1. Basics
Prior to constructing your email, make sure that your message is clear and concise. Develop and refine what you want to say so that readers don’t lose interest or get confused about what your call-to-action is. What is your offer? How will reading and clicking through this email help the reader? Make sure they know what’s in it for them. Before and during the building process, continually ask yourself, “What would I think if I got this in my inbox? Would I immediately delete it? Or worse, report it as spam?” Rule No. 1 — don’t be spam.

Even the most compelling message can be rendered ineffective if it’s presented in an undesirable way to your readers. During this process you may encounter many challenges and obstacles. Your design team may want to create something striking and beautiful, but your audience may not want it. At the same time, don’t throw readers for a loop with a design that is off-brand. Your email design should be able to flow well with the look of your website as well as any pieces collateral offered. Consistency is good. Also, design the email around your readers by responding to their personality. Are they tech savvy? Parents? Students?

Loss of confidential data – including intellectual property, business documents, customer data, and employee records – is a pervasive problem among World companies, according to a survey released by Ponemon Institute and Vontu, a San Francisco-based provider of data loss prevention products.

Eighty-one percent of companies surveyed reported the loss of one or more laptops containing sensitive information during the past 12 months, according to the survey, which queried nearly 500 information security professionals.

Email Marketing 2010

While the main use of email marketing is to drive traffic to your web site, there are other important reasons that emails can be used in promoting your home business. You should use them, and use them often, as part of your overall marketing strategy (you do have one, right? A written plan on how you’re going to let other people know about your online business?)

Why market with email? Because it really does work. – Email Marketing generated ROI of $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009! And this is amazing!

Make no mistakes!

Email marketing is very profitable business, and like every business it has rules. Here are few topics to make your email marketing business more stable and profitable. Don’t make mistakes listed below, and you’ll see how your email marketing business grow!

1. You do not have a permission-based mailing list. Unless you have the recipient’s permission, you may be sending spam, which is against the law. Too many business owners take shortcuts and buy e-mail lists or compile them in unethical manners, such as harvesting them from the Web. Spam also hurts the reputation of your business. The CAN-SPAM Act provides strict requirements about what you can and cannot do; for more information, go to the Federal Trade Commission Web site.

Email Marketing 2010

Inactivation campaigns will become more important, thanks to ISPs giving weight to engagement metrics when determining whether to deliver to the inbox or junk folder or to block email. Marketers with 50% or more of their list inactive will have to start devising strategies to deal with reducing that level. It will start with each company defining what “inactive” is for them, then progress to segmentation tactics to message inactives differently, and possibly culminate with reactivation campaigns that give subscribers a chance to reaffirm their interest or be dropped from the list.

There was a panel of 20-somethings fresh out of college at the Email Insider Summit . The majority of them indicated that they subscribe to emails that they don’t read and just hold on to in case they are suddenly in the market. These kinds of subscribers are becoming increasingly problematic for marketers.

Mobile and SMS Marketing 2010

Mobile marketing was redefined in 2009 – literally. In November, the Mobile Marketing Association updated the definition to “a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.”

Describing mobile marketing as a set of practices reflects how it has changed in 2009 and where it is headed in 2010. To understand, it helps to consider the following few trends.

Corporate Data Security 2010

• Convergence Has Only Begun: Movement towards convergence of physical and logical security will continue and become the norm rather than the beta test scenario it was in 2009. While new technologies have emerged to better security efforts, “feet on the ground” in the form of security officers is still imperative. The year ahead will see greater focus on ironing out the convergence of physical and logical security, ensuring a “blend” that delivers both the greatest cost-efficiency and highest levels of security.

• “Big Brother” Oversight: Government regulations will create additional costs and impact a wider spectrum of industry sectors as it pertains to security and personal information. With continued incidents of consumer personal data being stolen, health records being released, financial scandals and more, security executives need to be out-front on compliance. They should also prepare for aggressive auditing in areas such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, Payment Card Industry Security Standards and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.