Entries Tagged 'marketing' ↓

Email marketing can be an incredibly effective way of communicating with your customers and prospective customers.

When someone initially opts-in to your marketing list they wait in eager anticipation for your first email to land in their inbox. They continue to welcome your communications with open arms until, one day, the honeymoon period is over.

As time progresses you realise that your emails aren’t being opened as often (or at all); your messages are now unloved, unopened and unwanted.

What do you do?

Panic?

Send flowers?

Nope. When this happens it’s time to take action.

What to do when you get email marketing list fatigue

1. Look at your frequency

When they originally opted-in, you would have made it clear how often they would hear from you.  Are you now sending emails more frequently?

If so, begin to scale back. There are only so many times people will want to see you in their inbox. Don’t be that nosy neighbour who’s always popping in – you know, the one you hide from under the kitchen table so they think you’re out.

2. Gone stale

Take a look at your past few emails. Are you covering the same type of information? Is their layout and content becoming too predictable? If so you may find that the perceived value of your emails has dwindled so it could be time to rethink your strategy.

3. Incoming!

Don’t bombard your readers. If you are launching new products or offers, stagger them. It’s never a good idea to announce 4 or 5 within the same month. Firstly people won’t want that number of emails from you and secondly, they’ll get confused.

4. What’s your subject line?

Have you gotten sloppy with your subject lines?

These hold the key to people opening your emails so if they are no longer appealing, your emails won’t get opened. Perhaps it’s time to have a rethink about your subject line approach (or call in a copywriter to help you generate fresh and appealing content).

5. No one’s home

We all, from time to time, change our email addresses.

If one of your recipients hasn’t engaged with your mailings (i.e. they haven’t opened it) for 6 months or more, send out a ‘reengagement’ email – something that forces an action if they want to remain on your list.

If you don’t hear anything it’s safe to say that either:

• The email address is no longer active, or
• They no longer want to receive your emails

So it may be time to remove them from your list.

6. Spam

When was the last time you checked your emails against spam filters?

It could well be that something is triggering your recipients spam filters so your emails aren’t even reaching their in box.

If you want your email marketing to continue to be successful, regular list maintenance is essential to ensure that:

• Your readers are happy with their content
• All email addresses are active
• You are avoiding spam triggers
• Your subject lines are being effective

Article marketing remains one of the most effective ways of boosting your search engine presence. Not only do you begin to ‘own more of the web’ you also generate those oh so important back links to your website.

But it is only effective if you produce quality content that:

• Is well written
• Addresses the needs of your readers
• Gives value

Many companies are more hung up on quantity rather than quality. They’d rather pay a few pounds per article from writers (who are frequently based abroad and for whom English is not their first language) who churn out dozens of articles, than pay a decent fee and hire a professional copywriter.

It’s not a numbers game

Yes you need a lot of articles to build links. But submitting quality articles that are well written over a period of time is far more effective than bulk submitting sub-standard ones.

Many companies out there do value good quality writing (and are prepared to pay for it) but too many don’t.

Putting a good article together isn’t about scanning the internet and cutting and pasting bits from other articles.

It’s about taking time to discover:

• What topic is to be discussed
• The focus of the discussion
• Who your audience is
• What they are looking for
• What tone should be used
• What do you want to achieve with the article

It’s a pretty safe bet that writers willing to create your articles for a couple of quid a throw won’t ask any of that.

It’s your neck on the line

You might think that it’s only article marketing so it doesn’t matter what you submit.

Wrong. It matters a lot.

If you are putting your name to it, it’s your reputation on the line. You are using these articles as a way of establishing yourself as an expert in your field. If you submit poor quality articles you’ll come across as a cowboy and not someone people want to deal with.

Articles are not just about link building—people do read them—can you really afford to be that careless with your brand?

SEO nightmare

You will need an element of SEO within your articles so they are found by your target audience.

But cheap articles often lead to shoddy SEO resulting in complete nonsense that’s unreadable. Many of the cheap outlets will just stuff your article with your keyword. The result is gibberish.

A professional copywriter understands SEO and knows how to craft your article so it is search engine friendly and reader friendly. In fact, done well, you’d be hard pushed to spot the keywords.

You get what you pay for

As with all things in life, you get what you pay for.

If you want high quantity you’ll get poor quality.

But if you are more interested in your reputation, traffic and quality you’ll pay more but the end result will be far superior.

Every company wants to get the most out of its marketing budget, it’s only natural. But investing in quality copywriting will pay dividends in the long run—to your bottom line and your reputation.

After my last post about networking, I thought it was about time I ‘got out there’ again and met some local business people.

So off I went, out into a snow covered Suffolk to a local event – the main attraction being the fact it was billed as a ‘coffee morning’ rather than a formal networking event. I duly arrived, grabbed a coffee and then looked round the room.

I soon met up with a young lady who’d just started a new business. We got chatting and discovered that my old house was fairly close to where she lives now. We both had kids and talked about schools and the great fun we have as working mums. As we chatted I discovered she was facing various hurdles and dilemmas I’d already crossed when I started out so I was glad to be able to provide her with loads of tips and  information.

After a while we decided that we really ought to ‘work  the room’ – I hate that phrase, it sounds so calculating.

Across the room I spotted someone I’d not met before so I went over to say hello.

Did they ask about me, what I did, did I have a family?

Oh no, after my initial ‘Hello, isn’t the weather bad?’ (I’m so British) they immediately launched into their sales pitch.

I stood agog as they dove straight in telling me what they did, how long they’d been in business, how they could help my business (even though they hadn’t bothered to ask what I did)… this went on and on and on.

Eek – this is the reason I don’t like going to networking events. And to top it all, after exchanging business cards I seem to have ended up on their mailing list. As far as I’m aware, the acceptance of a business card doesn’t give an implicit consent to being added to a mailing list.

How to be an effective networker

In my book, to be an effective networker you should:

• Greet with a smile and a warm hand shake
• Make small talk
• Ask about the other person, don’t launch into a full-on sales pitch
• Give useful information if you can that might be helpful
• Listen and take an interest in what they have to say
• Introduce them to other people you know if you think  they may be able to help each other
• Keep and maintain eye contact

But whatever you do, don’t:

• Launch into your sales pitch
• Dominate the conversation
• Surreptitiously look around the room for someone more interesting to talk to
• Thrust your card at the other person
• Take the acceptance of your card as a right to add the person to your mailing list

I know men and women network very differently but taking the time to greet and get to know someone is common courtesy.

I like to meet people and find out about them. To me that is far more important than walking up to someone and saying:

“Hello, I’m Sally. I’m a freelance copywriter who can make a real difference to your business…”

Make a joke to break the ice and get to know the person behind the business.

Yes we are all time-limited these days but let’s not forsake the art of great conversation just to make a few more pounds. Talking, engaging and enjoying the company of others is not only more appealing but it will also ensure you are remembered.

So next time you’re at a networking event be more than just your business card.

It’s been a while since I wrote anything about Twitter so I’m about to put that right.

Are you part of the Twitterati?

Do you regularly update your followers with what you’re up to?

Whether you are a private Tweeter or a business user, it has revolutionised how you communicate with people. But for Twitter to work effectively you need followers.

I’m sure you’ve seen the many websites out there that promise to show you (for a small fee) how to generate tens of thousands of followers quickly. Well if your ego is the size of a small country and that’s how you want to use Twitter, good luck to you.

Personally I have built my following organically. I follow all sorts of different people from fellow copywriters to clients, celebrities and anyone else I think looks interesting. It’s been a great source of fun and also a great resource when I’ve been need of help (certainly with various IT issues). Numbers are not the be all and end all and quality is certainly  more important to me than quantity.

So how can you grow your Twitter following?

Well one of my favourite blogs, socialexaminer.com, recently published a post showing 7 ways to grow your following. And none of them involve those websites I mentioned earlier.

By concentrating on areas such as:

• Existing contacts
• Utilising your blog
• Giving away freebies
• Engaging in conversation
• Integrating your social networks
• Adding your Twitter name to your email signature

You can grow your following simply and easily.

So why not take a look at Socialexaminer’s 7 Twitter Strategies for Growing a Great Following and make the most of your Twitter experience.

Why not take a look.

Making a statement like that might seem like a strange thing for a copywriter to say but it’s true.

No matter how great the copy you write, not everyone is going to want your product or be ready to buy your product. It might simply be the case that your product isn’t the right fit for them.

So don’t be surprised when you don’t get a 100% conversion rate.

What prompted this post? Well, it was a conversation I had with some girl friends over dinner last night. Many of us around the table were avid readers so it wasn’t long before the debate about Kindle or book began.

To illustrate how a marketing campaign can fail with some people, I’ll give you my thoughts about what’s best—the Kindle or a book.

Let’s take a look at the Kindle to start with.

As a technology lover and avid reader you would expect me to be at the front of the Kindle queue. It has everything:

• E-ink screen so it can be read even in the brightest sunshine
• A compact design so it’s easy to carry around
• Instant access to more books than you can possibly read in a lifetime
• Fast downloads with inbuilt wi-fi capabilities
• Fast page turning ability for seamless reading
• Long battery life so you won’t be interrupted as you get to the good bit

It sounds absolutely fantastic. So why haven’t I rushed out and bought one yet?

For me, a book is so much more than just a way of conveying a story.

They have a lot of down sides:

• They take up a lot of suitcase space on holiday
• They get soggy when you read in the bath
• You need a lot of bookshelves to house your library
• They don’t easily fit into a small handbag

But for me there’s no substitution for the smell of a book, the feel of its pages and the sense of being privy to someone’s innermost thoughts. It is exciting to hold a book, become immersed in its words and to turn each page with trepidation never quite knowing what’s coming next.

So no matter what Amazon.com says technology will never (for me) replace a book.

Mind you I did make the transition from vinyl to CD to music downloads so here’s a challenge for Amazon.com why not send me a Kindle to try out and see if you can convert me.