Email Marketing Best Practice

Email Marketing has grown in leaps and bounds since the original DMA best practice guidelines were written in 2004. With more consumers online and the cost of running campaigns plummeting, email marketing is now more than ever a viable sales channel for most businesses.

Rupert Harrison, chair of the DMA Email Marketing Council’s Best Practice Hub, says:
“By adhering to our guidelines, email marketers can maximise ROI and cut through inbox ‘clutter’. Email marketing that breaches the guidelines not only brings the medium itself into disrepute but also has the potential to massively damage a brand.”

Isn't that true. DIY email marketing can produce the most horrible copy with mixed messages and unclear calls to action. Bad emails can make a company look unprofessional and have customers unsubscribing in droves. The June 2007 guidelines cover everything from data collection and hygiene to invaluable practical advice on planning and implementing the campaign. The guidelines reinforce the fact that relevant, targeted communications with processes in place to manage unsubscribes and responses get results.

Download the complete guidelines from the Direct Marketing Association website.

Kerching! Video Monetising

With the Clickz Online Video Advertising conference on in New York later this week, I've been thinking a lot about the possibilities for online advertising in social networks and video monetising opportunities for publishers in particular.

Most social networks generate revenue through standard banner ads and video ads in banner placement but more and more content providers offer unobtrusive in-video ads based on the Flash platform.

Adotube, one of the conference sponsors, has a very simple model (well, its presented simply) which is easy to integrate. I like it because it respects the viewers user experience. The Ad is shown only the first time the video is played; if the user dismisses the Ad and plays the video again, the Ad won't appear. Constantine Goltsev, Adotube CEO, says that when they open up the web application for self registration they will welcome smaller publishers . This is good news for publishers getting less than 1 million impressions a month and for charities and not for profit orgs looking for an additional revenue stream.

Most models split revenue 50/50 with the content provider, however, online video sharing is now as easy as sending an email and this viral effect has implications for revenue sharing. For example if the Adotube player is forwarded the original content provider gets the revenue. But some schemes give the sub publisher a cut of up to 30%.

Research has shown that views are amenable to video advertising if the ad is less than 15 seconds long. So what can advertisers do to engage the viewer? The Internet Advertising Bureau gives the following tips:

• Find a balance between content and air time. Aim to produce a 8-12 sec ad.
• Create high quality videos. Badly streamed ads will have a negative effect on the campaign and reflect poorly on your brand.
• Don't use your existing TV ad. Create an ad for online use for maximum effectiveness.
• Use complimentary banner ads to increase impact.