CASE STUDIES

#1. Why It's Best to Test Your Own Email Practices - Delivery & Subject Line Test Results

SUMMARY: Honing in on the best day of the week to send an email and writing great subject lines are always key ways to raise response rates. What to do? Test, of course.

See how an eretailer tested their enewsletter for the best delivery day and a shorter subject line. And they got some surprises, too, which they turned into a happy opportunity to lift conversions 50%.
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(Open access until January 15th)

#2. How Auto Dealer Tripled Leads - 6 Steps to Coordinate Email & Search

SUMMARY: When you need to get leads fast, an email campaign that is part of an integrated multichannel strategy is hard to beat.

A car dealership used triggered emails, search ads and a microsite to drive 276.7% more leads through the door. Online-generated purchases jumped more than six times.
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(Open access until January 16th)

HOW-TO & INTERVIEWS

#3. Sherpa 101: How to Use Digg to Go Viral - 10 Strategies

SUMMARY: For marketers on a tight budget, viral marketing can be a cost-effective alternative. But execution relies on referrals and word of mouth, so it's difficult to measure the impact.

There are places, though, where content can flourish -- Digg.com is a social media website that can serve as a launch pad for a surge in your Web traffic. Learn how the site works and how to craft content that "diggers" will love to discover and share.
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(Open access until January 15th)

#4. How to Market During a Down Economy: 6 Strategies That Will Bring Double-Digit Growth

SUMMARY: Marketing in boom times has its own challenges, but when your customers do business in an industry experiencing a steep downturn, you face a new set of problems.

See how a company that markets online subscriptions to mortgage loan originators is weathering the impact of the home loan industry meltdown. Includes six tactics that resulted in double-digit revenue growth and an 87.5% lift in email response rates and registrations.
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(Open access until January 18th)

#5. PR Interview: How to Pitch Dallas Morning News

SUMMARY: The Dallas Morning News has won six Pulitzer Prizes in 11 years. Its website, DallasNews.com, is the most visited local site online. Find out what kind of pitches the publication's longtime business columnist favors.
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(Open access until January 18th)

INTERACT

#6. SherpaBlog: SherpaBlog: PR in a Recession - CEO Fantasies & Case Studies

I think nearly all CEOs share two fantasies. The first being that they could appear on the front page of The Wall Street Journal or cover of Business 2.0 ... if only a PR person gave a bit more effort. The second is that they could save a heck of a lot of money if they slashed the ad budget and got more PR coverage instead.

(Anyway, every CEO is convinced that 50% of the ad budget is wasted as things are.) This explains why PR always gains in popularity during a recession, even an incipient one like what we're undergoing these days. Unfortunately, this doesn't help the PR profession all that much.
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(Open access=permanent)

#7. Extended Deadline: 24 Hours to Enter Sherpa's Email Marketing Awards

Hurry -- only a few hours left. If you want to show off your outstanding email campaigns to prospective clients and colleagues, now's your chance to enter MarketingSherpa's 2008 Email Marketing Awards. The competition is for B-to-B and B-to-C marketers. This year's categories include best newsletter, promotional blast, single welcome letter, postcard-style campaign and most dramatic test you learned from. Best of all, courtesy of the Email Summit '08 sponsors, there's no entry fee this year.
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(Deadline 7 p.m. EST Tuesday)

#8. Only 4 Days Left to Submit Speech Proposals for Sherpa's Online Subscriptions Summit in NYC in May

More than 350 marketers will gather in May in New York City for Sherpa's eighth annual Online Subscriptions Summit. Here's your chance to be one of the speakers on the stage. We're especially looking for marketers who can share their own experiences, campaign war stories and lessons learned. Past speakers include marketers from Blockbuster, Consumer Reports, TheStreet.com and NASCAR.com.
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(Deadline 7 p.m. Eastern Friday)

#9. Help Wanteds: 66 New Jobs & 2 Seekers Available

The past week's new posts include 2 VPs & 4 Directors. Plus, learn how to post your own opening.
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(Complimentary service).

#10. New Book Offer: '101 Quick Tips: Email and Google'

Do you spend more time than you want tracking down someone from the IT department to help you get the most from your email? Try Debbie Mayo-Smith's pocket-size guide instead.

'101 Quick Tips: Email and Google' is a 101-page collection of practical, easy-to-read and easy-to-apply information about email and Outlook. Want to find something in your folders faster? Organize your in-box better? Stop flurries of similar spam? Get more out of your contacts?

Mayo-Smith answers these questions and dozens more in her no-nonsense book. The table of contents, organized into eight sections, works like an index of her tips. She marks her favorite tips in red with three thumbs up. Plus, she devotes a chapter on better ways to use Google and search.

You won't find any fluff to baffle you. Instead, you will learn from a practical question-and-answer approach that can improve your ability to communicate and search the Web within minutes. You’ll also discover how to maintain an organized office environment by assigning tasks to your staff and scheduling appointments. Moreover, readers will familiarize themselves with storage suggestions, spam solutions, signatures and search.

The author donated five copies for Sherpa to give away. Toss your name into the hat here to try for one.
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(Ends 01/20/08)

+ Last week's book offer: These five lucky marketers will get their own copies of 'The Eyes Have It' by Kevin Lee:

• Leighanne Dawkins, Zwahili Game Lodge, SOUTH AFRICA
• Mohammad Hossain, Best Buy, Murphy, TX
• Bethany Mach, Team Detroit, Dearborn, MI
• Summer Sinclair, ScholarPoint, La Jolla, CA
• Kish Woodward, Vericom Corporation, Roswell, GA

P.S. Did a friend send you this? Go Here for your own copy - it's award-winning, useful, and complimentary.

P.P.S. Got questions, comments, or ideas for editorial?
Email Editorial Director Tad Clarke at TadC(at)marketingsherpa(dot)com
or call Customer Service at (877) 895-1717 -- thanks!