, gas prices were low, and t
