Marketing Digest

Do you have a great-looking PDF you want to include in the body of your email template? Read on to learn how to!

You're probably wondering what this year's holiday season will be like. After all, the whole world is confused for obvious reasons. You should know that Christmas will come anyway but in a slightly different form. Stay on top of your marketing goals and don't go crazy with these organizational tips!

Email marketing is one of the most consistent channels for driving sales. In fact, research shows that for every $1 spent on email marketing, marketers can expect $42 in return on average across B2B and B2C industries.

To help you make the most out of email marketing, Constant Contact and Shutterstock joined forces to provide practical strategies for using images effectively in emails.

We know GIFs as those little animated images that you see on different websites. But did you know that you can insert GIFs into your Constant Contact campaigns? 

That's right! You can upload and insert a GIF just as you would a regular image. Adding a GIF into your campaign can certainly liven up a static campaign and add some personality. Here are a few things you should know before adding a GIF into your campaign.

• Just like images, GIFs need to be under 5MB in size in order to be uploaded into the Constant Contact library. 
• Less = more. Putting too many GIFs into a campaign can be distracting and pull your reader away from the message you are sending. Just a few will do!
• Right along the lines of less = more, choose GIFs that are shorter in length (like the one I used above). Longer GIFs are larger in file size and may not even upload properly but they also take your readers' focus away from your message.
• There are some email clients that don't support GIFs and will only show the first frame of the GIF. It's important to keep this in mind and send yourself previews to make sure that the first frame still makes sense even if the GIF doesn't play. 

So, how can you use a GIF in your campaign? Here are few suggestions:

• Display a reaction - are you excited about a sale that you are having or want to promote something great happening with your business or organization? Show your readers how excited you are by using a GIF!
• Support your message - Maybe you work for a nonprofit animal shelter and you are trying to raise money. Try including a GIF of cats or dogs so your readers remember who their donation would be helping.
• Show personality - Readers love seeing personality in an email. Use a GIF to have a fun opening or closing message. Maybe like this:

Want more ideas on how to use GIFs? Look no further than our Blog!

We're interested to know how you will use GIFs in your campaigns. Feel free to let us know or share your "giffed out" campaign on our Share & Get Ideas board! As always, we are here to answer any questions you might have as well.