New Editor Released!

What does the design of your email and landing pages say about your organization?

The impression you leave on your current and prospective clients matters!

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We recently released a brand new  editing tool for users who want to create customized  email and landing page templates and for those who want to start fresh and give their marketing a “face lift.” 

(We promise, a little creativity goes a long way)

 

With MAX’s new editor, users can quickly and easily:

  • Change font styles, sizes and colors
  • Add background colors for an extra pop
  • Rearrange or add to the layout
  • Add graphics to emails and landing pages

No matter how creative (or not) you are, MAX’s new editing tools will help you easily create visually attractive emails and landing pages that are sure stand out (emphasis on easily).

5 Tip Guide to Email Deliverability

Are you struggling to reach your customers through email marketing? There is a lot more that goes into email deliverability than you may think. Between complying with CAN-SPAM and CASL regulations and still being able to grab the attention of your recipients, email marketing may not be an easy task. Here are five tips to increase your email deliverability as a business.

    1. Comply with CAN-SPAM and CASL. In order to have continued success through email marketing, your business must comply with CAN-SPAM and CASL. CAN-SPAM is an American act that was passed in 2003, signifying “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing.” CASL is Canada’s anti-spam legislation that was passed in 2014. Both hold similar sets of rules and guidelines. CAN-SPAM deals with commercial emails, while CASL applies to almost all online messaging. In order to make sure you are complying with these rules, here are some of the main requirements for both:
      • Do not use false or misleading headers and properly identify yourself.
        • Your recipients need to know who you are. When properly identifying yourself, people opening the emails will know who you are, have an idea of what you may want, and are more likely to open it and not just click delete.
      • Avoid deceptive subject lines and messaging that is false or misleading.
        • Subject lines are very important for email marketing. It is one of the first things readers will see. Be honest and do not try to trick your customers. They should be able to know what the message is about just from reading the subject line.
      • Your recipients must see where you are located.
        • Your recipients must know where you are coming from. You should have a valid address tagged with each email.
      • Recipients can easily opt out or unsubscribe.
        • As much as we would enjoy not losing any subscribers, it happens. On all emails, there must be a clear, visible, and easy way for someone to opt out of any further messages.
      • Know what others are doing for you.
        • Many businesses hire other companies to handle their email marketing or marketing plans as a whole. Be aware that even in a contract, you are still responsible for complying to these rules and you need to make sure whoever you hire is doing just that.
    2. Avoid buying lists. When you buy a list for email marketing purposes, that does not mean these contacts have given permission for you to email them. Also, statistics show that most of the time paid lists do not produce effective results.  A lot of your emails may bounce back and that can increase your odds to be blacklisted. Also, many lists are filled with spam and faulty email addresses. Grow your list organically, that way you know contacts are real and you know you have permission from your potential recipients.
    3. Avoid trigger words. It is important to be careful when using certain subject lines and formatting the body of your message. A lot of times, businesses think certain words like “free” or “affordable” or “we are looking for you” are enticing for recipients, when in fact they are less likely to open the email and you are more likely to go directly into the spam folder. Stay away from all caps, an excessive amount of exclamation points, the dollar sign, and trigger words. All of these decrease your chances for engagement and increase the chances of becoming blacklisted or thrown into the spam folder. A lot of words that signify something to do with a price are usually quick trigger words. Also, using one of these words repeatedly throughout the email or typing in all caps can be registered as spam. Here are some popular trigger words and phrases to avoid:
      • $$$$
      • NO (followed by certain words)
      • FREE
      • Instant
      • Now
      • Time’s running out
      • We need you
      • Affordable
    4. Don’t over-send emails. You have the subscribers you want; don’t lose them. When growing your email list, if people are expecting a monthly newsletter or update of your products and services then give them just that – monthly, or whatever else they sign up for. If you start sending weekly promotions unexpectedly, sooner or later you will lose subscribers. Your content is strong and you’ve mastered how to stay out of spam, don’t ruin it by losing subscribers because you are flooding their inboxes.
    5. Have permission. Like mentioned before, an important tip for email marketing is to make sure your recipients gave permission. If they did not give permission there is a good chance your message will go directly in the trash or worse they will report the message as spam because they do not know what it is. If someone does not wish to receive emails, then honor that decision and do not add them to your email list.

So why does email deliverability matter? Punishments for not being compliant vary but can reach high numbers for any business. If CAN-SPAM is violated, EACH email can be flagged with up to a $16,000 fine. For CASL, it varies from warnings to punishment reaching $10 million for businesses. Further, repercussions such as getting blacklisted or losing your rights to the use of certain marketing platforms will prevent you from sending the emails you want to the people you want. Avoid earning a bad reputation and follow these simple tips during your next email campaign.

*Click the following links for more information and sources from this article: CAN-SPAM | CASL

[Press Release] MAX: Marketing Automation. Executed. Released!

WILMINGTON, Mass. – (September 7, 2016) interlinkONE, Inc., a leader in the software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry, is thrilled to announce the launch of their newest marketing solution, MAX.: Marketing Automation. Executed, which went live to the public today, September 7, 2016, and has already been welcomed by organizations nationwide during the soft launch with rave reviews.

iMac 272Countless organizations find it challenging to put consistent communication with their respective audiences at the top of their to-do list. This challenge is what led CEO John Foley, Jr. and his team at interlinkONE to create MAX, a powerful, user-friendly and affordable marketing automation solution that makes staying in touch with audiences effortless. Whether it’s an email, landing page, notification, or social media post, users can easily set up marketing campaigns of any style or size, and then MAX seamlessly executes the campaign on the organization’s behalf.

“We have been following MAX’s development with enthusiasm and are very excited that MAX is officially going live to the public. We know this tool will be effective for any organization, large or small, serious about educating and engaging with their clients. AS beta customers, we know that MAX is a user-friendly and well-designed system that stands apart from any marketing automation platform you’ve probably seen. We were able to jump right in and start building and executing campaigns that yield real results. MAX avoids having to re-invent the wheel to send out each step in a marketing campaign, you can build the entire campaign beforehand with little time investment and have MAX deliver it successfully. Then using MAX’s reporting capability, check out the results,” said Ed Marino, CEO of codeMantra, a technology and services company for the content economy.

What makes MAX different is that it was designed with the user in mind. MAX’s intuitive system requires no training, marketing degree or experience with automated marketing software. Complimenting these benefits is MAX’s one-of-a-kind reporting tool that allows users to generate traditional campaign reports or customize their own to report on areas that matter most to their organization.

“For years we have heard from clients and industry insiders that they were finding it impossible to automate their marketing activities without hiring a specialist or delegating a huge chunk of their budget to it. We saw a problem, and we created a solution that specifically addressed the needs we heard time and time again. The time is right for a product like MAX, and I’m thrilled that we’re officially launched today. Content marketing is the best way to make sales, but you need to be consistently delivering that content or you won’t get a good ROI. Set MAX up, then let it go to work for you” said Foley, Jr.

With three affordable plans tailored to suit organizations of any size, MAX ensures users grab the attention of their audience and increase profits. To sign-up for MAX, view the plans and see how it can work for your organization visit MarketwithMAX.com today.

About interlinkONE, Inc.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, interlinkONE, Inc. has been a pioneer in the SaaS industry since 1996 when they launched their legacy platform, ilinkONEpro, which was one of the first software solutions available for download via the web, while industry peers were providing solutions that needed to be uploaded locally with CD-ROMs. Led by CEO John Foley, Jr., interlinkONE has continued to be an industry leader in new technologies with products and services to fulfill and exceed the needs of businesses and organizations locally and internationally. Visit interlinkONE.com to learn more about interlinkONE and the innovative marketing solutions they offer.

 

Media Contact:

Donna Vieira

Vice President, Marketing

interlinkONE, Inc.

donnav @ interlinkone.com

Create a Content Calendar in 3 Steps

Fresh, well-written, and relevant content is an integral part of the successful marketing plan of any modern association. Effectively managing content is also essential, however. Content management strategies include releasing the right content at the right time, using content designed to speak to a specific audience, and making certain that you’ve got a healthy supply of appropriate content waiting to be published. A good content calendar can do all that and more, but the first step is creating one that’s tailored to your individual organizational needs and the habits of your members and audience.

Identify Your Audience Base

Chances are that your audience base will be comprised of more than one demographic, but those differing demographics will contain significant overlapping properties. Identify the core groups and let them be the deciding factor in developing your main content themes.

Take Stock of Your Existing Content

Keeping in mind the tried-and-true rule that 80 percent of your content should be informational while the remaining 20 percent is promotional. Organize your content for specific audience target groups and according to which category represents your biggest percent of members and move down until your smallest target group is at the bottom.

Organize and Schedule Your Content by Creating a Simple Spreadsheet

Either Excel or Smartsheet are easy-to-use spreadsheet options that will allow you keep your content at your fingertips. Create a weekly or monthly calendar with the spreadsheet using the audience categories created above.

6 Ways to Visualize Your Association’s Content

We were groomed at an early age to have preferential treatment towards visually-appealing information. For instance, as kids, we gravitated towards the picture books, and now we’re captivated with Pinterest. The power of visual content has always been with us.

The only difference now is marketers are reinventing their messages, with the appeal of visual content in mind, in order to leverage their campaign’s impact on audiences.

If you’re ready to give your association’s marketing messages a visual facelift, here are 6 ways to transform those lengthy paragraphs!

1. Infographics

The popularity of infographics is becoming more and more apparent. We first saw them mainly in the digital marketing space, but any association can apply this strategy towards their own campaigns. As long as you have share-worthy statistics and a strong graphic design team, infographics should be no sweat.

2. Videos

You might be camera shy, but the power of videos should be enough to overcome this fear. YouTube is one of the largest search engines on the Internet, and online videos can do wonders for your association’s SEO. Videos that have been uploaded onto sites, like YouTube or Vimeo, can also be embedded on websites, emails, and social media channels. Plus, people love seeing the faces behind your association. Videos are a big opportunity to add personality to your organization! Visit the interlinkONE YouTube channel for inspiration!

3. Bullet Lists

When people are surfing the Internet for information, they usually don’t have 10-20 minutes to read an in-depth article. They want to learn the main take-aways of the information you’re presenting as quickly as possible. Think about the writing process you would use when writing an essay in high school. You would draft an outline in order to help formulate the body of your story. For digital content, there’s no need to turn those bullets into paragraphs. Usually, a 2-3 sentence explanation of each point you are listing is all you need!

4. Images

Images can be worth a thousand words, so they can be incredibly helpful when it comes to delivering information while striking interest within your audience. Incorporating images into web pages, email blasts, social media posts, and direct mail campaigns would only benefit your marketing efforts. With some nice graphic design skills, you can even turn powerful keywords and phrases into pieces of art as well. Take a look at Pinterest for some ideas!

5. Charts and Graphs

If you are creating case studies or presenting information with different types of statistics and trends, showcase them with various charts and graphs! If you clump too many striking facts together in one paragraph, they could lose their value. Readers may also not always understand what those numbers or trends really mean. If you explain it in a visual way, the message you are trying to present will become more clear.

6. Flow Charts

Just like charts, if you list multiple steps of a process, people may not see the big picture, or even worse, may be lost after Step 2. Flow charts can be incredibly useful, whether they’re used as timelines for members, work processes for potential members, or a marketing campaign guide for your colleagues. It helps everyone understand the steps it takes to reach the ultimate goal of a process.

What are your favorite examples of visual content? Who uses it the best?