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June 2008

June 27, 2008: HTML Email Do's and Don'ts
Comments: 5 | Categories: Design
Don't use forms Hotmail ignores forms in HTML email to ensure that messages do not contain malicious scripts. Other webmail services (Gmail and Yahoo) and email clients support the use of forms. If you intend on sending HTML emails with...

June 27, 2008: CSS and HTML Email
Comments: 0 | Categories: Design
I love CSS. I really do. I've totally forgotten how to develop a webpage using tables. So this really stumped me when I had to go back and do a newsletter design for a particular client. Its been eons ago since I've last created an email newsletter, let alone coding using tables and spacer images. Because of the huge variation of support across each email environment, there really isn't any one design approach that will guarantee consistency. Instead, you should take a couple of things into account.

June 27, 2008: Tip For The Day: Schedule All Your Campaigns For Later
Comments: 0 | Categories: Tips & Tricks
Here's something very useful from one of our agency clients. In fact, its so obvious, we started wondering why we didn't think of it ourselves. Schedule your campaigns for later. Ever had the experience when your clients says "All go!" and you login to your client's campaigns, select the "Launch Now" option and hit the "Save & Close", only to have your client call you five minutes later requesting for some last minute changes, or an update to the sender list? We have. Too many times.

June 26, 2008: Creating, Designing and Coding HTML Templates
Comments: 1 | Categories: Design , Email Marketing
Traditional marketing has already started to becomes less effective and accountable since the advent of the internet. Businesses are constantly seeking ways to engage customers on a personal level and provide them with information that is in line with their goals as consumers and in turn, gather information on what sells. HTML emails allow us to do things that traditional email doesn't. Besides having a more pleasing and desirable design, at the same time reinforcing your client's brand, HTML email also allows you to track opens, click throughs and forwards. Communicating with your customers and providing them with information that they ask for is a great way to drive traffic to your client's site and ultimately generate business leads for you and your client.

June 26, 2008: Build Customer Value for Your Clients
Comments: 0 | Categories: Business Articles/Tips for Agencies , Email Marketing
Branding 101: Through strong branding, we build a base of customers who will keep coming back year after year. However, the truth of the fact is: all these branding and marketing tactics usually end up with a one-time sale, only benefiting a short-term revenue. To truly achieve the objective, you, as the online marketing guru in your client's eye, have to help your client build true customer value. Consider too, that each campaign requires more involvement from the end recipient. And thankfully, there are benchmarks which you can use to help your client measure each of these forms - Revenue, Loyalty, and Advocacy.

June 23, 2008: Email Surveys, & Why Blink Campaign Isn't Getting Into It Just Yet
Comments: 0 | Categories: Business Articles/Tips for Agencies , Email Marketing
Requests to include email surveys in Blink Campaign is probably the most frequently requested feature. Many agencies have asked us if they can embed surveys into their campaigns, as well as include a survey creation tool in Blink Campaign. My...

June 20, 2008: How To Charge Your Client for Email Marketing Services
Comments: 0 | Categories: Business Articles/Tips for Agencies
As designers and communication agencies, there's countless services that we can offer our clients. And there are many different ways to charge your clients for email marketing. Stemming from a design agency background, we at Blink Campaign have been (and...

June 20, 2008: Email Marketing: The Usual Suspects
Comments: 0 | Categories: Business Articles/Tips for Agencies , Design , Email Marketing
Its not just about newsletters or promotional eDMs. To many people, email marketing is synonymous with sales. However, email communication is in essence, far more sophisticated. Using the correct form of email communication can contribute to your client's bottom line in many other advantageous ways. There will never be a be-all, end-all solution for email marketing. Advising your clients accordingly would reap great benefits to your client, and more return business for yourself. Some of your clients may have their needs better addressed with newsletters as opposed to hard sell promotional campaigns.

June 19, 2008: Uploading Templates Into Blink Campaign
Comments: 0 | Categories: Design
Hands up all those who've been having problems uploading templates into Blink Campaign. Honestly, I've had problems doing so myself. And cuss I did. All HTML templates have to be fully XHTML compliant. Yes, that seems to be the issue that we've noticed most of the time from feedback from our support staff.

June 19, 2008: Creating Value in Email
Comments: 0 | Categories: Email Marketing
The next time you or your clients send out a campaign, step back and think about how valuable that email is to the end-recipient. Think back to the last campaign you've developed/sent. Now put a little imagination in and think about how you would react if you were the one that received that last campaign. Would you want to get another message from that organisation?

June 19, 2008: Blink is Born
Comments: 0 | Categories: New Features and Updates
After over 2 years of work, we're happy to announce the birth of Blink Campaign! Prior to its first public release, Blink Campaign was exposed to a close group of agencies who've provided great suggestions and feedback, resulting in the last minute tweaking and fine-tuning of the system. We've definitely come a long way.