Someone just mailed me their entire customer list. And not just me, but all others on their list. What a embarrassing and expensive mistake!

Unfortunately accidents like this are still far too common. I regularly get sent customer lists. These lists does not come as an attachment. However you can read, and copy if you wish, all other recipients from either To or Cc-field of the email itself. Someone has again used regular email instead of marketing email software for the job.

In this post I'll tell you how to do it, if you absolutely need to do it, and why you should never send email campaigns, not even invitations to your event, from your regular email client program, such as Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail etc.

How to send marketing emails with Outlook, Gmail, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, IMP and more for free

Yes, you can send marketing emails using any normal email client. And it's totally free. And it's super easy. Just like sending regular email. With one important twist.

1. Create...

It’s been amazing spring here at Loyalistic: Moved to new HQ, many new clients, partners, integrations and most of all, lots of new or improved features.. However we haven’t really communicated any of this out to you (or anybody). Not the best communication strategy, huh?

Anyway, let’s fix that with this blog post. Here are the highlights:

Improved email targeting: You can now also exclude contacts (instructions here) from your mailing to e.g. send reminder to those who haven’t...

As a content marketer and social seller, Twitter is an important way for me to promote our content, build network and get leads, especially find new partners for my company, Loyalistic.

In this article, I’ll tell you the exact methods I have used to build my following to a healthy figure of 5000 highly relevant followers, and there is nothing you cannot use to achieve the same.

What is the value of a follower?

Now there are plenty of tips how to get more followers, and some sell them as a service for few bucks. You might have already been followed by several such Twitter accounts.  So you might wonder why sweat when you can buy thousands with a tenner or aim for 10 000 or 50 000 as easily as for 5 000.

A follower from your target group or a very influential person might be worth big money. However a follower who cannot be a customer or does not influence those who can be, is worth nothing. Use effort to acquire followers who can provide value.

But having the right followers is...

I have recently trained and workshopped hundreds of businesses, and speak to thousands at different events about inbound, and one question keep popping up in various formats: “What is the best way to start inbound marketing, sales or lead generation operation and succeed?”

Every business is different, so instead of giving ‘one size’ answer that doesn’t fit anyone, I’ll give you few advices and approaches that have worked well for our clients who tend to be smaller, b2b professional services...

You might have read about our The Company Blog Success Formula and are wondering where to start and what to get right first. Well, the answer is just few lines ahead. Roll up your sleeves and fix these first to get to the Minimum Viable Blog level. Minimum Viable Blog level is reached when it has all the very basic elements of the Company Blog Success Formula in place for the launch.

1. Premium Content. One piece of premium content (such as an ebook): To get results, that is, to get leads, you need to have one piece of premium content, such as an ebook, guide or a template. For further ideas, check http://howtobe.loyalistic.com/blog/19-best-content-for-lead-generation

2. At least 5 blog posts. There is no point of launching a blog with just one post and then run out of posts next week. Write 5 blog posts before launching. Then publish them one at the time, promoting each as you go along. In the coming weeks you should be concentrating on promotion and audience, not creation. You can even schedule posts in advance.

3. image in each blog post. A post without a relevant image is a half of a blog post. It is read and shared half that much as one with a relevant image. Or to say it in Jeff Bulla’s words: Posts with images get 94% more views.  Canva is a great tool for creating images.

4. Submit your blog to Google. Search engines do not find your blog unless you provide a path there. Links are such a way, but still submit your blog to Google to get indexed immediately.

5....