Some might say Pinterest is a craze, obsession, or huge time suck, but it is also a great place to find and explore your creative side. Projects ranging from sewing, cooking, painting, drawing, gift wrapping, decorating, and more all provide creative outlets.

Though we are not all designers, we each are creative in our own way, and it is important that we experiment and step out of our comfort zones. In an effort to explore different creative outlets we’ve decided to dedicate one lunch a week to trying our hand at creative projects – that have nothing to do with our work. Pinterest is where our initial ideas will come from, so we’re calling this craft time “Pin Buster Time” and we’ve already identified 3 projects to try.

Today was project one. A necklace made from t-shirts. We all brought in a t-shirt of any color from home. The proper tools were provided by our very own crafty/do-it-yourself girl Sarah. There were the daring ones who brought in t-shirts in bright colors and the safe ones (and possibly more practical ones) who brought in various shades of gray, because, well, gray goes with everything, right?

In doing this, not only did we discover that DIY projects are not as time-consuming and difficult as we think they are, but we also found that taking time away from our desks to explore new creative outlets is a great way to fill us with new energy to put towards the rest of our day.

If you have any crafty ideas you’d like us to try, let us know, and we’ll add them to our list.

In my recent post on click through rates, I touched on the total number of clicks versus unique clicks in email communications and what the most recent industry statistics are. This post continues that conversation, but contains information on some reasons why your CTRs may be low.

If your email marketing campaigns are typically showing under 2-3% CTRs, some of the causes likely include:

• Poor permission or opt-in processes. This includes pre-checked boxes, not making it clear what type of email they will be receiving, automatically adding someone to receive your email marketing when they’ve actually signed up for something else such as a whitepaper, etc.
• Poorly written email subject lines that do not direct and motivate recipients to take an action.
• Poor email delivery rates. If a lot of your email messages are getting blocked or filtered and you don’t know it, your CTR will obviously be affected.
• Poor email open rates. If few people open your email, fewer recipients have a chance to click.
• Poor email design and layout. If they can’t easily find where to click through or aren’t motivated to by your layout – you’ve got trouble.
• Lack of links. Quite simply, the more links the better. Make it so that email readers are continuously stumbling over text and graphic links like they do signage in a retail store.
• No reason to click. If your email newsletter has a single or multiple articles in their entirety, then don’t expect them to click. You haven’t given them any reason. If you are sending a promotional email and you don’t include a deadline for the offer, or convey a discount, special offer, limited supply, etc., few people are probably going to take action.

Hopefully you found this information useful for your email marketing efforts. And for those of you who did read the entire article, we have a special treat for you…the answer to Willow’s first most frequently asked question…“so what’s the story behind the Willow tree?”

Can you feel it? That sense of gratitude and thankfulness that’s in the air? During this time of year we often pause to reflect on those things for which we are most thankful. We’re reminded of the loved ones with whom we share our lives; the circumstances we’ve experienced that have shaped us into who we are; the accomplishments and the failures; and all of the other various items in life that make life…well…life.

Here at Willow, we are all so very thankful for being a part of this team, or family of Shrubs, as we like to call it. And we’re also thankful for all of our loyal clients (past and present), partners and supporters. Without each branch of our team, we wouldn’t be who we are today.

In honor of this wonderful season of thankfulness, those of us in the office this week have shared some of the items that we are thankful for in our own individual lives. As you read these sentiments of gratitude, we hope that you are reminded of what you are most thankful for. Feel free to share those items with us in the comments section.

Brad:
I am thankful for the unconditional love and support of my family. You honestly make me a better person. Thankful for those dear friends who forgive and forget…we don’t see each other often but when we do it’s like time stood still. Thankful for our furry four legged friends who greet us a good morning with a gentle nudge of their noses and a wag of their tails.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Andrew:
The Well-being of my family and friends. I’ve been lucky through the years to have amazing people that surround me. Whether it’s my family or my friends, I’ve always cherished the relationships that I have developed through the years. As the years pass and this year comes to a close, I’m glad everyone close to me is in good health and bright spirits.

Chris:
I am thankful for my loving family, great friends, new opportunities, Indiana-brewed craft beer and the resurgence of IU Men’s Basketball.

Doug:
I am very thankful for my dog Pepper. I’ve had her for over 3 years and she is a very loving and loyal K-9.  She’s always happy to see me when I get home each night and is an excellent companion to have around the house. I don’t know what I would do without her!

Ed:
I am most thankful for being employed during this time of year and working at a place that has great people… Not having a family makes the holidays a little rough, but I am glad to consider the people that I work with my extended family and enjoy being a part of the Willow Team..!

Kelly:
I am thankful for family, good friends, my dog Kilroy, being happy, the opportunities I’ve had to travel and accomplishing many of the goals I had for myself growing up.
Kim:
I am most thankful for….my lil man, Drew. He lives every day with hope, wonder, excitement and most of all love. Oh to live like a child again…I’m so thankful I have him to remind me of this everyday.

Kristen:
More that anything, I’m thankful for the women who have been my mentors and friends. Their encouragement and support has helped me to become the woman I am today.

Mark:
Since last Thanksgiving, both my father and brother passed away, so its with all sincerity that I say that I’m most thankful for my friends and family. They are treasures that should be cherished and enjoyed. I’m also thankful for the blessing of many small pleasures—good cup of coffee, a hearty honest laughter and unstructured moments spent with my wife and children.

Sarah:
I am so thankful for knowing that “God is my helper; the LORD is the upholder of my life.” And I am so thankful for my amazing husband and my sweet son, who bless me in so many ways each and every day.

Sue:
I am most thankful for my family. I am thankful for my beautiful, healthy daughter and my kind and loving husband.

One of the most frequently asked questions at Willow is “so what’s the story behind the Willow tree?” Unfortunately, this blog post doesn’t answer that question. But it does address the second most frequently asked question at Willow, “What kind of click through rates (CTR) should we expect in our email marketing efforts?” Great question, especially since it relates directly to your clicks being converted to leads.

There really isn’t a national average or percentage that can be used with any accuracy. Why? Well, this is a bit of a loaded question since there are so many factors that come into play. Most of our efforts for clients are focused on a business-to-business target audience. Those rates can differ greatly from a consumer audience. But that’s simply the start…Is your list good? Have you segmented your list? Is your mailing personalized? What’s the offer? Is it relevant? How often have you sent to this audience?

But even more significant is how many links you do have in your email. Are you providing content such as articles? This can be the entire article within the body of the email or a teaser or snippet that requires email subscribers to click through to a website to read.

It’s important to understand the statistics your email marketing service provides in reports as well. Are you studying total click throughs versus unique clicks? Make sure you understand how the click through rates were calculated by your email marketing provider. Many recipients will click on multiple links placed in your email. This results in more clicks. Unique clicks are where only one click per person (or email address) is counted. CTR reports based on the total number of clicks versus unique clicks will be very different. If your report is based on total clicks, your numbers will be about two times higher than those based on unique clicks. At Willow, we study both, but benchmark a client’s history based on unique CTR’s.

Lyris is a leader in digital communications and has compiled some industry statistics that may be helpful to use as a guideline in your email marketing efforts. To follow are some averages click through rates based on unique clicks:

• Business to Business (B2B) email newsletters typically range from 5% to 15%. If your CTRs are consistently below that level then among other things, you are probably providing content of little value to your email subscribers. Or you may have most of the content within your email, not giving subscribers a reason or means to click through to your website.

• Business to Consumer (B2C) promotional email marketing campaigns often range from about 2% to 12%. Email campaigns with less than a 2% CTR may be a result of over mailing and questionable email opt-in processes.

• Highly segmented and personalized email lists (B2B and B2C) are often in the 10% to 20% CTR range. Also, email messages with very strong content but sent to unsegmented lists, like many news or trend-type e-newsletters, are often in the 10%-15% range.

• Trigger or behavior-based email campaigns (emails that are sent to recipients based on some behavior they showed, such as clicking on a product link, coupon, visiting a specific web page, etc.) are often in the 15% to 50% range.

So now you’ve seen a few guidelines on how to enhance your email marketing efforts. Be sure to check back and read Part 2 to find out reasons why your CTRs may be low. You may also have the chance to find out the answer of the infamous Willow tree question…

A logo is not a brand. But a logo quite often represents the brand. It is the entry point to all of your products or services. That’s why it’s important that your logo is an accurate representation of your brand positioning, personality and mission.

What should a logo communicate?

• A logo should be simple and easily read without being boring.

• A logo should reflect your brand personality.

• A logo should embody your brand strategy.

• A logo should be flexible and have the ability to work in a variety of applications, from business cards to websites and packaging.

• A logo should look different than other logos.

Since your logo needs to do a lot of work, it needs to be thoughtfully designed. I believe in order to truly see the pure design, and not be influenced by extraneous elements, that all initial logo designs be created in black and white (and maybe shades of gray if necessary). This will allow you to judge the design for it’s unique qualities and emotional appeal.

Once the design is perfected, color can be added. By making this a different step in the process, you eliminate the need to worry both about design and color options. You’ve selected a design, now you’re selecting the color. It’s kind of like building a house—first you build the structure, then you decorate.

Now take a step back, look at your logo and see if it is communicating properly.