If you're a non-profit organization, you are in the business of not making profits.  So how do you do more with less and still innovate to attract and retain donors?  And what lessons can be learned from the non-profit world by everyone else?  Our partner Adestra has produced a webinar, What Can NOT Making A Profit Teach Us?-Lessons for us all from the non-profit industry, that is now available for download.  Ryan Phelan and Tristam Jones talk about non-profits and what the rest of us can learn from them. They examine case studies and give examples from non-profits.  We wanted to share the webinar with you because it delivers great data points on email benchmarking and some really good tips on how to get people to feel more emotionally attatched via email. 

Marketing automation is still a relatively new technology for many organizations.  It is because of this relative newness that a great deal of confusion exists about exactly what a marketing automation system can do for an organization, and how to properly implement it as part of existing marketing strategies.  If your organization is thinking about marketing automation, how do you prepare for it's implementation?  Are you ready?  What does marketing automation readiness look like?  We have found a great article at Act-On, written by Janet Johnson, that lists 10 steps you should take to prepare for marketing automation success.

Once upon a time social media was primarily used as a way to connect with friends and family.  While it is certainly still used for that purpose, it has also evolved into a platform that organizations now use as a business tool.  The number of networks that one can engage on is constantly increasing.  With all the choices now available, it can be overwhelming having to decide which social channels would be the best fit for your organization.  It probably would nor be an effective allocation of time or money to attempt to be active on all the social channels now available.  So how do you know which ones to choose?  Knowing your membership is key.  Chandra Chakravarthi at Aptify has written an article explaining the 3 questions to ask before deciding which social networks are right for your organization.

We know the value of market research when it comes to developing marketing strategies.  We know marketing departments spend a fair amount of time on email campaigns.  We also know that marketers are busy people.  That is why we have put together a list of downloadable email marketing reports.  Below are 7 resources from top industry analysts for you to look at on the state of email marketing.

Every year during the month of August we start planning our professional developement for the following year.  We thought it might be fun to put together an infographic with some of the stats from this year.  Below is the infographic we created as a recap of 2015-2016.

If you are planning to invest in marketing automation, how can you help to ensure that you will be happy with the software you choose? According to a study by VentureBeat, 70% of marketers who purchase a marketing automation system are either unhappy or only marginally happy with their purchase.  Knowing the right questions to ask before buying a system is important to prevent you from being a part of that 70%.  Laurie Aquilante at Hubspot has written an article with 5 of the best questions you should be asking to make sure the system you purchase will align with your goals and make the most sense for your organization.