Earlier today, I stepped outside to enjoy some fresh air and pester two of our developers about a few website changes when I noticed they were utterly transfixed by quite a ruckus in the nearby trees.  As I continued to stare, I couldn’t believe what I saw – 12 or more squirrels were chasing each other through the trees and they seemed…well…mad. Really mad, as in the Montagues and Capulets.

These squirrels were chattering, squeaking and flying through the air in what seemed to be a territory dispute.  Amused, we watched them for several minutes.   As I returned to my desk, I began to think about the improbability of watching a full-blown squirrel fight.  Cat fight?  Yes.  A bar fight.  Yep.  Squirrels though?  Not until today.

The whole hilarious (and dramatic) incident made me think about other things I have observed recently that seemed counterintuitive but valuable.  In no particular order, I wanted to share a few marketing truths that fit this category of ‘strange but true’:

1.    Long emails are Ok if the content is compelling. As a marketer, I like using bullet points and keeping it short and sweet.  Earlier this summer, I dug my heels in as a colleague proposed an email marketing campaign that I secretly (or not so secretly) dubbed the Sominex Special.  The email was at least 400 words, lacked bullets and seemed endless.  But we sent it because the content was direct and purposeful.  Guess what?  The click thru rate was an impressive 37%!  Lesson: if the content is great, people will read it and respond.

2.   Share the love. No, I don’t mean it in a dirty way.  The more I participate in forums, comment on Q&A, post answers, etc, I realize that almost all of our marketing automation competitors are using the same places to share expertise and promote themselves.  At times, LinkedIn Q&A can closely resemble a vendor comparison matrix.  But, marketing automation is relevant for companies of all sizes, and that translates to a pretty big pool, so there’s plenty of room for us all.  Lesson: A good attitude and good manners go a long way so play nice.

3.    You don’t need 140 characters to express yourself. About 18 months ago when I started Tweeting, I found the character limitations oppressive.  I would struggle to optimize every Tweet, ensure hash tags were perfectly placed, etc.  These days, if I need to share something socially, I try to keep it to the point and interesting…and 140 characters is plenty of room to accomplish that task. Lesson: don’t use 12 words if you can say it in 5.

4.    Old school marketing still has a place.  Yep, I said it.  Traditional marketing still has a place, and regardless of how much I love online marketing — event sponsorships, chamber of commerce events, speaking engagements, etc. still prove themselves as valuable ways to educate audiences, develop relationships and generate leads.  Lesson: don’t keep all of your marketing eggs in one online basket.

With these thoughts in mind, I think I’ll head outside and see if Squirrels Gone Wild Part II is playing.  Trust me, it’s a great show!  What truths have you seen in your own marketing efforts this summer?  Please comment or Tweet.

“The amount of time people spend online has not increased since last year,” according to a CNET News article sourcing a report released by Forrester.  Perhaps more interesting, however, is the reason for the trend – online behavior is changing. “Engagement with the online channel has deepened,” writes Forrester analyst Jackie Anderson. “Web users are becoming savvier and are better multi-taskers.  Many know exactly where they want to go when they log in.”

While people aren’t necessarily spending more time online, the internet remains an absolutely essential part of everyday business and personal life, so what could explain this static usage?

Online users are becoming smarter, more knowledgeable and putting up with less…well…bologna to get to what they want.  Their need for immediate results has created the demand for quick, easy and (oftentimes) free services and tools that help execute and measure social engagement, marketing campaigns, business processes, news distribution, etc.

That said, we’ve come up with a list of free tools we love that make your life easier, whether you’re creating your company’s next email marketing initiative, researching the competition, or just trying to find out who’s going to your high school reunion (so you can make your “non-biased” decision based on anticipated attendance).

1.    Tiny URL.com (or bit.ly.com)
TinyUrl.com is a free website that enables you to take a paragraph long URL and shorten it into well… a tiny URL.  It is especially useful for tweeting when every character matters.  You can create a login so you can easily see how many clicks your adorable, truncated URLs are receiving.

2.    Google Alerts
Google Alerts is a valuable yet often overlooked tool.  Once you’ve established a Google account, you only need to toggle Alerts and add the keywords you want to track, and the frequency in which you’d like to receive information containing your words or phrases via email.  The Alerts tool is helpful for research, brand monitoring, competitive analysis, or just keeping up with any news item that contains the word, “Britney” (we’re not judging).

3.    Picnik
Picnik is an online application for those of us who don’t have our Adobe Photoshop PhD (or a couple hundred bucks for the software). You can crop, edit, resize or adjust your images and photos including converting them into JPEGs, with a few quick and easy clicks.

4.    Hootsuite
Too many social accounts and too little time?  Use Hootsuite to manage it all for you.  See who is following you, manage lists, schedule tweets for the future, track statistics, customize URLs, and much more.  Plus, let’s be honest, the owl logo is incredibly cute.

5.   Lightscreen
Lightscreen is the open source alternative to its not-so open source counterpart SnagIt.  Lightscreen enables you grab screen captures of your entire screen, specific areas, a scrolling screen shot and more.  And it saves all of your images as editable JPEGs on your desktop.

6.   dBusinessNews
dBusinessNews.com is a daily news site that makes it easy to get free press release or news distribution.  The site is updated on a daily basis, and it has great local and national reach to get your message out…without draining your bank account.

7.   Klout
Ever wondered whether your social media efforts are a bunch of hooey and virtual glad-handing?  Well, Klout has developed a scoring index that measures your reach, amplification and network influence to generate a score or number.  Spark a friendly office rivalry to see who has more clout…according to Klout.

8.    StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is a great social media internet community that promotes sharing and recommending useful web pages, articles, photos and videos.  Users can also post original articles and press releases to distribute company or personal information cost-effectively.

With the speed of communications moving more rapidly every day, and prices increasing faster than you can say, “inflation,” having free and easy tools at your fingertips is just one way we’d like to make your online marketing life easier (and enhance your multimedia search for Britney Spears).

Have a favorite free tool or app that you can’t live without?  Leave a comment or tweet it @NetResults.com.

With celebrity tweets about botched Botox, personal agony over the tanning bed tax and Justin Bieber as a trending topic, it is sometimes hard to see the legitimacy of using social media as a way to communicate with your prospects. While it’s easy to get frustrated with the noise of social media and give up on it entirely,  it is a cost-effective and engaging way to communicate with prospects, customers and technology partners.

The question we’re tackling today is, “How do you establish a strategy that enhances your brand — without ruining your street cred?” Read more

Social media remains a hot topic and one that many Net-Results customers explore to build brand awareness, and ultimately, to drive qualified traffic and conversions to their website.

There is no doubt that social media is awesome because it enables customers to have one-to-one, personalized conversations with virtual strangers and to communicate with prospects, clients and peers on an intimate level.  However the very premise of social media – giving everyone a microphone – can create awkward and frustrating situations.

Read more

Article marketing, blogging, pay-per-click advertising, banner ads, search engine marketing and optimization, social media, web design and development- These ideas and strategies that were meaningless 10 years ago were the hot topics at the Direct Marketing Association conference in San Diego this year. Net-Results showcased their state of the art intelligent email marketing and lead management automation tools in the exhibit hall amongst the industry’s latest in technology, services, and strategy providers including conglomerates like Google, Experian, and Kodak. Read more

B2B Marketing Examiner Camberly Bates calls Net-Results “one cool tool for managing website, tracking and activities” in her latest article, “Social media: is this listening or a new way of broadcasting?”

Camberly is an influential B2B marketer and sales professional with 20 years of experience. She currently runs a business consulting firm that provides a wide range of services “from fine tuning sales and marketing efforts to product management processes”.

Thanks for the honorable mention, Camberly!