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  • When Email Marketing Efforts are Ineffective…


    Help with email marketing

    Most savvy business owners understand the importance of email marketing even if they lack the know-how to run an effective email marketing campaign. Simply put, these business owners realize the imperative to run email marketing campaigns to help them meet the needs and expectations of their target audiences, but they might not possess the skills, or have the time required to orchestrate an email marketing campaign that could yield truly effective results.

    Fortunately for these business owners, they don’t have to know a great deal about email marketing because there are many Internet-based marketing consultants who can assist them in planning and running an effective email marketing campaign. So in this article, we will provide a few tips for locating a capable consultant to assist business owners and companies of all sizes – including your business, if you lack the time or required skills – in the creation, administration and completion of an email marketing campaign.

    One of the most important criteria in any consultant you seek out and hire to assist you with your email marketing campaigns is experience, which must specifically pertain to results and degree of past success s/he can demonstrate (or document). This is important because one of the best indicators of how well a consultant will perform for you is how well s/he has performed in the past; meaning that if a consultant was able to help multiple past clients to attain their company goals through email marketing, that consultant will likely be able to assist you in achieving similar results.

    EMC hiring criteria

    Another important criterion which should be taken into consideration when hiring a consultant to assist you in your email marketing efforts is the opinions of that consultant’s past clients; so before making a commitment to work with a particular consultant you should request references from past clients, with the understanding and intent to contact each of the past clients provided and question them about their experiences with the consultant. Follow through at this stage is vital in order to to obtain accurate feedback, so you should not just site on these references, you must contact them and get their opinions about the consultant’s work.

    An important point to keep in mind is the fact that most consultants will likely only provide references whom s/he is confident will offer positive opinions of services s/he provided. That having been said, you can still learn a great deal about the consultant’s style, personality and techniques through the references you obtain. This is important because the consultant’s personality, as well as his/her skills and abilities are also as important as any other aspect of the of the Email Marketing Consultant (EMC) hiring process.

     

    Keep in mind that – like anything else in life, or any other relationship – there is the possibility that you do not get along with the consultant, or you may have difficulty communicating with him/her, a situation which could make it difficult to work with him/her altogether. On the other hand, if you are not providing the consultant with enough information, or offering feedback which could help him/her to adjust proven email marketing strategies to better meet your expectations it might be hard for you to meet your stated business goals. So a good working relationship (chemistry) with your chosen consultant will also be very important.

    Qualified, objective reviews

    While it is true that skills, knowledge and experience are all important characteristics of a good email marketing consultant, sometimes none of these factors matter if personality conflicts prevent you and the consultant from communicating adequately. Therefore your personal opinion of the consultant should always be carefully considered before making a hiring decision; and one way to influence your personal opinion is to contact the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to get objective independent reviews of the email marketing consultant you are considering hiring.

    The BBB can provide you with a great deal of information regarding the past performance of most email marketing consultants who have been in business for a number of years and does not have any unresolved complaints with the BBB. This additional research will be a good indication the consultant performs adequately and treats clients fairly. Conversely a consultant with a number of unresolved complaints against him/her is not likely to be a good choice.

    Drawing conclusions

    Similarly a consultant who has a number of independent reviews raving about the quality of services s/he has provided to past clients will likely be a good choice to assist you in your email marketing efforts, while a consultant who has a number of poor reviews on the Internet is not really a good candidate for the job. Obviousdly you can draw your own conclusions based on reviews of the consultant’s historic profile; but if past clients were not happy with the services s/he provided, you will likely also not be happy with these services.

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  • To Evaluate Your Email Marketing Business

    The EM business model

    To say that email marketing can be a very effective method by which to reach target audiences around the world is most certainly an understatement, since the email marketing business model, when appropriately implemented, has been proven to do just that. However, not everyone who attempts to use email marketing as an additional income stream to augment their brand will acheive success. Reason? Failure to implement the email marketing plan! In other words, an individual’s email marketing efforts may not result in him / her reaching full potential unless s/he invests the time, energy and money needed to evaluat his / her email marketing strategy.

    During this evaluation process you, as a motivated email marketer, must be able to determine whether or not your email marketing efforts are helping you to reach your goals during a particular email marketing campaign, as well as after that campaign has completed. Likewise, during the same evaluation process you can also determine if the email marketing is having an adverse affect on your business. That having been said, we will discuss a few of the reasons why evaluating your email marketing is as important as any other aspect of this Web-based business model, and will likely result in the kind of success many email marketers envision when they start out.

    Ineffective email marketing

    Consider an email marketing campaign which is not effective because it does not reach members of the intended target audience. This ineffectiveness can be attributed to an opt-in/subscriber list which does not consist of subscribers who expressed a high interest in the particular product, service or topic originally offered or discussed on the marketer’s website. Such failure and ineffectiveness result when business owners neglect to ensure that their email subscriber lists include recipients who are extremely interested in the products or services they offer.

    Another group of business owners that often get less than optimum results from their email marketing efforts are those who take shortcuts by purchasing large email lists, since the recipients of their marketing emails are simply not interested in the products or services being offered. In this scenario the email marketing is likely to generate very few sales or website visits; but a reevaluation of the email distribution list to include recipients who are interested in their products or services will likely result in significantly more sales and website visits.

    Let’s now consider a situation in which email marketing is being construed as spam by the recipients. In this scenario, if the email marketer has taken precautions to ensure that emails are reaching members of the marketer’s target audience, but emails still seem to be over-the-top sales pitches, the members of that particular subscriber list may view those emails as spam and not take the advertisements seriously. If this occurs, then members of your email distribution list may be more likely to seek out a competitor when they are in need of products or services, rather than making a purchase from you.

    The nature of evaluation

    Evaluating your email marketing efforts can be formal or informal in nature; but if you have specific business goals in mind you might want to consider using whether or not you are on the way to meet this goal as an indication of the effectiveness of your email marketing efforts. If you’re interested in reading about more detailed and proven email marketing strategies, techniques and success stories, take a look at this email marketing trend setters website.

    Alternatively, you can evaluate your email marketing efforts by soliciting customer feedback, by asking customers for their opinions about the email marketing campaign and whether or not they were compelled to make a purchase because of the content, the advertisements or some other element. Based on this information you should have a good indication of whether or not your email marketing is effective. If it is not effective you should consider making changes to create more interest in your products, services or brand.

    Regular evaluation

    Changes you make should reflect the feedback you receive in order to ensure that you are not making changes which will create even less interest from the members of your target audience. To say that evaluating your email marketing strategy on a regular basis is important is a tremendous understatement. Regularly evaluating your email marketing is not only important, it is critical to the success of your business. Failure to evaluate your email marketing strategies can have adverse effects ranging from not producing results to causing you to lose customers to your competitors.

  • Use Goal-Setting to Achieve Email Marketing Success

    Goal-setting parameters

    As has always been a widely accepted truism about goal-setting, the task of setting clearly defined short-term and some long-term goals, often enables the goal setter to measure his/her progress, achieve personal satisfaction and, after successfully meeting the goals set, establish parameters for future goals and objectives. Charting one’s progress will also enable him/her to actually see the stages of completion leading to actual realization of goals, thereby eliminating that sense which always seems to sneak into a goal setter’s thinking, that the journey towards achieving such goal is a pointless grind.

    The act of charting the progress of a particular goal or objective also instills within the goal setter, a sense of self-confidence and a level of competence which will go a long way to improve goal-setting skills and refine the process, while heightening awareness of the goal setter’s capabilities as s/he complete or achieve the set goals. Keep in mind that the basics of goal-setting is an open secret known and adhered to by top-caliber athletes, successful business people and numerous other high achievers in all different fields.

    Breaking down goals

    In other words, the basics of goal-setting provide you – if you are the goal setter – short-term and long-term motivation and focus. Goals help you to focus, and maintain that focus, on the acquisition of critically important knowledge needed to help you plan and organize your resources, as well as your time, so that you will be able to get the best out of both your personal and professional life. Goal-setting basics often involve decisions pertaining to what you really want to do with your personal life, and what short-term and long-term goals you need to achieve in order to get it.

    Of course, you always have to reduce goals into smaller, more manageable targets which you must complete on your way to achieving your lifetime targets; and once your list is complete, you should waste no time in tackling the overall goals you’ve set. One effective manner in which you can have a manageable list is to create daily and weekly sets of goals; and by doing this you will always be in a position of going towards you life plan goals. Everyday will give you the opportunity to fulfill a certain goal, thereby creating within yourself, the feeling of accomplishment.

    Following are a few tips that should help in the goal-setting/process.

    Attitude • Time • Education •

    Attitude – This controllable characteristic plays a very big role in setting and achieving your goals and, as such, you must ask yourself if any part of you or your mind could be impeding the progress in completing your simplest goals. And if you can identify any part of your behavior that is a hindrance to your plans or throws them into disarray, it is important that you immediately address this problem. Some solutions may include a visit to your doctor or psychiatrist in an effort to control your emotions.

    Time Management – Many a career have been made as a result of good time management practices, while failing in a career have often been attributed to bad time management. Most successful business people will attest to the fact that a career requires a lot from the individual; and the kind of commitment an individual must make in order to achieve a successful career can become a consuming force in the life of that individual. To avoid this destructive side of “commitment to your craft,” make sure to plan how far you want to go into your career and stick to your plan.

    Education – This is key to achieving your goals, especially if those goals require you to have a certain kind of degree, require a certain specialization or demand a certain skill to be developed; so make the necessary plans to get the appropriate education where and when applicable.

    Family! Finances! Physicality!

    Family – Your family should never be left out of any plans you make pertaining to your career choices. If you are just starting out then you have to decide if you want to be a parent, or when you want to be a parent. You should also considerable thought to whether or not you would really be a good parent, and how well you would relate to extended family members.

    Personal Finances – An individual’s personal financial situation will probably always play a major role in achieving his/her goals, since almost everything s/he does, or is able to do, is predicated upon affordability. That having been said, if you are that individual it is important that you have realistic goal on how much you really want to earn. You also must be able to create plans or stages by which you will be able to reach your earning potential.

    Although it is not something most of us can control, physical ability is another characteristic that can be categorized when setting goals; meaning that physically gifted individuals are also able to achieve sports-related goals, whether they compete in the NBA (National Basketball Association), NFL (National Football League) or MLB (Major League Baseball; so determining your physical capabilities should be one of your priorities, since physical limitations could sometimes be conquered with proper planning.

    Plan good and work hard

    While it is important to plan good and work hard, it is just as important to rest and have a little fun along the way. According to the old adage, which you’re probably familiar with, ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’, or something to that effect; and which this saying is probably true down to the last the letter, giving yourself a little pleasure (rewarding yourself for accomplishing your goals?) should be included in all your plans.

    A good way to start achieving your lifetime goals might be to set a quarter of a century plan, then break it down to 5 year plans, then break it down again to 1 year plans, then 6 month plans then monthly plans, then weekly, then daily. After that, create a things-to-do list for the day; but always review your plans and prepare for contingencies, and the basics of goal-setting should really not be as difficult as some folks make them out to be, once you become familiar with the process.

  • A Few Proven Email Marketing Strategies

    Email marketing: An evolution!

    Over the last decade – and in some cases, dating back even further – email marketing has evolved into a popular method of doing business on the Web, despite the fact that many business owners knew little or nothing (something that is probably still true today) about creating, managing and completing an effective email marketing campaign. On the other hand, there are marketers who are well versed in all aspects of email marketing; those who possess the knowledge, skills and experience in the use of effective strategies that will likely hold a significant advantage over their competitors who lack similar skills.

    This article will provide useful information for business owners who are hoping to improve their sales or website traffic through effective email marketing; and if, for any reason, you do not have a great deal of information about email marketing and do not fully understand the principles involved, one of the best ways of orchestrating a truly effective email marketing campaign is to hire a consulting firm with a proven track record in promoting business through email marketing to assist you in your endeavor.

    Similar to some traditional marketing methods such as radio, television and print media, the strategies governing email marketing are growing in popularity even while they are constantly changing. And as a business owner you probably already have enough on your plate trying to stay up to date on business practices in your own specialty, without having to use time, energy and finances necessary to also stay up to date on the latest changes in email marketing; so it is certainly understandable if your email marketing efforts come up a little short.

    Hiring a consultant

    So if you are that business owner who already have a full slate of responsibilities and obligations just to keep your current business running smoothly, it may be a worthwhile investment to hire an email marketing professional with a good reputation in the industry to manage your email marketing tasks for you. This individual would devote him/herself on a full-time basis to keep up to-date with the most effective email marketing strategies while designing an email marketing campaign for our business. This step alone would go a long way in helping you achieve your business-related goals.

    That having been said, it is important to point out here – something that you should keep in mind – that selecting a consultant from the many available options on the Web can certainly be overwhelming, although this is not a sufficient enough reason to ignore such a crucial part of this powerful income-producing marketing specialty. Generally, you should look for a consultant who has a great deal of experience, a proven track record, listens to your questions carefully, explains concepts simply and makes your project a priority.

    Among the proven email marketing strategies frequently used by business owners who opt to do their own work, is offering an email correspondence course on a subject that closely relates to their website, or the products / services they offer. These correspondence courses usually include a number of short segments, useful information, interesting tidbits and business promotional material. The simplest way to promote your business without having your correspondence course deemed as spam is to use a soft sell approach which subtly urge readers to make a purchase or visit your website for more information.

    DIY email marketing tasks

    Perhaps the least burdensome approach to email marketing for existing business owners is publishing and distributing periodic e-newsletters, a strategy which can be highly effective. An e-newsletter is very similar to a newsletter which is printed and distributed using conventional methods like postal mail delivery. The bulk of an e-newsletter should be quality content in the form of featured articles and short articles containing useful tips and product reviews. The e-newsletter may also contain graphical elements which could simply be graphic designs or graphics served via links.

    In the case of links to serve graphics, they can be formatted to send traffic directly to your website, as well as to other websites. The important thing to remember is, any e-newsletters you send out should contain some type of soft sell approach as enticements for your readers to visit your site. You should not make any blatant sales pitch(es) as this may result in the e-newsletter being looked at as spam. Just make sure to include a call to action urging the readers to either make a purchase or visit your website for more information.

    Test and evaluate!

    Regardless of the method of email marketing you opt to employ, one of the most important strategies is to evaluate the effectiveness of that email marketing strategy on a regular basis. This is critical because elements of your email marketing campaign which are not working should be weeded out. Likewise, elements of your marketing campaign strategy that shows a high degree of success should be utilized more often. A spike in sales or website traffic each time you issue an e-newsletter should be seen a sign to begin issuing e-newsletters more often. This type of evaluation and feedback can turn moderate success into a huge success.

    As a token of our appreciation the free ebook titled, Storytelling Marketing can be yours if you have any interest in the art of storytelling. All you have to do is download it here, enjoy the reading and learn how storytelling can be a powerful ally in any business or marketing pursuit!

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  • Email Marketing Mistakes to be Avoided

    Highlighting EM mistakes

    Some business owners who decide to try email marketing (EM) share the notion that email marketing done in any manner or form is conducive to their business; but this notion might well be misconceived, because there are certainly numerous mistakes a business owner can make when s/he organizes an email marketing campaign. Examples of such mistakes might include:

    • Allowing promotional materials to be tagged as spam;
    • Failure to follow-up with promotional emails;
    • Unpreparedness for increased customer interest after a given campaign;
    • Neglecting to market specifically to a target audience.

    Listed above are the four most prominent among email marketing mistakes committed by some business owners; but let’s take a closer look at each of these email marketing failures individually, beginning with the dreaded spam, which is as serious a problem affecting email marketing as any other; and – because there was a law created specifically to control it – could be seen as the most serious violation of any Web marketing law, rule or practice.

    The dreaded spam

    Spam is a problem that has become so prevalent on the Web that almost every email service provider, Web hosting company, major blogging platform and most other Web-based businesses have created a weapon to combat it; and still, Web users are bombarded with spam originating from various global destinations that seem to be ignorant of – or otherwise impervious to – CAN-Spam Act, the law previously referred to.

    Spam, by its very nature, includes a host of unsolicited emails that promote products and/or services to recipients who may or may not be interested in purchasing, and certainly did not ask to receive them. But it is at this juncture that many business owners make a critical mistake when attempting to do legitimate email marketing business; which is to say, they send emails which are likely to be construed as spam and, as such, they never reach the intended recipients or are deleted by the “spam assassin” tool without ever being read by those recipients.

    However, what these business owners must understand is the fact that another way exists in which they can avoid the potential of falling into the spam category as spam; and it is not very difficult to do. This better way basically involves ensuring that the promotional emails sent by their business contain more useful content than blatant advertising; and as a result they will likely see a significant uptick in their emails being taken seriously, both by their intended recipients and the detection software installed to capture and delete spam.

    Follow-up & preparedness

    Another email marketing mistake often made by some businesses is failure to follow up on promotional emails. Sending out emails to interested parties can be very beneficial; but it is even more beneficial to contact the recipients by other methods, such as mail or telephone, to answer any questions they may have, and offer additional information they might require. This type of follow-up can be much more effective than simply sending an email and allowing it to fall into the abyss of an overcrowded email inbox.

    Business owners may also commit the mistake of not preparing themselves for an influx of customers after an email marketing campaign has been completed. The express purpose of email marketing is to generate increased interest in products and/or services offered by the business; so it follows that the business which initiates and completes such campaigns must anticipate an increase in business, and be prepared to accommodate this increased demand for products and services.

    In fact, such preparedness is critically important because potential customers who are forced to wait for products or services might just get tired of waiting and go elsewhere (competitors of that business) in search of better service; and if a particular competitor proves to be better prepared to provide them with products or services immediately, that’s where they will spend their time and money.

    Target marketing

    All too often business owners fail to tailor an email marketing campaign to their specific target market (or audience). This failure represents the fourth mistake on our list, because it is a problem that may result in the email marketing campaign being less effective. Business owners typically make this mistake because they fall into the trap of believing that it is more important to reach a large audience than it is to reach a target audience.

    Think of it this way: Blindly sending your business email marketing materials to millions of recipients and only generating a few leads is far less effective than sending the same email marketing materials to a smaller group of, say, only a thousand recipients who all have expressed an interest in your products and services; because the smaller group will certainly generate more leads since they’ve already shown that they’re more likely to do business with you.

    It is not only important to send your message to members of your target audience, but also to tailor your message to suit this particular audience. The simple rule to which an email marketing business should is this: Creating an email message which will appeal to a variety of individuals is not nearly as important as creating a message which will appeal to members of its target audience.

    The autoresponder

    You will need an autoresponder system with which to initiate and effectively complete the email marketing techniques suggested in this article; and which there are many on the Web to choose from, we’ve found this industry leader among the most reputable and affordable email marketing companies.

  • Advantages of Effective Email Marketing

    Reaching global audiences

    Email marketing today is considered one of the most popular forms of Internet advertising, offering a number of distinct advantages to the overall concept of Web marketing. However, email marketing also comes with its own set of disadvantages and pitfalls that can derail a business in short order. In this article we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of email marketing and will also provide some insight into planning and executing an effective email marketing campaign.

    Email marketing certainly has a set of unique advantages over other types of marketing, both online and offline, with perhaps one of the most significant of those advantages being the ability to reach a worldwide audience with minimal effort. It is possible to reach a worldwide audience with other types of advertising, but some traditional types of advertising such as television, radio and the print media are not nearly as effective (cost and practicality) in reaching potential customers around the world all at once as email marketing is.

    Another major advantage of email marketing is its extreme affordability; significant because there are many other types of marketing, including Web marketing, which are significantly more expensive than email marketing. The costs associated with email marketing are minimal, in the sense that you will already have a list of email recipients who are interested in your products and services, so there is no cost associated with obtaining a list of email addresses. Additionally the cost to send out emails is minimal and can be considered part of your regular operating costs. All of these factors already make email marketing campaigns extremely cost effective.

    Economics of email marketing

    However, there is some cost involved with email marketing which primarily consist of writing the advertisements and creating certain graphics which will accompany the email ads. Specifically, these costs include hiring a writer to write the copy for ads and a designer to create and implements the graphics. The cost of these services will vary pretty widely but in general you will pay more for writers and designers with more experience because these writers and designers are expected to be able to produce a higher quality of work than those with less experience could produce.

    The most obvious disadvantage to email marketing is the possibility of having your email marketing viewed as spam, which is a very noteworthy problem because it could prove to be quite costly in terms of the profit margin for your business. Each day Internet users are bombarded with unsolicited emails serving as advertisements, a problem that has reached epic proportions; and the abundance of spam infiltrating email boxes of innocent Internet users cause them to be cautious and suspicious about any email they receive that is unsolicited and appears to be promoting a particular product or service.

    Proceed with caution

    Emails which contain subject lines or content that appear to be similar to spam might be automatically transferred to a spam folder by the email system; and emails that are not automatically deleted may be deleted without being opened, simply because the recipient does not recognize the sender of those email messages. Both of these problems can result in wasted time for the business owner since the recipients are not even viewing the emails advertising, products and services offered by the business. Furthermore, they may result in complaints being lodged against the company for being a purveyor of spam.

    Now that you have a better understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of email marketing, you might wonder how you can maximize the advantages to use email marketing in a profitable and effective way. The most important factor to consider is your email distribution list, which should consist of former customers who have expressed a desire to receive emails with information and advertisements, as well as potential customers who have also expressed interest in more information.

    The soft-sell approach

    The content of emails should also be carefully considered, in the sense that they should highlight the products and services you offer, but should do so without appearing to be a hard sales pitch. A writer with experience in writing this type of copy should be able to assist you in providing insightful and accurate copy which also entices the reader to find out more about your products and services. Finally your emails should provide readers with a call to action. This should be a statement urging the reader to take a specific action such as making a purchase or researching a product.

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