Entries Tagged 'marketing' ↓

Email marketing is possibly the most important and effective marketing tool available to businesses today. It offers a way of regularly communicating with your customers to give them up to date information, telling them about new products and offers. Within seconds you can communicate with thousands of customers simultaneously – and that’s very powerful.

I have written numerous posts about email marketing in the past, such as:

How to build your email marketing list

Email marketing – Welcome

How to be an email spammer

How to become the King or Queen of email marketing

Consistent  email marketing

10 words that will make people open your email

Email marketing – When’s the best time to send?

Boost your email open rate

So this time I want to address a question I am frequently asked by clients…

How often should I email my customers?

As we all know life is rarely simple, so you can probably guess what my answer is going to be….it depends.

Not very helpful I know, but it really does depend on your business type. What’s right for one person isn’t necessarily going to be right for the next. You have to find the right balance for you. Take a good look at your business and the products or services you offer – the frequency of your emails will dependly largely on:

• What you are offering your customers
• Who your customers are
• What you have to say

Common frequencies are quarterly, monthly, bi-monthly (i.e. once every two months), twice monthly, weekly and sometimes daily (or multiple times per day).

To help you out, here is a short guide to email frequency:

Quarterly

The businesses that opt for a quarterly mailing usually don’t have a vast amount to say. Perhaps their products or services don’t change regularly and they don’t have offers to make. Although some would argue some contact is better than none, I struggle to see the point of only making contact once a quarter. By leaving so much time between communications you run the risk the recipient forgetting who you are.

To be quite honest, if you are considering quarterly mailings I would think very hard about it. There’s almost no point in bothering.

Monthly

Many companies go for the monthly option because it is regular without seeming intrusive. Often the businesses who opt for this frequency don’t use their newsletter/email to sell things. Normally they are more concerned with imparting valuable knowledge on the recipient. Giving away great information regularly is an excellent way to build and strengthen relationships with your customers.

As a copywriter I send out a monthly newsletter which offers my readers hints and tips on copywriting, marketing and social media. It is free information that I am giving away and I never sell through it. By the way, if you want to get on the mailing list visit my website and sign up.

Twice a month

This is a compromise for those companies that want to make contact more than monthly but don’t have enough to say to make weekly contact. One of the benefits of this frequency is you can alternate the type of content you email. One could be giving away information whilst the next could be an offer on one of your products. That way your reader won’t feel as though they are constantly being sold to.

Weekly

Weekly emails are often sent by stores looking to sell. Whether they are High Street chains or independent shops, weekly emails enable them to communicate offers and new lines quickly and easily to their customers. Plus being retail outlets it won’t come as a surprise to the recipient that they are being sold something.

So these are the most common frequencies used. There are companies that email daily or even multiple times per day but you’d have to have a lot to say to be able to keep that up.

Keeping up with your chosen frequency is important. Your customers will grow to expect their next newsletter/email so if you have to miss one for any reason (e.g. holiday etc.) make sure you let them know. Just a simple one liner to say there’ll be no newsletter this month but service will resume as usual next month will keep them informed.

If you are not already doing it, give email marketing a try. Coming up with a constant stream of ideas and content can be a challenge, but the results make it worth while.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

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If you own a business, you can’t help but have noticed that online is the place to be these days.

The vast majority of the population is searching the internet for the goods and services they want, so if you want be part of the action you have to have an online presence.

But lobbing a website into cyber space isn’t as easy as it sounds.

There are a number of online marketing pitfalls just waiting for the unsuspecting business owner who perhaps isn’t quite as web savvy as they think. That’s not meant to be criticism of all business owners – it’s just that the web changes at an alarming rate so it is vital you understand it and keep up with the latest techniques, taboos and pitfalls that await you.

Having a successful web presence takes time and money. Throwing any old thing together will kill your business quicker than anything. After all if you had a High Street store you would make sure the window display was inviting to passers by. Your website is your online shop window so treat it as that. It should be professional, appealing and tailored to your business needs.

This superb post on Copyblogger will help you navigate the mine field that is online marketing. Mel Brennan’s post 6 Online Marketing Mistakes that Will Kill Your Business takes you by the hand and walks you through the 6 no-nos of internet marketing.

It’s really worth taking a few minutes of your day to read through it and make sure you’re not committing any cardinal sins.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter

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Local search is fast becoming a very important marketing tool for many businesses.

More and more people are turning away from Yellow Pages and local press and towards Google and the other search engines to find local products and services.

Therefore it is more important than ever to make sure your website and online marketing activities are geared up for local searches.

Boosting your local search potential is all about owning more of the web.

How to boost your online presence

A great way to give your presence a boost is to increase the number of web pages on the internet that relate to your business.

By that I don’t mean you’ve got to grow your own website, but instead utilise the power of other websites. To illustrate my point I thought I’d review one such site called www.myProSpot.com.

myProSpot is just one ‘directory’ style website that you can utilise to boost your online presence. By adding your company details you are opening yourself up to a whole new market. Not only that but the Platinum membership (the site also offers a free membership) offers you something very valuable – a micro site for your company.

If you’re not sure what I mean take a look at the one I set up for my own freelance copywriting business. Now, not only do I have my own copywriter website, but I also own more of the web through my myProSpot web pages.

Websites such as these are great for local businesses. Not only do they increase your web presence and therefore increase your chances of appearing in the search results, they also offer other services such as customer feedback – so you can compete against the big boys through your feedback. Great feedback is only achieved through good service so the size of your marketing budget doesn’t matter.

Did you know approximately 40% of small businesses don’t have a website

That’s quite scary – but again, sites such as myProSpot can help you out.

If you don’t have the budget for a website, setting up a profile like the one above will give you that all important web presence.

It really is worthwhile looking into setting up profiles on sites such as this one – there are plenty out there.

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The good old fashioned press release is one of the best ways to get promotion for your business. But people frequently shy away from it because it can be difficult getting your announcement past the hawk-like gaze of the editor.

Yes, it can be difficult because an editor isn’t going to want to publish any old thing. But so long as you take time over your press release and ensure its contents are newsworthy rather than just a thinly veiled advert, you shouldn’t have a problem.

Historically, the press release has been seen as a off line form of marketing – it’s mainly aimed at newspapers, industry magazines or local business magazines. Well yes, it can be used that way, but increasingly businesses are turning to the online publishing world as an outlet for their press releases which has one significant advantage. Whereas with print media, your press release will appear one day and be someones chip wrappings the next, online press releases will be attracting a new audience for months or even years after its original release date.

Because of this, it is essential you write your release using your identified primary keywords so it will continue to attract the audience you want. Although it is important you still follow the usual rules of press release writing.

The usual rules apply

Regardless of whether you are writing for on or off line publication, your press release should still:

• Be regarded as newsworthy rather than a thinly veiled advert
• Be brief and too the point. Any waffle will get it rejected immediately
• Contain quotes from real people and referrenced back to them
• Ensure the first paragraph  summaries your story
• Make sure you send it to a targeted group of editors rather than going for blanket coverage

The on line press release

Keywords are as important to your online press releases as they are to your website copy. If you are unsure about how to go about it hire a freelance copywriter to help you. They will have the experience to make your story newsworthy whilst ensuring it is keyword rich (but still readable).

Utilising your keywords will make sure your press release is constantly picked up by your target audience for as long as it remains on the internet. The key things to remember are:

• Focus on your primary keyword for the headline, quotes and opening paragraph but taking care not to over stuff your content
• Make sure your summary also contains your keyword
• Still keep your press release brief and to the point
• Do your research and make sure you send it to journalists and bloggers who will be interested in your  subject

Following these simple tips will help your press release generate new readers and traffic for you for a long time to come. So, if you don’t already do it, start getting your press releases online and enjoy the benefits of longevity and constant traffic.

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Every now and then it’s a good idea to give your website a fresh look. Whether it’s because your company focus has changed, you’ve undergone re-branding or simply that your old site is looking tired, a fresh new image will breathe life into your online marketing.

Of course, along with a new design, fresh content is always a good idea so hiring a good SEO copywriter is always a great investment.

But getting back to your website – there are certain things that really should be avoided when you are considering a revamp:

Don’t over complicate

We all like an easy life so your website has to be simple to use. If your reader lands on your site and they can’t navigate around it, they’ll leave. Make sure your navigation is clear and very easy to follow. Also don’t over do the number of links on your website. There’s nothing worse than being faced with text littered with links and – more to the point – vast quantities of boxes in the sidebar containing links and asking them to do umpteen things.

You don’t want confused readers, you want relaxed readers.

Make your navigation simple and logical.

Dare I say it? Flash

Once upon a time, Flash was unreadable to Google and therefore did nothing for your SEO. Today, although Google has developed the ability to crawl some Flash, it will still limit the effectiveness of your search engine optimisation so it’s important to keep its use to an absolute minimum. So rather than filling your site with it, how about utilising your white space to add some great content instead.

Images

Everyone loves pretty pictures but, just like Flash, you can over do it.

Images that enhance the text are great. But if you have too many your reader won’t know where to look first. Keep them to a minimum and make sure you choose wisely. A bad image can kill a website.

When used well, images can also help you with your SEO.

Loading

If your website takes a long time to load it will turn off visitors faster than Jonny Vegas in a jock strap, and it will also have a detrimental effect as far as the search engine spiders are concerned. Google likes sites that load quickly as this post from the Google Official Webmaster Central Blog shows.

What’s your offer?

When redesigning don’t get so wrapped up in making it so pretty that you forget what your website’s there for in the first place. Many website owners are so obsessed with SEO they completely forget what is it they want their readers to do. Yes, SEO and organic search results are important, but so is your offer and call to action. If  you neglect those you will end up with an ineffective website.

Keeping your image fresh is very important but just make sure you always have your website goals in mind when redesigning your site. Don’t be tempted to go OTT – simple and effective is the best way to do.

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