Eye-catching graphics and stunning visuals (aka creative) make a marketing campaign. Consumers are instantly drawn to the visual world, so it’s really no surprise that the popularity of social media platforms that focus on images has skyrocketed. Pinterest alone has more than 25 million U.S. pinners. Initially touted as a medium for sharing visual content, Pinterest has evolved into an effective marketing tool for businesses of all shapes and sizes that want to build, expand or enhance their brand. In fact, research has shown that traffic on Pinterest is more likely to convert more than traffic from other social sites. Clever marketers use Pinterest to direct traffic to their brands’ sites by engaging consumers in a whole new way (See 250+ Brands on Pinterest).  Here are four things to think about when pushing your brand to Pinterest.

Build Community Boards, Not Sales Pitches. Pinners want to interact with other people, not be bombarded with sales pitches and promotions. Your challenge is to push your brand without making it overtly obvious. Use this particular social platform to show people what your brand is all about. Pinterest is virtual community and a very personal one at that. To gain viewers and be accepted, you must humanize your company and your brand.  One way to do this is to create a “Company Community” pinboard that visually highlights your philosophy and depicts how your brand fits into your followers’ world.

Give Without Taking. Pinterest is about sharing. It’s mostly give and very little take. This is a tough concept for execs that are trained to keep their eyes on the bottom line. It takes time, effort and staff (read: Overhead Costs) to build a following on Pinterest. The lack of an immediate, tangible return keeps many companies from seeing this outlet as a viable marketing tool. Just like any other any other marketing medium, success on Pinterest is about building relationships first. It requires that you explore the interests of the people who follow you and make connections based on those interests. Finally, it requires interaction, which means creating and sharing relevant content, responding to questions and comments, and repinning other related content.

Integrate Your Efforts. Think of creative ways to tie your social media efforts together for more punch. For example, the other day I received an e-mail from GE Appliances asking me to check out its Big Game Day Snack Pinterest Board. The e-mail included minimal copy, a tantalizing image of juicy chicken wings, AND an option to share my game day creations with the company via an Instagram link. WOW!

Expand Your Purpose. If you spend enough time on Pinterest, you will develop an admiration for the creativity of pinners. They don’t always play by the rules when it comes to your products and services. For example, one user pinned an idea for using a brand-name laundry detergent to reenergize areas of dry grass in the yard. If consumers use your products in a unique way, a pin promoting these ideas could benefit your bottom line down the road.

Take some time to dig into the site and explore how you can optimize this emerging marketing platform. Pinterest offers a section for businesses, so be sure to check that out. Consider scoping out Pinterest’s main competition, The Fancy.com. This site has taken visual tagging to the next level by creating a mobile app that lets customers buy what they like with one click. For more inspiration, keep your eyes on Manteresting. It offers yet another perspective on visual pinning. We’d love to hear your Pinterest success stories! Please drop us a line in the comment section.

There is some good news and some bad news for e-mail marketers. The good news is that the average person spends at least 30% of his day checking e-mail, which solidifies its place at the front of the line when it comes to the most effective advertising tools. The bad news is that the average consumer receives more than 70 e-mails per day, many from marketers just like you. What can you do to make your message stand out from the crowd? Keep reading to unlock four secrets to crafting irresistible e-mails.

Slice and Dice. Categorizing your recipient lists and then creating e-mails that target their interests and buying habits can really boost your open rate. With all the software available today, slicing and dicing your lists can be done in a blink of an eye. Segmentation methods run the gamut from the very basic to the super sophisticated. At the very least, divide your lists into two categories: existing customers (those who have made a previous purchase) and new customers (subscribers who have yet to seal the deal). Reward frequent buyers for their loyalty with a sneak peek at new products and an enticing discount. Offer new customers a freebie with a minimum purchase. Or, design offers around recent purchases and abandoned shopping carts.

Automate and Dominate. Administered correctly, automated e-mails can be a godsend to both you and your customers. Every company has a process – a series of steps – that customers must navigate. Automated e-mails can walk them though each step and provide a personalized experience. For example, when a customer initiates a certain action, for example signing up for a newsletter, send him an automated welcome message with additional information tailored to his specific browsing habits and offer a discount or free shipping off of his first purchase. When a customer completes a sale, send a simple thank you e-mail that doesn’t include a sales pitch. Instead, a few days after that customer receives her product, generate a follow up e-mail in survey form and suggest similar products that might pique her interest.

Make It Personal. Ditch the “noreply” e-mail address. Consumers expect personal interaction, and they seek out ways to engage with companies. Sending “noreply” e-mails sends a subliminal message that you have better things to do than help them. They will take the hint and go elsewhere. At the very least, use an “info@” or “customerservice@” e-mail address. Of course, the best companies include a personal e-mail address to which customers can write and from which they will receive a timely response. Regardless of what e-mail address you choose to use, make sure customer requests don’t get sucked into a Black Hole, never to be heard from again. Set up a system in which their message is acknowledged within 24 hours and acted up soon after that.

Work Smarter, Not Harder.  With all of the data analytics and marketing software available, targeting specific customers and customizing their shopping experience is easier than ever. You must recognize that e-mail is no longer a stand-alone marketing strategy. It must be integrated into a broader plan that incorporates direct mail, social marketing and social media. For example, I recently received an e-mail from a big name retailer who encouraged me to check out its Pinterest page. The e-mail was graphically gorgeous, and the copy was short and sweet. You bet I checked out the Pinterest page. The company married two marketing strategies and expanded their reach quickly and easily. Marketing genius! Across-the-board integration such as this will get your e-mails opened, read, and acted upon with the added benefit of exposing consumers to more engaging avenues related to your brand.

I just love a good game of Words with Friends, don’t you? Even though it’s just friendly competition, I can’t help feeling satisfied when I arrange a 96-point word for a win.

Social gaming is where it’s at — Words with Friends alone counted 1,100,000 active users in 2012. From the Internet-based Guild Wars 2 to Farmville to Tetris Battle to The Sims Social, the number of social gamers is skyrocketing. But despite the popularity of social gaming, is it worth the investment to advertise? Here’s some food for thought:

• Get into a Gamer’s Head. When you invest in social gaming ads, demographic data alone isn’t enough to deliver accurate information about your audience. Social gamers come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. Demographics aren’t the common denominator in this market. Instead, common interests attract gamers to specific games. Think about your audience and choose the games you advertise with wisely for the best ROI.
• Generate Relevancy. Offer meaningful promotions to gamers. Seasonal offers, discounts, and time sensitive offers that create a sense of urgency can entice gamers to click on an ad. Incentivize their engagement and make it worth their while.
• Get the Stats. Did you know that addicted gamers generate more clicks than people who play simulation-type games? Collecting and analyzing statistics about the games you want to spend on will help you make better decisions about where to put your money to get the best bang for your buck.

Before jumping in, do your research.  Discuss your approach and statistics with game-based ad specialists, such as those at Adknowledge. These experts can lead you through the process and help you determine which approach is best for your current budget and offer type. Campaigns can also be tailored to your spend preference and comfort level. If you are looking to become a millionaire from advertising on social games, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. However, your investment will pay off in terms of driving more traffic to your site, building your customer list, and finding new leads.

In the world of 7-second elevator pitches, e-mail marketing has some stiff competition. It’s not enough to grab customer attention, you have to keep it. You have to persuade customers to take action, and the only way you can do that is by getting them to open and read your messages. Unfortunately, the average open rate for marketing e-mail hovers around 27%. Try these proven methods for putting some bling into your e-mail open rate.

Strategy 1: Create a Sense of Urgency and Potential Loss.

It’s called loss aversion, an economic theory that suggests people prefer to avoid loss over achieving gains, even if the outcome is the same. Creative copy, specifically in the subject line, is a primary component of loss aversion. So is creating a sense of urgency. For example, tweak “Save 20% Now!” to “Don’t Miss Out! Last Chance to Save 20% Before the Sale Ends at Midnight!” Suggesting that supply is limited is another way to encourage customers to open your e-mail. Your approach should be professional and respectful, not threatening. Subject lines that read, “You’re A Loser If …” won’t earn you any conversions. Your goal is to get people to open, read and act upon your e-mail. Do this by providing fresh and relevant content.

Strategy 2: Offer a Choice.

Most consumers find unsolicited e-mails annoying. Marketing research shows that open rates go through the roof, nearly tripling, when customers are given the chance to opt into a distribution list. Using the double opt-in option ensures that it is 100% ok with customers to send them marketing e-mails. The bonus is that your e-mails are reaching people who want them (aka quality leads).

Strategy 3: Lose the Dead Weight.

Get inactive subscribers off of your distribution list ASAP. They crush your open rate. If someone hasn’t opened one of your messages for awhile, he either just isn’t interested or he has abandoned that account. Also, update your list of unsubscribes daily. When a customer submits an unsubscribe request, remove his name immediately. Likewise, if your e-mails get reported as spam, remove those addresses now rather than later. You will be amazed at how some light housekeeping can impact your open rate.

Strategy 4: Timing Matters.

E-mail scheduling make it easy to “set and forget” your e-mail messages. But being completely hands-off can negatively affect your open rate if you’re sending them during times when no one reads them. Early morning or late night e-mails have the tendency to get lost in the morning rush or put off until later. Both scenarios lead to your e-mail getting dog piled by other e-mails and eventually deleted without ever being opened. Dig into your data to determine when the majority of your recipients are checking their e-mail. Your timing will never be perfect, but a little testing and some trial-and-error will get you pretty close.

E-mail marketing continues to have incredible value because it’s a form of communication used by consumers every day. So, if your open rate is languishing at the 27% mark – or declining – it’s not your marketing method. It’s how you are managing that marketing method. Try these tips and enjoy watching your open rate jump.

Adknowledge announced today that it has been ranked number one in email ad performance by Adotas, one of the largest internet advertising news publications in the industry. Adotas completed a recent assessment of email marketing companies and found that Adknowledge’s email channel came out on top.

“The testimonials we received about Adknowledge’s performance in the email space were overwhelmingly positive,” said Mike Daly, GM/Editor, Adotas. “Time and time again, we heard from clients that they got a better bang for their buck with AdStation than they had from previous vendors. And this in a particularly challenging marketing segment where you really have to know how to leverage your data to get real results.”

Adotas focused much of its praise on AdStation’s recent record-high earnings for both advertisers and publishers across multiple platforms, as well as our world-class targeting technology. Adotas also discussed the continued value of email marketing in general, and praised Adknowledge’s email channel, AdStation, for its recent mobile optimization initiatives for all customers.

Matt Hoggatt, GM of Email at Adknowledge, was pleased to hear about the Adotas ranking. “We’re thrilled that Adotas has ranked us number one in email ad performance,” Hoggatt said. “AdStation has always focused on delivering quality conversions with absolutely no risk to our partners or their brands. Our partners like knowing that each advertisement being displayed in an email campaign has a better chance of being opened by a person most likely to engage with that specific message. It’s a powerful solution.”

This isn’t the first time the company has taken top honors for their email solutions. Adknowledge was also the highest-rated network in a survey of email marketers just last year. The study, conducted by The Pert Group, a global research firm, found that Adknowledge had not only the highest payouts, but also the best account management, as well.

For more details about AdStation’s email solutions, please visit www.adstation.com

Have you ever considered how the amount of time you spend cranking out e-mails to customers and answering inquiries impacts your bottom line? Run the numbers. You might find that your efforts to keep yourself in front of your customers and draw traffic to your site are actually gnawing away on your profits. But affiliate marketing is all about attracting solid leads, and a large chunk of capturing those leads is creating a highly visible Internet presence. How can you keep in constant contact with customers and draw prospects while increasing revenue? Never fear, the auto responder is here! This nifty e-mail marketing tool is both a time saver and profit booster … if you know what you want and how to use it.

You’ve probably heard stories about the magical qualities of auto responders. How, with a click of the Send button they turned a $50 per day profit into a $500 a day profit. While auto responders can pump profit into your business, chances are it won’t happen overnight. They aren’t the magic elixirs of affiliate marketing. Like every other aspect of affiliate marketing, you are going to have to work for it. So, if you slapped up a website with the single goal of making money selling other people’s stuff, an auto responder probably isn’t for you. It doesn’t matter how big your list is, if you don’t have a solid marketing plan and a strategy for driving traffic to your site, an auto responder can’t help you achieve the green of which you dream. These components must be in place. Auto responders are not a marketing plan, but they can enhance the one you already have.

An auto responder program can tackle the technical aspects of managing your lists, boosting deliverability and scheduling e-mails. Using an auto responder, you can contact every customer or prospect with a single click of the Send button and drastically reduce the amount of time you spend on e-mails while driving more traffic to your site. More traffic means more revenue. An auto responder can also help with the business-building aspect of your business by gleaning information about prospects from your squeeze page and helping you create relationships with your customers. For example, you can use an auto responder to send automated welcome and confirmation messages, solicit feedback, and provide a way for customers to ask questions. You can also use it to draw potential customers further in. If they respond to an offer for a free item, send them a follow-up e-mail that thanks them and suggests an entry-priced product or service. Energize your suggestive selling program and beef up your customer service while building your list and your reputation.

Auto responders are typically available through your service provider or you can purchase software. Before diving in, consider how you want to use an auto responder. Do you want to send messages to your list occasionally or do you want to automate your whole process? Different service providers and software packages offer different features. Determine which services you want and then do a little research. Once you choose an auto responder, use it. Educate yourself about it and all its bells and whistles so you can optimize the benefits and realize improved profits.

Perhaps the biggest marketing strategy to come out of the SoLoMo (Social, Local & Mobile) trend is geo-targeting (aka location-based marketing). Advertising to the right people in the right places in real time is proving to be a lucrative plan for advertisers all along the sales spectrum. Considering that 75% of smartphone users use their devices to track down local information and 20% of smartphone users check into local businesses using social media outlets, there’s no rational reason to NOT geo-target customers. Enhance your location-based marketing efforts with these three tricks of the trade.

1. Know What’s Up. Geo-targeting is about trends. The best way to track down trends is to go authentically local. Once you zero in on an area, nail down your target audience and start making connections with those people. Ask them questions, get them to complete a survey, find their favorite haunts and habits. Start collecting and analyzing data as soon as possible. Authentic research will put you miles ahead of your competition. Keep your finger on the pulse of geographic trends by following and participating in location-specific social media conversations on Yelp, Foursquare and Twitter. Try Nearby Tweets, which helps you search Tweets by location and keyword.

    

2. Tag the Impulse. Users who are searching locally are more likely to make impulse buys versus engage in a long-term commitment. They want products and services “right here, right now.” For example, if you’re in the automotive business an ad for car repair won’t be nearly as successful as one that offers a daily deal for $5 off a car wash.

 

3. Use Your Imagination. Giant retailers and small businesses are tapping new sources of creativity to stretch their geo-targeting reach and engage consumers. For example, geo-fencing allows businesses to create a virtual fence around a location. When a person crosses into that boundary, she automatically receives a message with an invitation to visit, an offer for free merchandise or a coupon. This strategy works extremely well for companies with multiple locations. Mobile loyalty programs (think Lantern or Shopkick) are popular with shoppers right now, too.

Using location-based marketing can be overwhelming, so it’s important to have a clear idea about the message you want to send and the audience you want to reach. But don’t limit yourself too much by targeting a single city or zip code. Instead, canvass a large geographic area. This will help you gain enough traffic that you can gather reliable data that will help you identify local trends.

It’s only April and most of the crystal ball New Year’s predictions bloggers made about what they believe would be the trends-to-watch in affiliate marketing this year are unraveling.  Let’s take a look at all the once-popular fads that will continue to go up in smoke over the next several months.

1. Marketing Automation. Yep, the pendulum is swinging once again. For the past few years, marketing automation has been all the rage. It offers an easy and convenient way for affiliates to connect with their customers. But its popularity came at the expense of creating a personal experience for the customer.  At some point, automation went to the dark side … target-free spamming. While automation will continue to grow in popularity, I predict we’ll see affiliates rethink about how much they allow affiliate networks to blindly carpet-bomb their emails lists without the slightest regard for the end user’s interests.  Look for response based targeting, seamlessly connecting the right ads to the right users, to continue to flourish while mindless automation continues to suffer.

 

2. Marketing Campaigns. Planned out campaigns will become the dinosaur of affiliate marketing. Not only do they require significant amounts of time and money, they are also inflexible and no longer capable of keeping pace with rapidly–changing consumer tastes. Mention long-term marketing strategy in a room full of online marketers, and they will laugh you right out of the room. Real-time marketing will dominate the industry, with social media interaction leading the way.

 

3. SEO Shenanigans. In the early days of affiliate marketing, SEO reigned supreme and SEO companies could get away with selling just any old link. But now the pressure is on them to provide links with meaningful, relevant content that help marketers create a unique and personal online experience for their customers.   The free ride is over.  Faking social is no longer an option.

 

4. Anonymity. Hopefully, you have figured out by now that cute, clever and creepy avatars and screen names get you nowhere in terms of building a credible online reputation. Affiliate marketing will continue to be all about personal branding. Consumers expect to see real names and real people. Along with an increased intolerance for anonymity comes an increased expectation of accountability and quality.

 

5. Karaoke Singing. Singing badly in public, while others await their turn to sing badly, will no longer be tolerated. Newer, stricter anti-karaoke laws will be adopted in at least 32 states, with even harsher penalties for those daring to sing anything by Culture Club or Bon Jovi.

A boy can dream can’t he?

With more than one billion users, Facebook is a fantasy land for online marketers. But taming this social media behemoth requires patience, creativity, and marketing smarts. You can’t just burst onto the Newsfeed, ads blazin’, and expect the money to start rolling in. You must practice patience and plan your every move.

Making money with Facebook Ads presents a challenge because the mindset of the market – Friends and Fans – is different. Think about why you cruise Facebook. Undoubtedly, it’s not to do some online shopping. The same goes for every other user. People tune into Facebook because they want to tune out the world. This state of mind makes it extremely tough to turn an ad click into an immediate sale. Thriving Facebook marketers have figured out a way to propel their prospects into buying mode. It requires tons of patience. At the outset, it’s necessary to approach your campaign with the goal of list building rather than sale making. More on that in a minute.

Whether you are running ads on your website or on Facebook, the ground rule remains the same: You have to offer something that people want to buy. Beyond that, the process is the same with just a slightly different approach on Facebook. In a nutshell, your e-mail campaign involves grabbing people’s attention with an ad that offers some type of incentive to complete a specified action. With one click, your prospects arrive on your landing page, and you collect their contact information. You begin building a relationship with that customer by providing excellent customer service and delivering the goods. Lastly, you maintain regular contact with that customer, usually through an e-mail newsletter.

When you use Facebook Ads, you follow the same path essentially, but the focus is more on creating a large following or fan base. Keep in mind, the bigger the following, the greater potential for sales. On Facebook, the conversion process starts by getting a prospect to “Like” you. Again, an enticing incentive will earn you more “Likes.” This click takes the visitor to a landing page housed on Facebook versus your own web site. You cultivate that new relationship by following through on your promise of sending whatever incentive you offered. Communication is still essential, but it comes in the form of wall posts instead of an e-mail newsletter.

Using Facebook Ads requires well-hone marketing smarts, especially when it comes to targeting your ads to specific users. With potential access to a billion sales prospects, it’s hard to know where to begin. In addition to the ability to target users by “Likes and Interest” (formerly known as keywords), Facebook offers demographic targeting of 16 different criteria. Think wisely about your moves here. What works for your e-mail campaign may be very different on Facebook. Plan ahead and know what you want to achieve and what targets you want to hit before you put ads out there. Be prepared for some trial and error.

There are additional challenges to consider with using Facebook Ads. For instance, you have to keep your content relevant and fresh. By this, I mean changing things up every few days. Your goal is to achieve a high CTR rate, and this can only be accomplished by a revolving door of over-the-top creative ad copy, relevant images, and keyword targeting. Also keep in mind that Facebook has an approval process for ads, so it is wise to have several ads in the hopper at any given time. This will give you access to a variety of ads while you are awaiting approval on others.

I was browsing an affiliate marketing forum the other day and came across an interesting question posed by one of the participants. She wanted to know what information do affiliates commonly ask for that is not provided by the major networks? In other words, how can networks help their publishers succeed? There were just a handful of comments, and most of those were asking for clarification on her question, as if the idea was a foreign concept. That got me thinking: We talk quite about the expectations networks have for their affiliates, but we don’t often address the question in the reverse.

First, networks need to make their program attractive so people will want to sign up and recommend it to others. After all, the bigger the network, the bigger the profit. Affiliates want a reason to sign onto your network. Use special offers or incentives to entice them and keep them. I’m not talking about offering a free oven mitt. The incentive must be monetary. Perhaps it’s the guarantee of an increase in commission when revenue increases. Also, as part of the welcome package, offer information about typical conversion rates, top selling categories, EPC rates, and data analysis. Consider creating a resource page that outlines the tools available to network affiliates as well as guides on how to use them. Provide support for fledgling marketers in the form of a FAQ page. Make it clear that you want your publishers to succeed.

Second, be a reputable and trustworthy network. A strong industry presence saturated in positive reviews with make people want to do business with you. Again, the bigger the network, the bigger the profit. Pay your affiliates on time and according to your agreement. Don’t play games. Additionally, offer them authentic ideas that they can use on their end. Give them access to your tried and true marketing strategies as well as to your reporting and tracking system so they can actively monitor progress as often as you do. A monthly e-mail report no longer cuts it.

Last, build a community. This starts by viewing the affiliates in your network as partners versus employees. It involves having the team mindset. In affiliate marketing, everyone has the same goal: to make money. If you make each member of your team feel like he or she is part of the “in” crowd, then they will be more likely to actively promote your categories, which makes you more money. In line with this, merchants and networks must both strive to build relationships with affiliates. When merchant involvement is minimal or non-existent, affiliates build relationships solely with the network. As a result, affiliates feel no loyalty toward the merchants and can easily switch around within the network. Keep in mind that communication is essential in relationship building. Create an online forum in which affiliates, managers, and merchants can discuss ideas and issues. Furthermore, develop an affiliate newsletter to keep them apprised of progress, new products, and network news.

Take a few minutes to reflect on the current status of your network. Do you take an active interest in what your partners are doing? Do you know what they want? Are you supporting them and helping them succeed at every turn? Or are they “out of sight, out of mind?” Your answer could mean the difference between a good affiliate network and a great affiliate network.