The Role of Email Marketing in an Inbound Marketing World

Karen Rubin

Project Owner

HubSpot

About Karen Rubin

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Karen Rubin is a project owner at HubSpot, an Internet marketing company whose visionary efforts have changed the nature of internet marketing for small and medium businesses. She has also worked in project and content management for some of the world's top Web 2.0 companies, such as MainStreet.com, Stockpickr.com, iVillage.com and GiftCertificates.com. Karen also is co-star of HubSpot TV, a weekly video podcast about marketing and social media trends. Karen has a degree in Computer Science from Trinity College.

Marketing is Changing

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1950 - 2000 2000 - 2050

Outbound Marketing

4

Outbound Marketing is Harder

5

800-555-1234

Annoying

Salesperson

Inbound Marketing

6

Social MediaMarketing

Search EngineMarketing

ContentMarketing

Conversion Marketing

Lead Nurturing

Sales Support

Where Does Email Fit In?

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Awareness

Consideration

Decision

List RentalList Purchases

NewslettersLead Nurturing

Lead Nurturing

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House Lists Beat Third-Party Lists

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Future Investment is Inbound

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-25.00%

0.00%

25.00%

50.00%

75.00%

Net Change in Investment (Avg B2B & B2C)

Opt-In Email = Inbound Marketing

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Awareness

Consideration

Decision

List RentalList Purchases

NewslettersLead Nurturing

Lead Nurturing

How To Prepare for the Future of Email Marketing

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Tip #1:

Optimizefor

Mobile

Email Usage

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31%

15%

11%

10%

9%

7%

6%

3%7%

Outlook

Yahoo Mail

MSN / Hotmail

Apple Mail

iPhone

Gmail

Misc. Web Mail

Android

Other

Avoid Large Images

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Avoid Large Images

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Avoid Heavy Formatting

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How To Optimize for Mobile:

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• Avoid large images

• Avoid tables / columns

• Formatted text is your friend

• Shorter is better

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Tip #2:

BuildSocial

Authority

Two Huge Developments in Email

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Social Inbox

The “Spam” Filter is Now Social

Email Inbox Ranking – Before 2011

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Most Messages by Date

Flagrant Spam

Email Inbox Ranking – After 2011

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Things You Like(People and Brands)

Things You Don’t LikeOr Don’t Know(People and Brands)

That’s Some Scary Shiitake

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How To Rank Higher in the Email Inbox

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25

Tip #3:

Optimizefor

Social

“Follow Me” Module in Your Email

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Share This Email via Social Media

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Where Is the Next Inbox?

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0.00%

25.00%

50.00%

75.00%

100.00%

Personal Email

Corporate Email

Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Blogs YouTube

% of US Business People Who Regularly Check These Inboxes

Which Comes First? Message or Medium?

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• Start with email, then decide what content / message to send

OR

• Start with message / content, then decide best medium to send

How To Optimize for Social:

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• Add “Follow Me” module

• Add “Share This” buttons

• Start with content, then decide if email is best way to send message

We’ve Got Lots To Think About…

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What You Should Do Today:

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1. Stop buying lists / subscribers

2. Mobile optimize your email

3. Social optimize your email

4. Build your social authority

5. Start with the message, then pick the right communication channel

Thank You / Q&A

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Karen Rubin

Project Owner

HubSpot

@karenrubin

krubin@hubspot.com

Facebook.com/karen-rubin/9903737

Twitter.com/karenrubin

Linkedin.com/in/karenrubin

www.karen-rubin.com