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

The Girl Scouts of the USA, Best Friends Animal Society, Stand Up to Cancer, American Red Cross, and Goodwill are among the top nonprofit brands within their respective categories, according to the Harris Poll Non-Profit EquiTrend brand-equity tracking study of the health of some 87 nonprofits. more

From its 2008 launch, Kickstarter has become a major funding platform for creative projects worldwide. More than $53 million has been pledged by users who believe in the projects they've seen, and its project success rate is a whopping 43%. How can that help you? Eloqua has compiled five marketing lessons ... more

Bored with the usual "Seasons Greetings" client postcard? Use a bit of holiday spirit to warm up your social campaigns! Meghan Gargan has made a list of do's and don'ts for sending social holiday greetings with panache. "While you should capture the magic and merriment of this time of year, ... more

You've no doubt seen the reports of organizations like the Red Cross blasting their response rates through the roof by seeking on-the-run mobile donations. But that's just part of the nonprofit social-media success story. The Dragonfly Effect, a book by Stanford University marketing prof Jennifer Aaker and marketing strategist Andy ... more

Few things are more fun than learning about yourself, right? At least when the Net makes it easy. Consider the explosion of personality test apps on sites like Facebook or MySpace—or quizzes on their own hosted sites: You can learn what superhero you are, what your kissing style is, or what city ... more

Thought leaders in the email marketing industry are just about unanimous on the subject of randomly purchased lists. Their advice to marketers? Avoid them like the plague. You may, however, still encounter those who push the buying of email lists as a perfectly legal alternative to building lists through opt-in subscription. ... more

More companies seem to be realizing these days that they can use their power in the marketplace to aim for goals bigger than just bottom-line-related ones. That may be because more consumers, when buying similar products, are opting to choose ones that "give back" to a charitable cause. It's an easy way to ... more

"[C]ontinual email list growth is the Achilles heel of email marketing," says Karen Talavera in a Pro article at MarketingProfs. She says marketers face some tall challenges when they strive to maintain healthy list growth. For instance:  They must constantly replenish the subscriber pipeline. "For every sign-up you get there's a ... more

Some marketers might regard an opt-in subscription as the end of the permission process—but it's just the beginning, says Stephanie Miller in a post at the Daily Fix blog. "Permission does not give marketers a license to just send whatever, whenever," she argues. "In fact, more than just a one-time exercise, ... more

Good news, nonprofits! At Le Web this year, Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan discussed how, in an era when a panoply of tech options are available to us at a finger-swipe, we can pick and choose the charitable causes we support in the same way we pick and choose ... more

Dudes: Are you ready to give off some fresh new surfer vibes? Search engines are constantly looking for new signals they can use to improve the quality of the results they provide to Internet surfers, says Eric Enge in a recent post at Search Engine Watch. "Search engines continue to ... more

Let's face it: If your marketing approach consists of sporadically touting your company's greatness via the overpopulated social mediaverse, you're about to get absolutely nowhere—except ignored. Or hated. Blacklisted, even.  Frustrated with today's confusing social-media etiquette? Well, don't be! There are sassy methods for making your outreach simply ooze old-fashioned Southern ... more

"In the technology industry," writes Morgan Stewart in an article at MarketingProfs, "we are constantly focused on the next big thing." And there's often an assumption that whatever comes next will wipe out whatever came before. Do you remember, for instance, when computers were going to make paper obsolete? Or ... more

In May 2009, Omniture and The CMO Club asked 102 CMOs to rate the relative effectiveness of digital-marketing media. The vast majority (78 percent) gave top marks to email marketing, but a sizable minority (33 percent) reported success in emerging social-media channels, too. That's because, these days, consumers "engage with a ... more

Before you start soliciting links and becoming active in online communities, it's best to first ensure that your site's content, structure, and design are in peak condition, Virginia Nussey advises in a recent post at the Bruce Clay blog: "Before you can expect a site to develop inbound links, you have ... more

The Great Recession has certainly not spared nonprofit organizations. With contributions down an average of nine percent, many charitable organizations have been forced to cut services. Some even face closure. Fortunately, though, the news is not all bad. "With the right marketing mix, savvy nonprofits are able to leverage social-media marketing ... more

In a post at the Email Karma blog, Matt Vernhout discusses recent layoffs at AOL and the challenges facing employees who remain. "The individuals [who] do end up making it past the latest round of layoffs and buyouts will now have a major increase in workload," he notes. We can assume ... more

You're probably familiar with the story of The Little Mermaid. In this classic tale of unrequited love, a girl exchanges her voice for the chance to be close to a prince. It's a parable about finding the right voice amid the melee. Faced with a plentitude of uncertainties about social media, ... more

Too often, argues Julia Rubiner in the Editorial Emergency newsletter, automated email messages lack the human touch. "They frequently sound like they're coming from a robot for whom English is a second language," she says. "If you're trying to connect with people and persuade them to take action … you ... more

What do bartenders and websites have in common? Both need to be optimized to succeed. So says Jill Whalen in an amusing article at Search Engine Land. She demonstrates how the rules of optimization may dually apply to 'tenders and 'sites alike: Rule #1: Optimization shouldn't turn people off.  ... more

"Do you know what your data [are] telling you?" asks Kelly Lorenz in a post at the Bronto blog. If you're not sure what to make of the copious information contained in reports from your ESP—opens, clicks, conversions, etc.—she has several tips for becoming what she cheerily terms a "data ... more

As subscriber engagement becomes a critical factor in the deliverability rates of email campaigns, removing inactive recipients from your list is more important than ever. To keep your list as clean as possible, "Mark" of the MailChimp blog recommends a three-message series that asks non-responsive subscribers if they still want ... more

You recently got the skinny on Square, the service that turns your iPhone into a card-swiping device. Here's another quick, easy and secure way to flow payments to your business via mobile (or even social networks): mPayy. Unlike Square, mPayy is more of a user tool than an enterprise one. It ... more

It's hard to maintain a positive attitude as the recession's negative impact continues to challenge businesses like yours. "The relentless tide of bad news may tempt those in charge to adopt a pessimistic view point," writes John Baldoni at Harvard Business Online, "but leaders owe it to their followers to ... more