November 30, 2008
Why is it that some people get everything that they want? Is it that they have some special gift? Some have referred to this as having “MoJo”, and means you have something that gets you results and works. The other day I was watching a movie where the bad guy stole the good guys “MoJo” and he started having all kinds of problems. Before, things went his way, after, not so much. His job was perfect, and he had such great success with the ladies. Women just flocked towards him like no other and adored him to no end.
Top actors and business owners are thought to possess this “MoJo” because other people are attracted to them and listen to them. They have leadership skills and do things the right way. It makes us wonder if they were born with it or whether it was learned? I am yet to find a class about the subject and hopefully developments will be made in the future about this. We all want more of our friends and family to look up to us and want to be around us more, and if we could learn how to make this happen, we will be in much better shape. Keep your eyes and ears open because this class might be coming to a location near you
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You might think it’s a radical claim, but creating an email marketing program for your business can be a bit like installing your own cash machine! Marketing by email, if done properly, can produce instant results, generate sales within minutes, and over time builds customer loyalty, brand awareness and increased web site traffic.
Despite all the the Internet developments in the past decade, email still remains the single most important “killer app” online. Almost everybody reads their email (even when they may not look at web sites that often), and you can reach almost every decision maker in your target market within minutes, whenever you like.
It’s cheap, too. If you’ve ever done a traditional direct mail campaign, you’ll know that the cost can be between £1 and £5 per recipient. Yet email can cost just a few pence per prospect. Plus, an email campaign can be completed in a few hours, while with traditional Direct Mail it can be months before you can see results. With email, early responses can be measured in seconds, and within 3 days you’ll have 80% of your orders in and processed! And it’s measurable. With the resulting automatically-generated statistics you can work out who read your email and who responded. Live. Try that with traditional mail!
So What’s The Catch?
There are two, actually, but both are easily overcome. First, you can’t send out promotional emails randomly to people who’ve never heard of you (that’s called spamming!). Second, your campaign MUST be carefully planned, created and executed. You can’t just blast out any old “Buy this now” message and expect results. It must be carefully targeted, contain a truly great offer for the target audience, be relevant and interesting and of some value to the recipient, and the copy must be compelling. And just like any other marketing communications activity, it will only be truly successful if it forms part of your overall advertising and communications strategy, and is not just a one-off blast to raise some cash.
Where to Start
The golden rule for email success is to send out regular information that is of value to your audience. So your starting point must always be to think of what your potential market wants to receive from you. If you’re lucky enough to have a thriving demand for what you sell, then sending out new product announcements may be OK, but generally, you will need to be more creative that this.
Some good examples are:
- For a Lawyer’s or Accountant’s web site – a regular newsletter to clients updating them of the latest law, rules & regulation changes.
- For a hobby web site – new product announcements, tips and advice
- Clothing web site – fashion features and tips
- Software web site – Information on updates/upgrades. Case studies and “how-to” guides
Bad Examples:
- Isolated special offer announcements
- Uninvited invitations to join mailing list (spamming)
- “Visit our new web site” announcements
How To Get Email Addresses
This is the catch that most companies have difficulty with. But with patience and a little hard work, you can build a good opt-in mailing list that will grow in value over time.
Step 1. Make sure there is a real incentive for people to join your mailing list. If you are offering valuable information (see above) this should be enough. But you can add incentives such as a member’s discount scheme on a shopping web site or money-off coupons. You can also run competitions.
Step 2. Install a newsletter sign-up system on your web site. Make sure it is in a prominent position, and most importantly, make sure that the benefit to the user of signing up is clearly displayed. Make sure that the system is automatic, clear, sends a confirmation email to the customer, and comes with clear instructions on how to unsubscribe. And make sure it is very easy to unsubscribe – people get nervous when signing up for newsletters – they all hate spam – so if you make your unsubscribe system easy and clear, they’ll feel more in control and be more likely to subscribe (and ironically, much less likely to unsubscribe!)
Step 3. Make sure you promote your newsletter on all stationery and communications with potential and current customers. If selling or communicating on the phone, always ask if they would like to sign-up for the newsletter, again clearly selling the benefit. Also ensure that a link and sales message for your newsletter is included at the bottom of all emails you send out. Create a web page especially for your newsletter sign-up form (as well as the prominent box on the front page). Promote this page on search engines.
Step 4. Consider partnerships with other newsletter publishers that complement your business. For example, a firm of solicitors could approach a firm of accountants and each could promote the other’s newsletters to each other’s lists. If your partner’s list is significantly larger than yours, you may be forced to pay, but it’s worth it where there is a good fit.
Step 5. If you are offering free, valuable information in your newsletter, offer articles based on your newsletter with sign-up links for more free-of-charge to web sites your audience frequently visit. For example, if you offer small business services (eg, Accountant, Solicitor etc), offer free advice articles and columns to small business editorial web sites and portals. This also applies to printed trade media and can be integrated into your current PR campaigns.
Step 6. If you’re desperate, in a hurry, and have a decent promotional budget, you can buy advertising space on other people’s well-established newsletters. You can also rent or buy email lists from established sources but be very careful to buy lists that have requested your type of material from the list provider. Never, ever buy cheap email lists you see advertised across the internet (eg: “1 million emails for your business for $9.99!). You’ll get your 1 million emails alright, but they’ll be harvested spam lists.
Finally, be persistent, consistent, and offer good quality information that your audience is pleased to get. In the early days it will be hard to motivate yourself to write something every week/month to your first 10 signups, but if you offer good value your list will grow quickly. And remember the viral effect of emails. If the information, offer or entertainment value is good, emails are passed on or forwarded to lots of other people who will sign up or at least visit your web site!
David Campbell is Managing Director/CEO of European web development and online marketing consultancy Weborama, http://www.weborama.co.uk
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The key concerns facing email marketing practitioners
Email is used heavily in both B2B and B2C markets. The medium has
obvious advantages- immediate, cost effective, real-time tracking and quick feedback loops for testing. The benefits are well documented, but this only tells half the story. UK email practitioners are facing difficult challenges when trying to manage an email program.
Adestra have conducted a survey of 65 UK based email practitioners to discover what the main challenges are that are facing them today. The results make interesting reading, with participants readily recognising that they could improve their email program.
In this article we provide a detailed summary of the main findings and Adestra’s suggestions of how you can address them.
We also look to the US. A more advanced email market than the UK, a recent Marketing Sherpa study has provided insight into the challenges
facing US marketers. Despite a more advanced email market, the
challenges described are similar to those facing UK experiences showing
that all email practitioners across the globe are facing similar
challenges
Survey reveals challenges facing UK email marketing practitioners
Published in June 2005 as part of the preparation for the Adestra email marketing clinc at the Online Marketing Show, Adestra have just conducted a survey of UK marketers to understand their challenges:
Methodology of the email marketing survey
The survey canvassed 65 UK based marketers to investigate what they
believe are the main challenges facing them within their email
marketing.
Both B2B and B2C companies participated including companies such as
Ford Motor Company, Coors Brewers, Prudential, Investec Asset
Management, RAC, Future Publishing Ltd, Cotton Traders and Reed
Business Information.
Findings of the email marketing survey
- 34% of B2B and 29% of B2C
marketers in the sample agree that the growing, cleaning and management
of their email contact database is the aspect of their email marketing
program that they could improve most
- When considering what ‘hot topics’ marketers wanted to learn
more about to improve their email marketing, both B2B and B2C marketers
voted for the same aspects:
- B2B marketers want to learn more about best practice lead generation email programs whereas B2C marketers prefer to discover more about eZine newsletters.
- 4 out of 5 respondents in the sample plan to use email marketing more in 2006.
Conclusions of the email marketing survey
Interestingly, both B2B and B2C marketers are facing similar
challenges despite using email marketing in different ways. They want
to learn more about issues such as deliverability and spam and most
recognise that there are faults within their existing programs,
especially in the way they manage their email contact database
With 80% of the UK marketers in the sample planning to use email
marketing more in 2006, and the willingness of the sample to accept
that there are numerous ways in which they could improve their email
marketing program, marketers should consider working with email
marketing specialists such as Adestra to use their expertise when
developing their email programs
Adestra recommendations for addressing challenges
Adestra recommend reviewing your entire data management strategy:
- Acquisition: make data capture vehicles work- see our 5 ways to get better data quality at point of collection for your email marketing program article for suggestions how
- Segmentation: Ensure you have enough information
about each records to select only relevant names for your
communications. Badly targeted messages mean more unsubscribes. Within
Adestra’s Message Focus, you are able to segment by demographic and
behaviour.
- ‘Update my details’: Adestra recommend that every email you send links back to a form for recipients to “updating my details”.
Even with no incentive, our experience across a number of clients
reveals that for every campaign, a small number of people always update
their details. When multiplied over all your communications, this
becomes a cost effective method of cleaning your database- much cheaper
than using the telephone! Adestra have worked with individual clients
to set these up, often pre-filling the form to increase response.
- Feedback: Every campaign broadcast through
Adestra’s Message Focus automatically suppresses unsubscribe requests
and hard bounces (for more information on bounces, please see our “How clean is your email marketing contact database?” article). This allows you to understand how many active records you have in real-time.
- Monitor: Use reporting to constantly understand
how many records on your database have all the fields you require- some
may be missing job titles etc. Consider running extra campaigns to
encourage people to provide you with the extra fields you are missing
- Learning more about deliverability, spam and the future for email
To keep up to date with the latest ‘hot topics’ within email marketing,
Adestra recommend you subscribe to many email marketing newsletters
including:
Alternatively, you could save time by working with an email
marketing agency such as Adestra. These companies specialise within
email marketing ensuring they stay up to date with email developments,
so you don’t have to- you can just pick their brains!
- Learning from eZine Newsletters and Lead Generation campaigns
To get informative case studies, you need to regularly attend
meetings of associations such as the DMA and the IDM, attend all
leading industry shows and subscribe to a host of email newsletters.
Amongst this wealth of information, there may be a case study that is
relevant to your role and organisation. Adestra recommend you work with
an email marketing agency who can draw from their experience of working
with many different email players to provide best practice and ideas
from improvement continuusly. Often, the best ideas come from places
you’d never expect and using an agency such as Adestra allows you to
find them!
- Use of email will increase in 2006
Adestra recognise that the email channel will become more important
throughout 2006 for many companies, both B2B and B2C. Addressing the
challenges today will allow your email marketing program to continue
successfully within the future.
For more information about the survey, please contact Paul Crabtree
The view from across the pond
A recent Marketing Sherpa
study revealed that most US marketers perceive that they are faced with
significant challenges when managing their email program. Surprisingly,
these challenges are not entirely in the planning and management of
devising and managing an email marketing program.
Instead, it is problems born out of office politics a result of the
importance to the organisation of the email channel. Major battles
include:
- Frequency caps on sending: How often is too often?
- Management education: The challenges ensuring
senior management do not perceive email programs as a ‘cheap’
alternative. Allocating appropriate resource rather than re-using
people and content is essential to ensure optimisation. Adding to this
the need for a mindset shift from a “its cheap so lets just keep doing
it” to a “direct marketing” paradigm where testing, measurement and
improvement techniques are used is a considerable challenge.
- Multiple database managers: Ensuring both
compliance and the collation of email names from across the business to
support a coherent and legal email program
Adestra believe that all these challenges can be addressed by
implementing a measurable email marketing program which is continuously
tested to improve it. Questions such as “how often is too often?” can
be answered by analysing the contact history of your unsubscribe
suppression file.
Educating senior management can be a tough job, unless you have real empirical data to back up your assertions.
By demonstrating the ROI associated with your email marketing
program and getting senior management buy-in will help you overcome the
difficulties getting data from varying sources within the business.
When senior management are behind the program, the rest of the business
tends to fall in line.
On a more practical level, Adestra’s Message Focus includes a form
manager which allows you to create data capture forms to be used when
acquiring contact information. This information can be exported from
Adestra’s Message Focus at any point. Adestra recommend considering
using Adestra forms to manage your data capture- this ensures your
email database is deduped at the point of collection, you have the most
up to date email list you could possibly have and that you can provide
other parts of the business with access to their own Adestra’s Message
Focus account to download their own lists.
More information about our email marketing broadcast services
Adestra provide welcome tactical advice and input on our client’s
email marketing program.
Adestras Message Focus
Adestra have a proven track record in providing email marketing
tools, technology, strategy and support for a number of large corporate
players.
From product delivery for large publishers through to tactical
direct response promotions for travel providers, all clients always
benefit from the shared best practice and knowledge our team have
gained working within email marketing since 2000.
Free email marketing white paper
Adestra have produced a white paper on the challenges that today’s
UK email marketers are facing when trying to implement their email
marketing program
The research is based upon a survey of 65 marketers before the
show, discussions with over 170 contacts during the show and our
ongoing dialogues with our clients. It includes Adestra’s suggestions
on how you can overcome challenges including:
-
Improving data management: email contacts and feedback loops
-
Find relevant case studies to learn from
-
Sifting all the data from your email campaigns to find actionable information
- Overcoming the office politics associated with email marketing
To receive a free copy of this white paper, please contact us and state Email Marketing Whitepaper within the Further Information section of the Adestra web site (www.adestra.co.uk).
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November 29, 2008
The bright old Chinese anecdote has a very strong meaning; the anecdote depicted the truth that we all identify with an occasion extensively more when it is watched. By the use of video production or videography it’s realistic to shoot a succession of events.
These days in a lot of different company presentations, video clips are commonly employed. By adopting video production it’s achievable to deliver the essential info to a lot of potential clients to help tempt them. Online Video production is at the present utilised for various purposes; however, a number of short format online video commercials & awareness related productions are usually made in order to attain particular company goals.
Audio video presentations are presently in vogue & as a consequence are used in almost any sort of industry activity. Creative companies generally interact with a particular client or a firm that looks to create a promotional video, a presentation or a collection of video clips. The whole occupation of video production is carried out by individual freelancers; although there are a handful of good specialist video production agencies around at the moment. Vidify’s online video distribution partnerships ensure your video commercials generate awareness and impact within the right circles, fast.
The input of music composers, cameraman & script writers can also be common when creating internet video productions. Furthermore, marketing companies and PR companies have recently become involved with many aspects of online video distribution.
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November 28, 2008
Ezine Advertisement has a unique advantage against other online
advertising methods. It’s completely targeted, which means
people have serious interest in purchasing your products. There
is step by step solid and flawless plan for profitable ezine
campaigns if done right.
1) Choose the right market is the first step and locate the
appropriate ezines. First go to Google and search your target
market keyword with the word “ezines”. For example write “tennis
ezines” in the search box. You will get thousands results about
tennis newsletters. The problem here is that you will need a lot
of time to distinguish the right ezines.
The second step is a service which has already done this for
you. One of the best is http://www.directoryofezines.com . It
has thousands of ezines for every niche. It displays
circulation, ad rates, and it has so many other features. It is
highly recommended.
2) The next step is to test the waters. Advertise first to small
ezines (less than 15.000 subscribers). You should avoid the big
ones because they cost more. The last thing you need is to pay a
lot for questionable advertisement.
3) Subscribe to these ezines and check the quality of them. Are
they full of ads and have little content or they have valuable
information? This step is critical for screening the good ezines
for the worthless ones.
4) Check the cost of the ads. You must not pay more than you
should. Do not pay over 100$ for an ad at first. You have to
test if the ezine is profitable.
5) Avoid submitting free ads. People don’t look at them at all.
Always go for Top sponsor ads, which are at the top of the
publication. Invest also to solo ads which are exclusive emails
sent to subscriber base without any other content. They are
extremely responsive.
6) Do not try to sell your product in your ad. Always make the
reader to click the link. That means your copy should be
compelling and full of benefits.
7) Track your ads. How do you know which ads make money? You can
track them with software like http://www.dynatracker.com or you
can do it for Free following this tactic: Use next to your
website’s URL a number with question mark. For example you can
use this – http://www.yourwebsite.com/?200 . So you will be able
to track for every ad what click rates it has.
After you have found the profitable ezines resubmit your ads
to them and go for the larger ezines (more than 50.000
subscribers).
9) Avoid the hype like “50.000$ in one month, No work at all”
People don’t buy this. You will not make a sent and your
credibility will vanish. 10) Check for ezines testimonials. If
you do that you will see that some have testimonials which
indicate how responsive the advertisement was.
11) Continue submitting your ads. Repetition is the key of
success. People need to see a message more times in order to
decide. At the same time adjust your ads and change your copy,
not all of it, but just a couple of words each time. Some times
even one different word can skyrocket your ad effectiveness.
12) In your copy use the “call to action” triggers. This is
extremely important. People need to be guided for what to do.
Copy with not call to “action trigger” is less effective.
13) Follow exactly the publisher’s guidelines. Do not use word
processors for your ad. You can use notepad or any other text
editor.
Christos Varsamis is Internet Marketer, at
http://www.fastprofitbiz.com
http://www.settinglifegoals.com Sign for your Free E-courses “How to Create Minisites That Make
Money in Just 24 Hours http://www.internetmarketingsuccesstips.com
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November 27, 2008
The goal of all marketing is to attract interest in, build desire for, and generate sales of your products or services. Email marketing is a perfect medium to pick up where other marketing leaves off. Email marketing is still one of the most cost effective ways to contact prospects and customers. It’s far cheaper than traditional bulk postage mail and in many cases can have a much larger impact on immediate sales and long-term relationship strength than traditional advertising.
When done correctly, email marketing can be an extremely powerful and effective marketing technique. It’s a medium that allows a buyer and seller to freely communicate with one another and build a relationship based on value and trust. When done incorrectly, however, email marketing can be destructive, erode brand equity, and turn your happy clients into litigious flamers. It is for this reason that one must make sure they send only permission-based email communications to their subscribers.
Before we proceed any further, let’s define exactly what permission-based email marketing is. It is important to note that there are two types of email marketing. One can either send unsolicited email promotions or send out emails only to persons who have requested to receive them. Unsolicited email is, of course, called spam. Sending spam will ruin any legitimate organization’s reputation and brand value faster than mold grows on bread that is left outside in the middle of summer. Rule number one of becoming an intelligent email marketer is to not send unsolicited email.
Permission-based email marketing, on the other hand, is used effectively everyday by hundreds of thousands of organizations to build the value of their brands, increase sales, and strengthen the relationships they have with their clients and subscribers. The key difference, of course, is that these senders are only sending messages to persons who have requested to receive them.
Let’s take a second to understand the key difference between spam and permission-based emails.
The Axiom of Value
For the last 100 years, companies have relied on traditional advertising in the form of catchy jingles, TV commercials, billboards, print ads in newspapers and magazines, direct mail, hot air balloons, and waving mascots. The technique is to interrupt a radio listener, TV viewer, or magazine reader with an attention grabbing ad that compels the consumer to buy the company’s product or at least have the product closer to the forefront of his or her mind next time the individual is making a buying decision.
In most instances, advertising is acceptable to the consumer. Most people don’t mind seeing ads while watching television, listening to the radio, or reading magazinesor at least they understand that these ads are necessary in order to receive the content they are seeing, reading, or hearing. While technologies like TiVo, DVR, and satellite radio are challenging advertisers to come up with new methods of advertising, other technologies such as Internet television require users to watch a 30-second advertisement prior to the start of a show. The point is, as long as value is provided, consumers will be willing to be exposed to a few advertisements.
This same axiom holds true online. As long as your web site provides content that people value, visitors will continue returning to the site even if there are a few banner ads or Google AdWords boxes within the page layout. While some web sites, such as WSJ.com, have successfully switched to a subscription-based model, many more web sites rely on banner, box, skyscraper, and contextual advertisements to earn the bulk of their income.
The same axiom, that as long as value is provided, consumers will be willing to be exposed to a few advertisements, also holds true with email. As long as one provides valuewhether by providing content on a topic a recipient is interested in or a discount off a product related to one purchased previouslypeople will allow you to continue to contact them. Each and every email you send of course contains your logo, information on your products and services, and links to your web sites. These items are the advertising and should be surrounded on all sides by the items which make the communication actually add value to the lives of your readers.
Spam however, by its very nature, breaks the axiom. Unsolicited bulk email very rarely has any value. Spam is usually irrelevant, always impersonal, and rarely helpful. Everyone with an email inbox knows how aggravating it is to sort through forty new emails to only find two that are from persons you know. While spam may make money for persons in Eastern Europe promoting fake drugs, I feel strongly that sending spam will always have a net negative impact on any legitimate organization.
For this reason, we strongly recommend only sending permission-based email, also known as opt-in email. Permission-based email marketing can be an extremely effective way to increase visitor-to-sale conversion rates, build strong relationships with your customers, and turn your one-time buyers into lifetime product evangelizers who recommend your organization to everyone they know. Permission-based email marketing allows companies to develop and sustain relationships with their prospects and consumers by creating value. Permission marketing is about “turning strangers into friends and friends into customers” as Seth Godin likes to say.
The nature of permission marketingbuilding a relationship with a prospect or expanding the relationship with an existing customer over timeallows you to concentrate on the prospects and customers who are really interested in what you have to sell and are more than willing to become repeat customers.
The Five-Step Process of Permission Email Marketing
There is a simple five-step process in putting a successful permission-based email marketing campaign in place. This process is reviewed below.
1. Start using a permission-based email software such as IntelliContact Pro that allows you to easily create newsletters, automatically manage subscribes, unsubscribes, bounces, and view reporting statistics like opens and clickthroughs.
2. Decide on the type and frequency of email communication you will be sending. We recommend sending at least a monthly newsletter. You can certainly send multiple newsletters if you sell different types of products. You can also send promotional messages offering a discount or coupon for a product or service.
3. Add a sign-up form to your web site so you can start collecting subscribers and import any existing lists of subscribers that have already requested your communications. It is generally also safe to import the names of anyone who has done business with you in the past year, provided you will be sending content relevant to what they purchased.
4. Create a good email template by using a template provided within the email software, having your in-house team create one, or using the custom design services of the email software company. IntelliContact Pro provides over 140 design templates within the software that can be used free of charge and can also develop a custom template for a nominal charge.
5. Develop quality relevant content for your newsletter or message and send it out to your list. Continue sending your newsletters, announcements, or promotions with consistent frequency. As your list grows, you will notice increased traffic (and if applicable, increased sales) on the day of and the days following an email send.
By providing quality relevant content you will succeed in keeping your brand mindshare at the front of the mind of your customers and cement strong relationships with your subscribers.
Ryan Allis is an internationally recognized expert on email marketing. Ryan is the CEO of Broadwick Corp, providers of the email marketing software IntelliContact Pro. For additional information on email marketing software, visit http://www.email-marketing-software-resource.com
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November 26, 2008
1. Make your ad prominent:
This can be done by keeping special characters like *, >, # , = etc.
You can put these on top and bottom of your 5 line ad. Leave an
extra white spce above and below your ad. This gap pulls readers
eyes towards that spot.
2. Offer a discount:
Make it time sensitive. It will encourage your subscriber to check the
product as soon as he sees the link. When they come to your website, try to
get their email. Offer a free ecourse or free download. Once they provide
their email, you can follow up them with your follow up autoresponder.
http://www.scripts4webmasters.com/follow-up-autoresponder-pro/index.shtml
3. Use one line attractive heading:
Like “THREE Day Dis*count offer!”
“FR*EE Upgrades!”
Remember while you using certain words like free, discount, unsubscribe,
debt, money etc which are spam trigger words.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010450051033.aspx
http://www.andreaoneill.com/spamtriggers.html
4. Ad position:
Use Top or middle space in the ezine/emailing for your ad. More
chances to be clicked by the reader.
5. Target Ezine:
Don’t select the ezine based on price or number of subscribers. Select
the ezine in which you are wishing to promote your email ad based on
the similarity between your product/service and the ezine.
The more it targeted, more will be the click throughs and buyers. For
example, if you send an ad related to golf to self-improvement ezines,
it’s not going pull much results. You should send it to sports ezine
subscribers especially golf ezines.
6. Tracking the ads:
You can track your ads by using any online tracking software or by
creating a seperate html page for that ad. This way you can know which
ad pulling good results.
7. Tip on selecting an Ezine:
Check if the ezine that you are going to send the ad is published on the
web. Means some ezine publishers post their ezines online as archives. If
they did, your ad will become a source for the visitors as the ezine get
indexed in the search engine results.
8. Subscribe yourself:
Subscribe to the ezine that you want to send your ad. And follow up few
publications. How ads will be placed, how many ads per issue, any bonus
or discount offered on bulk order, how good the articles are etc etc.
This way you can estimate the reliability of an ezine.
9. Price does matters:
If you want to display your product/service price, do it in a way that
it will look cheaper. For example, don’t say $25.00/month. Say it -
“Less than 80 cents per day to get the Exact results you want!”
10. URLs in your email ads:
Check your urls working or not. Don’t put long links, they may breakup
so they give 404 errors. Put the link that takes the person directly
to your product page. Don’t let them land on home page and expect to
dig on your web site for the product link.
Radhika Venkata (c)
Radhika Venkata
Subscribe to ‘iNet Marketing Ezine’ which is completely focused on
Internet Marketing. Receive FREE Ebooks with Resale rights!
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November 25, 2008
Offer a newsletter in a time frame that will be easy for you to manage.
Although doing a newsletter is a great idea, do not be too quick to jump on the bandwagon. Almost everyone is doing it but not all are doing it well. The newsletter with the greatest frequency can get quite annoying for the recipients unless it is packed full of useful information. Only those that have the relationship with your company will continue to subscribe.
Even though you may have great information to give away, you must also consider the time it takes to put a good newsletter together. If you are doing a daily, you will need to spend at least 3 hours putting it together and another few hours editing, polishing, and answering queries. If on the other hand you decide weekly is good, then you will still need to spend that 3 hours, but this time it will be once a week. You also need to determine what day of the week the newsletter will be distributed. You may want to do some research to find out when is the best time to deliver. Some times are better for getting read than others.
If you do a monthly, you are more like an e-zine. You will be expected to have more than just a few great articles; you will need to add graphics and other images to enhance what you have to say. You will also need to research the background of submissions from other people. It is sometimes easier to ask for submissions but you do have to make sure the articles fit with your business principles. A monthly can often take more work than anticipated; you will likely want to have everything in hand to publish at least three months in advance.
Doing a newsletter requires a commitment of time and also effort. If you promise to deliver at a certain time each day or week or month, then you will need to deliver on time. If you do not, your credibility will be jeopardized. A way around this might be to produce white papers.
Bette Daoust, Ph.D. has been networking with others since leaving high school years ago. Realizing that no one really cared about what she did in life unless she had someone to tell and excite. She decided to find the best ways to get people’s attention, be creative in how she presented herself and products, getting people to know who she was, and being visible all the time. Her friends and colleagues have often dubbed her the “Networking Queen”. Blueprint for Networking Success: 150 ways to promote yourself is the first in this series. Blueprint for Branding Yourself: Another 150 ways to promote yourself is planned for release in 2005. For more information visit http://www.BlueprintBooks.com
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November 24, 2008
The saying “Quality, not Quantity” is applicable even to the world of email marketing. So many organizations are purchasing large databases of email addresses, with hopes to achieve high open rates and sales. The truth is that you are more likely to achieve your campaign goals if you send an email out to 100 targeted individuals than you would to 10,000 randomly purchased email addresses.
There is a common misconception when it comes to the quantity of emails in your email list. A lot of business owners think that the key to running successful email campaigns is to send their emails out to thousands and thousands of email addresses and this is commonly achieved through the purchase of large databases. This way of thinking about email marketing is wrong and will only result in discouragement and campaign failure.
When you purchase email lists from companies, you can never be too sure how they acquired these email addresses in the first place. Often, large databases of email addresses have been collected in ways that are misleading to the users providing their email addresses. This means that the individuals to whom you are sending your email are not sincerely interested in what you have to say. You also risk being labeled a “spammer”, because spam is essentially what you’d be sending- unwanted email.
Though this is a very straight forward concept, this is still one of the most challenging aspects of email marketing campaigns. We realize that building your own email list from scratch can be an intimidating task, but if you start doing it regularly you will be shocked with the number of targeted email addresses you will collect in a short period of time.
Start sending emails to people who are actually interested in what your organization has to say. Concentrate your marketing efforts on targeted email lists and you will notice a huge increase in your open rates and sales. Email marketing definitely works- you just have to do it the right way.
Michelle Lehoux
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November 22, 2008
In the business world, the primary focus is on selling products and generating sustainable and profitable income. In any organization, the results are dependent on the activity of the organization sales, the quality of the product and service as well as the approach to advertising and marketing. The competition is fierce and every avenue to promote and sell must be maximized.
The business world is changing; we are utilizing innovative ways to market and sell to the masses but have yet to harness the true power of the innovations we utilize. In 1971, a computer engineer named Ray Tomlinson sent a message from one computer to another. “I sent a number of test messages to myself from one machine to the other,” he states, little did he know that his unassuming technological breakthrough would shape the face of modern day communications.
Ironically, he mentions, “The test messages were entirely forgettable. Most likely the first message was QWERTYIOP or something similar.” Over thirty years later, emails still retain that same QWERTYIOP look and are forgotten the second they are read.
Today’s industry operates in a world with unlimited geographical boundaries. Long gone are the days of customer loyalty to the neighborhood clothing retail store or the home delivery service of your favourite merchant. Businesses now are utilizing the power of the Internet to expand their market, retain customers through minimal “face time” interaction and deal in a world of binary code instead of personal handshakes and in store accounts. With companies adopting new strategies to operate in this “digital world”, Ray Tomlinson’s innovation is still utilized in true 1970’s fashion.
Leverage the Power of the Consumer
To view the existing business model and to evaluate new processes to increase revenue, we must step away from our preconceived world and look from the outside at the reality of the market place. The consumers themselves, combined with email innovations can penetrate a market at an exponential rate and promote a brand at a viral level.
I am referring to everyday email. What if the consumer received an email that did much more than convey a message? What if they received an email that enticed further interaction and dynamics? The viral nature of a well-designed and implemented email can expand the reach and results of the message itself.
Branded Email Brings Results
Under the most conservative figures, over 7 billion emails are sent each day. Some reports show that number to be closer to 30 billion with an anticipated 60 billion emails send per day by 2006. The power of this innovative communication method can be uniquely tailored to any industry by changing the way we look at how our products are marketed.
When I am referring to branded email, I am not speaking about mass email campaigns. I am not talking about auto-responders, header/footer type graphics or simple stationary. I am referring to professional applications that allow customized dynamics and a lasting impression.
The key to maximizing your results is to provide an end product (email) that is representative of the image and brand you want to portray. Every email can either help or denigrate your brand and in the end, have an impact on the success and viability of your company.
When the email is received, you want the recipient to be impressed; you want them to further explore what you have to offer. You don’t want them to dismiss your message due to the visual content.
So What Are The Advantages?
The advantages of using a system like this are very simple and straightforward. With every email you send, you provide the recipient with access to sales information they might not have received otherwise. You can direct them to places you want them to visit, view presentations you want them to see and interact in ways you know will help close a deal. You are sending these emails anyway so why not send something that will provide an impact and results. The options for the dynamic abilities are endless.
Corporate Level
Imagine your sales force and administration staff sending standardized branded messages. Every email will convey a message you know that works. Lets’ look at email volume and missed opportunities.
10 Email Users
Each User Sends Out 10 Emails a Day – 100 Emails Sent
5 Days a Week – 500 Emails Sent
4 Weeks a Month – 2,000 Emails Sent
12 Months a Year – 24,000 Emails Sent
With only 10 users, that translates into 24,000, requested emails sent out each year that fail to promote the organization and the product/service offerings! See the difference dynamic email could make?
Change Your View & Approach
The banality surrounding the issue of plain email correspondence is deafening upon the ears of those in charge of corporate brands. One-to-one email correspondence is a direct link to the hearts and wallets of the customers. I like to use the analogy of CPR when dealing with email. Every email sent deals with “C”, “P”, “R” – Customer, Prospect, and Relationship. They are a customer, a prospect, or an established relationship. Customers are only customers until they have been targeted as a prospect of another company. With global ties and instant communication, the staging front for the retention and acquisition of a customer falls into the “Inbox”.
How do you fight a battle you do not know you are in? What measures do you take to make sure you are proactive in this invisible war of self-administered sales sorting? I cannot stress enough the importance of your everyday email and the impact it has on those who receive it. Every company, every day, everybody, everywhere is fighting for space in someone’s “Inbox”. Whether it is a large corporation or a small corporation, the fight exists and in the “Inbox”, the company size holds no bearing.
The inbox is the modern day interpretation of a level playing field. What lies within the content of the message is the perception of reality and the level at which that company operates. Small companies, who leverage their inbox strategies, don’t stay small for long.
Why is it that as an aggressive business culture, we are negligent to advance and utilize existing proven technologies such as email? Email has stayed stagnant long enough, it is time to take advantage of what we presently have and make it work for us. With global trade barriers shrinking by the day, we must do all we can to ensure that we retain the right to our customers and fight the Inbox battle with sweeping professional perceptions instead of a meek, mundane, faceless company gathered in the halls of the inbox underachieved.
Initiative
Every day that passes, opportunities in the thousands to brand and market the companies’ services are missed. A consistent brand from the corporation can have a sweeping effect on the marketplace in grandiose proportions.
The technology is now available for companies’ to capture the potential of their customer base. We must embrace such opportunities and “tap into” the power of everyday email. It is an open, dynamic and growing market that cannot be ignored any longer.
About the Author
Scott Briscoe is the Vice President of Operations for OnLetterhead Inc. OnLetterhead is the premier email branding solution in the market today. For more information, please visit http://www.onletterhead101.com
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