Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Is relocating your nascent company to a startup hotbed worth the price of admission A Renobased entrepreneur weighs the pros and cons....

... Creating a startup is hard enough without the additional expense and stress of moving, of not having friends and family around, and of not knowing where the best restaurants are. So I decided I had to make my new venture work in the place where I was already established.

My point is that while there are benefits to planting yourself in a hub, there are plenty of advantages to setting up shop in a more isolated place. For starters, when I started ShortStack three years ago, I already knew where the best brew pub in Reno, Nevada was--so I haven’t wasted any time or money on bad beer! Here’s how to start a business wherever you are...

Our goal as savvy email marketers is to look beyond the lure of the one-time conversion and strive to build an ongoing relationship between consumers and our brands. Why is this goal so important? Because it’s been proven through many a marketing study that engaged customers become loyal customers and loyal customers are the most valuable segment in any list or database.

This type of highly engaged, loyal customer typically has higher overall lifetime value than the casual consumer. They’re also more likely to be an evangelist, introducing new customers to your brand in a very personal way and building the next layer of loyal customers.

But, how can you help to build a stronger bond with your customer base? In my last article, I outlined ways to stimulate an unengaged audience by increasing the relevancy of your email creative by including more dynamic content. Sharing relevant content demonstrates to customers that we know them as individuals and are dedicated to providing them with useful information, products or services. Using historical and behavior data is a great way to present content that’s tailored to their individual needs and preferences, but you also need to engage with your audience on an emotional level in order to achieve the goal of creating a true brand-loyal customer....

Let’s explore four creative ways in which email marketers have used data as a platform to build creative that forms a bond between their customers and their brand....