Entries Tagged 'email marketing' ↓

Marketing your business involves a lot of writing.

Whether you do this in-house, or by hiring in the expertise of a copywriter, you’ll need one very important thing – lots of ideas for content.

Ideas can come from anywhere at any time, so here are a couple of tips to make sure your ideas keep flowing.

1. Paper and pen

Because you never know when inspiration will strike, make sure you have a pen and paper with you at all times (or a digital voice recorder).

During your working day, ideas will come at you from all directions:

• Comments from customers
• An article you’ve read
• A news item
• Mail shots
• Emails…

So when an idea strikes, write it down. It could be the start of a blog post, article or newsletter item.

Customer feedback is particularly important. If you’re scratching around for an idea for your next blog post, or newsletter, where better to look for inspiration than your customers?  If they contact you with a question, you could create a ‘how to’ or ‘top tips’ article based around their enquiry.

By keeping a record of ideas like this, you’ll never be scratching around for inspiration.

2. Swipe file

One word of warning – a swipe file doesn’t mean you are free to plagiarise other people’s work.

Every day you are subjected to hundreds of sales messages. You probably subscribe to several newsletters, receive loads of direct mail and read magazine and newspaper articles. Some of which you’ll read and some you’ll ignore.

But with the ones you read, think about what it was that made you take notice of them:

• What was in the headline that made you read on?
• How was it written?
• What type of information did it contain?
• What tone was used?

In other words, what was it that captured your attention? Once you discover that, you can reproduce that effect in your own marketing materials.

What it comes down to is this – online marketing is a continual process. We’re talking about newsletters, emails, web copy, blogs and articles – all things that have to be done regularly to keep your business in your customers’ line of sight.

By regularly jotting down notes, you’ll never be short of ideas for your online marketing.

It’s been like a slow train coming – more and more marketing is being turned over to digital formats, whether that’s websites, emails, e-newsletters, QR codes, video or social media.

Although brochures and leaflets etc., still hold a valid place in your marketing armoury, you do begin to wonder how long that will remain so. After all, if we look at consumer behaviour, it would suggest they will soon become a dim and distant memory like the humble pound note or vinyl.

The consumer leads the way

That’s where it all started (well, in my world anyway) – with music. I started off buying tapes of my favourite bands or vinyl singles. They were the best as far as I was concerned; that was until the CD arrived.

It wasn’t long before I was seduced by those shiny discs and my vinyl and tapes were consigned to the history books (and our loft). I thought CDs were the pinnacle – nothing could surpass their sound quality. But a few years down the line and I was confronted by the iPod and digital music downloads.

So, you guessed it, eventually I converted to downloading my music.

The same is happening to books.

A staunch lover of an actual book, I have vowed never to go over to the digital side. I love the feel and smell of a book; the ability to thumb through pages. I don’t care how cluttered my house gets (I simply can’t part with my books), I love browsing through book shops and buying books.

But, the other day I really wanted to read. Not having a book to hand (one that I hadn’t previously read), unable to wait for Amazon to deliver one, and certainly unwilling to brave the pre-Christmas crush in town, I did the unthinkable.

I reached for my iPad and, yes that’s right, downloaded a book.

Expecting to hate the experience, I have to say it’s not a bad way to read. Granted, I don’t have the physical book to touch or smell, but I can use a digital book mark, turn the pages almost as I would in real life, and enjoy it

That illustrates how consumers are embracing new technology and paving the way for change simply by accepting it.

We’ve already seen more and more people engage in online shopping rather than hitting the High Street, online banking, video calling, and social media – so perhaps the era of print marketing is drawing to a close.

The online way

Perhaps now companies should be investing more into their online presence. With the search boom continuing, their budgets may well be more wisely spent on search engine optimisation, professional copywriters, mobile websites, video and social media.

It would certainly appear that the effectiveness of print adverts is dwindling. So is this the beginning of the end?

What do you think?

Do you think we’re coming to the end of the print advertising era?

Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear your views.

Aidan Hijleh is a freelance copywriter and serves as the Non-Profit Partnership Liaison for Benchmark Email. Aidan advocates free email marketing services to assist with the flourishing of grassroots organizations.

The author’s views are entirely his own and may not reflect the views of FreelanceCopywritersBlog.com. If you are interested in producing a Guest Post for this blog, please get in touch with your ideas.

A number of industries have moved their business operations to the internet, but some are migrating slower than others. One vertical that is still tethered to offline world is the contracting  industry. In fact, research shows that only a mere 33% of professionals in this industry even have their own website. Although some are surviving just fine with their offline efforts, many others are missing out on opportunities that could potentially take them to the next level. In this article, we will explain why free email marketing is such a great place to start for a contractor looking to emerge online and improve business performance.

Requires No Investment

For many contractors, the one factor standing in the way of creating a presence online is the cost associated with internet marketing ventures. Whether it is social media promotions or paid search advertising campaigns, creating a presence in the internet space can be a costly endeavor. Even email services generally require a budget, despite being cheaper than other methods. The thing with free email marketing is that it requires no budget at all, which makes it a fine choice for cash strapped professionals in all fields. If you are a contractor, a free service will give you the freedom to invest the budget in other crucial areas of the business.

Tools to Accelerate Business Growth

The tools that typically accompany free email marketing solutions can be of great help to a contractor trying to improve business performance. In fact, it is very possible to get your hands on the same features other businesses pay for on a monthly basis. Some of the features you find in a free package may include sign-up boxes to place on your website and build your mailing list, HTML editors and templates for formatting and designing your campaigns, and comprehensive reports for tracking your results. These features and others are ideal for the contractor looking for an effective way to stay in touch with their clients and grow in the process.

A Marketing Solution You Can Count On

Some professionals avoid email marketing like the plague, instantly associating it with the dreaded practice known as spam. They believe that utilizing this technique will alienate clients and ruin their reputation. It is this line of thinking that causes many of them to remain stuck in the loop of mediocrity. Although spam complaints can and do occur, free email marketing can provide you with a highly reliable infrastructure from which to conduct your business. The platform is there to back you up. All that is asked of you is following the best to practices in order to keep the complaints to the bare minimum.

When it comes to free and paid offerings, the free option is usually of substantially lesser quality. As you can see, that is not always the case where email marketing is concerned. In fact, it could be the perfect solution for the savvy contractor looking to gain a competitive edge.

http://www.benchmarkemail.com/FreeEdition

You all know how great newsletters are. But do you really know how to write newsletters effectively?

They provide a way for you to keep in regular contact with your customers.

But what do you put in them?

Keeping your subscribers engaged and interested in your monthly mailings is essential. But how do you achieve that?

Timely

To ensure your content resonates with your reader, try to tie it in with topical events or seasonal subjects.

So in the summer months don’t start talking about Christmas!

By making your content relevant to what’s going on around you, you are showing your readers that you are a company that thinks – you’re not just emailing them to get them to buy. You will be providing timely and useful information.

Solving problems

Your newsletter shouldn’t just be about selling.

Adding an article that talks about ‘how to’ achieve something, how to solve a problem or one that offers general advice about something your readers are interested in, will add value to your relationship with them.

By offering this type of information they are more likely to remain subscribed to your newsletter. Plus talking about your field in this way will position you as an expert. So when they need help – guess who they’ll turn to?

Short and sweet

How long should your newsletter be?

It’s best to keep it short – no more than 400 words or so. That way you’ll keep your readers attention right to the end.

Send them something that goes on for eternity and they’ll delete it because they won’t have time to read it.

But it’s not only the length of your newsletter than should be short. By keeping your sentences and paragraphs short too, you’ll make it easier to read.

And of course, don’t forget your strong headline. If that, and the first couple of sentences don’t grab their attention, you would have lost them.

Link

OK, so you’re keeping your newsletters short but this month you want to talk about something in more detail because you feel it’s particularly important to your readers.

That’s where linking comes in; write a short piece outlining the main issues and then link out to more information. This could be a blog post or article you have written or an external news story.

This technique keeps your newsletter short and sweet and still provides your readers with the information they need.

Have fun

Your newsletter also has to be enjoyable to read.

That will not only come down to its content but also how it’s written.

Be human with your writing; conversational copy is far more readable than formal, staid language. Inject a bit of humour if you can and keep it light. Above all, let your personality shine through.

Newsletters are an amazing tool. They enable you to keep in regular contact with your customers and enhance that relationship by offering news, tips and offers.

Do you send out a regular newsletter? If so why not leave a comment below and tell us how you use it. You might have more tips for us all to follow.

Hmmm…that sounds rather scary. Email marketing is for life – but that doesn’t mean you have to do it forever and ever even once you’ve retired to your Caribbean island paradise (I can dream).

The ‘life’ I’m referring to is the life cycle of your customer.

Yes, it’s great to have regular newsletters or email offers that go out updating your customers of new products, great advice and the occasional not-to-missed offer. But it would be even better if they received emails that reflected their relationship with you.

Matching your email marketing to relationship status

To make your emails resonate with your customers it is essential you send timely targeted emails. By that I mean your emails should be tailored to the stage in your relationship you are at with your customers.

Some examples would be:

1. Welcome

Once someone has signed up for your newsletter or made their first purchase from you, send them a Welcome email.

It doesn’t have to be a long communication just something that welcomes them, tells them the type of emails they’ll receive from you and perhaps an introductory offer – perhaps offering 10% off for one day only.

2. Conversion

You are bound to have customers who receive your emails but don’t take any action. Perhaps they’ve only ever made one purchase from you and you need to tempt them back to buy again. They may never have bought from you.

If that’s the case this email needs to encourage them to open their wallets and buy. A great way to break down the barriers that’s preventing them from buying is by making them an offer they can’t refuse. Perhaps a buy one get one free, or 20% off your next order if made within a week.

By making your offer time limited you’ll encourage them to take action quickly.

3. Come back

On your mailing list you will have a lot of people who have gone cold on you.

They probably signed up a long time ago but have never made contact or bought anything.

Many companies spend a lot of time and effort attracting new customers but don’t lose sight of your existing customers.

The best way to tempt them back is a win back offer – tell them they are important to you and you want them back. Make them an offer they can’t refuse, something so tempting they’ll just have to buy.

As you can see, tailoring your email marketing campaigns to your customers is a great way of developing relationships and showing your customers they are important to you.

Standard emails are all well and good but by tailoring your communications to each individual type of customer you will strengthen your relationship with them.

Remember to look at your marketing list not as one entity but as several different types of people. Work out where each person is within their marketing relationship with you and send them emails accordingly.

That may sound like a lot of work but many email marketing systems these days offer you the flexibility of running these types of campaigns.

Give it a try.

Perhaps you’re already splitting your marketing like this. If so, leave a comment below and share your experiences. Do you find it works?