How to Successfully Grow Engaged Email Lists

Back in the day marketers were all trying to grow large lists; the bigger the mailing list, the more people who saw your message and could then interact with it. Or so the thinking went. These days email marketing is more than just how big your list is. Savvy marketers know that a smaller but engaged list is far more important than a whole bunch of addresses of people who never open an email. The people on your list who are interested and engaged in your emails and business are far more likely to become loyal and engaged customers. But email list attrition is real, so list growth is still critical to email marketing success.

Learn More about how to balance email list growth and engagement and why it’s so important to your email marketing success.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

7 Tips for Building an Engaged Email List

Email marketing only works if subscribers want to receive emails from your company. Reaching the right audience with the right message at the right time has become critical for savvy marketers focused on driving results. It all begins with your audience and growing an engaged one is crucial to your success.  Learn More Here >>>>

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

Five Instagram fails to avoid as a small business owner

From too many hashtags to grainy and blurry pictures, here are five Instagram faux-pas your small business absolutely needs to avoid.

According to social insight executive at HopperHQ, Aminur Rashid, it’s time for small businesses to double check their Instagram practices to make sure they’re getting the best results.  Learn More Here >>>>>

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

VAT reform proposals could bring more small businesses into the system

An independent review has proposed significant changes to the VAT system, promising to simplify the tax burden for small business owners. But, with indications the entry threshold could be reduced, an organisation representing smaller firms has called for reform to instead focus on supporting entrepreneurs.

The Office for Tax Simplification (OTS), an independent office set up in 2010 as part of the Treasury, has published a report on the UK’s VAT system which advises HMRC to undertake a “comprehensive review” into the reduced rate, zero-rate and exemption schedules.

However, the most significant issue identified in the report was the current VAT threshold – the level of turnover above at which a business enters the system and must charge VAT on all sales. According to the report, the UK’s £85,000 VAT threshold is “one of the highest levels in the world”.

Learn More Here >>>>

Business Planning ¦ Ardean

Are You Located Within the Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council Area?

Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council have just recently launched a Build Your Own Website Programme.

The Programme will enable your business to understand the range of website solutions available and help you build your own website.

Apply now by clicking here.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

ColorZilla for Chrome

ColorZilla for Google Chrome is an extension that assists web developers and graphic designers with color related tasks - both basic and advanced.

Marketing ¦ Ardean

The 15 Most Powerful Words in Subject Lines

The inbox can be a hostile place. With a million other emails jostling for your subscribers’ limited attention, it’s important that you make your subject line stand out – and get your email opened.

So, what works best? check out what makes an effective subject line.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

How to Use Data to Drive Your Email Marketing

As a marketer, you know how important it is to use data to fuel your marketing campaigns.

It‘s your job to look at what works and what doesn’t in your campaigns, so you can then optimize them for better results.

As you have likely experienced, finding data isn’t hard. Most email marketing providers offer analytics dashboards that show all sort of information about your performance.

What can be a challenge is finding the specific data you need as well as finding insights to drive your campaigns.

This post will help you understand how data drives your email marketing campaigns.

Marketing ¦ Ardean

The Really Good Guide to Email Design

Want an email that looks awesome and converts like crazy? 

This article from Really Good Emails takes the guesswork out of designing an excellent email, providing an email design guide and checklist that’ll make every email you send more awesome.

Check the guide now.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

Google's Mobile Friendly Test

Test how easily a visitor can use your webpage on a mobile device.  Just enter a page URL within googles mobile friendly test to see how your page scores.
Enter your page URL here.




Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

Digital marketing KPIs to increase sales

Digital marketing is one of the most popular ways for businesses to try to increase sales. In fact, spending on digital marketing is projected to increase by anywhere from 12-15 percent.

What’s surprising about this number is that according to recent research, many businesses have a hard time measuring the results of their digital marketing campaigns. A third of marketers don’t know which digital marketing efforts have the best revenue impact, and some businesses don’t even track metrics that give this information.

To make sure you are spending your digital marketing budget in a way that will help you increase sales, click here to find out what are the top digital marketing KPIs you should be tracking, and information on how they help inform your strategy.

Marketing Strategy ¦ Ardean

10 Email Marketing Do’s and Don’ts

Email marketing is a proven tactic that marketers count on to drive results again and again.

Campaign Monitor have put together a handy infographic that details email marketing do’s and don’ts every marketer should know before they push send to ensure their email campaigns deliver.

Click Here To View The Infographic

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

Connect To Success NI

Connect to Success NI is a new online system to promote and advertise work experience opportunities for young people.

Employers simply upload their work experience opportunities and users will then be able to search for an opportunity.

Click Here To Register

Business Planning ¦ Ardean

Email Campaign Checklist

"Email send" fear is alive and real in every marketer’s heart that has ever had to push the “send” button on an email campaign. Even though the emails are proofed and edited for typos, trying to avoid common errors, sometimes mistakes are made.

In an attempt to stave off the most common email sending errors, Campaign Monitor are sharing the email campaign checklist their email team uses before they push the send button.

Check Out The Checklist HERE

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

The Components of the Landing Page Audit

As you start grading your pages (or other people’s pages) you’ll go from the abstract feeling of, “Man, that page pops” to knowing exactly WHY it “pops” (sorry, designer friends, I know you hate that term).

The four landing page categories are:

• Offer
• Form
• Trust
• Visual Hierarchy

Click here to download a landing page audit from Digital Marketer.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

6 insanely effective tactics to engage email subscribers

“Email blasts” was a long-used term for sending a mass email to every subscriber on your list and is now mostly a thing of the past due to a greater demand for personalised messaging that engages subscribers.

But sending personalised messages to each subscriber can seem challenging right? How do you send the right message to the right person at the right time?

Campaign Monitor recently surveyed marketers about what their goals and challenges were for their email marketing strategies. Increasing customer engagement rates was the most important goal for 58% of marketers and the most significant barrier for 44% of marketers.

These statistics are eye-opening when it comes to the significance of customer engagement and the importance of overcoming this challenge.

Campaign Monitor now share 6 insanely effective tactics you can begin using today in order to engage your email subscribers.  Click here to read the 6 tactics.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

8 Predictions for SEO in 2017

Check out these predictions for SEO in 2017.
Click here to learn more.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

9 inspiring emails and the creatives who love them

Nikola Keavy looks at nine emails selected by members of her Creative team.

Check Out The Emails.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

On-Page SEO : The 8 Principles for Success

On-page SEO is no longer a simple matter of checking things off a list. There's more complexity to this process than ever before, and the idea of "optimization" both includes and builds upon traditional page elements.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

How to Build and Manage a Private Facebook Group

Establishing a thriving online community within your client base meets a number of important business goals including…

• increased customer satisfaction;
• reduced refunds;
• increased retention in our monthly memberships;
• increased sales generated by word-of-mouth recommendations.

There is a lot of gold to be found in creating and maintaining a private Facebook group and offering it as a premium bonus with your products – click here to learn from DigitalMarketer how it is done.

Beat the cold with an energy efficiency business loan

As energy bills go up this winter, you should be thinking of ways to keep your business costs down
Switching to a more energy efficient heating system is one way to spend less on heating and more elsewhere in your business.

The Energy Efficiency Loan from the Carbon Trust, using funds from Invest Northern Ireland, may be able to help you do just that.

Loans are available from £3,000 up to £400,000 to fund qualifying projects, at zero interest. Loans are designed so that in most cases the monthly savings on your energy bills should exceed the monthly repayments, with the repayment term being between one and four years.

Click here for more information on the Energy Efficiency Loan Fund

Funding ¦ Ardean

Next call for Northern Ireland Innovation Vouchers

Could your business use £5000 to solve a knowledge problem?

Businesses in Northern Ireland will get a chance to apply for up to £5,000 worth of Innovation Vouchers to improve or create new products or services.

The next call for applications will open on Monday 30 January 2017 and close on Friday 17 February 2017 at 15:00.

Find out more by clicking here.

Funding ¦ Ardean

11 top marketing podcasts to tune into

Want to get your fill of marketing news, interviews, and tips, but don’t have a lot of free time to sit down and read?

Podcasts can be a great way to absorb knowledge while you’re in the car, during your commute on the bus or train, exercising, or just while multitasking.

Check out 11 marketing podcasts by clicking here.

Marketing Strategy ¦ Ardean

As Facebook and Twitter stumble on measurement, Snapchat scores brownie points

Snapchat’s latest measurement play has earned it a gold star from media agencies at a time when rivals are still working to scrub off their black marks.  Read More By Clicking Here.

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean

9 awesome ebooks for digital marketers

As marketers, we’re always on the hunt for content that engages us, teaches us something new, or just entertains us with interesting stories about our industry.

Campaign Monitor have put together a must-read list of marketing eBooks written by expert marketers from a variety of companies. These books examine the challenges modern marketers face, the effectiveness that marketing automation tools have, the best tactics to use when building a marketing team and much more.

Check out the  9 eBooks for digital marketers by clicking here.

Marketing Strategy ¦ Ardean

The Craft Sector In Northern Ireland

The results of a new study into the craft sector in Northern Ireland commissioned by Craft NI have been revealed. The publication includes some interesting facts and figures on the geographical make up of the sectory, maker profiles, income levels and more.  Download Report By Clicking Here.



Business Planning ¦ Ardean

7 Lessons Learned from 440 Facebook Ad Campaigns in One Year

Check out DigitalMarketer’s best Facebook ads from their highest performing ad campaigns of 2016.  Click here to view the campaigns.

Marketing Communication : Ardean

Overview of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

The GDPR will apply in the UK from 25 May 2018. The government has confirmed that the UK’s decision to leave the EU will not affect the commencement of the GDPR.  

Learn what it means for your business by clicking here!

Marketing Strategy ¦ Ardean

Email marketing is just 5 years away from being half a century old and yet is still changing and evolving as much as any millennial.

No longer do we hear the outcry that email is dead, but rather the rally cry that email marketing is smarter and stronger than ever and is being used to deliver the right content to the right person at the right time. Powerful and affordable email marketing and automation are more accessible to every marketer regardless of technical ability, industry, or budget.

Click Here to see the predictions for email marketing in 2017

Marketing Communication ¦ Ardean