Posts from — May 2009

6 things to optimize before you stop.

If you’ve tried email marketing and have decided it doesn’t work for your business, I suggest giving it another shot. It takes time and effort to put together a successful email campaign, and it’s not working for you, there are multiple variables you should review. Here are just a few of the items you can review:

1. Your list: Did you rent or buy the emails or is it an in-house list? If you rented/purchased the emails, the problem could very well be your list. Rented and purchased email addresses typically hold a very low email response rate. You should look at how the email addresses were collected and if they would be interested in hearing from you. If they were trying to win a free car and gave their email address, they may not even realize that the would receive emails from you.
2. Subject line/Sender Address: If your subject line isn’t appealing or looks too much like SPAM, your readers may not open it up. And, they’re less likely to open up the email if they don’t know it’s from you. Make sure your email address and name show who you are and that your subject line is appealing without looking like SPAM.
3. Content: Try sending a different variation of the emails you’re currently sending. If the content isn’t appealing to your readers or you don’t have a strong call-to-action, you won’t see the response you want. Do you tell readers what action they should be taking from your email?
4. Segmentation: Who are you sending your emails to and are you sending what they want? This ties in closely with content. Here is an example of a gym: if you have people who are fit and are interested in building muscle and people who are looking to lose weight and send an email to everyone on one of those topics, you’re cutting your potential in half. Half of the people you sent the email to are already not interested and are likely to unsubscribe because your email isn’t relevant to them. Segment this list into two groups, and send the email to the right segment.
5. Sending Day/Time: Certain days and times give email a better response rate. Most people check their email (including personal email) at work. Sending emails after the workday ends or on weekends may not work as well as sending it during the work week. And if you’re sending them on Friday afternoon, they very likely won’t work… do you want to respond to any emails on a Friday afternoon?
6. Filtering / Blacklists: Even if you are using a reputable email service provider, your emails may be filtered into the SPAM folder for content. Make sure you check your emails and see what level they are considered. You should also check your IP address and make sure you aren’t on any blacklists. While you may be following all the rules, you’re likely sharing that IP address with someone else who may not be as diligent. If you find that you’re blacklisted, contact your email provider, and they can help you get it resolved.

Are you looking to implement email marketing or optimize your email marketing strategies? Give The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing a call. We are happy to discuss what you’re currently doing and what we can do to help.

Mobile marketing is the new frontier. Business owners are embracing online marketing: creating websites, focusing on SEO (search engine optimization), building a blog, joining online social networks… but what’s next?

10 years ago, online marketing was unknown, untried, and, for the businesses that took the risk – and a phenomenal payoff with relatively little competition. It’s now a very competitive market that is necessary to a business. But where is everything going? What is coming that has the potential to be the next new frontier?

Enter mobile marketing. Companies are estimating that there will be 300 million shipments of smart phones (basically pocket computers) in the next two years.

These smart phones will allow for location-aware marketing – they can gather consumer  information and target your company to people who are nearby. Example applications that currently exist are:

• Lattitude – A Google program that allows users to show their locations to friends and family who have opted in through mobile devices.
• Friends on Fire – A Yahoo! Program that allows your Facebook contacts to know where you are through mobile devices.
• Loopt – Gives you access to a map to locate your friends and find out what you’re doing. You can share photos and tips on different places.
• Citysense – Provides a map that shows its users locations as hotspots: the more users in one place, the hotter the spot.
• 3banana – Allows users to tag map locations and share with friends using Twitter, Facebook, or a custom network.
• Connect – Gives users the ability to post messages on a map for friends to see. This will be integrated with Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter
• Where – A location tool that allows users to find friends through Facebook and it’s own “Buddy Beacon” program and can locate movie trailers for nearby shows, cheap gas, and great restaurants.
• Centrl – Allows you to see which of your Facebook friends are around. Shows friends on a map and allows you to send instant messages. Can mark a location to let them know about a restaurant/nightclub. Retailers can send you a coupon if you’re near… and you can share that coupon with friends

Start considering mobile marketing now… so you can capitalize on the market before the competition sets in. Not ready to take the plunge? Make sure your website is mobile ready – so if someone does look up your business on their phone they can still connect with you. Contact The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing to get started.

An April 2009 eMarketer.com study estimates that ad spending on social networks will increase to an estimated $2.35 billion dollars. That’s an increase of 17.3% from the previous year on a medium that is ruled by recommendations.

People spend a lot of time on social networks. So, it makes sense that companies want to capture some of that attention and advertising is an easy way to do that. But, as a few smart companies have learned, there’s a less expensive and more effective method than paying the networks to display a billboard ad: social media branding.

Social media branding is where you join the social network (which is free) and build up your brand online using those networks. By utilizing your current customer base and your local community, you can build up your online social brand and take advantage of multiple benefits.

With a social media brand, you don’t have to pay the social networks money to show your billboard ads. You’ll save money and still get viewed by people on the social network. And, you will be seen by the people who are most likely to buy – people who have purchased from you before or their circle of influence where a recommendation has much more weight than just an ad.

Once you start building your online social brand within your community, it’s no longer traditional advertising where you’re doing the selling. If you do it right, your customers will be selling you to their friends. And that is a significantly stronger sell than anything you would be able to pay for.

Ready to start social media branding? The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing can help. We can provide a custom strategy for your business that highlights both your company’s and customers’ needs. Contact us today for a free evaluation.

Go In With A Plan

There is a lot of talk about whether or not social media helps or harms a business. The truth is, it can really help… or you can waste a lot of your time and indirectly hurt your business because that time could be better spent elsewhere.

As a business owner, you need to make sure your time is well-spent. You can’t really afford to waste hours on something that won’t show a result. To ensure that the time spent implementing social media is worthwhile, go into it with a plan.

Some things to consider when you’re making your social media plan.

• Have a designated person to make updates, blog posts, tweets, etc.
• If this is company-wide, implement a social media policy. Your employees need to know what is acceptable to put online and what isn’t. You need to make sure everyone keeps your company reputation in mind and doesn’t post anything that can result in a negative image.
• Discuss what you’re going to do if something negative about your company comes up online. How will you react, what do you want to do?
• What types of social media sites do you initially want to participate in? What specific sites are you going to start with? Choose one or two to start – it can get difficult to add social media into your current work schedule.

The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing, helps small businesses develop local marketing strategies both online and offline. If you’re not sure where to go next with your marketing plan, give us a call… we can help!