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I don’t often get to attend all the webinars that Vocus puts on, but I’m never disappointed when I do. Today’s was no exception. With DJ Waldow, co-author of The Rebel’s Guide to Email Marketing, as the presenter the webinar was lively interactive and full of great tips regardless of your industry. My notes and takeaways from the webinar are below.
General:
- Send timely target valuable human emails to people who want it.
- Speak #human, not jargon. Obvious, but not always followed.
- “Talk directly to the recipient.” -@djwaldow (in human language, be personal!)
- Don’t send “ugly emails” we all get them every day and still open them. Design doesn’t override content. ”Beauty is in the eye of the subscriber.”
- You might want to check more than the open rate, like the click-throughs and forwards.
- Make your unsubscribe link obvious – make it easy. As in, don’t make them more frustrated.
- Video in email: embed screenshots, not autoplay.
Audience/recipient:
- Use #emailmarketing to build trust and provide value.
- If you have trust with your audience, they’ll forgive a few email mistakes/chances.
- Build trust before you get the person’s email address.
- Know your audience/clients/members. The better you know them, the more likely they open your email.
- Shouldn’t we be sad that the industry open rate average is about 20%? even for subscription based lists?
Subject line:
- Subject words to avoid advice is old, outdated, not true (for example, search your inbox for the word Free or any subject line in all caps.)
- Use a compelling subject line. But it only works if you earned your subscribers trust.
- Any rule that starts out always is never a good rule.
- Flip side: check your own spam folder. See what subject lines they use. Free and ALL CAPS might not be in the folder
- Love A/B subject line tests! Helps you know your audience better!
- The 30 and 50 characters a rule to break. So it cuts off on an iphone or tablet? If your subscribers trust you, they don’t care.
- Shouldn’t a subject line be more like an article headline? Less gimmick, more substance? journalism tactics can work for advertising and marketing too! It should be a combination of human elements and a headline aspect. Might be more work, but could be worth it.
- As the subject line characters go up the open rate goes down, but the click to open rate, goes up!
- A subject should be all about what’s in it for the reader not your agenda.
In summary, know your audience but don’t be afraid to try new things. As DJ Waldow said, “Don’t forget to have fun with email marketing!” It’s just email, not life or death. Plus with email, you don’t even risk paper cuts! You can see the entire Twitter conversation from the hashtag: #VocusWebinar.
What do you think?
Extra tip: consider incorporating a twitter contest into the webinar, you might be surprised at the results!
The exclusively exclusionary clothing brand is back in the news again this week with protesters planning to donate A&F clothes to the homeless. You can also see the hashtag, #FitchtheHomeless.
At best, this reinforces exclusion, only the coolest can wear the latest season A&F attire. Everyone else is in the homeless category.
You can go to any Goodwill or Salvation Army store and find A&F branded clothing. Lots of items. A&F is probably just as aware of this and they probably don’t care, because the items are “last season.”
The store employees are required to dress in this season’s line. The catalogue features the current season and the cool kids A&F is courting want to wear the latest and greatest.
At worst, isn’t this just Zoolander in real life?
Not that wikipedia is the most appropriate source, but it gives a good summary.
“‘Derelicte’ is the name given to the fashion line designed by Will Ferrell’s character Mugatu. It is described by Mugatu in the film as ‘a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique.’ The fashion line consists of clothing made from everyday objects that could be found on the streets of New York. Derelicte is a parody of a real fashion line created by John Galliano in 2000.”
Clothing donations already happen, a mass campaign to donate A&F clothes to the homeless won’t impact the retailer’s bottom line.
Do you disagree? Will you participate?
The internet seems to be in an uproar of Abercrombie & Fitch’s newest insult, large people (specifically women) shouldn’t wear their clothes. At least the company is honest about their brand and expectations.
Communications expert, Tim Miles, author of Good Company: Making It, Keeping It, and Being It wrote in his blog, the Daily Blur that A&F is the anti-Dove, anti-inclusive. He goes on to explain why this is good business and advertising for the A&F brand.
“I think public protests outside their stores would make CEO Jeffries squeal with glee,” Miles wrote. “He welcomes this publicity as a siren song to his shallow end of the pool.”
Miles is 100 percent right.
A&F seems to have the spotlight every few years whether it’s with their hiring practices (or firing practices), the outlandish and teen-coveted, sexualized magazine or a $50 T-shirt with an explicit message (see the entire product criticism on the A&F wikipedia page).
The main point is that the general public and media are talking about A&F and all those conversations just make the cool kids want to buy the clothes and others to see what they’re missing.
Exclusion is nothing new for A&F and it isn’t hurting the business bottom line. It may not be ethical, kind or bettering the world in any way, but is selling clothes, albeit skimpy, overly expensive clothes.
Vote with consumer dollars, if you don’t like their business practices, you don’t have to shop there. Just be wary of forbidding your teenagers from shopping at A&F, it will probably lead to them buying the clothes and telling you they’re borrowing it from their bestie. (Not that I ever did that myself…)
Full disclosure: I interviewed for a job at A&F in college. I made the mistake of not wearing a full, current season A&F outfit to the interview (apparently an A&F t-shirt and A&F jeans weren’t enough, I was supposed to wear the jewelry, perfume and flip-flops too) and ultimately wasn’t hired.
After watching Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations for Vietnam, J and I have sought out Vietnamese dishes to prepare. And as we’ve mentioned before, we are always looking for more ways to eat fish . J found this recipe from the Ravenous Couple and it didn’t disappoint. Easy to prepare, delicious and fragrant, we’ve added this to our dinner rotation.
Vietnamese Turmeric Fish with Dill.
Ingredients:
1 lb of white fish fillets (We used tilapia fillets)
Fish Marinade
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (this gives the fish the beautiful yellow color)
1/4 teaspoon ginger powder (The original recipe calls for galangal powder, but we’ve had a hard time finding it around us)
1 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs minced shallots
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce
Additions
1 large red onion, sliced (we only had a white onion on hand)
1 cup of green onion cut lengthwise into 1.5 inch segments
1 bunch of fresh dill coarsely chopped (thick stems removed)
1/4 cup of dry roasted peanuts, coarsely crushed (we didn’t use this because we didn’t have any)
12 oz. bag of vermicelli noodles (boiled and drained, we used white rice because we didn’t have vermicelli on hand)
Fresh mint
If you’re ever interested in making your own fish sauce, the original recipe has instructions on how to do that. We opted not to for time purposes, as we made this on a weeknight.
Directions:
Combine olive oil, turmeric, galangal, garlic, shallots, salt, sugar, and fish sauce in large bowl and mix well. Cut the fish into smaller fillets and gently mix, and allow to marinade in the fridge for at least an hour.
You’ll need two skillets for this, one large and one medium. In the large skillet, saute the red and green onions with a bit of oil under medium low heat. At the same time have the medium non-stick skillet heating on medium high.
While the onions are cooking, cook the fish fillets about 3 minutes on each side until you get a nice golden opaque color and a light brown crust. A minute or so before the fish is done, turn the large skillet with the onions to high and place the cooked fillets on top of the sauteed onions and scallions. Remove from heat and generously top with fresh dill and roasted peanuts (if desired). Serve immediately over vermicelli noodles, fresh lettuce and herbs.
My Opinion:
The dill, fish sauce and mint make te flavors really pop. If you’re skeptical like we initially were, try just a little of each on one bite. I promise, you won’t regret it. The only change we’ve made is to use a bit of a firmer fish. Tilapia was just what we had on hand the first time and worked fine, but cod, halibut, or the recommended catfish would be easier to sear. You won’t feel bogged down by this dish. It’s light and filling. We served it with rice, but that was almost unnecessary, the onions were enough.
Those unflattering middle school pictures on Facebook, teen shaming ecards and college Instagram party pics aren’t just ruining your potential romantic relationships, they’re harming your ability to get a job, even a part-time one.
Once upon a time (think 1990′s and early 2000′s) restauranteurs and the Limited didn’t care if you were a weekend partier or took awful photos, now they not only care, but you’ll get screened out before human eyes ever see your resume. The liability is too big. If you’re willing to live your life online, what’s to stop you from making a video like this Domino’s one, or exposing what really happens behind Target’s closed doors?
As this article and infographic from Undercover Recruiter points out, “You don’t have to be squeaky clean – it’s as important to be interesting and relevant – but an awful lot of damage can be done in a very brief period of time by behaving in an inappropriate manner. Before you know what’s happened, your reputation is in tatters and the fallout is irrecoverable.”
This infographic from KBSD, posted on Undercover Recruiter has good suggestions for managing your online reputation.
Image from: theundercoverrecruiter.com
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