T-shirt, book and chocolate cake giveaway
Latest posts | Feed | By Mark Brownlow
Email Marketing Reports is seven years old this week*.Why should you care?
Because in all the birthday excitement I have some prizes to give away.
They are...
- An email marketing t-shirt of your choice from Campaign Monitor's store (two prizes)
- A copy of Simms Jenkins' excellent Truth about Email Marketing book, signed by the author himself (two prizes)
- A Sacher Torte shipped by courier to you from the famous Sacher Hotel in Vienna, Austria
1. The first commenter to guess the question I get asked most often by blog and newsletter readers wins the Sacher cake.
(If nobody gets it, I'll pick the most original suggestion.)
2. Anyone who leaves any comment on this post enters the draw for the t-shirts and books.
(Include enough info for me to be able to get in touch with you should you win: like a blog URL, web address, or a name and company affiliation.)
I'll pick random winners from all submissions received by midnight CET November 7th. Newsletter subscribers get an additional win chance by simply replying to the November 3rd newsletter issue.
Good luck. And thanks for blessing me with your time, attention and feedback over those seven years. A voice without listeners is a sad voice indeed.
*It started life as a few pages, with no blog and no email list either (yes, just like raaaaiiiiinnnn on your wedding day). Now around 1,000 unique visitors drop by each day and there are 5,000 feed and email subscribers getting the blog posts.
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28 Comments:
Mark, 7 years is a heroic effort! Congratulations, and here's to the next 7.
As for the question you get asked most often, I'm wondering if it might be something like "What's the best day to send out emails?"
By 
Edwin Hayward, on
30 October, 2008
Congratulations on the 7th birthday of your blog! That's quite an achievement! :-)
I'll take a stab at the most often asked question:
"Are you interested in buying opt-in lists?"
At least that's a question that I get asked A LOT! :-)
Happy 7th Birthday!!
Tamara
By Tamara Gielen, on
30 October, 2008
The question you get asked most is:
"Did you mean to leave out the 's'?"
:)
Happy Birthday
By 
Triplea, on
30 October, 2008
Mark,
Congratulations! I've barely made it 2 years - 7 is mind-blowing, especially given the pace you publish at.
I think the question you get asked most is a variation on the one Tamara noted. Namely,
"Do you know where I can buy an opt-in email list?"
By Justin Premick, on
30 October, 2008
My guess is "What is a good open rate?" or "How does my open rate compare to others?"
By Kristen, on
30 October, 2008
Mark - congrats on your tremendous successes with the site, blog, newsletter and more. You have created an excellent forum for marketers to learn and share email marketing knowledge.
Happy 7th - here's to many more!
-Simms
By C.E.O. - BrightWave Marketing and EmailStatCenter.com, Author - The Truth About Email Marketing, Columnist, Speaker, on
30 October, 2008
Mark,
I thoroughly enjoy your blog - congrats on 7 years...that's phenomenal.
I would guess that the question you get is also about "what is a good open rate" - i know i get that one all the time...
Keep publishing and i'll keep reading.
By JT, on
30 October, 2008
Congrats, Mark.
For the most popular question, I'm going to go with "Do you know how to get off of _(some blacklist)_?"
Or maybe "Can you help me get off of _(some blacklist)_?"
By Mickey Chandler, on
30 October, 2008
Thanks for all the kind words. And I'm shocked that someone got the question so quickly! Triplea is correct (even though I think he/she might have been joking!)
The most common question I get is a variation on "Why do you spell it iland?"
(Most of the times the question is accompanied by the suggestion that I get a spellchecker.)
The cake is gone but the t-shirts and books are still up for grabs!
And Triplea: how do I contact you? Otherwise the cake will pass to the next best suggestee, who is Tamara (yep, I get asked to buy lists frequently, too).
By , on
30 October, 2008
P.S. I get all the questions suggested bar Mickey's: strangely, nobody ever asks me about getting off blacklists.
I'd like to think this is because anyone taking the advice published here wouldn't end up on one. But the real reason may be my success in making it clear that deliverability is not my area of expertise!
By , on
30 October, 2008
Mark
Sort of joking - I would ask you it if we met. If only to be facietious!
By Triplea, on
30 October, 2008
Well, it's a fair question and one I'll answer in a post shortly. The lack of an s causes a lot of confusion, but has also proved a great conversation starter with readers.
I respect your anonymity, but it will cost you that cake... :-)
By , on
31 October, 2008
Mark
I've sent a mail to your contact address.
By Triplea, on
31 October, 2008
Happy Birthday! Thank you for all of the great tips!
By Jennifer, on
31 October, 2008
Mark, I love your site. Just found it a couple of hours ago and haven't been able to leave. Great job and Happy Bday!
By tracy murrell, on
01 November, 2008
Mark
I'm getting bounced from your mail-marketing-reports.com address.
Need cake :)
By Triplea, on
02 November, 2008
Thanks all again for the kind wishes. As I get older, I find I need the comfort of feedback more than before (why?)
Triplea: we all need cake. Try my gmail.com address which is my first name DOT my family name @gmail.com
By , on
03 November, 2008
7 yrs! Wow congrats Mark... as for the Question... where to start?
I see: "Got a source for lists?", "want to buy a list?" and Day of the week all seems like a popular choices... so I guess I go for something a little more unique...
"Can you critic my email newsletter?"
Matt
@emailkarma
By Matt V, on
03 November, 2008
Congratulations on reaching 7yrs Mark. I'm struggling to find time to blog after 6mths!
What do I get asked a lot?
How do I create animated content for my newsletter? And will it work in various email clients...
Anna
By Anna Yeaman, on
03 November, 2008
Congrats on the 7 years. I'm coming up on 2 and am just now getting into the whys and wherefores. I just found you and am ever so glad. I will continue to look forward to your posts.
By DeBorah Beatty, on
03 November, 2008
Congrats on 7 years! Thanks for all the great info!
By Laura, on
03 November, 2008
Happy Birthday....your seven....I am asked most often...."How many people get our text version?"
By Grouchoman, on
03 November, 2008
Man...late in the game on this one. 7 years - wow. Was the internet around 7 years ago? Did you start blogging when you were 20?
Congrats...one of my favorite blogs.
You rule.
dj
By DJ Waldow, on
04 November, 2008
Happy birthday! 7 years is a long time already. Congratulations!
My guess for the question is "why is e-mail marketing important to your business?"
By Ana Jesus, on
04 November, 2008
Thanks again to everyone for the gracious words.
Having now answered the top question, I can also reveal that a very common question is:
"If I do ABC, will that be considered spam?"
And, invariably, the answer is yes.
DJ: I stared blogging when I was 3. I am actually a 10-year old German Shepherd. You know what they say about the Internet...
By , on
04 November, 2008
Congrats. More
By Toba, on
04 November, 2008
Too late for the contest, but a happy anniversary and keep on the good work without 's'.
Béate
By Béate Vervaecke, on
09 November, 2008
Thanks again to all for participating and commenting.
Books went to Mickey Chandler of Spamtacular and Michael B. T-shirts to Todd Soucy of Yankee Candle and Sharon Long Baerny of We Know Words. Enjoy!
By , on
12 November, 2008
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