Customers need to know you’re grateful for their business, and adding thank-you emails to your marketing “illuminates the human side of your brand,” she argues.

Talavera breaks down the thank-you email into three categories:

The Immediate Thanks. It’s important to acknowledge any transaction or communication right away; be sure to do it in a tone, style and design that match the channel in which your customer took action. And don’t skimp on the gratitude if they spent lots of money. “Match your thanks, in magnitude, to the action you are thankful for,” Talavera advises. “The last time I bought real estate, for example, I received a huge housewarming gift basket, not a lame postcard or text message.”

The Seasonal Thanks. Holidays—especially Thanksgiving—are a natural time to thank loyal customers. “[B]ut go beyond national or religious holidays,” she suggests. “Are you also thanking your customers on the anniversary of their relationship with you? Of their first purchase? On holidays relevant to them (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, New Year’s Day, Veterans Day, Grandparents Day)?”

The Surprise Thanks. Even the most jaded customer will likely appreciate an expression of thanks that comes for no particular reason. “To start,” she says, “weave a quarterly or (if you’re ambitious) monthly thank-you campaign to reward repeat business and customer loyalty.” You can establish a regular schedule, keep customers guessing or tie the program to behavior.

It’s OK to show you’re grateful. Like friends, your customers won’t feel valued if you contact them only when you want something from them. Thank them once in a while.

Source: MarketingProfs.

Are you going to wait until SOPA/PIPA passes and THEN complain?

Everyone knows the exasperation of calling a toll-free number only to wait—and wait, and wait—while listening to elevator music, ads for products and services, or disingenuous messages about the importance of your call. “Instead of those common and boring solutions,” suggests Dooley, “try something a little different: building in ‘social proof’ messaging might actually keep callers on the line and, when the call is answered, boost conversion rates.”

In other words, tell callers you can’t answer their call because so many people are clamoring for your product or service. Using this philosophy, Colleen Szot famously tweaked infomercial copy from the standard operators are waiting, please call now to if operators are busy, please call again. ”This seemingly trivial change caused sales to skyrocket,” notes Dooley.

How can you give your message some social proof? He offers this example:Due to high order volume during our holiday sale, our wait times are a little longer than usual. Thanks for holding. As a bonus, customer might even feel fortunate if their call is then answered swiftly.

With a social proof strategy, putting your customer on hold might not be such a bad thing. But, warns Dooley, “[t]his kind of message will wear out its welcome over time. Regular rotation is a must.”

Source: Neuromarketing.

• What were your impressions when you got to the current website?
• Did you come back to the site? What encouraged you to return?
• How often do you visit the site and for what purpose?
• Are you familiar with our area of expertise? Are you just learning about it and our site is a research tool? Are you a competitor?
• If you do have an understanding of our area of expertise, what other sites have been good resources in this area?
• What do you dislike about those sites? Do you prefer ours?
• What do you do on the site? Do you: check press releases, sign up for newsletters, download whitepapers, etc.?
• How would you describe our site to a peer?
• “How would you like feature X?” (Use this question to bounce ideas off people about a feature that you are considering adding to the site.)
• What is the No. 1 thing we could do improve our site?

With their answers, you can develop between three and five personas—quick snapshots of your most valuable customers’ wants and needs.

Source: MarketingProfs Daily Fix.

With that said, I am going to revisit a thread that I had originally started back in February of 2008, the “Shelf Chronicles”.  I have always enjoyed watching bonus feature material on any dvd from Pixar Studios as it typically shows employees working in there impossibly cool studios surrounded by all manner of interesting, weird, out-of-the-ordinary toys, decorations etc.  I have a corner in my office which is devoted to my “muses” as I call them.  They are a collection of things that have special meanings for me;  from toys of my childhood to action figures and statues from tv shows, anime and movies that I have enjoyed over the years.

My Office Muses

This particular thread on my blog will be a way for me to introduce them to you and give you the opportunity to get to know the “geekier” side of Shadowbend Studios (whether or not that is a good idea, we’ll soon find out!!).  Those of you who may have read my pseudo-bio on the company information page on my website will know that I am no stranger to quirky, odd ramblings

So, on to the first introductions…. perhaps we should begin with one of the more unique members of my extended family;  Tybo the Carrot Man from “Lost In Space”.  He was one of the first of my collection and always gets a double take from visitors.

"Tybo" The Carrot Man

Tybo is the main alien character from the Lost In Space episode “The Great Vegetable Rebellion”.  For those of you are in the mood, you can view the entire episode on Hulu by following this link.  Enjoy!

Keeping in mind the need to tread the thin line between email right and wrong, Georgieva discusses David Meerman Scott’s deadly sins of email marketing.

Here are four:
Bad marketing automation. The positive benefits of personalization will turn quickly negative if your message begins Dear [blank]. No subscriber thinks you sat down and wrote a personal offer—but she can reasonably expect that you’ll get her non-personal personalization correct.

Boring content. We can’t expect subscribers to share our inherent passion for our products, services and news. So tell a compelling story, and hold their interest with humor, controversy and interesting facts.

Lack of variety. No matter how much customers like a brand, they’ll lose interest if the only thing its messages ever say is please buy this thing. Mix it up with content that educates and builds relationships.

Predictable timing. If you send messages on Tuesday morning because someone said that’s when you should send a message, you’re probably missing big opportunities, Georgieva notes. Find out what works for your company by testing a variety of days and times; you might even discover success with a weekend campaign.

Think communication first. It’s important to cross your t’s and dot your i’s, but don’t get so carried away with the details that you forget to simply engage your subscribers.

Source: HubSpot.

Always be on the lookout for talent. Make a habit of identifying and getting to know potential candidates—even when you don’t have a specific position to fill. “Never get caught in the trap of recruiting only when you need someone to start in two weeks,” she says. “That’s when you’re vulnerable to making a mistake [or] overlooking a weak work ethic.”

Make talent-spotting part of your staff’s job description. “Too often, staffers assume that recruiting happens someplace away from the daily hum of business, in some corner of the HR department,” notes Prosek, who freely admits she isn’t her company’s best talent spotter. She highlights the importance of recruiting in the weekly blog post she writes for employees, and encourages referrals with bonuses for bringing in top talent.

Hire the right person for the right job—even in a downturn. “I have often made strategy hires that at the time raised eyebrows,” she says. “What’s she doing? Hiring this high-priced talent in this economy? But I know what I’m doing. I’m making sure we are bringing in the talent we need to be successful.”

If you want the best employees, never stop looking for them.

Source: Army of Entrepreneurs.

So to help a range of B2B marketers find the right frequency for their email programs, Albee offers advice like this:

Accept that the length of the buy cycle is the length of the buy cycle. “If it’s 8 months, trying to increase the frequency to complete the program in 3 months isn’t going to change that,” she argues. “Buyers will move at their own pace.” Attempts to speed things up with additional email messages will likely annoy your leads and cause campaign fatigue.

Plan with a realistic view of your content-producing capabilities. It takes time to research, write, vet, approve and publish high-quality content. “Map your processes to a timeline so that you can meet the frequency schedule you choose to follow,” Albee advises. “Better to space it out and do it well than to rush to publish based on an artificial schedule you cannot maintain over the long haul.”

Coordinate the timing of email campaigns with each of your company’s departments. “Unless you can isolate your targeted lead list,” she says, “you need to look at the entire universe of email that they could be exposed to from your company and plan accordingly.” You might think you’re giving leads plenty of space, but they’ll feel bombarded if they’re also getting product announcements, corporate newsletters and webinar invitations from others in your organization.

Take the time to clearly map things out. There’s no simple formula for correct frequency, and yours depends on a host of variables—internal and external.

Source: Marketing Interactions.

The answer: At an anti-spam conference in 2008, Dayman had entered a contest by putting his business card in a fishbowl. “Yes,” he notes, “it took them three years to send me the first email.” Even without that strange delay, however, he would have taken issue with being added to the list, he says.

“Not once did I hear: ‘By registering for this free item you will get an email from us,’” he explains. “What I heard was: ‘Drop your business card in here to win an iPod.’”

His wife offered an alternative perspective: “You didn’t think they would ever spam you when you tried to win the Apple product by dropping your business card into the fishbowl?” she asked.

This goes to the heart of the opt-in debate. If you add people to your list without their explicit permission, some—like Dayman’s wife—will see it as a natural outcome and opt out if they don’t want your messages. But others won’t be so generous, and they’re rarely shy about hitting the spam button.

Assume permission with care and caution. “[U]nderstand that when I give you my business card, I am giving it to you so you can individually contact me, not so you can spam me,” Dayman advises.

Source: Deliverability.