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Blog Roundup

Weekly Blog Roundup – August 12, 2016

There are many articles I read on a daily basis for both work and pleasure. Below are some of the most recent ones I’ve read in the last week, along with some commentary about each article.

Email Marketing

Lessons Learned After The First 12 Months as an Email Marketer” – Only Influencers

An interesting post from a new email marketer. While I agree with most, I do heartedly disagree with Joy’s idea that there’s nothing new in email marketing. Especially when there’s so much new information and happenings on the same site hosting her own post, Only Influencers. However, I will say that early in my email marketing career, I had a similar perspective. It would be interesting for me to put down my thoughts and experiences in email marketing in a new post.

What the Clinton and Trump Campaigns teach us about deliverability” – Only Influencers

A post about marketing and the presidential campaign that isn’t actually clickbait! Bravo!

While every marketer needs to be concerned and focused on their deliverability, this post dives deep into the nuances of deliverability and its place in the current presidential race. Definitely gets in the weeds a bit, but if deliverability is your scene, this is a post for you!

Email for President” – Return Path

The basis of the aforementioned Only Influencers post, Return Path looked at major deliverability statistics of the email campaigns of both presidential candidates.

Blogging

A 2-Week Publishing Hiatus to Make Our Blog Better (We Need Your Help!)” – Unbounce

We all need breaks every now and then to refresh the creative juices. Unbounce is doing just that — but not just to sit around and slack, but with the goal to make their blog better. Good read.

Categories
Technology

Weekly Blog Roundup – July 1, 2016

Happy Fourth of July Weekend! I know I haven’t written a blog post in a while aside from these “roundups,” but I’ve got something in the works! In the meantime, here’s some of the articles I’ve been reading the past week.

And let’s be honest, I’ve been reading a lot this week, so a thousand apologies for the thousand links. On the other hand, it’s some good reading material for you for a long weekend! 🙂 

Pardot

Introducing Enhanced Social Posting” – Pardot

Pardot definitely is not meant to be your daily social media management tool. But their recent update to the tool makes Pardot one step closer to a one-stop shop.

Email Marketing

8 B2B email marketing examples that deserve a trophy” – Emma

Some pretty amazing email marketing examples in here. The Caterpillar example is one that you don’t see every day from the construction industry.

What is Emmet?” – Litmus

Emmet is an amazing tool for those who need to craft marketing emails on a regular basis. This isn’t Taxi for Email or anything like that. Emmet is meant to help you with the coding of your emails. Personally, I haven’t dug into it yet, but will definitely need to see how this could help my team.

The Top 3 Items to Consider when Logging Pardot Emails in Salesforce” – Paul B. Fischer

Paul hits on something here that I come across daily with my company, how do you choose what’s important or not important for your reps to see in Salesforce. I think the best point made is regarding the visibility of the information in Salesforce. I may have to write a follow-up post to that end. Thanks, Paul!

Marketing Automation Needs The Human Touch, Too” – GetResponse

The first of two posts from Kath Pay. This GetResponse post does a great job of reminding us that our marketing needs to be person-to-person, and not business-to-consumer or business-to-business.

Email Marketing Should Become Customer Service” – Mediapost

A second post from Kath Pay. This one is near and dear to my heart, even if it’s short. Great customer service is great marketing. And the reverse is also true, great marketing should be about great customer service. To that end, Kath Pay stresses that we marketers need to respect the expectations of our customers and “must deliver the promises they make when a consumer signs up for the email program.”

3 Ways the Job of Email Marketer Will Change by 2020—and How to Prepare” – Litmus

Some scary stuff in here if you or your company isn’t ready to change. If you are ready for change, some really fun stuff! I’ve been reading a bit about machine learning and email marketing, and this post from Chad White at Litmus brings up machine learning as one of the biggest changes coming to email marketing in the next 4 years.

The Importance of Email List Building” – Social Fusion

Short and sweet article with some basic steps on how to build your email list, and how to properly nurture your list.

Marketing

What You Need to Know About the Voice Search Revolution From Microsoft’s Purna Virji #MNSummit” – TopRank Blog

Fascinating! While I don’t focus much on search in my current role, as a consumer and techie it’s always fun to see where tech is heading.

People

I’m not necessarily going to write about each of these, but I love reading articles on how other people work. My favorite spot for that is “Ways We Work.” Be sure to hit that up!

How the creative team at Favor works” – InvisionApp

Ways We Work – Becky Simpson” – Ways We Work

See Girl Work, Podcast Episode 12: In Conversation with Amandah Wood, Founder & Editor, Ways We Work” – See Girl Work

Politics

Could Trump Be Nurturing the Next Hitler?” – History News Network

There’s a lot of hyperbole in politics, so it’s hard to sometimes decipher the crackpots from the conspiracists from the actual historians. I don’t know much about the history of the US prior to World War I, nor the history of Adolph Hitler, but to me, the theory presented here seems more plausible than Trump actually being the next Hitler.

What the 1880s tell us about why the rich are moving to cities today” – Washington Post

“We have 80 years of essentially zero production of neighborhoods with these qualities,” Grant says. “We’ve spent the last 80 years building car-oriented suburbs. Then when the elites decide they want to go back into the city, there’s not enough city to go around.”

I’m a huge Jane Jacobs and Richard Florida fan. Huge. One of my favorite memories of my first job out of college was getting to tape Richard Florida speak at Iowa State University. Awesome. So, whenever I read a great story about cities, how they’re built, how they’re designed (or not designed), and how people move, well, I eat it up like my dog eats peanut butter.

What a real ‘Brexit Britain’ would look like” – Washington Post

A lot of noise these past few weeks about Brexit. While my personal stock portfolio has already jumped above pre-Brexit, there are several articles going around about the future. This is a fun little piece, not too based in reality, but fun nonetheless.

The Blogger Who Saved the Economy” – The Atlantic

GREAT short documentary. On par with the writing of Michael Lewis. Wonderful.

The Money Illusion

The blog of the aforementioned blogger. Good stuff.

For Fun

Yes, The Infield Shift Works. Probably.” – Fivethirtyeight.com

I love 538. Been reading since pre-Obama. They do great write-ups on sports as well (given they’re owned by ESPN these days, not the NY Times.) The Infield Shift is a weird aspect of baseball. Does it work? Is it baloney? Check it out.

 

Categories
Politics

7 Things Wrong with Donald Trump’s 7-Point Health Care Plan

Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump released his “Health Care Reform Plan” today. Instead of throwing everything The Donald says out the window, I thought I would waste my time listing, point-by-point, my critiques of his reform plan.

Here goes nothing.

HEALTHCARE REFORM TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN
Since March of 2010, the American people have had to suffer under the incredible economic burden of the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare. This legislation, passed by totally partisan votes in the House and Senate and signed into law by the most divisive and partisan President in American history,

We can argue until we’re blue in the face about President Obama being divisive and partisan. What we can’t argue about is that Congress has an incredibly low approval rating. 1 If you’re looking for divisive and partisan, look no further than Congress.

has tragically but predictably resulted in runaway costs,

“On average, premiums have risen by about 5.8 percent a year since Obama took office, compared to 13.2 percent in the nine years before Obama.” 2

websites that don’t work,

Website works fine now. 3

Screen Capture of Healthcare.gov Home Page.
Screen Capture of Healthcare.gov Home Page.

greater rationing of care,

Sure, if you’ve got the money, you get whatever care you want. But, if you’re like over 40 million Americans before Obamacare, rationing takes the form of you not getting any healthcare.

Rationing of care? Been there, done that. 4

Rationing by price, or ability to pay, is familiar to most Americans.

higher premiums,

See above. True, premiums are higher. But so is inflation. Just in case you missed it above:

“On average, premiums have risen by about 5.8 percent a year since Obama took office, compared to 13.2 percent in the nine years before Obama.” 5

less competition and fewer choices.

“Trump said that under Obamacare, “you have no options,” for health insurance plans. That is true in about 10 percent of the counties where individuals buy their coverage on the government’s insurance exchange.” 6

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported that 9 out of 10 returning customers using the national exchange, healthcare.gov, were able to choose from among at least three companies.” 7

Obamacare has raised the economic uncertainty of every single person residing in this country.

Uncertainty is a broad term. What could The Donald mean? In the past, when Republicans talk about “Obamacare” and “economic uncertainty” they talk about jobs, time spent on the job, and small businesses cutting jobs.

“President Obama’s health-care reform hasn’t meant less time on the job for American workers, according to three newly published studies that challenge one of the main arguments raised by critics of the Affordable Care Act.” 8

“…a December report by the Congressional Budget Office, which found Obamacare could reduce American work hours by the equivalent of 2 million total jobs over the next decade. However, the CBO projected that workers were likely to reduce their own hours voluntarily, because they would no longer have to hang on to full-time jobs to maintain health insurance, rather than being forced out by their employers.” 9

As it appears Obamacare is certain to collapse of its own weight,

I encourage you to Google “obamacare collapse” 10 and look at the number of right-wing articles that appear. However, if you read further, most of what the “collapse” refers to is the closing of most of the co-ops 11 created by Obamacare.

the damage done by the Democrats and President Obama, and abetted by the Supreme Court, will be difficult to repair unless the next President and a Republican congress lead the effort to bring much-needed free market reforms to the healthcare industry.

Do I even need to respond to this last part? Our Republican Congress has “lead the effort” to repeal Obamacare 62 times. 12 Where is the Republican “reform?”

But none of these positive reforms can be accomplished without Obamacare repeal. On day one of the Trump Administration, we will ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare.

Good luck. We’ll see if you still have a Senate Majority if you’re the top of the GOP ticket.

However, it is not enough to simply repeal this terrible legislation. We will work with Congress to make sure we have a series of reforms ready for implementation that follow free market principles and that will restore economic freedom and certainty to everyone in this country.

Again, there have been over 60 votes to repeal Obamacare. There have been no votes to reform. There have been no votes or discussion to make Obamacare better.

By following free market principles and working together to create sound public policy that will broaden healthcare access,

“According to the CDC and Census data, for the first three months of 2015 the uninsured rate is 9.2% down from 15.7% before the Affordable Care Act was signed into law. For just the 18 -64 demographic the same study shows the uninsured rate at 13% down from 22.3% in 2010 when the ACA was signed into law. These represent the lowest uninsured rates in over 50 years according to the study.” [Note] Obamacare Facts, “Obamacare: Uninsured Rates” [/note]

make healthcare more affordable

Again? Okay. “On average, premiums have risen by about 5.8 percent a year since Obama took office, compared to 13.2 percent in the nine years before Obama.” 13

and improve the quality of the care available to all Americans. [emphasis his]

Accountable care organizations, prevention and wellness completely covered, better care access on evenings and weekends, electronic health records, and remote care are just a few of the patient benefits from Obamacare. 14

Any reform effort must begin with Congress. Since Obamacare became law, conservative Republicans have been offering reforms that can be delivered individually or as part of more comprehensive reform efforts. In the remaining sections of this policy paper, several reforms will be offered that should be considered by Congress so that on the first day of the Trump Administration, we can start the process of restoring faith in government and economic liberty to the people.

Congress must act. Our elected representatives in the House and Senate must:

“What is clear, however, is that the Republican alternatives, such as they are, would remove coverage from many who have it now.” 15

  1. Completely repeal Obamacare. Our elected representatives must eliminate the individual mandate. No person should be required to buy insurance unless he or she wants to.

Pretty much repeats my last point. Many people who gained health insurance through Obamacare would lose it under Republicans.

  1. Modify existing law that inhibits the sale of health insurance across state lines. As long as the plan purchased complies with state requirements, any vendor ought to be able to offer insurance in any state. By allowing full competition in this market, insurance costs will go down and consumer satisfaction will go up.

Removing the prohibition of selling health insurance across state lines will encourage health insurers to move and relocate to less-regulated states. What does this mean for the consumer? Less-regulated insurance plans.

But don’t take my word for it. 16

Screen Shot 2016-03-03 at 11.52.15 AMScreen Shot 2016-03-03 at 11.52.47 AM Screen Shot 2016-03-03 at 11.52.47 AM

  1. Allow individuals to fully deduct health insurance premium payments from their tax returns under the current tax system. Businesses are allowed to take these deductions so why wouldn’t Congress allow individuals the same exemptions? As we allow the free market to provide insurance coverage opportunities to companies and individuals, we must also make sure that no one slips through the cracks simply because they cannot afford insurance. We must review basic options for Medicaid and work with states to ensure that those who want healthcare coverage can have it.

If you currently receive employer-based insurance, deducting medical insurance premiums would be “double-dipping,” as most premiums are paid with pre-tax dollars.

Trump is correct that we cannot currently fully deduct health insurance premiums. My question is how do you pay for these deductions? How much would this cost?

As far as Medicaid, Obamacare did expand the reach of Medicaid. It was Republican-controlled states that declined Medicaid Expansion.  17
Screen Shot 2016-03-03 at 12.12.19 PM Screen Shot 2016-03-03 at 12.12.08 PM

  1. Allow individuals to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Contributions into HSAs should be tax-free and should be allowed to accumulate. These accounts would become part of the estate of the individual and could be passed on to heirs without fear of any death penalty. These plans should be particularly attractive to young people who are healthy and can afford high-deductible insurance plans. These funds can be used by any member of a family without penalty. The flexibility and security provided by HSAs will be of great benefit to all who participate.

We can already use Health Savings Accounts. They are already tax-free. They already are allowed to accumulate. They already are a part of an individual estate and passed on without an estate tax, or death penalty. They already can be used by any family member.

  1. Require price transparency from all healthcare providers, especially doctors and healthcare organizations like clinics and hospitals. Individuals should be able to shop to find the best prices for procedures, exams or any other medical-related procedure.

Wait, do you mean like the comparison tool I can use with my insurance provider? Where I can look up the procedure, the facility, and the physician performing the procedure? 18

Screen Shot 2016-03-03 at 12.30.23 PM copy

True, it’s not complete transparency, but that’s not an Obamacare problem. That’s a medical industry problem that can still be fixed and needs to be fixed.

  1. Block-grant Medicaid to the states. Nearly every state already offers benefits beyond what is required in the current Medicaid structure. The state governments know their people best and can manage the administration of Medicaid far better without federal overhead. States will have the incentives to seek out and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse to preserve our precious resources.

Are these the same states that have refused to accept federal funds to administer state Medicaid programs? Are these the same states that refuse to administer their state Medicaid programs, privatizing that administration instead?

  1. Remove barriers to entry into free markets for drug providers that offer safe, reliable and cheaper products. Congress will need the courage to step away from the special interests and do what is right for America. Though the pharmaceutical industry is in the private sector, drug companies provide a public service. Allowing consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas will bring more options to consumers.

Drug reimportation, while not typically a Republican policy centerpiece, is an idea with bipartisan support. 19 Traditionally, the barrier to implementing drug reimportation has been the pharmaceutical industry and the politicians they buy through lobbying.

Looking at the big picture, though, we need to look at where the pharmaceutical industry spends money. The price of drugs is a more complex issue than “drugs are cheaper in other countries.”

“Advertising dollars spent by drug makers have increased by 30 percent in the last two years to $4.5 billion, according to the market research firm Kantar Media.” 20

“The AMA’s new policy recognizes that the promotion of transparency in prescription drug pricing and costs will help patients, physicians and other stakeholders understand how drug manufacturers set prices. If there is greater understanding of the factors that contribute to prescription drug pricing, including the research, development, manufacturing, marketing and advertising costs borne by pharmaceutical companies, then the marketplace can react appropriately.” 21


Like much of Donald J. Trump’s campaign and candidacy, this plan is a bunch of hot air. There is nothing of substance. There is nothing within this “plan” that is new. There’s nothing here that would actually help Americans.


Footnotes