Posted by Eden Spodek, AIMS volunteer and blog correspondent...
This is the third post in monthly series – The AIMS Member Profiles – in which AIMS volunteer and blog correspondent Eden Spodek interviews and profiles an AIMS premium member.
Meet Justin Cook from BorderWare Technologies Inc.
Justin joined BorderWare as their Internet/Web Marketing Specialist only two months ago. Previously, he was Online Marketing Specialist at SAS Canada for five years.
Q: What is the biggest change you've seen in e-mail marketing as a result of growing threats to online security and privacy over the past year?
A: What I’ve seen is a complete shift in how marketers view and plan their e-mail campaigns. Marketers as understanding that ‘batch and blast’ tactics just don’t produce the same return as highly relevant targeted emails ‘conversations’.
We’re starting to see the true ramifications of even a relatively small number of ‘report spam’ infractions, and the need to create email content that is truly valuable to our subscribers (opt-in subscribers that is, not just a rented list).
Q: What advice can you offer to other AIMS members about overcoming some of these challenges?
A: I would recommend the following for anyone planning their e-mail campaigns:
1. Ask: “Who reads or will read our marketing e-mails?”
2. Ask: “Do they perceive value in our e-mail content, that it can actually help them perform their job better?”
3. Build a working opt-in process, and highlight it on every page of your website.
4. Build a working opt-out process; make sure it’s very easy to opt out if people want to.
5. Get authenticated.
6. Don’t spam.
Q: In heading up BorderWare's SEO and SEM campaigns, what are your objectives and how will you measure success?
A: With SEO, our goals are to increase awareness of BorderWare’s incredible technology. Aside from BorderWare being my employer, I truly believe that they have an ‘elite’ anti-spam and e-mail security solution. My objective is to ensure people know of BorderWare’s superior offerings when they search for e-mail security or spam related terms.
With SEM, the primary goal is to increase conversions and ROI. We’ve set aggressive targets for an increase in lead generation this year.
Q: In your current role, what has been your biggest accomplishment? Why?
A: I’ve been at BorderWare at very short period of time, but in my role as an online marketer I’ve had a few decent accomplishments:
• I’ve helped a number of small businesses climb the SERPs (search engine ranking positions), to attain high – if not top – positions in Google, MSN and Yahoo!.
• I optimized the website and sales process for an apparel company, resulting in a 400% increase in overall sales.
• Coming from a web programming background, I created a very flexible content management system, enabling content owners to easily modify site content, post events, etc.
I still have much to learn in online marketing (we all do, I believe), but I’m very excited to be in this very dynamic profession, constantly finding new ways to more effectively turn web and e-mail users into leads and customers.
Do you have any questions for Justin? Add your comment/question below...
Great interview Justin. You're off to a great start at Borderware. Your comments on email marketing are dead-on. I've had a good run recently using RSS feeds to send email updates that keep loyal site visitors updated. It provides a nice level of customization and automation.
Posted by: | January 17, 2007 at 01:52 PM
I personally recommend Justin Cook to any one looking for competent and honest internet consulting. Our company owes alot to Justin for our online strategy and presence.
Posted by: Randy Ramadhin | January 24, 2007 at 06:24 PM
Great interview.
Posted by: | March 31, 2007 at 03:30 PM