Email is one of the most common channels marketers are using. With over 145 billion emails sent annually, averaging 9,000 emails a year per user, marketers are constantly wondering, “How much email is too much?” In contact strategy design, clients often ask us, how many emails are acceptable to send, and over what period of time?
We’ve compiled a list of stats that can help you gauge where your marketing programs fall among the norms of email marketing frequency.

Content marketing continues to become a critical technique for increasing web traffic, leads and improving a company’s search engine optimization efforts. If your organization isn’t using content marketing yet, here are 7 signs that will have you reconsidering your investment in content marketing.

I’d argue that direct marketing is more alive now than ever. The core principles of direct response marketing are being used across a number of different channels, especially digital channels. It seems that direct marketing is often misunderstood. Many people equate direct marketing with direct mail. Direct marketing is actually a set of tools and techniques that use targeted communications to drive measurable response and action.

Are dimensional mailings the best way to break through to B2B decision makers? How do you get by the gatekeeper? These are common questions that marketers consider when considering how to best reach business-to-business decision makers. We’ve compiled 6 proven techniques for getting through to business-to-business gatekeepers and getting the attention of this critical segment.

Email marketing continues to be one of the common forms of marketing, with the number of emails annually deployed continuing to grow. So what are the most effective forms of email marketing? It turns out that triggered emails continue to prevail as one of the most effective forms of email marketing, as they are driven by actual user behavior. Triggered emails are typically automated emails that a user receives based on an action or behavior.

Over the past year direct mail has continued to be one of the most effective ways to communicate with customers and prospects. Direct mail headlines have included topics such as response rates, best practices and personalization.

Shrinking budgets and accountability were two common themes in 2013 for many marketers. Marketers are under more pressure than ever to ensure their budgets are being spent in the most optimal manner, and that they can explain precisely what value these marketing activities brought to the organization. Justifying marketing spend is a daily activity for many CMOs. In a recent study of CMOs, shrinking budgets were cited as one of the biggest challenges.*

One of the most influential professors I had in graduate school had a great saying: “The best marketers are the best guessers.” It definitely seems like there is a lot of merit in this statement. After all, in marketing we often have to work with imperfect information. More than not, we’re faced with combining available information with experience, best practices and judgment.

This is part 2 of the article on critical questions that CMOs should ask in their first 90 days. Here are the remaining questions to ask as you begin to evaluate the current marketing communications activities. These questions can help you formulate the strengths and weaknesses of the current activities as well as inspire ideas and direction for marketing plans going forward.

How will 2014 compare to 2013 from a marketing trends perspective? Will the top tactics marketers used in 2013 differ in 2014? Will budgets stay the same, or will they increase or decrease? Will marketer’s biggest challenges stay the same? Here are 9 trends from 2013 and thoughts on how these trends might evolve or stay the same.