Online marketing solutions

Email Marketing is on the Rise

E-Mail Marketing is still the fasted and most cost effective method of sending large amounts of e-mail communications anywhere in the world.  E-mail campaigns seamlessly work with and harness the power of this successful and highly effective Worldwide Web Internet market.

But it doesn’t stop there.  Supporting statistics and facts are constantly mounting, leaving no room for doubt of its role and influence in the lifeblood of any business.  So we thought we would share some with you.  Calling all email marketers, your future looks very bright – very bright indeed.  Let the facts speak for themselves:

Forrester Forecast:  US Email Marketing Spending To Reach $2 Billion In 2014

Forrester Research explains that falling CPMs (cost per thousands), higher ROI (return on investment) and growing consumer use of social email accounts will all contribute to the use of email by direct marketing professionals. The firm says that in five years consumers will opt-in to receive over 9,000 email marketing messages annually.  The following information below will be the key grown for the future of email marketing.

Forrester’s research cites the following as key growth areas for shaping the future of email marketing:  We quote:

-” Retention email — email that recipients have blessed with their permission — will continue to replace paper communications and will make up the largest share of marketing messages. Retention emails will account for more than a one-third of all marketing messages in consumers’ inboxes by 2014, representing increased competition for marketers.

- While the bulk of the market will continue to deploy email marketing on a self-service basis, the growing complexity associated with data integration and new tactics to increase relevancy will drive healthy growth in use of email service providers.  Spending on opt-in ad-sponsored or ad-supported newsletters will double over the next five years as traditional print publishers face falling circulation and ad revenue.”

How much greater the proof of the awesome power of email campaign marketing, than the enclosed.

Email Campaigns helped save Circuitcity.com

CircuitCity.com Returns.  “After shutting down operations in January 2009, CircuitCity.com is back.  Much of the surge in traffic can be attributed to an email campaign to reach out to potential. CircuitCity.com customers, since nearly 33% of the upstream traffic, was referred by web-based email services.

The campaign was successful in driving visitors to the website that hopefully were previous customers that wish to re-engage with the brand.”

It used to be that whoever had the largest marketing campaign was able to establish the most brand-name recognition, which meant a guaranteed greater profit for the larger businesses and small businesses were left by the wayside. And yes, big businesses like Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy still have name recognition and their current customers will return to them, but the face of advertising has changed and there is a new generation of potential customers that just need a little push in the right direction to choose your Local Small Business instead of one of the big guys.

Advertising has moved to the Internet. People still watch plenty of television, but they flip the channel when a commercial comes on and they have TiVo, which lets them fast forward, straight through commercials. So all those millions of dollars that big businesses are spending on their Television Marketing Campaigns are starting to go to waste. What’s important now is a business’s online marketing campaign and their search results on the search engines. This can also cost a lot of money, but it doesn’t have to.

Already Google, Yahoo, and Bing have created local sections as part of their search engine results. First the results were simple. A user would type in a certain keyword/s into search, such as “Pizza New York” and around seven pizza places would pop up under the Local Business Results under Google. The results included a basic map, and a link to their website. Now the results include user reviews, the menu, more pictures, more detailed maps (including directions), coupons from the place, additional details (on payment methods, dining style, cuisine, price range, parking, and attire) and the phone number so people can call the place directly.

Microsoft’s Bing shows pretty much the same details, although Google is much more detailed in their information and the list of businesses are completely different. One thing that Bing has over Google is that they include nearby places of interests to the location you’re looking at, such as movie theaters, cafes, dessert restaurants, and bars.

And now that Microsoft and Yahoo are merging there will be some nice new additions to these results. Expect pictures from Flickr, articles from Wikipedia, travel info, weather updates, and YouTube videos under the local business listings.

Become part of the Local Business Results

If you’re a small business and don’t have a large marketing budget, add your business’s listing to the Local Business section on Google, Bing, and Yahoo. It’s free and the local business results appear first on the search results. So let me say that again: Free Amazing Advertising and Exposure for your Local Business!

You can also continue to update your listing over time with your address, phone number, pictures, and menu. Also try to get your customers to write a quick review on your business, even offer incentives, like a special coupon for 5 or 10% off their next purchase at your store.

Advertise with Facebook

In addition to the local business section, start doing some extra social media marketing (also free!). Create a Facebook account and a fan page for your business and your products. Use the page/s to update your followers about special promotions or deals you’re having. Post pictures on facebook, add a link to your website, a map, videos from YouTube (also easy and free to sign up), and let your followers write comments (which of course as an administrator you can delete them if you don’t like them).

The important thing you need to remember is why a customer will go to your store instead of a larger chain. You offer a personal connection and personal treatment as well. Remember to emphasize your commitment to your customers. If you care about them, they’ll care about you and spread the word about your business through their personal networks.

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Whenever you’re attempting any type of marketing campaign, you need to get the word out about your company. You want clients and potential clients to feel comfortable knowing that your company or business is an expert in its field. And one way to do that is by keeping your customers updated with news and reports and worthy advice on products and skills that are related to your field. So since, the Internet is the king of all kings for marketing these days, a great way to be constantly in touch with your clientele is by writing to them through blogs and articles.

Articles have been around since the dawn of journalism. And articles come in many different forms. There are news articles, magazine articles, academic articles (in academic journals and papers), encyclopedia articles (anyone familiar with this thing called Wikipedia?), marketing articles (generally a little bit of content that tells you a lot about a product or business), and usenet articles (which is a bit more complicated, so we won’t go into it right now). If you look at Wikipedia, they’ll tell you that blogs and podcasts fall under the article category, but I beg to differ.

The closest type of writing that blogs relate to are columns, mostly personal opinion pieces in newspapers. The difference is that these days, anyone can write a blog, and you don’t need to be hired by a magazine or newspaper to get your opinion out there. In fact, at this very moment I am writing a blog. I’m telling you my opinion on producing and displaying content to the world.

There are pros & cons to writing both articles and blogs. On one hand, articles demand a specific type of format, including: a headline, lead, body, and conclusion. Articles are restricted in their type of writing and they tend to be more formal. Articles tend to follow a schedule. The reader expects to see a new article on the website of a company’s page, around 10:30 am on Friday, every week, in the same way that he or she expects to receive a monthly newsletter, on the 5^th of every month.

On the other hand, the opposite is true with a blog. Blogs are much more informal in their style, their content tends to be a bit more subjective and opinion-based, and also a little bit more unreliable. It doesn’t mean that you’re reading blatant lies as you read a blog, it just means that you don’t have 5 interns in the background fact-checking the content of a blog.

The downside of blogging is that if you want to keep your readership, you have to update your blog much more often than your articles. I remember once telling a friend I was going to start a blog and that I would write one blog per week and she laughed at me and told me that I was a fool and no one would read it, and if they did, they would get frustrated because I wasn’t updating my blog often enough. She was right. You can’t expect people to continue to read your blog if you don’t update it at least a few times a week. Ideally, you should write daily to keep people interested. I have a theory on why this is, blogs are not just informative, but they’re fun. Because they are informal and you have freer reign with your topics, it’s still more of a guilty pleasure for someone to read a blog. And we really can’t deny our guilty pleasures.

Blogs are also a great way to publish your link all over the web

2010 is upon us.  The years fly and most of us feel we have not had enough time to reflect and reassess our marketing campaign strategies, goals, and hindrances to that elusive successful ROI.  Reflection is a good thing.  As online marketers we know that strategic planning is an endless process, filled with changes and adjustments along life’s way.  It is a continuous path of learning, changing, and taking chances.

In many homes, a new year means that dreaded spring-cleaning.  We attack those rooms in which we have hidden away so much junk and clutter, too afraid to face it head on.  It has been building up for some time.  Now, it is time to open those areas that have just collected dust, and sweep them clean.  Throw out the junk.  What do we do then?  We make room for change, for newer and better things that will now take their place, improving our quality of life.

So in parallel, we need to clean out our old ways, the ideas that have not worked; and the marketing strategies that are no longer relevant with the age we are living in.  We need to get a transfusion, improving the lifeblood of our business.  Let’s determine to make a new plan which incorporates innovative strategies the blessed internet has provided.  Our goal has not changed, but the path always does.  Our message continually needs to get out in fresher and newer ways.  We are always in search for greener pastures of growth potential.

The world is our oyster, but we must learn to crack its shell.

Vision: Every brand, product, and service, must start with a vision. What is yours?  Having a core goal and voice must be shared by your entire team.  It is your company’s foundation.  Before your next internet marketing campaign, get your team together and make sure you are all on the same page.

Conversation not Dictation: Do you have conversations with your clients or are they constantly listening to you?  Give them a voice. Engage their thoughts and thinking.  As email campaign managers, or internet marketing consultants, you may know your tactics, and know them well, but your clients are the ones using your services and products. Seeing the world view from their end can enlarge and start increasing your market niche simply based on their advice and comments.

Dare to be Different. Think about it.  If you could personally meet with a product manager, or even the owner of a business, isn’t that a good thing?  It gives a personality and voice to the product and brand.  Don’t just be an innovative thinker, live out of the box and take some new and uncomfortable steps that you may have never considered before:

1.   Visit your clients.  Let them know how valuable they are.
2.   Create events and invite them – they can be webinars, physical conferences and seminars
3.   Create a New Year’s survey asking how you can improve.
4.   Gather some testimonials for your next newsletter.

Let your clients know they are dealing with a person, not an impersonal business.

Demonstrate your Values. In this day and age of schemes and gimmicks, it is refreshing to see a company that stands by the values that it preaches.  What gives you the cutting edge in your competition?  Do you deliver what you claim?  What message do you send out in your mass email campaigns and enewsletters?  Your business should represent all you say you stand for.

Be Visible and Reachable – Say Hello to Social Media Marketing. Social Media is and remains the most cost-effective promotional method out there. You now have the ability to attract large numbers of visitors, some of whom may come back to your website repeatedly. If you are selling products or services, social media marketing gives you the potential you need to make your site profitable in a fairly short period time.

Statistics show over 17% of internet users spend their time on Social Media sites.  This has tripled in only one year!  According to a recent article from Business.com’s 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking Study, 83% of U.S. Companies use Facebook and 45% use Twitter. This includes hotels, airlines and travel suppliers. Who would have thought this would be happening just a few years ago?

Establish your Social Media Presence. Become an active listener and follow other bloggers, twitters, and tweet.  See what your competition is up to; create a buzz about your company, product, and service.  Facebook and Twitter are free, but blogger beware!  It is a commitment to start and maintain Facebook and Twitter.  If you cannot do this, you can always find great freelance bloggers at a reasonable rate to do it for you.

Internal Tweets. Twitter can be used for internal purposes, as well, remember intranets?  Twitter some tweets about meetings, employee updates, or you can provide a link for company news and updated documentation.  Appoint an employee to do this for you; they will love it.  Bring the age of technology into your company by being a live example of a business that embraces and uses the latest and greatest.  You will be seen by all as a smart and savvy innovator.

Email Campaign Software. Email marketing campaigns succeed neither by chance nor prayer.  They are planned, strategically targeted, against the tracking results of statistics and demographics.  Only a campaign software can create targeted demographics, analyzing all the results, in detail, for each campaign,   Receiving information such as click-thru-rates, mail opened, discarded, bounced and unopened, along with comparative stats from previous campaigns, can only be achieved with this software.  Why repeat a poorly received campaign in the past.  Email campaign software gives you that cutting edge difference.  Get the facts and stats to help plan your next move.

Website Makeover. How long has it been since you have taken another look at your website?  If it has been over two years, it will definitely not be reflecting your new voice, goals, changes or business directions that you have recently taken.

ZAHave you created a landing page that represents your campaigns?  That page needs your utmost attention.  A properly and thoughtfully customized, well designed landing page increases your conversion rates. Your landing page should convert a prospect to a client, a possibility to a sale. Think of that page as a strategy within itself. Write the content with care, and focus on your goal which is that clickable call to action.

Everything is moving so fast as the internet becomes almost the sole source for international marketing, news, and communication.  To build your ROI, you need to be where the action is.

That is just your first step.  Know your goals, live your message, and shout your brand and product to the world – Be an effective, strategic internet marketer who, like a chameleon, can change colors, spots, and direction when and where it is necessary.  Your survival depends on it.