7 Key Business & Marketing strategies to make 2009 your best year ever!
Strategy 3 is LIST BUILDING
Growing your Email List is always a popular topic in my Newlsetters. When I recently surveyed my readers it came out near the top of the most asked questions:
* How do I grow my list of prospects to email to? *
Email Marketing is a highly effective and very cost effective way of marketing your products or services. However, as all of our inboxes get fuller and fuller it becomes even more critical to get the formula right so that you are welcomed into your recipients inbox. You really don’t want to be a quickly deleted pest!
Often it is just a case of ensuring that the content you are sending is valuable and worthwhile to the recipients and that you have their consent. Think about your own inbox for a moment. If you receive an email from a business or a name that you are not familiar with and have no recollection of having met or subscribed to, what is the first thing you do? Assuming of course that the email did not go straight into your spam filter you would likely delete it or mark it as spam. Right?
So how to get through the clutter and get results. Ensure you don’t commit the following email marketing sins;
Forgetting WIIFM
Don’t send ‘Advertising’. You wouldn’t want to recieve it and neither do your recipients. Your emails must contain valuable content and/or a great offer. When I receive emails that are sent with the sole purpose of trying to sell and there is nothing contained within that is valuable or even helpful to me I will delete and so will most of your recipients. Don’t forget the WIIFM (Whats In It For Me) formula.
Don’t CC for bulk sends
If you only CC your contact list when sending your email marketing, everyone else on the list sees the entire list that you have sent the email to. This is a poor email practise and a breach of privacy for your contacts. If you must use Outlook (& I recommend against it) then at least ensure you use the BCC field so that contacts are blind copied instead of visibly copied into the list.
Opt-In Only
To abide by spam laws you must have consent to send your commercial email marketing messages. So it’s not only law but it is also best practise. The more targetted and consenting your list the better your results will be. When launching your email marketing for the first time ensure you acknowledge the launch and give your recipients the chance to unsubscribe.
Include Unsubscribe Functionality
An unsubscribe is much better than someone simply deleting or marking your emails as spam. If there is no unsubscribe link or instructions in your email you are breaching spam compliance laws. You must include functional unsubscribe, which can simply be a sentence telling the recipient to reply to the email with ‘Unubscribe’ in the Subject line or use an Email Service Provider (like Chameleon Mail) to automate this. Making it impossible for recipients to unsubscribe also means increasing chances of getting reported as spam to ISPs and authorities.
Sending Attachments
Expecting your recipients to open a PDF newsletter is going to substantially decrease your chances of having your newsletter or campaign seen. Most people are cautious of attachments and will not open them unless 100% sure of the sender, because they are afraid the attachment may contain something nasty like a virus. Also, a PDF requires an additional step to be taken by the recipient, a bit much to ask in our time poor society.
by Belinda Jackson
© 2008. Web Chameleon Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Want to use this article on your website or include it in your email newsletter? No problem! But you also MUST include the following:
Belinda Jackson, Online Marketing Mentor, is founder of Web Chameleon, Chameleon Mail and The Business Blogging Program. To learn how to attract and retain your perfect clients using Online Marketing, and increase sales & income then sign up for your free Online Marketing Report and Marketing Newsletter by visiting www.WebChameleon.com.au/.
26 Ways To Build Subscribers To Your Newsletter Or Blog
by Kirsty Dunphey - I’m reproducing the below article mainly because it includes some great tips on list growing but two additional reasons. 1) why re-invent the wheel! Kirsty has already put some great list building tips together and whilst many of them I have already written about there are a few new ones covered here, so I’ll save myself the trouble of rewriting them and 2) Kirsty produces a great newsletter which is really popular and I love to promote others who use Email Marketing so well. Kirsty’s newsletter is currently circulating to over 4,000 people weekly. Here are her 26 list buiding tips;
Kirsty Dunphey is an author, speaker and entrepreneur who started her first business at 15, opened her own real estate agency at 21 and retired a self made multi-millionaire at 27. To sign up to Kirsty Dunphey’s weekly email, go to www.kirstydunphey.com Thanks Kirsty - great tips and thanks for sharing…. Belinda
If you are a small business owner and you are struggling to attract and retain clients then you must read on. If you are spending a small fortune on advertising in newspapers, magazines, radio or even TV, then it’s time to consider some new ways of marketing your business.I believe that the internet offers huge opportunity to small business, service professionals and large corporates alike.
The online world in many ways is no different to the offline marketing world. On and offline, it’s all about people. In fact, if you think about it, every dollar that is spent online must come from an individual choosing to spend their money with a particular website.
Creating an effective website that brings you new customers and makes you money will be more likely to happen if you successfully build relationships. This means building a geniune relationship with visitors to your website so that they come to like and trust you enough to give you their money!
This is relationship marketing. Next step is leveraging yourself as an expert so that clients come chasing you. Online Marketing provides the opportunity to simplify both of these strategies.
Selling as was used in the past is gone. Every day we are overwhelmed with marketing and sales messages and it’s impossible to take it all in - even if we wanted to - and I’m sure you, like me, don’t particularly want to be sold to.
What you want is to have clients choose to want to buy your products and/or services, because they have come to see you as an expert AND they have formed a relationship with you built on trust, knowledge and authenticity!
Having an Effective Website and/or Blog and using your web presence to attract and build a database allows you to form the beginnings of a relationship with prospects. Allowing your prospects to get to know, like and trust you through an Email Newsletter over time gives you the opportunity to leverage yourself as an expert and convert prospects into clients.
No hard selling allowed or required.
These are simple Online Marketing strategies you can implement almost immediately to begin leveraging yourself as an expert in your industry and begin fostering an ongoing relationship with prospects.
Publishing articles, especially via an e-zine, is the ideal opportunity to showcase your business. By sharing your knowledge and expertise, you build credibility as an expert, while spreading the word about your services and products.
While I’m sure that sometimes you have dozens of content ideas, I bet other times you find yourself staring at a blank computer screen, grumbling that it’s publishing time again. Well, have no fear! Here are 11 quick (and good) content ideas for when you’re in a pinch.
1. Give real-life success stories.
Describe a problem you’ve solved for a client/customer, and use that as a springboard to offer more general advice. Show your readers how you’ve helped customers address challenges — “case studies” if you will. This positions you as the expert in your readers’ minds more than your coming out and saying so.
2. Think of three areas in which you’d like your clients to think of you as a resource.
Now develop content in those areas. For example, in my past life as a professional copywriter, I really enjoyed writing for Web sites. To help encourage my clients and prospects to hire me for these projects, I published several articles on how to write Web copy that sells.
3. Read industry publications for ideas.
Are there any hot issues in your field right now? The more controversial, the better. Don’t be afraid to offer your own opinion — your readers want to know it. After all, YOU are the expert in their eyes.
4. Jot down 8 questions your clients have asked you in the past.
You know, the ones they ask you over and over. Answer each in a short article. If you publish weekly, that’s two months’ worth of content, right off the bat! And if you can’t think of any questions, send all your current clients/customers a quick e-mail, asking them what topics they’re most interested in learning more about.
5. Learn anything neat lately from an industry conference, workshop, seminar, or insightful article?
No one says you have to reinvent the wheel of information! Pass on any gems of advice you’ve learned elsewhere — just give them full attribution. Or give your opinion of the event or article itself. Your readers will appreciate your frankness.
6. Offer a list of your top 5 or 10 tips on a certain subject.
It’s much easier to bang out a list of tips than to put together a real article. Of course, the tips can evolve into an article if you wish! Be sure to list your best tip first, or at least close to the top. (If you “fire your biggest gun” last, you risk losing your audience before they get to the good stuff.)
7. Interview associates whose expertise would interest your readers (while not competing with yours).
E-mail interviews are incredibly easy to do. Just send your interviewee 3 to 5 questions via e-mail, edit their answers, and have them approve the final version. Be sure to give them a short plug in your e-zine as a thank you. (A one- or two-sentence description of their business and their Web address should be fine.)
8. Recommend books and resources that you use, and offer full reviews on them.
In one issue of my old e-zine, “AKB MarCom Tips,” I featured reviews of my favorite four copywriting resource books. I’m glad I also gave my Amazon.com associate links, because I ended up making some nice commission, to boot!
9. Invite clients or readers to write you with their own questions, and answer one in each issue.
Right after their question, publish the person’s name, business, and Web address, with their permission. They’ll enjoy the attention and free publicity!
10. Invite readers to send in profiles.
Ask them to tell you about themselves — their names, businesses, locations, and how they use the information gained in your e-zine. Feature one profile in each issue or one every few issues.
11. When all else fails, borrow an article!
There are dozens of Web sites offering hundreds of articles that you can use in your e-zine. The articles are free and available for you to use immediately. The only catch is you’re required to leave the entire article intact, including the author’s promotional information. One of my favorite places to search for articles is www.ezinearticles.com.
One last note: Keep in mind that if your e-zine’s main objective is to get you more clients and customers, you should NOT feature other writers’ articles more than once in a blue moon. Remember our main goal is to continually showcase YOU. : )
This is a great resource of ideas for creating content for your email newsletter… the article is courtesy of my coach and mentor Ali Brown!
© 2001-2008 Alexandria Brown International Inc. Online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown publishes the award-winning ‘Highlights on Marketing & Success’ weekly ezine with 28,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at http://www.webchameleon.com.au/intro/ezinequeen
These Email Newsletter statistics have been compiled by www.emailstatcenter.com. You can find hundreds of different email statistics on their website, however the above is my own compilation of relevant and interesting statistics that relate to Email Newsletters.
I often get really positive feedback about my Web Chameleon email newsletter. People generally tell me they enjoy reading it and get great value from my articles, or they comment on something I’ve said in a recent edition. So I’m pretty happy with the results and yes, I have also seen an increase in my sales that I can directly attribute to my newsletter marketing!In all of my marketing and communications, my number one goal is to get prospects onto my newsletter database. I don’t jump in and try to sell them my products and services, not yet anyway. I simply aim to get them onto the list so I can email them every two weeks.
My reasoning is that I truly believe that people need to get to know, like and trust you before they’ll be ready to hand over their money and buy from you.
Here are 3 secrets to newsletter publishing that I have learnt from my own and my client’s experiences over the last few years;
1. Publish consistently. I initially published my newsletter on a not-so-regular basis because other commitments always got in the way. I then went to a regular monthly publication and now I publish without fail every two weeks. The results have easily proved to me the worth of consistency.
2. Set aside time to write and compile your newsletter. To meet the schedule consistency I block out time in my diary to put my newsletter together. Normally this is the day before however, sometimes this time slot gets moved and often it ends up being on the morning or afternoon of the day it’s due to go out! But I do make it a priority and a ‘must happen’ in my day.
3. Repackage and re-purpose your articles. If you are putting content together for a newsletter why not use that same content in other marketing, meaning you are also leveraging your time. Some ideas are to submit it to article directories, put it on your website or blog, use it as a base for press releases, or compile several articles into a report or ebook (you could even use this as an incentive for new subscribers to your newsletter).
My email newsletter makes my marketing so much easier. Almost without fail, each time I publish a newsletter, I will hear back from subscribers ready to work with me. I haven’t had to convince them or ’sell’ to them. They’ve come to know, like and trust me over time through the medium of my newsletter, so that now they are ready to find out how they can work with me. Easy…
If you don’t currently have a newsletter in place that permits you to reach out and “touch” potential clients regularly, I encourage you to start one. If you would like to learn more about this amazing medium to market your business, sign up for my newsletter at www.webchameleon.com.au, learn more about our Email Marketing Services at www.chameleon-mail.com or sign up for our Email Teleclass at www.webchameleon.com.au/email-teleclass.htm
I am holding a two part Teleclass Series on Email Newsletters and how to effectively use Email Marketing to attract and retain profitable clients to grow your business!June 12th & June 19th 2008 (Yes, the first one is this week!).
You will learn how to become a welcome guest in your subscriber’s inbox and how NOT to be a quickly deleted pest…. This is Simple Cost Effective Marketing that Works!
To get the full scoop - please go to:
www.webchameleon.com.au/email-teleclass.htm
Email Marketing is one of the most effective ways to keep in touch with prospects and clients, and it is extremely affordable. There is no other medium that is so inexpensive and that can get you such great results.
To be effective you need to be sending quality content to a receptive contact list. Receptive means that your recipients gladly receive your emails and in fact, may even look forward to receiving emails from you.
I want to stress the importance of content, and results, over list size. But yes I do think list size is important and I am always striving to build my own list, because I know that the more I build my list the more business I generate, and at no additional effort or cost.
Quick Tip 1: ASK AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY
As simple as it is many business owners simply forget to ask their current clients, and any new prospects who they deal with for an email address. Get into the habit of asking for an email address, and for a much better result, always explain why you are collecting it and ask for the recipients permission to add them to your email newsletter list. It’s a great idea to have a 30 second prepared script that you use when asking for an email address. For example; “Joe, I’d like to be able to send you my monthly email newsletter, in it I cover topics such as…….., would you like to give me your email address so I can include you next time I send it?”……
Quick Tip 2: USE YOUR WEBSITE TO COLLECT EMAIL ADDRESSES
This is another simple one, that is easy to forget or get wrong. Visitors to your website are prime contenders for your newsletter, so make sure you have a visible and easy way for visitors to add themselves to your email list. And these days simply saying “Sign up for our Mailing List” is not enough. Your email newsletter might be free, but you still need to convince visitors that they would benefit from it and why they should sign up. Be clear and tell them the frequency as this is often a factor that stops people subscribing, because they worry they will start receiving daily emails from you. A simple one sentence promo about your newsletter can work wonders.
Quick Tip 3: USE IT OR LOSE IT
OK, I cheated, my 3rd point has nothing to do with collecting Email Addresses. Instead I want to focus on taking action on the first two points. How many times have you asked or been asked for an email address and it was never used? I have been to many events where I have handed over my email address, and the majority will never follow up with an email communication. It’s a shame, because an email address handed over to you, can be very valuable to you if respected and used wisely. The longer you leave it before you make contact, the more likely you will have been forgotten. Make sure any new contacts receive an email from you within a month, and even sooner if possible.
So the point of Point 3 is to ADD THE EMAIL ADDRESSES YOU COLLECT to your database and TAKE ACTION with a regular email newsletter, which your new contacts will receive the next edition of!
Remember, if you need any help with Email Marketing, Web Chameleon offer an Email Marketing Solution to make your job easier. Let me know if you need my help.
© Copyright Belinda Jackson, Web Chameleon
Remember that when you have new visitors at your website, your #1 goal is to get them on your ezine list! That way you have permission to contact them again and again, educating them about your helpful services and products that they came to learn more about. But you can’t just put up a link that says “free newsletter”. No one cares! You need to carefully craft an opt-in box that works like a big net, catching the exact type of “fish” you want as your ideal clients and customers.
Also remember, don’t hide your box at the bottom of your web pages. Right now, most testing shows that the best place for your opt-in box is the upper right corner… loud and proud!
Here are six simple things you should have in your opt-in box that will help you get more signups than ever before;
Remember that online readers SKIM copy - they don’t read it word for word. So the headline in your opt-in box may be the ONLY thing they read, which determines whether they sign up or not. So don’t waste this space saying something like “Free Newsletter” or even worse… “Sign up for our mailing list.” Ugh! Instead, tell me the MOST exciting thing your ezine will give me!
Examples:
“Are You Ready to Blast Off Your SALES This Year?”
“FINALLY: Learn How to Keep That Weight Off For Good”
“Insider Secrets to Writing Novels for Big Bucks”
Work hard at putting together a description of your ezine that gets prospects excited to sign up! Remember they’re tuned into station WIIFM (”What’s In It For ME?”). Tell them what your information is going to DO for them as well as everything they GET. Examples: How-to articles, quick and easy tips, free resources, insider secrets. Aim for your description to be between 15 and 30 words.
Getting people’s names along with their e-mails allows you to personalize your ezine for them. For example, if I was on your list, your e-mail would come to me saying, “Dear Ali…” The subject line could even say, “Ali, here’s your free tip”. Why do you want to do this? Studies prove that having the recipient’s name in the subject line of your e-mails can increase your open rates by 60%!
The problem is, many people value their privacy and are hesitant to give you their full name. For this reason, just ask for their FIRST name. It’s been proven that you’ll get MORE names from people if you only ask for the first name. (And their first name is generally all you’ll need anyway.)
Many people have a backup or personal e-mail address that they use just for receiving newsletters and promotions. The problem is they are often from free e-mail services like Yahoo or Hotmail. These services filter e-mail like crazy, and their mailboxes fill up quickly, so there’s a good chance your e-mails won’t even reach these recipients.
The solution is, simply ask for their primary e-mail. It’s amazing, but simply ASKING them to enter their primary e-mail will get you more quality e-mails on your list! (You’ll also get less bounce-backs from undeliverable e-mails. If you get too many of those, it raises a red flag to some spam filter programs.)
Make it very clear what they should click on to activate their subscription once they type in their name and email. Don’t use something confusing like a link that says “submit form”.
Everyone’s scared to receive more spam these days, so put your prospects at ease. Don’t make them wonder what you’re going to do with their e-mail addresses. State right next to or below your opt-in form what your policy is. Mine is, “We will never sell, rent, trade, or share your e-mail with any other organization.” (Feel free to use that yourself.) DON’T make people click on a link to read your privacy policy - it looks like you have something to hide. In fact, in some U.S. states, it’s now required that you state your privacy policy right at the point of opt-in, so it’s a good idea no matter where you do business.
Article courtesy of online entrepreneur Alexandria K. Brown, “The E-zine Queen,” publisher of the award-winning ‘Straight Shooter Marketing’ weekly ezine with 22,000+ subscribers. If you’re ready to jump-start your marketing, make more money, and have more fun in your small business, get your FREE tips now at ezinequeen.com
This is a blog by Belinda Jackson, of Web Chameleon, and it's all about Online Marketing and how to most effectively attract and retain your perfect clients using the Internet!
