B2B Email: Your subject line can kill your pitch (or, Hi, I want to talk to you about … uh, stuff)

By Robert Celaschi

Something strange happens to people when they send marketing email. They’ll take a powerful, persuasive marketing message, and torpedo the whole thing by slapping a lousy subject line on it.

What makes it really strange is that the email might contain a press release or other message with a really great headline. The sender could have cut and pasted it. But no, instead they type a vague or garbled mess of words that makes me shrug and move on.

B2B lead generation: Bye bye, list biz?

When a local list broker asked me for career advice last month, I realized that a human element is often missing from discussions about marketing trends and forecasting.

I realized too that inbound marketers can learn from the performance of companies like Harte Hanks — a company that essentially wholesales data to channel partners like list brokers (in addition to selling directly to its client base).

From the Shocking Marketing No Nos Department

A high profile marketing automation company assuming permission — in an email with subject line “B2B marketing best practices”? Sounds too ironic to be true.

What won’t fly in that 2009 marketing plan

Everyone is supposed to be nailing down their plans for 2009 marketing efforts. What should go in yours?

Fortune: execs dive deeper into Sunday emails

There is a thought provoking sidebar in the latest print issue of Fortune magazine (Sept 15th 2008 issue, page 22). It’s about executives doing business email on Sundays.

Top B2B marketing advice: MarketingSherpa cool-aid proves nutritious

I think I bought my first MarketingSherpa handbook in 2004. I bet customer records at Sherpa show exactly when it was. But whatever the date, I recall being floored. I used up a sticky pad entering placeholders, and used up a highlighter marking key points. And when I’d absorbed it’s content, I started viewing some of my pre-Sherpa work with chagrin. 

To do: clean grill, write will

I received this email from LegalZoom this afternoon and can’t get over it the wry humor of the copywriter.

Benefits of using an email service provider

As business to business sales cycles get longer, marketing requires cost-effective nurturing. And nothing is more cost-effective for nurturing, than email. You know this. So, taking the bull by the horns, you’ve gathered up all the contact information from prospects’ business cards and other sources. Now, should you send from your desktop or use an email service provider? 

Repurpose case studies for higher ROI

When it comes to differentiating and nurturing for high-value sales, content is king. And case studies reign as king of high-ROI content.

In addition to building credibility and trust, case studies enable prospects to step into the shoes of your satisfied client. They are also one of the most passed around content items within a prospect’s decision-making team.

To lift case study ROI, you can repurpose content in several ways:

Who’s the right marketing partner?

There’s a lot at stake for business decision makers today. To lower their risks, b2b buyers are looking harder during longer buying cycles. More and more decision makers are joining the committee – and they’re taking their roles seriously.

Email marketing – dinosaur?

With all the buzz around newer marketing channels – blogging, RSS feeds, mobile marketing, and podcasting – it’s easy to question the value of email marketing. Is it still performing?

Is it time to reallocate resources or even replace email? (Eeek!)