What do backlinks and signposts have in common?  They point the way; give us direction, showing us the path to take.  Without the proper direction, we would find ourselves going around in circles, never finding our desired destination.

Pointing potential customers to your website is every email marketer’s goal, big or small.  Without website traffic, there can be no conversions, without conversions, there will be no income.  You cannot remain neutral; you must have some definite goals in mind, with specific and carefully researched strategies, with which to carry them out.  Like a wise investor, you need to incorporate a diversified portfolio, knowing that one marketing plan, will never be enough.

Welcome to the World of Backlinks

If you have any knowledge about Search Engine Optimization, you have no doubt come across this term.  Backlinks (also termed Inbound Links) are links that direct traffic back to your website, or a particular landing page on your website.  As more and more people rely on the Internet to promote their business, backlinks are now considered one of the main building blocks for smart SEO website strategies.

Why are backlinks so important?  Because search engines like Google give more relevance and credit to those websites that have more backlinks than the others, when they do a search query.  We need to insert a caution here.  Search Engines also consider the quality of the links.  Inbound links should come from other sites whose content is relevant to yours.  The higher the relevance, the great their quality is considered.  For example, if a website is all about health related issues, and you are promoting travel, that backlink would be assessed as having no relevance.

Don’t try to fool the search engines.   Many webmasters do whatever they consider necessary to influence the search engines with as many external backlinks as possible which has been termed “Link Farms”.  Because of these deceptive practices, a search engine’s criteria for quality inbound links has become even tougher.  Those pages that are determined to be link farms are negated and can put your site in danger of being banned entirely!

Reciprocal Linking.  When web sites link to one another, either directly or indirectly through different website pages, a search engine considers those links to be reciprocal links.  As a person is judged by the company they keep, your backlinks will be judged by your reciprocal partnerships.  In other words, don’t hitch your wagon to a bad apple.  When you apply your personal rules in friendships to your reciprocal links, you will become more cautious and choosy on whose company you want to keep, making sure that webmaster is using white not black-hat SEO techniques.  For further reading on this, please see Google’s explanation on Link Schemes.

Some handy tools for your backlink building campaigns:

• Domain Stats Tool:  Displays the backlinks of domains in Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
• Backlink Builder Tool:  This tool searches for websites that have relevant themes and content related to your site.

Web Directories

Web Directories are like an Internet phone book.  Filling out a web directory, as in a phone book, helps you get found.  You can list your services, information or products for sale.  With each directory, you choose a category under which you want your business to appear.  Another great advantage is that a Web Directory lets you pick your own keywords, also called tags.  These tags are used like search phrases when someone searches a directory for a particular service or product.  This is another way of creating a backlink to your website.  Most directories are free and do not require a reciprocal link (a link back to their site.)

Article Directories

Writing and submitting articles to articles directories are another great source when creating valuable backlinks.  Most article sites are free.  The only drawback is that it can be a tedious process.  While some submission sites just ask you to submit an article, on the fly, the better ones will require a double opt-in sign up, with a required step-by-step article process submission form.  The good news is that you are allowed to put your website and email as a signature in each article.  It is a great way to get your name, company, and personal voice out into cyberspace.  For further reading…

Forums

Forum signatures are an easy way to obtain backlinks from topic related discussions. Adding your backlinks to a forum signature when posting your responses is another way of getting your company noticed.  Make sure that your responses are valuable and real.  Do not try to sell yourself on a forum.  Many forum moderators constantly scan the communications for spammers, and will quickly blacklist you if they see a sell in your response.

Blogs

Blogs are not only a great way to get backlinks, but give you a chance to write about the industry, product, or service that you represent.  They open dialogues with your clients and give prospects the chance to exchange ideas and thoughts with you directly.

This is not an exhaustive discussion.  They are many doors and roads to follow when growing your ROI.  Research, read, check, test and prove what works for you.  Perhaps in your future blog, you will be able to share some valuable information with us.   Understanding and apply SEO is a continual learning process and experience, in which we are all students.

One size does not fit all, even though many clothes manufacturers tell us so.  When trying on any garment, the fit is important.  Why buy anything for the sole sake of spending money.  In a bad economy, everyone is looking for bargains, wanting to become wiser spenders.  If you are sending out generic email newsletter campaigns, you are enforcing and repeating that message – one campaign suits all.  Your campaign is then assuming the times we live in and the people that you are trying to target never change.  Do you think everyone wants to hear and buy the same things?  Without any complicated demographics, our experiences tell us that statement is false.

So now you have your email lists parsed, your behavioral stats are in, and your demographics are tuned.  So now what?

Creating successful email campaigns takes time and planning.  Pretty graphics, a smart logo, and interesting content, make a good start, but, there are many other factors to consider.  Taking the time to rethink your strategies, while weighing and comparing past email campaign results, is the surest way towards the better path of a higher ROI.

As with any car that needs monthly maintenance, a smart email marketer regularly analyze their campaigns.  They look for all the ways to modify, fix, and improve on the results they are receiving.  They are out of the box thinkers that are not afraid to try new things.

So here are some suggestions worth considering when evaluating your future newsletter campaigns:

Revisiting your Style and Design. Times and people change.  What was eye-catching last year may be boring now.  Does your design look professional and inviting?  Does it strengthen and convey your image and message?  Test your design by sending it out to trusted family members, friends, and colleagues.  Have some fresh eyes help see where adjustments and changes may be needed.  Here are some areas of concentration:

• Colors and fonts
• Photographs and imagery
• Too much or too little white space
• Is your content easy to read and parse?  Can readers quickly scan finding what they want quickly and easily?
• Are your articles too long?  Do you link readers back to your website to continue reading longer stories?
• Does your newsletter contain clear and precise calls to action with links to a corresponding and dedicated landing page on your website?
• Have you created an alternative text-only version of your newsletter for users who block graphics, or read predominantly on mobile devices?
• Does your newsletter contain tips and valuable information with special sales and close out information?

Create Dynamic Content. Think beyond the sale.  Content needs to be catchy, interesting, but most of all, relevant.  Your recipients receive a great deal of email, comprised of spammers selling everything you could think of.  The average user spends about 4 seconds looking at the sender address and the subject line, before deciding to keep or trash.  Here are a few ways to keep ahead of your market and industry, while creating dynamic content for your readers:

• Make sure your company name is in the “from line.”  People hesitate to open an email when the name is not recognized.
• Your subject line should be short, catchy, and clearly represent your main content.
• Send out a survey asking your subscribers what they would like to see in future issues.  Give them a list of potential topics from which to pick.
• Ask your readers to submit questions about your industry, products, or services.  Let them know that those questions and answers will be put in the next issue.  Create a little anticipation.
• Invite readers to send in their problem solving success stories.  This will greatly contribute to making your email newsletter content interesting and relevant.
• Have contest for the best story, rewarding them with a gift or discount coupon.  Everyone loves recognition, with an added freebie.
• Be savvy.  Research the industry experts in your field.  Ask them if they would like to be featured in your newsletter, with a section promoting their book or article.  Let your readers see it is not all about you.
• Use Social Media.  Write blogs and articles and put those links in your newsletter.  Involve your recipients in a dialogue.  Create a personal voice showing that a real person is behind the company.

In hard economic times, we need to be innovative and creative.  Use all the technology tools available to create conversations and talk to your audience.  Reaching out in creative and fun ways brings in your personality, while you are building an Internet persona.  Do not be afraid to experiment.  You are dealing with everyday people, like yourself.  Get out there and have some fun.  Now is the time to be different.

Whether for your own company or the one you work for, beginning your adventure in the social media world of digital communications is a good decision.

Social Media has become one of the most aggressive ways to promote your site or business, increasing back  links, resulting in additional website traffic.  For any business counting their costs, while weathering a bad economy, social media has become a lifesaving path.

Social media is all about conversation.  It is a very appealing way to create relationships online – giving a face and voice to small and large businesses.  This strategy can easily add to an email marketing campaign, whose name and brand begin to take on a more personal and widespread public recognition.

Beginning your SM Campaign Strategy – Before jumping in head first, you need to know what tools you will be using, as well as the information you want to share.  As with any email marketing campaign, research, time, and strategy must always come first.  Here are a few tips:

Preparation and Research

• Create an audience persona. What does your target audience look like?  As an email marketer, demographics is a survival word.  Get an image of your audience, age, gender, spending and surfing habits, what sites they visit, and how they use the Web.  This forms your foundation.

• Check out your competition. Find out what your competition is doing in the social media arena.  What are they talking about, what are they writing about.  See what kind of responses they are getting.

• Policy Guidelines. Make sure your company has a social media policy in place.  Guidelines are needed for any employee that engages online conversations representing your organization.

• The Designated Blogger. It is very important to designate a blogger.  Whether you hire a freelance blogger, or give someone in your organization this opportunity, this is a serious commitment.  Blogging needs to be consistent, live conversations need to be monitored.  Give this serious thought – you need the right person creating the right voice and conversations.

• Goals and Meetings. Have your plans and strategies clearly defined.  Make time for follow-up meetings on the outcome and results.  This is a learning process.  You can easily modify ideas and content along the way.

• Interesting and Relevant. Whatever message you put out there, cannot be taken back.  People are stressed, quickly skimming through titles and bits of conversations, as they surf.  Take the time to surf around at what your target audience is talking about on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.  Do not let stress or urgency make your efforts sloppy.

Don’t forget to have fun. Social conversations should have some lightness about them.  We are not engaging in metrics or behavioral sciences.  Bring a bit of fun into this.   The very fact of the enormous proliferation of social media, proves that people want a more personal relationship and voice with those they do business with or buy from.

Here are some of the top SM sites in which to get started – Click Me!

If you have chosen to try email marketing, you have chosen a good path.  Email marketing is still one of the most cost-effective ways to promote any business.  While balancing your business and life in a tough economy, the tough need to be creative and resourceful.  Using email marketing campaigns enable you to be creative, while learning who your niche market is.  As you know, with any serious investment risk, planning and strategy need to be included to achieve successful results.

How do you Get Started?
There is a learning curve when it comes to sending out direct email marketing campaigns.  You may find yourself having difficulty trying to figure out your first step.  We have anticipated that question and hope that this article will help provide you with good basic starters to get you up and running.  There are no pat answers, so you need to see what will work for you within your budget and time frame.

Mailing Lists for Targeted Email Campaigns

Without a mailing list, you have no one to send your e-campaigns to.  But how do you start?  Normally, there are three options:  Buying a list, renting a list, or creating your own.  If you are a new business, the last choice may be impossible, even though it is the best one.  You may not have time to wait, and need to start somewhere.  Here are your options:

1.    Renting an Email Address List
Renting an email address for direct email campaigns can be very cost-effective.  Whether obtained from email campaigns, direct bulk email marketing, or an email newsletter subscription, these email address lists are a valuable source of sales and leads.

2.    Buying an email address list
The alternative to renting an email list is to buy the list.  Once bought, you have full control over your list sending out your own promotions, whenever you want.

3.    Building your own mailing lists
Building your own mailings lists takes time.  Your reward is the fact that you have managed to create a list of prospects who want to receive your information and e-newsletters.

An Optimized Website:

Getting on board with SEO: How do get started?  Here are some of the key things to know:

Keywords and key phrases: Know the right key phrases or key phrase optimization.  These are the words and phrases that will be picked up by the search engines when someone does a query.

You need the specific key phrases that describe your services or products, strategically placed within your content, thus allowing your site to show up on the first results page, of a search query commonly referred to as the (SERPs).  If you are not sure what those words are, go to Google AdWords – this site will help you determine what words come up in a search.  You can also put your competitor’s website URL in the search to see what keywords they are using.

Back links: Back links are links on one website that lead back to another.  Creating back links to your site is another way to be found.  Here are some suggestions:

1.    Articles: Write articles – get them published with your website and name as a signature.  There are at least 100 websites called Social News and Social Book Marking.  Write an interesting article about your field or something you feel strongly about.  Once published, your article will be parsed in the Search Engines and come up under the right keywords, as well.

2.    Press Release: If you are new and have newsworthy information to share, write a press release about your company or product and get it published on as many press release submission sites as possible.  Remember, it must have a common interest to your targeted audience.

3.    Reciprocal Relationships. Find products that compliment what you do and agree to put their link on your site, with a reciprocal back link to yours.

Networking and Sales Leads: Join Yahoo Groups that align with your goals and business objectives.  Answer questions poised by other members.  Show your knowledge and get your name out there.  Attend different events that partner with other organizations.  Make contacts as you create new leads.  Do not let them grow cold.  Reach out in someway.  Keep your name and company in the front of their minds.

Company Blog: Not only is this a great way to share information about your company or service, but you are communicating to your audience in a person voice.  Blogging is huge, and people love to share their opinions.  Start a conversation with your clients and prospects.  Let them know you are a person, not just a company.

Landing Pages: Before sending out any email marketing campaign, you must have a matching landing page.  This is page will have a specific and clear call to action.  Your page should match your campaign and create a strong sales pitch to the prospect upon landing.

Communication and Permission Email
Before sending any of your leads any email newsletters or campaigns, reach out to them in a personal email or phone call, asking them if they would be interested in joining your newsletter or reading your blog.  Don’t be labeled as a spammer.  Your reputation represents your company, product, and service.

Get informed. Any email campaign marketer needs to become familiar with The federal CAN-SPAM Act protects consumers against unwanted e-mail.

Becoming an email marketer is easy.  Becoming a successful one takes research, time, and planning.  Before taking the plunge, make sure you know how to swim.

We are living in a tech savvy existence.  Our day-to-day activities revolve and depend upon our ever-growing digital world.  This is a perfect setting for increasing our email campaigns.

From the very onset of the first email campaign, email marketing is and continues to be one of the most important tools for B2B and B2C email marketers in the arena today.  It is still the fastest and most cost effective strategy, sending out hundreds of messages to our lead databases in today’s global market.

The Internet is a main source of survival, not only for the seller, but for the consumer, as well.  Worldwide communication, for the most part, emanates from the Internet.  Our correspondence, conversations, and documentation seem to be headed towards a paperless society.  Every area of our life is affected.  The digital innovators of this age continue creating more tools and applications, with a focused dependency upon technology, not only for business, but for our pleasures and enjoyments, as well.

One Size Does Not Fit All

I am sure you have seen this famous tag (One Size Fits All) on many items of clothing.  Whether you are a size 4, 6, 8 or 12, they are telling you, one size fits all.  It denies our physical uniqueness, size, and preference in one’s appearance and choices.

This type of thinking may have crept into our email marketing campaigns.  Demographic studies show this just can’t be true.  Our target segments are constantly changing in age, marital status, preferences, physical locations, and professions.  Sending out generic mass emails is ineffective and may cause the loss of subscribers in the process.

I remember joining a cable company.  Spoke to and met the representative.  Long conversations and then we closed the sale.  Many times after that, I kept receiving mass  notifications under my door to buy their plan and get better deals.   They were generic advertisements absolutely nullifying my being a client and having met with and reached out to their client representative.  It really made me angry.

Generic Emails do not Differentiate between Clients and Prospects

•    Generic emails give a strong disconnect message to the recipient of any prior buying or contact history.  It is as if it never happened.  They are impersonal.
•    Generic emails discount the tracking history and stat results of prior campaigns.  You are shooting in the dark.
•    Generic emails fail to create value and interest, since they are not based on demographics or history.
•    Generic emails do not create, nurture or encourage a personal dialogue or feedback.
•    Generic emails show a lack of appreciation and value to your clients.
•    Generic emails make everyone a prospect, never acknowledging the client.
•    Generic emails create irrelevant messages which can lead to unsubscribers, spam, complaints or inactivity.

As smart marketers, we need to follow the formulas that work – sending the right message to the right subscriber at the right time.  Our clients are the reason we exist.  They need to feel special, and more importantly, acknowledged and appreciated.

This type of parsing can only come from demographics, stats, and history.  Without careful segmentation, you can push away good customers, who just might take their purchase potential with them somewhere else.

Remember: Prospects and clients need different email campaign strategies.  Generic email campaigns tend to make everyone a prospect, resulting in ineffective and irrelevant messages and unwanted results.

As Internet marketers we know that the only way to have a successful campaign is to target the right message to the right people.  How is that done?  By obtaining cutting edge demographics, we track our e-campaign results, as we continue to fine tune and modify them, for the best optimal results.

The Internet and Worldwide Web have not only broadened our markets, but have made them international as we market to totally different cultures that are unique and not our own.  That changes everything.  How?

Well, I can give you a small personal example.  I moved from the United States to Israel.  Both countries have two totally different cultures with their own individual languages and ways of living their lives.  Some things are just not as important to them as it is in the US.

Their buying habits, clothes, and culture, is dissimilar in so many ways from my own.  Using generic internet marketing will never cut it when striving to reach a global international audience.

Tracking Online Behavior

As marketers we need to personalize our messages and campaigns to the right segment and market.  We need to understand a person’s personality and makeup – not just push a product or service they might need.  So the goal and challenge is how to market a global brand, making it relevant to each culture and individual.

Another factor to consider are the differences in the decision making process.  Each group may base their decisions to purchase on totally different factors. For those of you who send out email campaigns, the use of technology in tracking a recipient’s click through rate and purchase response to a call to action, is not new.

Today, with just an ISP address, we can access a great amount of detailed information on what people do, where they go,  and where they click when they visit a website.  We use this information to give  ourselves a better direct marketing advantage helping us target their choices and buying habits.

Know What Might Offend

Not only are the words we use responded to differently by another culture, but the images and symbols we project for our brand or services can affect our market as well.  I remember when I was taking a technical writing course, we were shown how an innocent symbol used in a United States technical user manual, when translated into another language, could greatly offend a different country and culture using the same product, graphic, text and symbols.

We learned when translating technical documents from one language to another, we had to research the words, graphics, and symbols that might offend the target country and replace them.  An entire marketing niche could be lost by one misunderstood symbol or graphic.

Whether we market internationally or not, at the end of the day, our marketing strategies have one and only one basic objective.  Our goal is to reach out and connect with our target audience on a personal, relevant, and meaningful level.

As we learn how to develop a broader marketing base, with the inclusion of culturally informed strategies, this will not only engage a more accurate recipient, but further enhance and develop our global market niche.

During an economic recession, very few businesses have the option to expand their budgets. Most businesses are strapped for cash and are cutting all extraneous expenditures wherever possible. This being said, it’s hard to imagine any business being able to spend as much as they want on a marketing campaign. I know every business dreams of having TV spots during the Superbowl reaching millions of potential customers in 30 seconds, but chances are that your business can’t afford it.

But without marketing, how will you continue to stay in business? You can’t just rely on your old customers, especially if you’re a new business because you don’t have any old faithful customers. No matter what, you have to continue to maintain some kind of marketing campaign. Email marketing is an effective way to market your products, services, and/or business to those old faithful customers and to potential customers as well.

Why use email marketing?

There are so many reasons to use email marketing, especially in a time of financial crisis. One reason being, that it’s just cheaper. Sending emails into the inboxes of all of your customers and potential customers is much cheaper than using snail mail. Direct mail involves extraneous costs for paper and postage stamps. Let’s not forget that it is much less effective than email marketing.

Email marketing lets you directly communicate with your customers, instead of sitting and waiting for them to get in touch with you. It reminds them of your presence and what you have to offer them. You can your customers updated, entice them with sales and post direct links for certain services or products that you know they’ll be interested in. The truth is that Google does this all the time. They watch and take note of all of our activity on the web, and then they begin to advertise certain products that they know we’re interested in.

With an email marketing campaign you can see how effective your advertising. You can see how many people click on your links through CTRs (Click Through Rates) and want your services. And you’ll see more traffic to your website. The nicest thing is that email marketing is fairly simple and there are products all over which will help you set up your campaign and continue tracking it to see how effective it is.

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.”

Let’s face it.  We are in a war against time and numbers.  The competition is fierce and all of us must use every resource available to keep up and stay ahead with our email marketing campaign strategies.  Ironically, one thing has not changed.  A business thrives or takes a dive, depending on their customer service.

What we email marketers fail to remind ourselves about is that at the end of the day it is the customer, not us that hold the power.  They sit on the ROI throne.  There are many voices and offers knocking at their door, so they know that they hold the upper hand.  Without a good client base, no email marketing campaign can be successful; no business can remain, and continue to grow.

Effective and strategic online business marketing campaigns are like planning a party with gifts and surprises.  But planning this party with bad customer service means you when you show up, you will be the only guest.  That’s no fun and sure as heck is not profitable.  Like I said, the customer can makes or breaks your business.  So we need to get back to the basic foundation of good old fashioned customer service.

The Best E-Campaigns Never Replace Good Customer Service

Internet Marketers and Customer Service

The Internet has a voice that is loud and clear.  The internet has become a steady source of income, marketing, networking and social media building for all business email marketers.  But it can also turn like a trusted pet, becoming a source of repeated negativity when dealing with unhappy consumers via the Web.  It’s like that bunny rabbit with the Duracell battery; it just keeps on going and going and going.  Whether a true criticism or not, once posted, it can create a domino effect as it gathers readers all over the world.  In this revolutionary age of lightning fast communication, we need that communication to be as positive and helpful as possible.

The table has turned, for in the electronic age, this is the age of the consumer and their voice.  They now have immediate access to voice their opinions, good and bad, traveling the entire world within just seconds.  Now everyone can hear about their complaints and problems.  They are not vulnerable and helpless anymore.

Social Media Does not Replace a Bad Customer Experience

Social Media is hot.  Everyone is blogging and tweeting everywhere.  But if you are only about your bottom line, don’t go there.  By using social media, you are giving an open door and giving ear to your clients and prospects to actually communicate with you, in an open and casual environment.  The keyword phrases here: – Are you a good listener?  Do you want to hear them and respond to them honestly?

Email marketing campaigns are directed at people.  We spend our strategies on catchy subject lines, clear and concise call to actions, great content and the list goes on.  This is good, acceptable strategy, but hello to direct and open dialogue for 2010 – deemed “The Age of 24/7 Accessibility.”

B2B and B2C Marketing channels are changing constantly, especially by using Social Media.  Our methods and strategies must be reevaluated and change with the growing need and obsessions with twitter tweets, facebook, and blogs.  Our clients want to talk to us and we must respond.  No longer an obscure label or brand name, we now emerge as people, with our own voice and opinions, entering the conversational arena of direct communication at all cost.

How we listen and respond is not only being judged by our customers, clients, and prospects, but by Cyberspace itself.  Its timeless Internet vault will store our actions and words forever.  A blessing and curse at the same time.  Let’s use these tools to our advantage and re-examine and create a new Customer Service Bible for 2010.

Customer Commandments – Thou Shall
1.    Listen and hear them.
2.    Identify and anticipate their need and requests.
3.    Let them know they are valued and appreciated.
4.    Provide quality service at all times.
5.    Be dependable with deadlines.  Stand by your promises.
6.    Follow up – don’t leave clients in limbo.
7.    Always have a spirit of “how can I help you?”
8.    Admit your mistakes, when necessary.  Have humility.
9.    Go beyond their expectations.  Not everything is money.
10.  Encourage feedback. Hey, you might get some fresh ideas from them.
11.   Focus on building loyal and sustainable clients – not just numbers.

Don’t neglect your employees.  Without them, where would you be?

One of the most important areas when growing a successful and strong e-marketing Internet presence is, and will always be, the development and establishment of good customer service.  The bottom line simply boils down to this and this alone – relationships.  How do you treat them?  Remember, reputation precedes your voice.

So what creates brand loyalty? We know it is beyond satisfaction. Being satisfied with a product or service, does not guarantee a repeat sale.

As email marketers and internet marketing entrepreneurs, we are always looking to offer within our direct mail or B2B campaign, an unbelievable and irresistible deal and promotion. We work on the subject lines, content, and design with passion and web marketing strategies. We may, in fact, be successful at increasing our sales for that month, or that year. But down the road, we ask ourselves, will they come back anytime in the future?

When I think of brand loyalty, Harley-Davidson immediately comes to mind. As an article about them surfaced in my internet search, so amply stated: “It’s one thing for people to buy your product or service, but it’s another for them to tattoo your logo on their biceps.”

Sorry to say, many of us internet marketers will never know that kind of loyalty, but wouldn’t you agree, it is well worth the battle to discover its secret? Can we apply the Harley magic in our communications with our customers? What can we learn from them that might give help give our clients a sense of affiliation and loyalty with us?

1. Know your target customers

Harley targeted their hard-core enthusiasts – their loyal following. They reached out to them to find out what they cared about. What could they do to offer them more value in their product and services? They nurtured those relationships with great care towards a fabulous future.

2. Creating the brand platform

* Brand positioning – Does it have clarity and precision.
* Brand naming-Does it connate the right image and emotions.
* Brand identity – How is your brand portrayed visually and verbally?

3. Customer Experience – Ask Yourself

* What do your customers expect?
* Have you asked them their experiences?
* What will improve their experience and satisfaction?
* Have you listened to your customer survey responses or are you just surveying?

Getting answers to these questions is the key when wanting to create a product or service that delivers the promises you claim, and the loyalty you hope to inspire.

4. Communicating your Message internally

A company is a team. The entire team must be on the same page understanding the brand promise, the core values, and how it is delivered to the public. Everyone has a role to play and all must be fully prepared about the objectives. Then and only then can everyone personally and accurately represent the brand, as they interact with your customers daily.

5. Communicating your brand to the Public

Know the paths you are taking. Whether you plan to use the media, a press release, the newspapers, or your website, your brand and message must be singular and strong. This marketing campaign cannot be and should never be hurried. Words, images, and strategies need to be consistent and seamless. They all work together.

Bringing someone from suspect to prospect, from prospect to client, from client to a loyal repeat buyer, takes many stages, a quality product along with resources and time. But the payoff is well worth the investment. Absolute loyalty to your company brand is priceless. Hey,. Just ask Harley!