Few people have ever been excited by a pop-up ad appearing in front of an online article. There is no thrill from a favorite program being interrupted by a commercial. Few moments seem to drag longer than the five-second countdown on YouTube’s “Skip Ad” button.

With all of the new technology that exists in marketing nowadays, it’s easy to overlook one of the most effective marketing tools around: email. While many have passed email off as outdated and on its way out, an email marketing strategy is more important than ever – in fact, 76 percent of marketers say they use email more now than they did three years ago.

We’re all familiar with email marketing, aren’t we? Most of us probably have an inbox that is a little fuller than we would like, and some of you may have given up on cleaning out your inbox entirely because of the sheer amount of emails you get. If you have a negative perception of email marketing and are thinking it isn’t for your business, you may want to think again. You may be surprised by the benefits of email marketing.

Co-branding is a popular tactic within the marketing and advertising world and is something that your small business should take advantage of if you see an opportunity. This common practice has positive reasons why you should consider this strategy. But let’s start with the basics.

If you run a non-profit that relies on donations, getting those donations has recently gotten easier. In November, Facebook announced new tools to help non-profits raise money online. The improvements come primarily in the form of a dedicated place called Fundraisers to collect donations from your non-profit Facebook page, and an improved “Donate” button that doesn’t require users to leave Facebook and allows them to give right from the news feed.

Sometimes the death of a business is somewhat personal and triggers a sense of nostalgia. In the world of small business, companies come and go all the time with little more than a raised eyebrow – but every once in a while the closing of a local business surprises you.

All emails have a similar goal: to be opened. It doesn’t matter if you're trying to convert a lead to a customer, or to delight a current customer, they all have a goal in common. If you send an email that isn’t opened, what's the point of spending the time and money to create an email campaign? This is where an email marketing consultant can help you get the most out of your emails during the holidays. Here are a few email marketing tips from consultants to help you get those emails opened.

One of the biggest obstacles businesses can face is a poor relationship between the marketing and sales teams. Historically, the two sides have had little nice to say about each other; in fact, 87 percent of marketers and salespeople describe the others negatively.

If you’re the creative type, you probably like the idea of coming up with a content strategy and creating content to promote your business. Maybe the strategy part appeals to you or you just love to come up with new ideas and you enjoy writing, creating videos and other content in general. It’s also quite possible that those things sound taxing and are things you would move to the bottom of your to-do list, and leave them there forever if possible. Either way, if you're a marketing manager or business owner who understands the value of content marketing, you know you only have so much time, ability and energy. That being the case, you may be considering hiring an agency to do the content marketing services for your business. The following are some common parts of content marketing to consider when deciding what your life will be like with and without content marketing services:

Blogging is an essential part of inbound marketing and is a staple of any content marketing strategy. While blogs started as more personal accounts, they have come to take an increasingly large role in the professional realm as well. Blogs serve to inform and, when done correctly, give you an opportunity to stand out within your field as an informer and an opinion leader.

Do you have a small business that is just getting started and needs to find a good source of customers? Or maybe you work for an established company, and are trying to increase conversions on your website and reduce the cost per lead. Either way, you have probably been told to buy SEO services at some point along the way. Today’s post is to help inform you of what exactly SEO services are and are not, so that you can be more informed as you consider paying for this form of marketing.

There’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday – but do you know about #GivingTuesday? After two days dedicated to shopping there’s a day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday, December 1, 2015, charities, families, businesses, community centers, and students around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.