Some 59% of decision-makers at small businesses say it’s harder to run a business today than it was five years ago, and more than half cite the economy as a major challenge. Decision-makers also said marketing, payroll, and the importance of being local have changed significantly for small businesses. more

Now, more than ever, buyers have more control over the sales cycle. Marketers must therefore evolve with the buying cycle and find new ways to own the early part of the sales process. How? Here are a few steps in the journey toward a buyer-centric marketing automation strategy. more

Gaps exist in digital marketers’ perceptions of how consumers want to engage with brands, what influences their purchase decisions, and how they view privacy, according to a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit and Lyris. more

Email volume increased 11.6% in the first quarter of 2013 compared with the first quarter of 2012, and unique open rates increased 9.7%, according to a recent benchmark report by Experian Marketing Services. more

Little attention has been paid to the importance of being better at receiving and processing email. So, here are my tips to help you process email more efficiently, free up hours of otherwise wasted time, and reduce your stress level. more

Landing pages running $500 giveaway contests generate 700% more email subscribers than landing pages not running contests, according to a recent study by Incentivibe. more

Some 81% of moms would buy more from a brand if rewarded, and over 50% are willing to engage with a brand on Facebook and other social media platforms if provided incentive, according to a recent report. more

Education, retail, and computer hardware/electronics are the best-performing verticals in email marketing, according to a new study that benchmarked open rates, click-through rates, and churn metrics across 14 industries. more

Think social media killed off email? Hardly. If anything, social media has boosted the power of email. To help marketers understand how important social media is to email, GetResponse put together the following infographic. more

Though email campaign process metrics such as delivery, open, and click-through rates have their place, if you don't look beyond them... the true impact of your email marketing—and opportunities for continuous improvement—will go undetected. more

The if-then logic of the marketing automation process can lead to a snarl of over-communication, with only a loose relevance to the recipient's true interests and needs. It doesn't have to be that way. more

The term "Big Data" keeps getting bandied about in business, but what does it mean exactly? And what makes data "big"? The following infographic by Wipro defines Big Data and highlights its importance. more

So where does the line get drawn between a creative, compelling email subject line and one that is deceptive (and, therefore, illegal)? more

Although the dawn of the Web was nearly two decades ago, many small and midsize businesses (SMBs) still have a limited, ineffective online presence. Let's examine the top reasons SMBs are failing online. more

Commercial emails opened on mobile devices are on pace to surpass PC opens by the end of 2013. As of yearend 2012, 41% of commercial emails were opened on mobile devices (smartphone or tablet), up from 27% a year earlier. more

Online nonprofit fundraising is on the rise, with explosive growth in sustaining gifts and a larger audience of supporters reached via social networks, according to an analysis of leading US nonprofits. However, the long-term decline of email response rates is continuing, even as online revenues increase and social media audiences ... more

Members of Generation Z, those now age 18-23, tend to be indiscriminate with their media choices and are more likely than other generations to embrace and trust online communications such as social and mobile media and email, according to a report by Forrester Research. more

Smartphones have become the central social, communication, and information tool for growing numbers of younger Americans, according to a study conducted by IDC for Facebook. Among smartphone owners age 18-44, making phone calls accounts for only 16% of the total time spent with their devices, whereas the remaining 84% of ... more

How is marketing automation like the Wizard of Oz? Without being noticed, both work furiously behind the scenes to produce an experience that works like magic. Check out the following infographic to find out just what marketing automation can do for your business. more

Landing pages aren't dead—or even unimportant—but you shouldn't be treating them as a standalone strategy. Rather, you should be focusing on the big picture: optimizing the entire customer experience. more

Email volume increased 5.4% in the fourth quarter of 2012 vs. the same period a year earlier, though volume levels varied dramatically by industry, according to the Experian Marketing Services 2012 Q4 email benchmark report, which also found that email open rates were on average highest on Saturdays and Sundays. more

Small businesses say tools such as online surveys and loyalty tracking systems are most effective at engaging existing customers, whereas daily deals and Internet ads seem more effective at attracting new customers, according to a survey from Constant Contact. more

Cross-channel, customer-centric marketing—the practice of tailoring offers and promotions to consumers across multiple touch points based on their past shopping or browsing experiences—seems to increase buyer readiness, engagement, and sales activity, according to a study by MyBuys and the e-tailing group. more

The most difficult task in marketing is to get people to take the action you want them to take. But once they have, getting them to take one more is so much easier—especially if you use "action trains." more

Few things are as antithetical to good inbound marketing as purchasing a list of email addresses and blasting them with your latest campaign. You risk significant business damage. Here's what to do instead. more