Category Marketing

How to build an email list from scratch: 15 incredibly effective strategies

By in Email Marketing

Written by: Tom Orbach When I set out to build an email list from scratch for MarketingIdeas.com, I didn’t have a product. No pricing page. No polished brand. Just a one-liner and a waitlist. Use HubSpot's AI Campaign Assistant to Create Emails Within a few weeks, that waitlist had grown to hundreds of people, and that list became the foundation for everything that followed. Since then, I’ve helped others build email lists from scratch using straightforward, repeatable tactics that don’t rely on paid ads or massive audiences. Building an email list gives you something most platforms can’t: a direct, lasting relationship with…

Read More

The end of “Hey {First_Name}”: AI personalization strategies that convert

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Email Marketing

Written by: Rachel Leist Remember the last time you got an email that started with ‘Hey {First_Name}’ and immediately felt like deleting it? That visceral reaction isn't just about poor execution — it signals a fundamental shift in buyer expectations. HubSpot research shows that 78% of customers expect more personalization in business interactions than ever before. Yet only 47% of business leaders say their customer service experiences are highly personalized. You can no longer rely on old-school personalization tactics like adding basic customer details to a holiday card or making a generic comment like “I love what your company is doing” in…

Read More

Spam trigger words: How to keep your emails out of the spam folder

By in Marketing

Written by: Jeanne Jennings Back in 2003, I was working with my first big consulting client, Hasbro. (Yes, that Hasbro. And yes, it was as fun as you'd imagine.) Sitting on my desk at the time — dog-eared, tea-stained, salsa-splotched — was a multi-page document I treated like sacred scripture: the spam trigger word list. Use HubSpot's AI Campaign Assistant to Create Emails This wasn’t just a list of naughty words. It came with spam scores — weights assigned to each phrase based on how likely it was to get your email flagged by filters. Before any copy went to the client for review, I’d…

Read More

Email Marketing Reliability vs. Social Media Uncertainty

By in Email Marketing, Marketing

by Martha Bitar, Rebecca Shostak Social media platforms have become the cornerstone of many businesses' marketing strategy. But such an approach is unstable and unpredictable. Consider TikTok. Its future ownership is unclear, and it faces a possible ban or ownership change; many brands that have built their audience on the app are facing uncertainty. But it isn't just a TikTok problem—it's a loud reminder that social media space is rented, not owned. What happens when the platform you've invested thousands of hours and dollars into changes overnight? The hard truth is that your social media following never truly belongs to you. As a result, savvy brands…

Read More

LinkedIn Is the Epicenter of B2B Marketing—Here’s How to Reap Its Benefits

By in Marketing

by Palash Soni If you were on LinkedIn just seven years ago, you might remember a pre-feed time, when people simply logged on to post career updates. That's hard to imagine now, considering how central the feed is to B2B relationships today—and how it continues to grow in popularity. In some conversations I've had with the LinkedIn team, they've indicated that feed traffic was doubling year over year! Basically, if you're a B2B marketer serious about boosting brand visibility and viability, LinkedIn is the one place you need to be now. If you aren't posting regularly and connecting with folks via DMs, you're…

Read More

How AI Is Impacting Email Marketing

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Email Marketing

by Ayaz Nanji Marketers say AI is having the most impact on their email programs through the use of tools for generating content, according to recent research from Litmus and Datalily. The report was based on data from a survey conducted from December 30, 2024 through January 16, 2025 among 692 marketing professionals in North America and Europe. Respondents say the top uses where AI has been most impactful on their company's email marketing are generative tools (25% say so), personalizing email content (18%), and analyzing campaign performance (16%). Marketers expect the most impactful AI capabilities on email marketing in the next year to be generative tools…

Read More

4 types of emails that get the most engagement [+ 4 emails that fail]

By in Email Marketing, Marketing

Written by: Jeanne Jennings My inbox is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you’re gonna get (with apologies to Forrest Gump). Just today I received: A newsletter from Monumental Sports Network celebrating the career of Nicklas Backstrom, a beloved player from the Washington Capitals who just departed the NHL. I’m a fan. I engaged; I clicked through and read the article. A promotional email offering accounting services for an organization that is a client of mine, from a company I’ve never heard of. I dislike cold email, especially when it’s totally irrelevant to me. I did not engage. An email…

Read More

How to Run Successful Email Marketing Campaigns Step by Step

By in Email Marketing, Marketing

By Michael Brenner Successful email marketing is a critical, and often overlooked, element of digital marketing. The right content at the right time landing in someone’s inbox can break through the noise, capture their attention, nurture their interest, and convert. But after a couple decades of Nigerian prince schemes, Spanish lotto scams, and mountains of unsolicited spam (which is never a good marketing tactic), how do people feel about email now? Is it still a worthwhile tactic for small-business owners and marketers to pursue? The simple answer is yes. Quick Takeaways: Email doesn’t just generate awesome revenue, it also has the power…

Read More

Why community is the antidote to AI overload in search marketing

By in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Marketing

Written by Ashley Liddell In 2025, people aren’t just searching for answers anymore. They’re looking for genuine responses from the people they trust most:  Creators. Communities. Fellow brand supporters.  In many ways, community has become an algorithm of its own. AI-powered tools like Google Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity have made knowledge more accessible than ever.  But in doing so, they’ve also flattened it.  Answers feel repetitive, citations pull from the same limited sources, and brand voices risk becoming interchangeable. That’s where community comes in.  While generative AI commoditizes information, community restores individuality.  It offers what no model can compress into tokens:  Authentic connection. Lived experience.…

Read More

Why blog? The benefits of blogging for business and marketing

By in Marketing

Written by: Erin Pennings With 5.5 billion people online (and counting), the internet has never been busier — or had more opportunity. But, businesses keep asking if blogging benefits are still worth the effort. Spoiler: it is. It’s one of the best ways to establish thought leadership, get your audience’s attention, and build trust with them. Over the years, I’ve written hundreds of blogs for businesses in a wide range of industries — and I’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and how things are changing. So buckle up, and I’ll show you why blogging for business is still so valuable for driving inbound leads —…

Read More