At Filament, we love our place at the digital marketing table. Participating in the infinite internet landscape is a privilege, and knowing our stuff is a job requirement we take seriously and enjoy fulfilling. This means that we constantly educate ourselves on technology and trends, from programs that do cool things to the latest Google behaviors and philosophies.
To do this, we bookmark several industry websites, many of them blogs, and we make time each week to take in as much information as possible. Since we’re all busy people and nobody likes to drink from the proverbial fire hose, here’s four excellent sites you should consider bookmarking. Alone, they are very good. Together, they give you a pretty complete daily requirement of news, education, trends and tech – with a wee bit of entertainment to finish the meal.
Protein – The Building Blocks of Email Marketing Muscle
Litmus is a staple for anyone who wants to be informed on all things email marketing – from understanding technical stuff to tips and trends. The Litmus blog is packed with enticing articles and is arranged in a way that’s accessible and simple. Scroll through and quickly and easily pick articles on topics of interest, which vary from fun how-to posts to editorials on industry developments. Litmus is an excellent example of how a business contributes to a blog, which builds a community (a powerful trend in email marketing), which hopefully generates new business. The Litmus blog offers real value to readers while marketing the product the company sells – email testing and analytics. In addition to the blog, the Litmus Learning Center is now available to everyone, so you can choose articles by topic for quick and effective research.
Veggies – Nutritious, Delicious and Necessary
The Email Institute is absolutely loaded with articles by industry experts on virtually every topic of interest to email marketers. We love that there’s an entire section dedicated to copywriting, an aspect that’s often overlooked in the shadow of flashy technology and cool design topics. We could sit all day and watch the scrolling index that features subject lines from major retailers, television stations, publications and more. Need a little visual inspiration? Hit the Email Gallery that’s updated daily and houses nearly half a million emails from almost 3,500 brands. Scan “Today’s Headlines” or “Editors Picks” to narrow down the sheer volume of articles and zero in on what matters most to you, from mobile to analytics.
Whole Grains – Goodness You Can Count On
The Aweber blog rounds things out with its practical and informative approach that, like Litmus, balances industry news with tutorials (like this cool article about how email opens are tracked with this one that helps you quickly and accurately assess your emails’ deliverability – neat!). From unconventional or interesting things email clients are doing to fun and inspiring articles about winning advertising campaigns and how to apply them to your email strategy, Aweber’s blog is simply a dependable, humble and unfailingly relevant source for all the things email marketers need to know about. Think of it as a slow-burning carb, like brown rice, that keeps your information intake “blood sugar” stable at all times.
Sweets – Because Fun Tastes Good
If Litmus and the Email Institute are the “meat and two veg” of your email marketing diet, and Aweber is your complex carbohydrate, then Mashable is the super yummy dessert. In reality, you probably need just a little Mashable in your life, but it’s so full of fun and entertaining content, you may want to binge on it. Sure, Mashable may not be as conventionally educational as some others, but it’ll keep you informed on every funny, cool, bizarre and viral bit of activity on Facebook and Twitter – otherwise known as the innumerable waves of activity that influence beliefs and therefore, sooner or later, consumer behaviors. You’ll also find articles on buzzy topics in technology, entertainment, sports and even some news, as dictated by what’s trending on social media. Why is any of this of value to social marketers, not to mention email marketers? Because it provides a large and diverse buffet of interesting content to link to across your social media sites, perpetuating conversation and therefore, traffic. Additionally, taking in articles, videos and more from such a major outlet designed largely for a young-ish audience can help keep your email style conversational, current and inspired by things that people are actually talking about right now. Think of Mashable as Buzzfeed’s educated older sister. She’s smart, savvy, interesting and funny while operating with some semblance of a goal in mind, to report on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world.” How 16 Hilarious Reactions to Pat Sajak’s Nutty Climate Change Tweet accomplishes this, we’re not sure, but people are reading it and talking about it, and there’s power in that if you know how to harness it.
So, dig in to your daily email marketing meal and notice the things that inspire you – not just things that you want to implement or recreate for your own campaign, but things you find fascinating or simply fun. It’s all speaking to you for a reason, and Filament can help you bring that reason into focus, and turn it into real results for your business and real value for your consumers.
