The value of email marketing in New Zealand has been growing steadily over the years. Not surprisingly email marketing and online communications are the most popular media of choice now, particularly email marketing.

Email is a powerful marketing tool and it integrates well with traditional media. It spurs immediate action, thus generating direct sales, registrations, growth of database and more. It is also more cost effective than paper-based direct mail and achieves greater ROI. However, it is wrought with challenges. And with the passing of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act, it’s important for organisations to ensure compliance whilst developing their marketing plans.

Integrated Email Marketing and Online Communications takes a practical approach to ensure continued acquisition, growth and retention of customers through targeted, robust, tried and tested strategies to help lift your email marketing strategies. To help you gain the upper hand over your competition, the course also covers some popular online communications tools that you could implement to supplement your email marketing strategy.

DAY ONE
Digital Communications — Email Marketing, Online and Offline Media
Customers today have more choice available than ever before of how they are communicated with. Customers ultimately want to control the frequency, the content and how they receive their communications. This session covers how email fits within the full marketing mix and how it integrates with other online and offline media.

• What are digital communications?
• How do digital communications fit within the full marketing mix?
• Marketing through email, RSS, blogging, txt, websites
• Platforms – desktop computers, mobile devices
• Integration with other online media
• Integration with offline direct marketing

Developing an Email Strategy
Many companies spend a lot of time, effort and budget acquiring email addresses, but neglect to develop an effective communication strategy once they have them. You’ll learn to develop strategic communication plans to maximise the potential for robust marketing strategies through this session.

• Developing the digital communication strategic plan
• Objectives, strategies and tactical elements
• Understanding the email marketing and digital communications
  process
• How to integrate email marketing into other online and offline media

The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act: Your Legal Obligations
Understand and ensure that your organisation meets the requirements of the Electronic Messages Act 2007.

• Definition of spam
• Definition of permission levels
• Permission vs. memorable permission
• Industry guidelines and best practices
• How will the Act affect your marketing plans?
• What are the penalties and costs associated with breaches?
• How tight is the current legislation – what are the ways around it?
• How to ensure compliance
• International spam laws – do they apply to companies in NZ?

Data Management: Building and Maintaining a List
Data is at the heart of any form of direct marketing including “email”. It pays to identify the data that you need to collect in order to personalise communications and provide effective reporting.

• Structuring your database – what type of data do you need?
• What are the reporting data requirements?
• “Quantity” vs. “Quality” – retaining the active subscriber
• Cleaning and maintaining data – changes, adds, deletes, fixing misspellings
• What is “provable permission” – recording and time stamping of permission received
• “Offline permission” – how to record permission granted through the call centre, trade shows, network meeting and face-to-face sales activity
• Managing permission across an organisation

In-House or Outsource – Assessing Email Service Providers
Finding the right email service provider is a critical choice for any company. You will explore and learn ways to find the right vendor and technology to manage your campaigns now and into the future through this session.

• How to assess your needs
• Questions you should be asking
• Assessing email service providers in NZ and overseas
• Liaising with your email service provider

DAY TWO
Winning Creative Strategies & Execution for Email
Create email messages that stand out, get read and get the response you plan for.

• “Memorable permission” – planning content your subscribers actually want to read
• Exploring the 19 creative elements (the from line – email brand value, the subject line, the preview pane, position of logo, ratio of text to images, design layout, number and type of links, navigation bar, inclusion of photography, feature offers, location of call-to-action, the words you use and personalisation etc.)
• Email mandatories
• What are the technical specifications?
• Designing effective landing pages and forms
• Use of rich media – video and audio
• Eyetracking and multivariate testing

Increasing Conversion Rates
This session covers how to use data to improve conversions such as open rates, click rates, inquiries and sales.

• Reporting data
• Behavioural targeting
• Event triggered campaigns

Deliverability, Filters and Rendering
Learn techniques to avoid the dreaded “spam” folder and “report spam” button.

• Data collection and tracking
• Filters and list management
• Deliverability reporting codes – messages sent back from ISPs
• About false positives
• Whitelisting – how to get your message delivered every single time
• Image suppression – what’s getting delivered?
• Authentication and reputation
• Rendering your message in email readers

RSS – Spam Free Communications
Is RSS the holy grail of online communications? Lean how to send communications that are completely spam free.

• What is RSS and why use it?
• What are some of the popular RSS readers available?
• iRSS – individualized RSS, sending personalised communications just like email
• Content distribution and syndication

Blogging – Participating in the Ongoing Conversation

• The New Zealand and international blogospheres
• Starting a blog - how to choose a theme
• Posting content – what, how, when
• Dealing with comments
• Making friends – increase your presence in the blogosphere
• Integrating your blog with email and RSS
• Use of video (vlogging) and audio (podcasting)
• Reporting on performance

In the last decade, technology has fundamentally changed the way companies and customers communicate and interact with one another. Consumers have 24/7 access to almost limitless information and can easily investigate a global network of options. And companies can readily tap into an amazing breadth and depth of information about their customers and prospects.

But as many companies are learning, new information and resources don’t necessarily lead to more productive relationships or effective marketing solutions.

Overwhelmed by the variety of interactive marketing tools and data? We can help. With the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Interactive Marketing program.

During this intensive three-day seminar, our industry experts will teach you how to create an effective blend of online and offline marketing to reach your customers and increase sales and productivity.

Interactive Marketing will teach you to:

Optimize your online efforts
After more than a decade of online marketing, companies are still struggling to find the best ways to use the web to promote themselves and build relationships with their customers. Our proven, practical tips will help you to get higher search engine rankings, make your e-mails filter-friendly — yet compliant! — and deliver relevant customer-focused website content.

Integrate online and offline media for maximum ROI
Combine the science of direct marketing with the technology of new media and you’ll link the efficiencies of mass promotion with the immediacy of one-to-one. Learn why the seamless integration of sales, marketing and distribution functions is crucial, and how to strategically coordinate your on- and offline efforts.

Identify how an interactive media campaign can strenghten — or threaten — your brand
Infinite opportunities to reach your customers and prospects means an equally infinite number of opportunities to dilute or damage your brand. Learn how to create an appropriate balance between branding and demand creating to protect your long-term brand equity while driving curent sales.

Who should attend?

This course provides excellent insights for directors, managers and executives involved in:

• Digital and Interactive Marketing
• Marketing, Sales and Advertising
• Communications
• Business Development
• New Media Planning
• Product and Brand Management
• Strategic Planning
• Customer Acquisition/Retention
• IT and website development

Here are the top 5 reasons you should attend this course:

5. There is no sales pitch for any product or service.
4. You will be provided with cross-functional perspectives on interactive marketing.
3. You will learn there is life after SPAM and CAN-SPAM.
2. Your customers will be happy with the web improvements you make.
1. The increased effectiveness of your integrated marketing campaign will make you a hero.

Even if your message gets past the filters, it doesn’t mean your email will be opened. Your recipients are brutal when it comes to slashing through the commercial messages clogging their inboxes. A split second decision will decide your email’s fate, based squarely on your From line and Subject line, and to a smaller extent, what’s visible in the Preview pane. After navigating these deliverability and openability hazards, you still have to get the recipient to comprehend and act on your message. A pretty tall order nowadays.

This virtual seminar is going to get “hands on” with reviews of actual email campaigns submitted by seminar attendees. Not all will be chosen, so give yourself the best chance of having your campaign critiqued: submit your entry early. Stephan is one of the most popularly and highly acclaimed MarketingProfs seminar leaders.

If you’ve ever wondered what you were doing wrong with your email marketing, or wondered what you could be doing better, then this is the seminar for you.

You will learn:

• How to write messages that are opened and read
• How to create subject lines that are the best they can be
• Best practices for your call-to-action and value proposition
• How to balance text and images
• When to use Text or HTML
• Whether your email is compliant with CAN-SPAM legislation
• Whether your messages will get past spam filters

The 90-minute seminar will include an extended Q&A.

• Gain an understanding of each of these channel’s unique benefits and where each fit in your brand strategy
• Learn best practice techniques applicable to these new channels, with numerous examples

Gloria Adams, Pennwell - Moderator
Laura Wilson, NEJM - Panelist
Sean Fulton, GCN Publishing - Panelist
Brian Klais, Netconcepts - Panelist

Topics include:

• Understanding whitelisting criteria for ISPs such as AOL and Yahoo!
• Secrets to monitoring your own spam record — and your e-mail vendor’s
• Tactics for making your e-mails filter-friendly while complying with the law