HMG Creative is thrilled to announce the launch of Quick Fix Stock Charts, a financial site that educates members on the market about pay day loans and stocks by providing daily stock charts, complete with analysis and comparisons.
A quick trip to the mall this morning revealed that stores are already gearing up for Thanksgiving and—yikes!—Christmas shopping. 10 percent of retailers have already sent a Christmas email to their subscriber list, but don’t feel bad if you haven’t yet. There’s still plenty of time to get your jingle on. Check out what worked and what didn’t during the 2011 holiday season:
What Worked: Sending Emails During the Week of Black Friday
While email opens were average on Black Friday itself, the week leading up to it was a good week for email marketers. Nearly 16 percent of email subscribers made a purchase in response to an email that was sent during the week of Black Friday.
What Didn’t: Relying on Gimmicks to Earn Better Open Rates (like certain words in the subject line)
Popular subject line word choices for 2011 included “free,” “sale,” and “shipping.” Surprisingly, these words did not result in higher open rates. However, the word “coupon” did entice more people to open an email, although it wasn’t used as often.
Take away: Tried and true subject line methods of stating clearly what your email contains, piquing interest, and promising value earn more opens than gimmicks.
What Worked: Sending Emails to Subscribers on Christmas Day
Surprisingly, 6 percent of the emails sent on Christmas Day were opened, despite the many festivities of Christmas morning and dinner with the in-laws. That’s just 3 percent less than average. Also, people spent over 170 percent more on their mobile devices this year than they did on Christmas Day 2010.
What Didn’t: Expecting Better Response Leading Up to Christmas But Ignoring Christmas Day
Actual customer behavior showed that click-throughs increased on Christmas Day, meaning that the savvy marketers who sent a Christmas Day email were rewarded for their efforts with a spike in sales.
Takeaway: People are already looking for sales and after-Christmas deals even before the wrapping paper has made it into the trash can, so give them plenty of shopping options.
What Worked: Using Social Media to Promote Specials and Sales
Promoting sales and specials on Facebook and Twitter creates buzz as your fans share with their friends, giving you a much broader reach than just your subscriber list.
What Didn’t: Failing to Link Social Media Campaigns With Other Marketing Efforts
Of course, Facebook and Twitter can be limiting in their own way, so don’t expect them to do all your marketing for you. People need commonality across marketing venues to keep them oriented.
Takeaway: Coordinate your social media marketing plans with other marketing campaigns to create a unified strategy that reaches as many people as possible.
The 2012 holiday season is upon us. By reflecting on what did and did not drive sales last year, you can create an effective marketing strategy that will keep shoppers merrily clicking away, even when the weather outside is frightful.
Statistics Source: Epsilon 2012 Holiday Trend Report
Hyde Park Baptist Church, located deep in the heart of Austin, Texas, reached out to us with the need to create a stronger, more appealing way to communicate to its members. With that in mind, we were able to assist HPBC by creating email templates that would allow them to send out customized weekly messages to a variety of groups. The email templates provide a consistent and organized theme that allows for a variety of people to receive announcements and other information without the dread of reading, yet another, boring black and white email.
University Ministry Example
General Ministry Example
Do you want to improve your email strategy? Just a simple change can bring great results. Contact HMG Creative to get started.
We recently completed a website Flat roofing London redesign project for Reel Picture Productions, the Video Production Companies Singapore headquartered in Singapore. Our efforts were aimed at creating a more functional and appealing website while keeping the overall theme intact. The new website provided a quick link to the client portal, a rotating image display on the home page and a new layout for the main tabs.
Click here to view the redesigned website.
About Reel Picture
Established in 1997, Reel Picture Productions supplies DVD replication, DVD packaging, CD replication, CD packaging, and OEM packaging to software companies, Hollywood movie studios, video game companies, music companies, and various businesses. Reel Picture began in a small 1,000 square foot space. After quickly expanded, they are currently housed in their 50,000 square foot facility in Eastgate Mall. They are proud to announce that their current initiative has been aimed towards creating a new and innovative Eco-friendly packaging product.
Screenshot of the OLD website
Screenshot of the NEW website
The OneStar Foundation, a preeminent state-wide organization based in Austin, TX providing resources for the entire nonprofit sector recently abandoned old, cumbersome technology to better serve its public. The shift is one that sets an ambitious tone for outreach and opens up increased opportunities for all nonprofits in the state.
This week OneStar announced the launch of an updated, redesigned website and a refreshed brand image through a partnership with Austin-based HMG Creative to further initiatives for nonprofits in Texas.
OneStar Foundation connects faith-based and community organizations,one of the best car accident solicitor businesses, government and foundations to resources and information about the nonprofit sector as well as facilitating public-private partnerships to drive community solutions and ultimately, build a better Texas.
In efforts to stay ahead of toll free numbers technology and better serve its audience, OneStar Foundation and HMG Creative partnered for the robust rebranding and web development project.
“We conducted several interviews but selected HMG Creative because we wanted the best end-product possible; we believe that their services will result in a long-term advantage,” said Elizabeth Darling, President and CEO of OneStar Foundation. “Among many requirements and expectations that are necessary to be a leader in our sector, the most important are an easy-to-manage web platform and an impressive brand image, HMG gave us exactly that.”
HMG Creative increased site functionality, accessibility to information and updated the overall look and feel of the brand to connect with OneStar Foundation’s central audience. With a refreshed online image and updated technology, OneStar Foundation can further their mission of educating, connecting and providing resources to build a stronger nonprofit sector in Texas.
Check out OneStar Foundation’s new website at www.onestarfoundation.org.
OneStar Foundation’s thrive for innovation continues with the launch of the Texas Connector, an online nonprofit mapping tool which boasts the most comprehensive nonprofit statewide database of any state in the country. Texasconnects.org goes live today after its debut at the Texas Nonprofit Summit in Austin.
To learn more about this project or how we can develop solutions for your company email: amy@hmgcreative.com
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