10 Email Predictions for 2013

1. Your inbox will continue to be full.

2. You’ll check your inbox at least 5 times a day.

3. The more emails you send, the more you will receive.

4. You will spend significant hours just organizing your emails. And then you’ll spend even more looking for specific emails.

5. At least 100 times, you’ll swear to yourself that you’ll get ‘caught up’ on email.

6. You’ll delete several important emails by accident.

7. A handful of times, you’ll send an email forgetting the intended attachment.

8. You’ll find emails in your ‘draft’ box days after you thought you’d sent them.

9. You’ll click ‘reply all’ one too many times.

10. You’ll unsubscribe from countless commercial emails. But you’ll sign up for a few too.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.


Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 7, 2013 at 8:58 AM

    All so VERY true...except for #5 for me. I don't ever feel I'm not caught up on e-mail.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Linda DaleyJanuary 7, 2013 at 9:11 AM

    Darn! I was trying to predict things that I couldn't possibly get wrong. haha Good for you for being on top of your email. I rarely feel like that.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guest Post: 10 Ways to Figure out What to Write on Your Blog When You Don’t Know What to Write on Your Blog

Image
Frances Leary When I saw this blog post by Frances Leary, I immediately asked her if I could share it with you. Frances is owner of Wired Flare , specializing in SEO, Internet Marketing & Social Media for franchises and organizations in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. While she's blogging about blogging, all of these tips below work for newsletters as well... We've all been there. Complete brain freeze.  The only problem? You need, need, need to get this blog article out STAT. You've already pushed it to the last minute, and you’re down to the wire. It simply can’t wait.  So you’re in a predicament. What do you do?  Truth be told, we often find ourselves in this predicament, and when we’re in it, these are some of the things we do…hopefully they can be a starting place for you, too. Tell a success story – Think of moments big or small that have happened in your business recently that can be a celebration. Did a client give you a pat on the back? Can you gi...
Keep reading »

How to Make Smart Marketing Decisions

Image
Small business owners can spend a lot of time and money on marketing initiatives. Sometimes we're successful and sometimes not so much. I think of marketing as an experiment because - really - there are no magic bullets. There are best practices, there is good and bad advice, there are lots of experts and gurus. But we, the business owners, have to make the final decisions and... live with the results. Marketing isn't cheap (even if it's our own time) and poor decision-making can hurt more than our wallets - our reputation may also be at risk. So, how do we make decisions about things we have little experience with? How can we possibly know what all of our options might be when it comes to getting a new website? Or knowing which social media platforms will work best? Or building a content strategy? We can't... unless we put some extra effort into it. Step #1: Clearly identify the decision that needs to be made. Sometimes it'll be staring you in the face ...
Keep reading »

Commit to Consistency

Image
Every single month since June 2011, Peter Chapman of GPS Business Solutions has been sending out an informational newsletter . It’s a shining example of commitment and consistency . I asked Peter recently to share his insights, tips and successes. Peter is a consultant focused on increasing the sales of producers, manufacturers and retailers in the food industry. Because he’s an expert, he’s also in demand as a speaker on these topics. Now, unless you work in the food industry, you may not be interested in what Peter has to say. It’s very specific... and very valuable to folks in his target market. One key to Peter’s success is advance planning . He told me, “I have a spreadsheet with my ideas for each section of the newsletter and I try to plan at least 4 months out. It makes it much better for me to know I just need to write it, as opposed to coming up with the ideas and then writing it. I also find there is better continuity. If you start from scratch every month there is no...
Keep reading »

The Bottom Line About Newsletter Bottoms

Image
There seems to be some thinking that getting people to read to the bottom of a newsletter is a most desirous goal. And, if getting people to read to the bottom (read the whole newsletter) is so important, isn't putting the really good stuff at the bottom the best way to make that happen? The short answer is that it doesn't matter. Oh, the placement of content matters but whether someone reads to the bottom doesn't... at all. If you think it does, you are thinking about your newsletter strategy all wrong. It's all about your reader finding value in opening your newsletter. That value might be in the form of useful information or it might be interesting reading or both. And it definitely shouldn't be hidden away at the bottom. In fact, it should be immediately obvious. Having readers discover value in hearing from you regularly is the goal. It doesn't matter how much they read. Your readers aren't thinking, "I have to read through all this other stuff be...
Keep reading »

Brainstorming by Email

Image
Long ago and far away, when I worked for a multinational, sometimes I brainstormed with my team by email. I was working in Georgetown ON and had staff in Toronto, Regina and Abbotsford. Email was fairly new back then, and a welcome alternative to scheduling group conference calls across the time zones. I could start with a discussion question sent to the customer service reps, asking them to add comments and send onto the production planners. The planners would give their input and send it on to the warehouse staff. Eventually, I'd get back an email that loosely mapped out a process. I've never used email so productively since. Now, I don't have staff but I still have a team. And I'm usually brainstorming ideas, not processes. Here's the funny thing, I can sit by myself and scratch notes on paper... and get overwhelmed with ideas. So I start writing an email to my cohorts explaining and asking for feedback. And through that process, I often find clarity - wit...
Keep reading »

Here's How Writing Content Turns You Into an Expert

Image
There are many marketing benefits to regular blogging or writing for a newsletter. But other - perhaps more important - benefits may not be clear until after you've been doing it a while. Regardless of how much you know, sooner or later you're going to need to do a little online research. Does that article you just wrote really include all the important facts or items? Especially for checklist type articles, you want to make sure to include everything relevant. An item missed from a list of items to take camping in the winter could have dire consequences, not the least of which is your reputation. Does your article agree or disagree with others' advice or information? Finding other references that support your message is good - you can grab quotes or link to it. Finding others who disagree is important if there are a lot of them - you may need to justify your message in that context. Do you know the latest developments in your industry or affecting your target ...
Keep reading »

Watching, Learning and Stopping

Image
A client recently wrote in her newsletter about how reducing her social media presence over the past few months hasn't impacted her sales results. Here's what Natasha said: As the weeks and months fall away, it's glaringly obvious to me how I can let go of social media marketing, no matter how reluctant I feel about doing that. While social media serves its purpose for branding, researching, and relationship building, my business isn't suffering from a current lack of participation on certain platforms. Phew. Something OFF the list for a change. Since Natasha shared that, I've been paying attention to a lot of things I do and questioning whether they're benefitting my business. And so, I'm doing a little experimentation to see what happens. What can I stop doing that isn't contributing to my bottom line? How about you? Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Repurpose Articles into Infographics

Image
I'm a big fan of repurposing content for two reasons: It can save me time . People have different ways of learning. Different formats for the same material will ensure a broader reach. Summing up a past article in a graphical format is a great way to appeal to a different audience. Pick an article that can be summed up into bullet points. Then turn those bullet points into a graphical format. With the proliferation of infographics, we now have lots of choices of apps to make it easy for us to create our own: infogr.am piktochart.com Hubspot’s templates canva.com Here are a few examples of our own infographics: Elements of eNewsletter Success  (used Hubspot's templates) 9 Ways to Personalize Your Newsletter  (used Canva) 4 Ways to Constantly Grow Your List  (used Canva) In her article Marketing with Infographics , Janet Slack suggested these other creative uses for infographics: Share testimonials Showcase your expertise Share customer statistics...
Keep reading »

Adding Audio to your Content - Part 1

Image
Natasha in her studio (guest post by Natasha Marchewka) ***  Click to listen in rather than read Have you considered adding audio to your blog or eNewsletter? As a voice actor, someone who uses and sells their voice for a living, showcasing my voice and having an archive of recorded blogs is an obvious choice for me. Adding audio to marketing adds to the multimedia dimension, offering readers more engagement. Lucky for me, Linda Daley of Daley Progress has embraced my audio blogs as she is able to listen to it weekly while completing other tasks! But adding the element of an audio file isn't limited to voice actors. Including a voice in your content, be it a blog, newsletter, website, or social media is just smart.  When you want your client or customer to have the perception of a personal connection with you, offering more of yourself, like a photo, audio greeting, or even video is another step closer to making your way into their hearts and minds. Who might...
Keep reading »

If Efficiency is Your Goal, You'll Want These Tools

Image
“You’re assuming efficiency is my goal,” my good friend replied one day when I suggested a better way (to me) of doing something. Oddly, I might be inclined to say that about some parts of my own work (just not whatever it was we were discussing at the time). This is not a story about the dangers of assuming (although that could be another article). This time I want to dish out some advice about how to be more efficient (since Danielle doesn’t want to hear it). I’ve written before about my essential small business tools ( Part 1 and Part 2 ) but these ones below are especially important to my productivity . FreshBooks (aff) Immediately upon implementing FreshBooks, I saw an improvement in outstanding accounts receivable. Reminders are automated and I rarely have to follow up with anyone myself. No more wondering, "Did I already remind that client?" Canva I've been using graphics applications for over 20 years - for fun and work. Nothing beats Canva's ...
Keep reading »