Happy New Year! Welcome to the first issue of Hints & Tips in 2008. Based on readers' feedback, we've made some enhancements to the newsletter. As a subscriber, you will continue to receive the valuable email marketing insights and inspiring success stories you're accustomed to. Plus, you'll get these exciting new additions:

• More best practice content with two insightful articles per issue
• Fresh perspectives from additional members of Constant Contact's family of experts
• Hands-on product "how-to's" that show how you can  effectively use Constant Contact's SpeakUp!^SM Email Marketing product
• Important updates about useful new features and products available to you

Content for each issue will focus on themes central to successful email marketing. For starters, this month's theme is A New Year of Email Marketing. This issue is packed with resources to set you up for a great year.

We welcome your feedback on our new additions and always want to hear how we can better serve you with this publication.

All the best,

Amy Black

Editor, Hints & Tips e-Newsletters

 

10 Email Marketing Ideas for 2008
Opportunities to enhance your email marketing efforts

By Amy Black, Editor, Hints & Tips e-Newsletters

You don't have to wait for a new year to set goals or try new things; you can do both throughout the year. But there is something about a new year that fosters clear thinking and creativity. It feels a little like we get to push the "reset" button and start over fresh.

So, as you prepare for another year of email marketing, what do you want to do better or differently? How will you increase your effectiveness so you can look back and say "2008 was a great year for my email marketing efforts"? Here are 10 ideas you can draw from to make your email marketing program better than ever.

1. Develop a communications calendar - This year, plan ahead. Sit down with a calendar each quarter and look at everything you have coming up. Think through what your goals are and how you want to market your products, events, or organization with email and the other communication tools available to you.

2. Create your emails early - Are certain times of the year busier for you than others? When you have so much going on, it's hard to give the time and brain power needed for creating excellent marketing emails. A solution is to create some of these emails during a slower time in your year. If you have your plan in place, you know what you have coming up. You can even set the day and time your emails will go out, so you don't have to give them a second thought.

Get 8 more ideas for your email marketing

Crowne Pointe Inn and Spa Historic inn and spa uses email marketing to enhance    customer loyalty and drive revenue Crowne Pointe Historic Inn and Spa offers luxurious hotel accommodations to visitors of Cape Cod's Provincetown, Massachusetts. Built near the turn of the 19th century, the Inn and Spa features guest rooms wrapped around a beautifully landscaped courtyard and an award-winning, full service Shui Spa. Challenge: Staying Competitive 12 Months a Year Competition among hotels on Cape Cod is high due to the tourist-based, seasonal nature of the region. As the proprietor of the Crowne Pointe Historic Inn and Spa, David Sanford wanted customers to think of his hotel as a signature Provincetown destination, 12 months a year. He also hoped to increase his customer base, especially for special events. He had leveraged a variety of "traditional" marketing tactics including direct mail, newspaper ads, and paper newsletters, but found them cost prohibitive, time consuming - and ineffective. David was in search of non-intrusive marketing tools that his customers would respond to.   Get the whole story

Do you have an email marketing success story?
Share it with us, and you may be featured on Constant Contact's website or in Hints & Tips.

 

 

"How to" Tips for SpeakUp! Email Marketing

The help you need to put best practices to work with Constant Contact

This month's tips correspond with three of the ideas presented in the article 10 Email Marketing Ideas for 2008. Click on the links below to learn how to:

Segment your list

How do I segment my list by state, country or zip code?
How do I use reporting information to segment my contact lists?
Why and how should I create a list of contacts who have not opened my emails?

Personalize your emails with contact details

How do I add personal contact details to an email?
Extra! Support blog entry on personalization

Set up your welcome email

What is the "Welcome" email and how can I change it?
Can I customize the "Welcome" email my contacts receive?


Want more product-focused tips? Search our FAQs or visit our support blog.

Archive option, enhanced Forward to a Friend, and *** reporting

New! Email Archive Option - Give your email campaigns a longer life and a whole new audience. With this affordable new option, you'll instantly turn the emails you've already sent into easy-to-view web pages... giving your current contacts and website visitors instant access to your past newsletters and promotions. Now your emails will continue to be viewed online - long after you've sent them. All this for just $5 a month.

Enhanced! Forward to a Friend - You can now insert Forward to a Friend anywhere in your email template. This will make it more visible and make it more likely that your readers pass along your message - increasing your reach!

Enhanced! Site Visitor Sign-Up Report - It's good to know who subscribed to your list... but wouldn't it also be great to know who ***d? Site Visitor Sign-Up Report now lets you know exactly which contacts have subscribed - and ***d - from your list.

Learn about additional updates, including those made to ListenUp!^SM Survey.