Author Archive: Rachael Kahne
5 ways to bundle holiday cheer into your emails
Daylight Savings Time gets me *every* year. Seriously. I go from having evenings filled with activities, to feeling like I should be in bed by 8:15 pm. But the cool thing about this year of early evenings is it’s given me more time to delve into the bounty of holiday emails starting to roll in.
So, in the spirit of giving, I thought I’d share a couple points that have stood out in my season-laden inbox.
* Make it easy to forward. Whether it’s to pass on an invitation or drop a subtle gift hint, make sure subscribers have an easy option to move the information along.
* Keep the holiday related information at the top. You’ve heard us preach about the ‘above the fold’ importance before, but it bears repeating. Turn the top 1/3 of your email into a virtual hub of reader engagement. Which…I’m not so sure is a real thing. But you understand, right?
* Get personal. People have fairly full inboxes in general. When the holiday season hits, they get even fuller. So take a moment and find three ways to get a little more intimate with your readers. I know I’ve been more apt to click through emails that are tailored for, well, me.
* Balance those images. I’ve received more emails with one large image this month than I have any other month. While I know rich images are tempting, be careful. Find a nice balance of images and text, and be sure to make the most of your alt tags.
* Be thankful. Let your readers know they’re important to you. Whether it be a white paper, discount, or even a separate campaign, don’t miss the opportunity to let your subscribers know what they’ve done to help you out over the past year.
So, happy holiday season, Emma blog readers. I hope you’ve latched onto a few ideas that will take your communication efforts to infinity. And beyond. Which is not a hint that I want anything Toy Story related this year. Or is it?
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now…
Thanks to our growing customer base, we’ve successfully planted 16,050 trees since January. I’ll spell that out, just so the significance of that number really soaks in: Sixteen thousand fifty trees. Some may call that a friggin’ forest. And I’d agree.
So let’s keep the proverbial ball rolling, shall we? Take a moment to vote where the trees from our new October customers will be planted.
[poll=10]
September hit the bullseye in the Buckeye state. With 397 new accounts coming on board, we planted 1,985 trees in Ohio. If you’d like to get your state on our tree planting list, reach out to the sweet folks at Plant-It 2020 and let them know. How ’bout a goal of getting all fifty states up there by 2010? Who’s with me now?!
Best in Show…Email Style.
Chances are, if you’re reading this blog, you’re a bit of an email marketer. Probably a stylish one, at that. So, to reward you for your email savvy (and your blog subscribing prowess), I thought you might be interested in MarketingSherpa’s 2009 Email Marketing Awards competition.
Dig through your archived campaigns to grab your best examples – perhaps you had a record number of sign-ups for a promotional campaign, or an engaging newsletter that boosted web traffic. Whatever the email, this is your opportunity to receive those accolades of praise you’ve deserved all along.
Click here for the entry form and information, and good luck!
You’re golden, California.
344 new Emma users later, California is 1,720 trees more golden than before.
Again, Emma is planting five trees for every new customer in the month of August. A big thank you goes out to all of you who voted for the location of those trees. California received August’s planting, courtesy of our partnership with Plant It 20-20.
Take a moment to vote on where September’s trees should be planted. And, if you’ve got some extra time on your hands, take a look at the work the fine folks at Plant It 20-20 are doing to improve the environment.
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Bay Books brings their customers into the book business.
I love to really get involved with a company or product. If there’s an opportunity to let a company know what I think, or take part in a test group, I’m there. Which means I fill out comment cards, surveys, even write reviews on iTunes as often as possible. So imagine the heaven I stumbled upon whilst meandering the streets of Coronado Island, California.
Bay Books is a small bookshop on Orange Avenue that has their own way of getting people involved. They give anyone the chance to write a review, then slide the review right below the book. It’s incredible. I found myself picking up books I normally wouldn’t have touched just because of strangers’ takes on them. If I lived in Southern California, I guarantee I’d make the trip to Bay Books as often as time (and money) would allow.
What Bay Books is doing is something that really draws me in, and makes me feel like I can be a part of their shop. And this goes for any company or organization, online *or* offline. Emma tries to do this by giving all of you reading this (yes, you, in front of your computer right now. Nice shirt, by the way.) the chance to choose where we’re going to plant trees every month. Through a partnership with the reforestation non-profit, Plant-It 2020, we plant 5 trees for every new Emma account. So, since you’re here, won’t you take a moment to get involved with Emma and tell us where we should plant our July trees?
Style abounds in Portland…
If there’s anything that we enjoy here, it’s the opportunity to get out and spend some quality time with the stylish members of the Emma community. So when we had the chance to work with Emma client Office PDX and help sponsor the bSide6 preview party in Portland, Oregon, we naturally jumped on board.
bSide6 is a soon-to-be-open workspace for cultural creatives on East Burnside in the heart of Portland. It’s without a doubt on the cutting edge of architecture (so this non-architecturally-savvy person is told), and a few Emma clients in the Portland area are eager to call the new space home when it opens next summer. For work, that is. Not actual home. I mean, let’s face it. No office is cool enough to shower in.
We also swung by Amalee, a little boutique in the city. As the mark of a fabulous Emma customer, they had an email signup list on proud display (way to go, you bearers-of-the-permission-policy, you). In addition to having plenty of stylish clothes and accessories, they also host the occasional art show. So if you’re in Portland and the timing is right, you can shop there while enjoying a cocktail, some hors d’oeuvres, and a little culture on the side. Really, it’s like a cornucopia of style. That’s right. It’s almost Thanksgiving. I can say cornucopia.
[tags]portland, amalee, office pdx, bside6, myemma.com[/tags]
Our Neighborhood Heroes
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In our neck of Nashville – affectionately known as Hillsboro Village – we’ve gotten to know the friendly staff at Fido, a coffee shop down the street. Always keeping our coffee cups filled and our sweet tooths satisfied, they never fail to greet us with a smile (well, there was that one time…but let’s say that smiling and scalding soy milk don’t always mix).
So I can’t say we were surprised when the staff at Fido apprehended (or, more accurately, physically tackled) an alleged thief yesterday afternoon, putting their barista duties aside to take down a man accused of stealing laptops and the like from other coffee shops around Nashville. And a few of us just happened to be there getting coffee and saw it all go down.
For their bravery, we salute these everyday heroes. And when we say “salute,” we mean we decked each man of courage out with his very own Emma medal. Um, yes, we have company medals.
So today, when you pick up your grande skinny sugar-free vanilla latte with an extra shot of espresso, take a moment to say thanks to your local brewer. You never know what evil they’re averting in your neighborhood.
[tags]myemma.com, fido, emma medals[/tags]
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