Posted by admin on July 16th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Tips on writing great copy for your marketing efforts.
It’s just four steps that I call the Writing Path
1. I create a deadline for something to be produced. This creates pressure that I think is very important. Because I write this e-newsletter-BIGNews every other week, I must find an idea and the time to write. If I didn’t have a deadline looming, I think procrastination would be a lot easier.
- Do you have a specific goal and a deadline? If not, just make one up. If you don’t, you’ll have no focus to keep you on track.
2. I define a problem, predicament or challenge I believe my audience is facing. And since I’ve faced most of these problems myself, they are very familiar to me. It might be the problem of creating a marketing message, writing an e-newsletter or putting together a proposal. I only spend a little time thinking about a problem and one usually pops into my head in a few minutes.
- Can you identify several problems your prospects and clients have experienced in the past? What are they currently struggling with? What’s missing for them? Then pick just one.
3. I think about my solutions to this problem. Since I’ve solved many of these marketing problems in the past, I usually have a good idea of what will work and what won’t work. I just reflect for a few minutes about various solutions and approaches to the problem until I feel confident I have something valuable to communicate that will make a difference to those who read what I write.
- Do you have solutions, techniques and strategies you can apply to the problems of your clients and prospects? Can you express these solutions in a way that is easy to understand and apply?
4. Then I just start writing. I don’t worry about doing it perfectly the first draft. I just follow the Writing Path as I’ve outlined above. I try to avoid theory and stay very practical, giving very detailed how-to information. If I can make things clearer with a story or example, I’ll use those too. My main concern is: Can my readers use this information to improve their current situation? If they can, I’ve succeeded.
- Are you ready to start writing using this basic Writing Path? Are you willing to do it imperfectly and then go back and edit and rewrite until it makes sense and flows well?
And that’s my simple Writing Path.
If you are stuck, I believe it’s all you need to get started. And the more you write using this formula, the easier it gets. Not only that, the more you write, the more all your other marketing activities improve because your thinking gets more focused and your communication becomes more persuasive.
So take a shot at it and see what you come up with! What will you write about today?
Recap:
* Deadlines - You’ll have better results if you have a regular deadline for writing. Interestingly, I found that a bi-weekly deadline was more powerful than a monthly deadline. Set it up so that the consequences of missing the deadline are worse than doing the writing!
* Problems - A good way to prime the pump is to list every problem you can think of that your clients and prospects have faced. Then trim down and prioritize the list until you have several good topics you can write about.
* Solutions - Beside the list of problems, write the main solution that will be the foundation of the article. For instance, beside “Writer’s Block” I’d put “Writing Path.” These sets of problems and solutions will be the foundation for several articles.
* Just Write - The writing that gets the highest readership is writing that is conversational. Throw out most of what you learned in English class and just write like you talk. And then read what you’ve written out loud until it flows naturally.
* Stay Present - Don’t worry about what people are going to think of what you’ve written. Just focus on your ideas and communicate them with clarity. If your ideas make sense, people will read what you’ve written and get the value you intended.
To measure how strong your brand is copy and paste: (http://brandidentityguru.com/bightml/brandmasterpiece.html). Then click “Take the brand strength test”. This is a short survey that measures the strength of any company’s brand. It’s a great tool to see where you are today.
Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru (http://www.brandidentityguru.com), a leading brand consulting and market research firm located in Easton, Massachusetts, USA, near Boston. Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.
Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.
Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Simon (America’s largest shopping mall manager) and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.
Scott White is a very enthusiastic speaker and has the gift of being able to explain the principles of branding in a compelling and entertaining manner.
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Posted by admin on June 19th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Having your website rank at the top of the search engines will provide you with a stream of traffic ready to read, buy or interact with your site. Getting this high first page ranking in the main search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN is extremely difficult and not to mention, time consuming.
Search engines take considerable notice of how many and the quality of incoming links to your site. Traditionally, webmasters have sent out link requests, asking to exchange links, this however is becoming more and more ineffective as people’s email addresses are spammed by automated robots.
Method savvy internet marketers are now using article submissions. Here is how it works. The webmaster writes an article on the topic of their site, including a back link to their site. They then submit this to various article directories. In turn some of these article directories list this article and its back link, and also distribute it to all their members. Some even pass this onto other article sites.
This can manually take a long time however. A lot of copying and pasting of articles has to happen, you have to log in and log out of sites, and the whole thing can be very tedious. Over the past 6 months new products have been released that take some of the tedium out of article submissions. These semi-automatically go to the relevant sites and submit your article, logging in for you and populating the forms with your article. They can be a great time saver.
Finally there are new services that actually go off and submit your articles for free to other large directories. They advertise on your article page on their site. This is a win-win situation. The article writer gets valuable backlinks to their site or their content read by many people, the large article directory gets the extra content and advertising revenue, so everyone is happy.
We highly recommend article writing for marketing your site, it may take a little time but with the services outlined here it need not be so painful as it once was.
For more information please see www.articlesnet.co.uk
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Posted by admin on June 12th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Time and time again, internet marketers have mentioned how “gold can be found in your mailing list.” It has become a cliché or sorts, so it seems, given the many times the maxim has been repeated over and over again, in many channels, in many articles, in many eBooks, and in many newsletters.
But there’s a reason why it’s a cliché. It’s because it’s true.
The bigger the size of your mailing list, the higher your chances are of bagging some sales. It’s a numbers game, one which you could easily manipulate to your advantage.
Why Your Need A Mailing List
Let’s go to the specifics.
As an online businessman, a mailing list is almost an indispensable requirement for your success. Here are the reasons why:
* Experts say that it takes 7 to 12 contacts with a prospect, at the average, before you could convince him to make a purchase. A mailing list would allow you to keep in touch with the said prospect.
* Your prospects have to be warmed up before they could make a purchase. You have to win their trust and confidence before they could part with their hard earned money. A mailing list opens the doors for a variety of strategies that would allow you to prime them up for your sales pitches.
* A mailing list would likewise make it easy for your customers to contact you whenever they need answers to their queries. In a way, a mailing list can also become an excellent vehicle to provide post sales support for your customers.
* The size of your mailing list reflects your credibility as a joint venture (JV) partner for profitable undertakings requiring a partnership between two or more internet marketers. Your mailing list is not only a well for potential customers, it’s also your badge of how much you have achieved in the industry.
Few are the internet marketers who do business online without a mailing list. This is a testament to how valuable your own subscriber base can be.
The Trick Is In Flooding Your Mailing List With Subscribers
Clearly, success with your mailing list depends on how many subscribers you’d manage to garner. The more people who will sign up for your follow-up system, the higher your chances will be in earning a lot of profit.
The question is, how do you explode the number of subscribers for your mailing list?
Driving traffic to your opt-in page is the number one strategy to implement. Online marketing tactics such as search engine optimization (SEO), article marketing, forum posting, direct advertising and reciprocal linking are keys for your traffic generation purposes.
But there’s one other strategy that would provide an almost instantaneous arrival of signups.
We’re talking about ad swaps.
Ad Swaps?
Ad swaps is an inexpensive but highly effective technique that involves two or more online businessmen with sizable mailing lists. One marketer would simply have to exchange ads with another marketer in their respective mailing list.
The result?
An exchange of ads that would result in an exchange of subscribers.
For example, marketer A has a mailing list composed of 5,000 members. Marketer B has a mailing list composed of 4,000 subscribers.
An ad swap simply means that marketer A would run marketer B’s ad in his newsletter, which would lead marketer A’s subscribers to marketer B’s opt-in page. Marketer B would have to do the same favor for marketer A.
Marketer A potentially stands to earn 4,000 new subscribers. Marketer B potentially stands to earn 5,000 new subscribers. Such would be a profitable exchange of members that would increase the size of their respective mailing lists!
Ad swaps usually are free. All you have to do is to find a willing partner, which would be easy once you have built a sizable subscriber base.
Offering freebies as rewards for signups would also ensure the success of ad swap campaigns.
Mark Flavin Is The Owner Of Mark Flavin Marketing. Mark Is An Expert In
Online Marketing & All Make Money Online
Topics. Mark Recommends You Visit
eMail Secrets To
Learn How To Increase Your Subscriber Base & Make More Money From Your List.
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Posted by admin on June 8th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Authors severely underestimate the challenge of promoting their books. The truth is - being an author is a lot easier than getting people to buy your paperback! More often than not, you have to convince an occupied public that the book you spent months, perhaps years writing, is actually worth spending $14.95 for - or whatever the price may be. This becomes more difficult for authors who don’t have the means of getting their books marketed to the masses.
For an unknown author promoting is daunting, and the reality is - it perhaps more challenging than authors might imagine! This is not a scare tactic, but merely intended to prepare authors-to-be for the grueling promotional process.
There are three significant factors that will help writers endure this process:
• Research ways to effective book marketing
• Set aside a budget to support your promotional efforts
• Have a realistic view of expectations
All three should be considered in advance of an author’s book publishing.
Research ways to effective book marketing:
Most soon-to-be authors are unprepared, and have a naive view of how difficult it is to break into the book business. Before your manuscript is accepted for publication, authors should develop a marketing strategy. You may consider marketing that includes building a website, getting book reviews, starting a contest, on and offline advertisements, etc. These ideas should be thought through before an author’s book is in print.
It will be more difficult for authors who don’t do their homework, and an understanding of how involved this process will be. More-than-likely an author may not be patient, and may be much quicker to give-up their dream they have of selling books. For this reason, writers who are thinking of publishing a manuscript should research methods to market their books. To do so, spend adequate time reading articles on book promotion either online or at a local library. This provides writers a general knowledge of the marketing strategy that is needed.
A writer will discover marketing strategies that best work for them and their schedule. Ideas on marketing tips that were most useful can also be obtain from published authors. In the course of their research, a writer will also learn if promoting a book is something they want to pursue.
Set aside a budget:
It is equally important for writers to set aside a budget for their promotional endeavors. As there are only so many opportunities to market for free. Writers will have to endure some cost in order to generate publicity for their books. And even frugal marketing can add up over time. To remedy this, writers should set aside an affordable budget aimed at preproduction costs.
Too often, writers take the view that a website will promote itself. In truth, a website won’t generate traffic if it’s not promoted. And some of that promotion requires paid advertisements. The cost of promotion can easily become overwhelming; therefore, it is important writers put money aside in advance to assist in the cost that will arise.
Realistic view of expectations:
There are numerous articles that provide marketing tips, but most of them also present an unrealistic view regarding author’s expectations. While most articles on book promotion are quite helpful, there suggestions only offer a way to generate publicity and not sales. It doesn’t assure a bestselling book as some would imply. And it is quite possible for an author to adhere to an aggressive marketing strategy and still not see results.
There is no “exclusive marketing plan” that will guarantee book sales. One just has to hope opportunities will arise after much planning, effort, resolve and patience have been spent. Authors have a better chance of actually enduring the promotional process if they are fully informed about the hard task of marketing a book.
Knowing what lies ahead for an author will lead to better planning and preparation. And being prepared will lead to resolve and hopefully opportunities for sales. Authors who do not have a realistic view of what they are in for, are greater inclined to be unable to endure the difficulties that will certainly confront them in the long-run.
Nadia Brown resides in Miami, Florida. Her poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and online publications throughout the web. She is the author of Unscrambled Eggs, her first full-length book collection. Learn more about her work at http://www.nadiabrown.com
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Posted by admin on June 5th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
The first rejection is always a shock. How could a publisher reject you after you worked so hard, printed the manuscript or burned a CD, wrote a proposal, and paid for shipping? Rejection is always painful, yet you may grow from it.
Give yourself time to process the rejection. Put the letter away for a week. Then, setting your emotions aside, read it again for content. Does the letter contain any helpful suggestions? If the editor took the time to include suggestions he or she thinks your work has merit.
See the manuscript from the publisher’s view. Did you follow their editorial guidelines? Did you format the manuscript properly? If you’re a nonfiction writer, are your sources credible? Ignoring these standards will guarantee rejection. Meeting these standards will increase your chances of a sale.
Evaluate your resume. Your resume should be clear and factual. Tempted as you may be to hype your resume, don’t yield to this temptation. Publishers can check a resume in minutes and nothing is more of a turn-off than hype. List volunteer efforts if you’re a beginning writer.
Re-check your market resources. Did you send your work to the right publisher? Jenna Glatzer, in her www.Writers.Break.com article, “Why You Get Form Rejection Letters,” says writers often send their work to the wrong publishers. A writer and editor herself, Glatzer says her rejection letters basically say, “Thanks, but this isn’t for us.”
Check competing works on store shelves. This takes courage because you’ll come across stuff you wish you had written or similar to what you have written. Your work should be of similar quality. Can you improve the quality? Does your work fill a hole in the market?
Get more information. The publishing industry is extremely competitive and a publisher may shift its focus to fit market trends. Fairview Press in Minneapolis, for example, used to bill itself as a family publisher. Now it is publishing special resources for in-house use within the Fairview medical system.
Revise your query letter. Writing a query letter can be harder than writing the manuscript because you have to sell the work and yourself on one page. (Editors don’t like long query letters.) It takes more time to “write short” than to
“write long.” See if your query letter can be improved in any way.
Make your proposal appealing. Writing a proposal is similar to writing a thesis. Your proposal should be concise, easy to follow (bold or colored headings), and grab the reader. Write too much and the editor is turned off. Write too little and the editor is turned off. Your goal is somewhere in the middle.
Does your proposal have a platform? Katharine Sands, agent, writer, and speaker with The Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency in New York City, thinks “every proposal needs a platform section.” The platform includes your credentials, professional organizations, credibility, authority, reviews, media experience, and marketing connections. According to Sands, publishers are more apt to accept work from authors who have strong platforms.
See what’s selling. Your top-notch writing and a sharp book proposal may not be strong enough to buck market trends. Talk with book store managers, read book catalogs, and check Amazon to see what’s selling. Health and fitness are exploding markets right now and you may be able to tap these markets.
Revise your work. (I heard the groan.) Yes, this is discouraging, but once you get into it the process isn’t bad. Find ways to make your work more appealing. You may index the book, for example, or write the back cover copy. Anything you can do to save the publisher money is a plus for you.
Finally, keep writing and submitting your work. You never know, the market may shift and the manuscript that wasn’t saleable last year may be snatched up this year. Practice your craft, believe in yourself, and dream of seeing your name in print. It will happen.
Copyright 2006 by Harriet Hodgson
http://www.harriethodgson.com
Harriet Hodgson has been a nonfiction writer for 27 years and is a member of the Association of Health Care Journalists and the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Her 24th book, “Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief, written with Lois Krahn, MD is available from http://www.amazon.com A five-star review of the book is posted on Amazon. You’ll also find a review on the American Hospice Foundation website under the “School Corner” heading.
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Posted by admin on June 1st, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
The internet has become a huge mall with little ally ways and secret entrances all over the place. There are a huge amount of sales websites all vying for the same attention. Indeed a highly competitive market.
Marketing skills and writing have become more and more important to the marketing of your products and will become increasingly so as the internet increases in size.
Don’t be under the illusion that now is to late, there are millionaires made every day and there will still be made twenty years from now.
Advertising your site and product is the small part of marketing, the secret ingredient is in the pitch, whether a landing page, opt in or sales page.
Funny enough it has been the same for as long as you possibly can remember, from the first radio commercials, print commercials up to the latest in HDTV, it has not changed, what has changed is the jargon, the language and the way people perceive the world around them on a daily basis.
The way you write your sales pitch, where you place which word, how long must it be, what do you say, how do you say it, what guarantees do you give, how good do you make it sound, what is the perceived value, what does the buyer get, why or why not ad bonus products, what about the price.
The buzzword niche has now been around for a while, and in most places you will be taught that to get good business you must find your niche. For most this is easier said than done, think about it while you walk the dog, it may help but it wont resolve the issue at hand.
Many new internet marketers make the same mistake, including me, when you start out, you want to sell everything to everyone, make millions of dollars and retire on the beach watching whatever you enjoy watching.
Many just throw in the towel after a while and that depends where they can push their patience to, others last a bit longer and as these leave new recruits eager to do the same join the party.
A vicious circle indeed and it seems that just a few at the top are making it. Many well known marketers are making it, but there are many more who remain quiet and anonymous that are raking in millions. It is up to you if you want to be well known or not, but use the right secret ingredient and you will be raking in the cash.
So for how long am I still going to be ranting on about the secret, or maybe it is my sales ploy, who knows?
Well lets let the cat out of the bag and not keep you in suspense any longer. You cant buy the secret ingredient. You are it. You just need to develop yourself using the right information.
What this means is that your product, book, sales letter or email needs to be unique to yourself. That is how your product will stand out from the rest. Just duplicating someone else’s work might bring you some success but the real success lies in you. Like any game before you can get those tricky moves going you need to do the basics right. Learn the basics and the rest will follow.
Do not believe that you are not a writer. For some it is harder work than for others, but if you intend to be a successful internet marketer and have those vacations at the beach, every moment spent will be worth your while.
Karl Stadler is a internet marketer and author. If you would like to know how to develop your secret ingredient please visit http://www.yourenterprize.com/articles/secret-ingredient.htm.
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Posted by admin on June 1st, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
I met Sue at a recent networking event. She is an author and speaker, and promotes her products by speaking at events and selling her products after the talks. Sue has a web site, whose primary purpose is to sell her products and make more people aware of her expertise. She isn’t happy with the web site, though. “I have a great product, but I only had 2 sales in the last twelve months from the site. On the other hand, I can’t keep enough inventory on hand for event sales! Something isn’t right.” So the coach in me had to ask a few questions and offer suggestions. “Tell me,” I said, “how do you market your web site?” “Market?” she said. “I don’t do much marketing. I have a great product, I am an accomplished author and well-known expert. People should be able to find me and buy from my web site.”
Many business owners put a web site on the Internet and think that “if you build it, they will come.” They, of course, being web customers. You have many potential clients out there, looking for someone with your expertise, looking for your products and services. However, it would be difficult for them to visit your web site and buy from it, if they didn’t know it existed.
Help your customers find you - create a good Internet marketing campaign to reach your potential customers and make them aware of benefits of hiring you. Here are three main online marketing areas to get you started:
* Your Expert Web Site - It should be user friendly, make the benefits of hiring you or buying your products crystal clear, and promote you, your services and your products.
Keep adding to your web site content. Write articles of interest to your target market, start a blog, and keep expanding your product line. Fresh content helps you with search engine positioning and keeps your potential customers coming back.
Curious how user friendly your web site is? Ask a potential or current customer to evaluate your web site.
* Newsletter - It should be highly relevant to your target audience. Publish a newsletter that gives your readers a lot of valuable information, but at the same time leave them hungry for more of your expertise. For example, a professional organizer’s newsletter can offer ten tips for getting kids organized for back-to-school, advice which helps the reader while inspiring confidence in the organizer’s knowledge and experience.
* Networking - Don’t forget about networking. Online networking is becoming increasingly prevalent. You can network through many online networking communities, such as Ryze.com, LinkedIn.com Ecademy.com, and many more. Each one has a different focus, feel, and dynamics. Try several and see which one is the right fit for you. Online networking is an excellent way to connect with your target market.
When you are selling your services online, your web site is the image you project to the world. Often, it is the first thing your potential customers see before they decide to hire you. Newsletters and networking are there to help you build relationships with your potential customers, and help them learn more about you and your business. Strategic Internet marketing is the combination of user friendly web site, newsletter, networking and other online strategies that you use to market your business effectively.
Biana Babinsky is the online business expert who has helped many business owners attract more web site customers, bring in more online publicity and increase the bottom line. Visit http://avocadoconsulting.com/free_newsletter.html to subscribe to her newsletter full of marketing tips and ideas and join her online business coaching program at http://www.MarketingSalad.com
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Posted by admin on May 12th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Are you interested in making your online sales soar
like an eagle?
If you answer yes, please pay attention to these insiders’
online sales tactics:
1. Maximize the effectiveness of your banner ads.
Don’t just use the same ad on every banner, use a
variety to attract the greatest number of clickers.
2. Make your web site load much faster by cutting
down on banner ads and start using more buttons.
Button ads are also smaller and take up less space.
3. Offer free advertising space to well known and
respected companies on your web site. Sometimes
people link their business credibility to yours.
4. People have been taught all their life to respect
people in authority. Tell your visitors that you are
the president or CEO of your business.
5. Offer people a free telephone consultation before
they order your product. When they get to know
you personally, it could convert to more sales.
6. Test the “bill me later option” on your web site.
Most people are honest and will pay you. It is a
powerful little niche and could increase your sales.
7. Find a charity your target audience would likely
support. Tell people on your ad copy that you will
give a percentage of the profits to that charity.
8. Hold a “buy the most wins contest” on your web
site. Tell people each monthly winner will get their
entire purchase refunded.
9. Attract visitors to your web site by offering them
a free course. You could package the course on
a follow-up autoresponder and send lessons daily.
10. Interview people related to your industry and
get their legal permission to convert it to an article.
Promote your web site by submitting it to ezines.
May these online sales secrets help you to make
a lot of money and succeed
Warmly,
I-key Benney, CEO
I-key, a Millionaire CEO from New York City is the creator of “Mscsrrr: Millionaire Secret Cash System”, (forex trading) program, which has helped thousands of ordinary people from all over the world to attain financial security and shining success during the past 2 yrs.
Mscsrrr Millionaire Secret Cash System helps you to generate $1,500+/Week for life, from home or office, part time or full time. No large investment or hassles. Win $1000-$2000 free “cash”…
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Posted by admin on May 4th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
One of the best kept secrets in today’s affiliate marketing world is the pay per click advertising version with Google AdWords. Adwords allows advertisers to place small ads on websites or on Google.com search result pages. You probably noticed the little advertisements to the right on Google.com.
In Affiliate Marketing you are promoting 3rd party products and in return you earn a share of a sale generated from your marketing efforts. We all have seen those little Amazon.com banners on different websites. These would be a very simple form of affiliate marketing. More sophisticated versions are complete stores build around Amazon.com or based on data feeds from other vendors. In some cases the affiliate has to build his own website and store - in others there are white label website templates or pages available for the affiliate to work with. Only when it comes to the actual sale the customer is redirected to the 3rd party vendor who carries the actual product.
Not a new variant but a not very well-known version of affiliate marketing is the promotion of affiliate product links/websites via Google AdWords. The power of advertising on Google.com is combined with the affiliate link. The affiliate partner does not need a website anymore, he directly links the customer to the 3rd party. With Google AdWords very targeted marketing is possible and well-written ads equipped with the right keywords can bring in big bucks. All the affiliate has to do is to figure out which keywords are affordable to promote. And that’s where secret to success is. Everyone can buy the expensive and obvious keywords to promote products but when it comes to affiliate success via PPC advertising (aka Google AdWords) the inexperienced marketing folks are being weeded out or are left with big holes in their pockets. Finding the right combination of keywords, target group, ad copy is the critical piece of the puzzle.
Overall - affiliate marketing via PPC on Google or via Overture (competitor of Google AdWords) can be very lucrative and quite a few people are making a living of it. It sounds easy to do but to break into this field a new affiliate needs a lot of luck, big bucks or patience and knowledge.
About the Author
Christoph Puetz is a successful Entrepreneur and international book author. Homepages: http://www.netservicesusa.com and http://www.vitaminassociates.com
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Posted by admin on April 29th, 2008 — Posted in Marketers Den
Over the past few years, research has continued to prove the benefits of e-mail marketing for business: low costs, high conversion rates and detailed tracking are all notable features. But e-mail marketing is becoming much more than just a tool for spammers and e-businesses. Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy on the differences between spam and permission-based emails, and more and more of them are accepting permission-based e-mail marketing as a positive replacement for direct mail.
The best news is that the majority of people who receive permission-based e-mails open, on average, 78% of them.
Jupiter Research reports effective email marketing campaigns can produce nine times the revenues and 18 times the profits of broadcast mailings. But crafting an effective business email is both an art and a science. Here is a list of factors, potential problems and effective solutions to keep in mind:
1. Spam! Spam! Spam! I don’t need any Viagra!
The average consumer receives more than 300 emails a week, 62% of which are spam. No wonder there’s such hostility towards the industry. But spam filters, bulk folders and “report spam” features are helping consumers become more at ease about the perils of spam. While 89% of users cited spam as a major concern in 2003, that number dropped to 85% in 2004, proportionally to an increase in the use of spam-fighting tools.
So as a permission-based business email marketer, what can you do? One tip is to remind your subscribers to add you to their “safe senders” list. The second, and most important, tactic is to make sure your email marketing service provider has a good relationship with ISPs. This will ensure that your email marketing campaigns go into your subscribers’ inboxes, not their junk mail folders. When choosing an email marketing software, make sure the company has strict anti-spam policies and complies with the guidelines of Can-Spam.
2. Images and formatting: Why do my emails look broken?
Broken email campaigns are an increasing concern among email marketers, especially since several companies and web-based email providers now block graphics as a measure to combat spam. In fact, according to ClickZ, 40% of email marketing messages delivered to inboxes are “broken.”
This was actually something that came up during Eliteweb.cc’s beta-testing phases, as we had a client in the Canadian Government whose recipients were mostly using highly secure email programs. The solution we came up has now become one of our key competitive advantages.
What Eliteweb.cc does is it publishes every single email marketing campaign sent to a secure location on the web (a location only original recipients of the email can access, thanks to encrypted technology that automatically authenticates the user). The technology also ensures you can track your users’ behaviors, even if they are reading your email campaign at the secure web location.
3. Personalization and relevant content: In a business e-mail, one size does not fit all.
In a recent study by DoubleClick, email users were 72% more likely to respond to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified. That number points out the absolute importance of allowing users to choose their own interest groups and have control over which business e-mails they receive. The most popular interest categories, according to the study, are coupons and household goods.
But you’re coupon is no good unless the user opens the email. Users in the study said the most compelling reason for them to open a business email is the name in the “from” field. So it’s a good idea to make sure your company name is clearly stated there. Another major factor is the “subject” line. Users cite discount offers and interesting news as the most compelling subject lines, followed by new product announcements and free shipping offers.
4. Click-through and conversion: Show me the money!
So the user has opened your email and read the content. Great. But where’s the sale? There’s good news here. For one, consumers are increasingly likely to make purchases as a direct result of a business email campaign. One-third of users in the DoubleClick study had purchased something by clicking a link on an email. Another 42% clicked on an email link for more information, then purchased the product at a later time. Second, online couponing is booming: 73% of consumers have redeemed an online coupon for an online purchase, and 59% have redeemed an online coupon offline.
In terms of industries, the top performers are travel, hardware/software, electronics, apparel, food, home furnishings, gifts/flowers and sporting goods. All companies sending business emails in those categories said between 71% and 80% of recipients have purchased their products because of an email campaign.
There’s no need to fret if your company doesn’t fit in to one of those industries. The overall landscape for email marketing conversions is looking brighter every day. The average click-to-purchase rate has increased nearly 30% since 2004 and the average orders-per-email-delivered rate has increased more than 18% since last year.
5. Stats tracking: Who are my real consumers?
E-mail marketing is an increasingly popular tool in effective CRM, and it’s about time more businesses recognize that. First off, if your provider’s email services for business do not include detailed, real-time tracking, you’re getting a raw deal. Real-time tracking is now an industry standard, and it’s highly valuable, as it allows you to see the exact moment a user opens your campaign, clicks on your link and makes that purchase. Studying your users can help you improve your communications efforts, so each campaign performs better than the last (several email service providers also let you compare the performance of your campaigns).
But many marketers are still in the dark. According to a recent WebTrends research, only 5% of marketers are very confident in the measurement of their online marketing efforts, while 26% admit they’re “flying blind.” WebTrends says the low confidence comes from a lack of knowledge when it comes to measurement, which means there’s still a lot of work to be done.
In email marketing, a blind shot won’t take you very far. But if you aim properly by following these essential rules of play, you should soon be reaping the same major results as so many online and offline businesses.
Robert Burko is the president and founder of Eliteweb.cc, a web portal that provides Fortune 500 solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Eliteweb.cc’s Elite Email Marketing program is optimized for all the above tips.
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