Communications

The Young Professional’s Declassified Guide to Email Marketing Basics

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By Madeleine Mulford

So you’ve landed in the world of email marketing. Some of us chose this path, and some of us found ourselves here and ended up loving it (guilty as charged). 

Maybe you’re the intern tasked with sending the company newsletter. Maybe you’re curious about specializing in this channel. Maybe you’re staring at your ESP dashboard wondering what the heck DKIM means.

From one young professional to another, welcome. Email marketing can be messy, technical and overwhelming, but it’s also creative, rewarding and often lauded as the highest driver of ROI in the entire marketing mix. It’s also one of the few customer communication channels unshackled by the algorithm Gods, making it the best way in 2025 to build an audience that’s truly yours. 

Below are some tips for a beginner dipping their toes into this comparatively ancient form of marketing (invented in the long distant past of 1978). Each of these sections could merit their own blog post, so I encourage you to dig deeper on any topic that piques your interest. 

Get Inspired: Build a Swipe File

A swipe file is your personal library of inspiration – so next time you have 10 emails on the calendar and zero ideas, you won’t be stuck staring at a blank screen. 

Build it by saving or screenshotting emails you find in the wild with clever subject lines, designs or copy (kind of like a Pinterest board for emails). 

You can use a folder on your desktop, keep the files organized on Notion, or my personal favorite, use Really Good Emails. RGE is a curated gallery of email marketing samples uploaded by users that you can filter by industry, email type and style. The platform allows you to save emails you like, and even copy the HTML so you can rework the template for your own brand. 

Write Emails People Actually Want to Read

Even in 2025, being human has some advantages. Customers are seeing inboxes flooded with generic, AI-generated copy. 

AI can be a great tool for generating ideas or structure, but what really cuts through the noise these days is an authentic voice paired with a level of customer insight only a being with empathy is capable of. 

Writing authentically doesn’t have to mean pushing brand guidelines aside in favor of your personal style – but balancing the two can be a delicate dance. I’ve found it helps to imagine you’re writing to a person, conversationally, rather than a faceless list of subscribers. 

Understanding and relating to your target audience’s pain points and values can help with this. Even if your brand voice is formal, acknowledging their experiences through concrete examples can help create a human connection. Email has more opportunities for personalization than any other platform, so take advantage of that through your copy to make your subscribers really feel seen. And if you’re not sure how a specific tone will sound to one of your audiences, you can always A/B test your copy to see what performs best.

As inboxes get more crowded and attention spans get shorter, getting people to actually read your email can be a struggle. To take advantage of the approximately eight-second grace period you have to get their attention after opening an email, make sure your most impactful call to action is “above the fold” – visible without scrolling down on both desktop and mobile.  

Of course, before anyone sees your call to action, they have to open the email. Generally, it’s advised to keep subject lines short, specific and curiosity-driven, and A/B test multiple versions to see what lands best with your audience. CoSchedule’s free Headline Analyzer can be a good tool for checking how “clickable” your subject line is.

If you want to sharpen your email writing instincts, subscribe to emails that do it well. Newsletters like Morning Brew, Total Annarchy and The Skimm are some personal picks. Even subscribing to your favorite retail brands can teach you a lot about tone, timing and how to hook readers quickly. 

Design for Humans and Inboxes

As a rule, check for accessibility before sending any marketing email. Include descriptive alt text for images, use fonts that display correctly on mobile screens and make sure your designs pass color-contrast checks to ensure legibility. Free tools like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker can help you check if your color contrast ratios are ADA-compliant. 

Here are a few guidelines to help with accessibility and consistency across inboxes:

Design Mobile-First 

It’s safe to say that most email opens in 2025 happen on smartphones. I mean, how many of us compulsively check our email right when we wake up (or is that just me)? 

If your builder doesn’t have a mobile preview, send a test to yourself and check how it renders on your phone. What looks perfect on a desktop may be a disaster when scaled down.

Respect the Rise of Dark Mode

According to a 2022 survey, approximately 34% of Litmus users employed dark mode, and that number continues to increase. This is your sign to test your campaigns on multiple devices and platforms to make sure your designs stay readable (and attractive) when colors invert.

Don’t Rely on Images Alone

Some people disable images altogether in their inbox. Always make sure the core message comes through in text form, and never send an “image-only” email.

Choose Fonts That Won’t Betray You

Web-safe fonts are your friend. They help make sure your fonts stay consistent across most email clients so that your slick, modern design doesn’t suddenly show up in Times New Roman in someone’s Outlook inbox.

Following accessibility best practices is not only considerate of your subscribers, but also helps make sure your messages land in the inbox – which brings us to our next point. 

Deliverability: Protect Your Reputation

Deliverability is arguably the most complicated aspect of email marketing, but also the most important (funny how life works like that). It’s what decides whether your carefully crafted emails actually make it into the inbox or end up buried in spam. 

One of the biggest factors in deliverability is your domain’s sender reputation. Below is a quick overview of tactics that can help build your trustworthiness to inbox providers.

The first step is authenticating your domain with SPF, DKIM and DMARC so providers can trust that your messages are legitimate. Don’t worry, I didn’t smash my keyboard – learn more about email authentication and what those acronyms mean here.

Another important factor is who you’re sending to. Clean, opted-in lists will protect your reputation, while purchased contacts or inactive subscribers will drag it down with bounces, unsubscribes and complaints. A smaller, more engaged email list is always more valuable than a huge, inactive list.

Engagement also builds trust. When people open, click and interact with your emails, inbox providers take it as a sign your content is valuable. If subscribers frequently ignore or delete your messages, future campaigns are more likely to be filtered out.

Segmenting your audience is one of the best ways to improve engagement and protect deliverability. Instead of blasting one generic message to your entire database, break your list into smaller groups based on things like purchase history, interests, job role or customer lifecycle stage. Sending to fewer people at a time reduces the risk of deliverability issues and personalized content almost always drives higher opens and clicks. 

Think of your sender reputation like a credit score. Once it’s damaged, it’s difficult to rebuild. Monitor it through your ESP, and your emails will have a much better chance of reaching the inbox every time. Free tools like Sender Score can give you a quick overview of how you’re doing on deliverability.

Pay Attention to the Right Metrics

Pre-2021, open rates used to mean something. Then Apple’s Mail Privacy Protection blurred the data. Okay, open rates can still be a useful metric when comparing performance email-to-email, but they don’t tell the full story. 

Click-through rates are now the north star for determining engagement. Conversion rates tell you whether that engagement led to action. High unsubscribe rates or spam complaints tell you that the message wasn’t right for your audience. 

When analyzing your email marketing performance, look at trends over time. Using UTM codes in Google Analytics to track behavior are especially helpful for this. Tracking important metrics for each campaign in a spreadsheet isn’t a bad idea either.

A/B testing — sending two slightly different versions of an email to see which performs better — is another powerful way to sharpen your strategy. 

Every email audience is unique, so it’s all about seeing what resonates. Does your audience prefer heavily designed emails or a more minimalist approach? Do they like playful copy or value clarity above all else? There are endless elements you can test: subject lines, preview text, send times, button placement, imagery, tone of voice, the list goes on. 

The results of your A/B tests don’t just help you improve your next email. They can also be shared across your organization to inform design choices, messaging styles or even social and web content strategies. Your inbox becomes a built-in testing ground for insights the whole marketing team can use.

Advocate for Yourself Early

If you’re an intern or fresh out of university, it’s easy to feel like you’re “just” the junior marketer. But don’t forget that email is one of the biggest revenue drivers for most businesses, and your work directly impacts results. 

Share your wins. If your latest welcome series redesign boosted clicks by 20 percent, highlight it. Senior staff love data, and it helps illustrate the impact you’re making. 

Stay Informed 

Like an Eldritch beast, email has survived the ages. It’s safe to say it will stick around, but it’s no doubt evolving.

AI will continue shaping the industry, especially in personalization and testing. Privacy laws will keep tightening, which makes zero-party data (the information customers willingly share) more valuable than ever. Interactive features like polls or even in-email shopping are likely to become more popular. 

Attending webinars, subscribing to newsletters and reading articles on email marketing regularly can help you stay informed. Some thought leaders I follow are Jay Shwedelson, Michael Barber and Naomi West. The Email Geeks Slack channel is also a cool resource for anyone who wants to connect with email marketing professionals, get advice or search for jobs.

The best way to stay ahead is to experiment early and keep learning. Enrolling in certifications and courses from companies like HubSpot Academy or MarketingProfs are worth exploring if you’re interested in specializing. 

Remember, every email you send out is a learning opportunity – whether it’s an A/B test or an accidental deployment at the wrong time (we’ve all been there). You don’t have to know everything on day one. What matters most is your fresh perspective, your curiosity and willingness to adapt. But most importantly, have fun!

No Owned Data? No Problem: Break Into Strategy with ChatGPT

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No Owned Data? No Problem: Break Into Strategy with ChatGPT 5 Smart Ways to Use ChatGPT to Break Into Marketing Strategy Without Owned Data Access

5 Smart Ways to Use ChatGPT to Break Into Marketing Strategy Without Owned Data Access

By: Emily Zimmer, Sr. Brand Strategist at Avenue Z

One of the most common questions I get from students or young professionals is: How do I break into strategy when I’ve never worked with data or owned a platform login?

When building one of your first marketing strategies you’re often starting with only owned data, internal goals, and maybe some ad performance history. However, that’s only half the story. The other half? That comes from the world. Consumers. Competitors. Trends. Whitespace. And unless your first client is working with a full consumer insights team or has access to expensive tools like GWI or Mintel, you’re expected to fill in that half yourself—fast.

This is where AI, especially ChatGPT, can help. When used strategically, it becomes a supercharged research assistant, helping you accelerate strategic alignment, establish smart benchmarks, and test your thinking.

Below are five use cases where GPT can support stronger strategy development—especially when you’re early in your career, working on portfolio samples, or building a case for your pitches with limited resources.

⚠️ Heads up: ChatGPT isn’t a replacement for real data. Always cross-check your findings when not sourced with trusted sources like Statista, SimilarWeb, Pew, or platform-native tools. Use AI as a supplement to your work, not a shortcut past due diligence.

1. Instant Market & Category Research (to Understand the Playing Field)

Whether you’re diving into a new industry or building a campaign from scratch, understanding the broader market is essential. GPT can help you map emerging trends, consumer behaviors, and whitespace opportunities—fast.

Sample Prompt Template: “Conduct a market overview of the [industry] space in 2025, focusing on growth trends, emerging subcategories, audience behaviors, and top brands or disruptors. Cite sources or reference publicly available data where possible.”

Pro Tips:

  • Ask follow-up questions like: “What is fueling growth in [subcategory]?” OR
    “How has consumer behavior in this space shifted since 2022?”

  • Use live research mode (in GPT-4 with browsing enabled) by adding:  “Use live research from the past 12 months to inform your answer.” (This prompts GPT to pull data from real-time sources where available.)

Use these scans to quickly build a directional POV on where the brand stands in its category and where the white space is—this is perfect to stakeholders or hiring manager that you understand the importance of being at pulse with the brands positioning. 

2. Persona-Powered Strategy Testing (to Pressure-Test Messaging)

When you don’t have access to focus groups or audience testing, a custom GPT can help you pressure-test ideas by simulating your persona’s mindset. It’s a smart way to validate tone, messaging, and channel fit—especially for portfolio work or client concepts on a tight budget.

Sample Starter Prompt:  “You are now [target persona]—a [demographic] who [key behavior or mindset]. You care about [core concern] and are active on [platform]. I’m going to share a few tactics—respond in character and tell me what resonates and why.”

Pro Tips:

  • Build a detailed persona first:  “Create a persona for a [demo] with [goal/mindset], including values, content habits, and objections.” Optional: send consumer research reports of the demographic with this prompt to guide it to align with your source or truth / benchmark.
  • Then test concepts:  “Would this persona respond better to urgency or emotional storytelling?” OR  “Which of these headlines is stronger and why?”

This doesn’t replace real testing, but it’s a fast way to pressure-check if your thinking is directionally sound. 

I recommend building a custom persona GPT by feeding it consumer insight reports or even social listening data to ground it in your baseline knowledge of that audienceS behavior, then ask it to supplement that with live research on that outlined consumer. 

When throwing ideas by it, always ask it to explain what’s driving its response—that’s where the strategic gold is. This level of alignment stands out in portfolio work, shows sharp thinking to hiring managers, and earns buy-in from stakeholders.

3. Competitor & Positioning Scans (to Map the Landscape Fast)

Understanding how competitors show up is critical for strong positioning. Even without real-time research tools, your strategy doesn’t have to be uninformed—GPT can help you build a directional read and surface whitespace, tone, or channel insights.

Sample Prompt Structure: “Who are the top 5 direct and indirect competitors to [brand/product], and how are they positioning themselves? Include tone, channel usage, offers, and target segments.”

Pro Tips:

  • (Warning – This is a hit or miss prompt) Ask for channel-specific insights: “What messaging are they using in paid ads on TikTok vs. Instagram?”
  • If GPT doesn’t have access recent data, do a quick scan using:
    • Meta Ad Library → View active ad copy/creatives
    • TikTok Creative Center → Identify trending competitor ads
    • SimilarWeb or BuiltWith → Uncover traffic sources and tech stack
  • Once you’ve gathered your own observations, plug them back into GPT: “Synthesize positioning insights from [Competitor A, B, C] and highlight differentiation opportunities.”

This helps you connect patterns and add depth to your takeaways. You’ll start spotting voice gaps, offer overlap, or underused channels— all great material for building positioning decks or creative brief samples.

4. Build Strategic Benchmarks (When You Don’t Have the Data Yet)

One of the hardest parts of working without platform access or historical client data is figuring out what good looks like. Whether you’re building sample strategy work or trying to guide a small business client, GPT can help you generate directional benchmarks rooted in data for KPIs, performance expectations, and campaign structures.

Sample Prompt Structure: “For a brand in the [category] targeting [audience], what are common success KPIs and performance benchmarks across [channels: Meta, YouTube, TikTok, Email]? Include ROAS ranges, engagement rates, and conversion metrics where applicable.”

Pro Tips:

  • Ask for archetype-based benchmarks: “What does success look like for a mid-stage challenger brand in this category?” OR  “What are typical Meta CTRs and CPA ranges for DTC brands targeting [audience]?”
  • Try model campaign formats too:  “What’s the standard structure of a product launch email for a wellness brand in 2024?”

This gives you a reference point when performance data is missing or goals are vague—whether you’re presenting strategy to a client or building your own case studies. A grounded strategy speaks the language of success early, even when you’re still learning what the benchmarks should be.

5. Synthesis & Insight Extraction (to Organize the Chaos)

Finally, strategy often lives in the messy middle through feedback, brainstorm notes, coffee napkins, scattered insights, etc. all needing to be shaped into something clear and actionable. GPT can connect the dots and turn chaos into concise, actionable direction.

Prompt Template:

“Here’s a summary of [focus group notes, survey responses, Slack messages, picture of copy napkin]. Identify 3 key themes and provide 1 recommended strategic action per insight.”

Pro Tips:

  • Paste in up to 10,000 characters of unstructured input at once.
  • Then prompt:  “Cluster this into themes and summarize each one in no more than 2 sentences.” OR  “What strategic action steps would you recommend based on this synthesis?”

This is especially helpful, in a pinch like in fast-paced post-campaign reviews, brainstorms, or when reconciling messy qualitative feedback into usable direction for creative, UX, or media teams. Use a GPT to store the feedback and connect the dots. 

Strategy Is Part Math, Part Magic.

Strategy is rooted in data, and data isn’t always gated—for those breaking into the industry AI can be a powerful research tool to position your strategic expertise or level-up limited budget strategies. 

It won’t do the strategic thinking for you, but it will help you explore ideas faster, connect dots, and sharpen your POV. Strategy is half the data you’re given, and half the data you distill from the world – GPT helps you access that second half—just don’t forget to bring your own perspective to the process. 

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Ad 2 or AAF.

This article is written by a volunteer writer for Ad 2 Orlando.

Do You Believe in a Little Holiday Magic? Airline West Jet Does

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It’s hard to face that, not too long ago, most of us believed in a cold place where a jolly man with a long white beard worked hard all year long to make toys for all the nice girls and boys (and deliver coal for the naughty). And while most of us realize that we now probably deserve stockings stuffed with enough coal to heat a furnace, it’s still nice to reflect on simpler times when you’d ask Santa for a gift and have it “appear.”

 

That’s exactly what happened to the families on board a West Jet plane last week. If you haven’t seen the video, I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you, but I will say that this is one of the best forms of advertising.

 

When a brand takes the opportunity this time of the year to evoke emotion, excitement, and spread holiday cheer (and brand awareness), true magic can happen.

 

This video, which garnered more than 20 million views in less than a week, does something that advertising (if properly researched) does better than any other medium of marketing. It tells a story.  A powerful story that creates new lifelong passengers and plays on the heart strings of those watching. It makes you think about what your airline has done for you lately.

 

Watch the video and let us know what you think about the campaign and if you believe in magic.

 

I do.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIEIvi2MuEk&feature=youtu.be

 

Happy Friday!

 

Darius Lana

Ad2 Communication Co-Chair

Digital Media from All Angles

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Our Digital Media From All Angles program was a success! With more than 100 attendees, four Orlando-based digital experts as our speakers and huge support from our sponsors, this was one of our biggest events of the year and in Ad 2 Orlando history.

The event took place on Thursday, February 21st at the new office of Purple, Rock, Scissors in the heart of downtown Orlando.

Our panel of experts included:

Michael Parler, Chief Strategy Officer, Purple, Rock, Scissors
John Payne, President, Monster Media
Mark Unger, Partner/Director of Interactive, Push.
Ted Murphy, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Izea

Our Programs chairs, Jeff Malczyk and Chris Merritt, asked a variety of questions which garnered interesting responses. Notably, digital advertising is only going to continue to grow, content is key, and it’s OK to advertise national campaigns in smaller markets.

We’re proud to host programs and feature guest speakers for the enjoyment of young professionals in the advertising industry. Ad 2 Orlando is composed of forward thinking and forward moving people looking to make a difference professionally, personally and throughout the community. It’s always great meeting people who have been members of Ad 2 Orlando for multiple years as well as non-members who are attending an event for the first time.

We would like to once again thank our sponsors: Macbeth Photography, Black Leaf Signs and PRPL. Check out the event photos from Macbeth Photography here.

*images featured in this post provided by Macbeth Photography.

Happy Community Manager Appreciation Day!

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This past Monday was Community Manager Appreciation Day, which is celebrated on the fourth Monday of every January. Founded in 2010 by Jeremiah Owyang (@jowyang, Partner at the Altimeter Group), #CMAD is a time to appreciate and celebrate the hard work of community managers not only nation-wide but also around the world.

Let’s take a step back. This job didn’t exist ten years ago, and barely existed 5 years ago. In case you don’t know what a Community Manager is or what they do, I’ll tell you.

Community Managers are the people who spend their day managing online communities. They’re the bridge between the brand and everyone else in social media. They create and schedule content, monitor social networks and generally serve as the voice of the brand. Community Manager’s often wear many hats, at times being the PR, sales, customer service, marketing and voice – sometimes all at the same time.

Have you ever tweeted or wrote on a brand’s Facebook wall? The Community Manager was the Oz-like being who saw your post and replied to it. They see it all.

Working in social media isn’t like a normal 9-5 job. People will send tweets and Facebook messages at all hours of the day. A Community Manager would never say, “Oh, it’s 8:30pm on a Saturday? That can wait until Monday.” They will start working on a solution as soon as they see a problem.

So hopefully you gave thanks to someone who’s a Community Manager. Maybe it’s a favorite brand you follow. Or maybe it’s a colleague or friend who works in the industry. Send them a tweet or Facebook post.

It doesn’t matter what time you send it. They’ll still see it.

A New Website for Ad 2 Orlando

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The first time I went to the Ad 2 website, I learned they were in the process of re-doing it., and in the back of my head thought, “yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” 😉

Trying to be proactive in my networking, I contacted the communications committee and asked if I could help. After working with a team full of exceptional programming abilities, awesome design work and thoughtful planning, plus a writer (or three) and months of procrastination, we have done it.

I can say “we,” because, although my application to become a new member hasn’t gone through yet (the check is in the mail!), I feel a sense of triumph with my new-found friends and soon to be fellow club members. And really, this was perhaps the best way to enter into the organization; living out the club’s very purpose, truly getting a sense of what Ad 2 is all about. Working together to create something really great with other professionals in my field — who could ask for a better introduction than that?

It has been three years since the site has been updated so I hope you like what we’ve done. On behalf of Aimee Booth, Zach Firestone, Lindsey Levy, Shaun Whalen and the greatly missed Steve McCain, we’d love to know what you think. Please leave a comment!

Check out the Ad 2 Orlando Website archive to see what it used to look like.

Tristan Tolliver, SEO Copywriter