Consistent Contact: The Beauty of Email Marketing

To grow your business, you need a steady flow of new clients and prospects. To achieve that you need to get in front of potential customers an average of seven times before you become "top of mind." This can be achieved through consistent contact...either through advertising, a website, blogging, press releases, or a combination of methods to reach out to potential customers.

One of my favorites is email marketing which is easy and affordable to do. Start by creating an email list of potential customers by collecting names and addresses on your website or blog, setting an email sign-up sheet out on your store counter or collecting email addresses on drawing or sign-up slips. Next, choose an email service like YourMailingListProvider.com or ConstantContact.com, and set-up a regular email marketing campaign to reach out to prospects and existing customers.

Not sure what to write about or how often? Review my blog for ideas or contact me for a complimentary consultation. I'd be happy to help.

Virtually Yourz,
Dana Neuts

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Newsletter Success Secrets from Virtually Yourz

E-mail marketing is growing in popularity for two main reasons: (1) business owners need affordable opportunities to market their products and services to prospective customers, and (2) prospective customers are more often surfing the Web to find the products and services they want and need. As more and more companies use e-newsletters, or e-zines, to market to their target audience, however, we find our Inboxes filled each morning and we have to sift through those that we want to read now, will read later or will simply delete. To make sure that your e-zine gets opened now and read, follow these newsletter success secrets:

Content

- Keep it short and sweet. Whether you insert outside content or write your own, offer one or two main ideas with each issue. If you offer too much content, it is likely to be ignored.

- Add interesting tidbits, quotes or “how to” tips for the reader who skims.

- If you including lengthy articles in your newsletter, abbreviate them to one or two paragraphs and then link to the full article on your website. This not only keeps your newsletter brief, but it leads the reader to your website…where you can track the pages they visit.

- Tailor your newsletter to your readers by asking them for feedback. What do they like, dislike, want to read about, etc.? What topics are important to them? What problems do they have that you can help solve?

- Create an interactive newsletter that includes questions, polls, surveys or asks for specific feedback. By engaging the reader, you are more likely to turn him or her into a site visitor and possibly a client.

- Your last paragraph should include a call to action or an offer to initiate a call or an e-mail request.

Design

- Brand your newsletter so that it matches your other marketing materials. Include your logo, company colors and perhaps your photo.

- Make it visually appealing. Include photos, clip art, charts, graphs or other visual elements that complement the content.

- Choose an e-mail newsletter service that allows you design flexibility that is easily readable by multiple e-mail programs (Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc.).

Mechanics

- Make subscribing to your newsletter easy…and free.

- Provide “jump to” links in the top of the newsletter so readers can go right to the article or idea that most interests them.

- Send your newsletter at regular intervals—weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly— rather than sporadically. This is the best way to ensure that readers (aka prospective clients) remember you and look forward to getting your e-zine.

- Use an e-mail newsletter service that automatically creates an archive for your newsletters. This creates a history for you, but also for website visitors who might want to read past issues.

- Choose an e-mail newsletter service (e.g., Constant Contact, Your Mailing List Provider) that tracks user statistics and tells you who opened your newsletter and which links they clicked on. You can use this information to tailor future newsletters to your readers.

If you're unsure about any of these elements, consider the e-mail newsletters that you enjoy reading. What do you like about them? What makes them stand out? Why are you reading them? Jot down some notes about the elements that impress you and consider borrowing those ideas for your next newsletter!

Copyright © 2008 by Dana E. Blozis. All rights reserved.

Use e-mail marketing to get in front of your target customer

One of the best ways to reach out to your target customers is to gather their e-mail addresses. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, you can collect addresses by asking customers and visitors to sign a Guest Book at the counter. If you have a website or a blog, you can collect e-mail addresses there using a database or other e-mail service (I like Your Mailing List Provider) to capture the information.

Then, add e-mail marketing to your marketing plan, and send out regular e-mails to your customers. This can be weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly or whatever frequency works for you. The key is to send something memorable or useful and to send it regularly. At the same time, make sure you give your customer the opportunity to update his or her e-mail address or to opt out if they don't want to receive e-mails from you any more.

Ideas:

Monthly coupons or promotions
Creative ways to use a product or service you offer
Promote events or company news
Holiday or gift-giving reminders or ideas

Utilizing e-mail marketing is an easy-to-use, affordable way to get in front your target customers. Need more ideas or help getting started? Please e-mail me. I can help!



Virtually Yourz,
Dana Blozis

Creating, collecting, and maintaining a quality customer list

In an ideal world, we would all have industry-specific software tracking each and every minute detail of our business and our customers. If you don’t have that luxury, there’s still a lot that a small business owner can do to keep better tabs on their clients.

We’ve all seen those fish bowls sitting in the front of restaurants and shops asking for your business card in return for a chance at winning a prize. Giving away a prize is minimal compared to what that business is gaining: an inside look at their customers. Most business cards contain enough information that one can ascertain the industry, skill level, location, and sometimes even the education level of that customer.

After sifting through all those business cards, one might discover that a large segment of their customers are coming from people at a professional building one block away. The business owner may then target a different professional building two blocks away, trying to entice those customers to try out their business. You can also use those business cards to create a postal mail list or an e-mail marketing list using a service like Your Mailing List Provider or Constant Contact.

For more easy, do-it-yourself tips, check back often. I update the site several times a week!

Virtually Yourz,
Dana Blozis