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The pressure to jump on the social media bandwagon is strong for small businesses. While small business owners are rarely afraid of taking on a challenge, learning how to create a sustainable social media strategy can be daunting. Ask yourself these 6 questions to see if your social media plan is on the right track.
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Your mailing list is made up of a group of subscribers with at least one thing in common. -- they've all given you permission to send them periodic email! Beyond that commonality, many mailing lists remain one long list of contacts. While it's OK to send an email to your entire list, try to think of ways to divide your list into more meaningful segments. The positive results you will receive (higher open and click through rates) are worth the effort of taking the time to segment your list effectively. Brand new to email marketing? Now is a great time to think about using segmentation as you begin to develop your list. One easy way to bring a little segmentation to your marketing efforts is to let people sign up for your list based upon their interests. Letting subscribers know the frequency of your mailings can also encourage sign up. For example, if you intend to send daily motivational quotes, and fail to tell prospective subscribers that you'll be hitting their inbox every morning, you may set yourself up for failure. If, however, you give them a choice of receiving this kind of email, you may find loyal followers who welcome your daily contact. Wondering what kind of list segmentation could work for your business? Here are some examples: In addition to a general information list,
One way to start the segmenting process is to divide clients / customers from your general list. This provides an easy way to offer your customers special loyalty incentives and rewards, thank them for purchasing a product or service, or to ask for referrals. If you've been using email marketing for a while, you can start the segmenting process by adding interest lists to your website sign up button and any manual sign up sheets you use. Begin going through your contacts and divide clients and customers from the main list. Consider sending your entire list an Update Your Interests email and let them choose what mail they'd like to receive from you. A mailing list is always a work in progress. Maintaining a healthy mailing list takes a little work, but the rewards are great. If you need help getting started, fee free to call or email me. The Women Business Owners Alliance, an organization of which I am a member, is holding its 21st Annual Women's Night of Comedy on March 13, 2014. In order get the word out about this fabulous event, we chose Thunderclap to help extend our social media reach. When you and your friends join a Thunderclap, a message (our invitation to come to the event) will be sent at the same time, causing a wave of motion to occur on feeds, spreading an idea through Facebook and Twitter that cannot be ignored. We need 100 supporters by March 7th to make this happen. Even if you can't come to the event, by lending your support here, you can help us reach our goal. So, what do you say? Will you take a minute to help? Please JOIN our Thunderclap! If you've attended one of my workshops, you have heard me talk a lot about today's relationship building marketing tools. I'm often asked.,"Which is better....email marketing or social media?" The tendency to view social media as being FREE can make it pretty alluring, especially for budget-conscious businesses. So, what's my answer? Creating a compelling email marketing plan integrated with the right social media platform(s) keeps you connected with your customers/clients and potential users of your products and services. Although it's not a contest, if you still are struggling with where to spend your time and marketing dollars, check out this infographic. It does a pretty good job of comparing both email and social media. My clients often ask me, "How do you stay so organized and remember all these things?" The answer is simple. I don't. I mean, I don't remember things well at all. I wish I had invented Sticky Notes. My computer, filing cabinet and wall of my office has often been decorated with these handy reminders over the years. There is something satisfying and symbolic in finishing a task, then crumpling it up and tossing it into the trash. Imagine my excitement when in 2001, I purchased my first MAC and discovered built-in Sticky Notes. Fast forward several years and a long list of clients later, each with very diverse businesses, the need for simplification in task management continues to be important in my own work and managing countless client projects. Finding the right task management solution can take a little time and it's a good idea to take your time and do a "test drive" on ones that appeal to your style. PAID vs. FREE You get what you pay for, right? Most of the time, that's true. There are many project and task managers that are absolutely free and offer good value. By paying a small annual fee, the added features may be well worth the small investment. Basecamp is often recommended by businesses who have large projects and teams to manage, far more than a simple "to do" list. Starting at $20/mo. and up, it may be more than a small business needs. Google Tasks is FREE and works with G-mail and Google Calendar as well as mobile devices. There are a multitude of other task managers including Remember The Milk, Toodledo, Trello and others. The right choice in selecting task management software will depend on many things: your operating system, mobile device, your personal style (visual, flowchart, color coded, plain text) special features (like being able to access tasks online and offline, and ease of use. Just search "task managers" or "to do lists", "project management tools" and you'll find comparisons. Don't assume the comparisons are accurate, as applications are always being updated to include new features. It's best to visit the product websites and review demos, features and pricing. I use ToDoist. (It's like todolist without the L). I like its simplistic design and I can assign each client as a project with unlimited tasks that can be labeled and tagged with deadlines for each. I can also set recurring tasks -- like when my newsletters need to be launched, or a sequence of social media tasks for an event. I chose the paid version $29./yr. which allows me to attach files, synch with my calendar, and set reminders and notes for every task. It also tells me when a task is overdue and rewards me for completing tasks on time. Hey, we all need a little positive reinforcement, right? Now in its fourth year, Small Business Saturday was the brainchild of American Express, created to help small businesses stay afloat during a very rocky economy. The holiday shopping season officially kicks off on Black Friday (or for some big-box retailers on Thanksgiving Day - ugh) followed by Small Business Saturday, where buyers are encouraged to support the many businesses in their local community that are the backbone of a strong economy. While traditionally thought of as a retail event, there's no reason why a service oriented business is excluded from the fun! If you're looking for ways to participate, it's not too late to get involved. Check out these resources and feel free to leave a comment letting folks know how your business is participating.
When: Tuesday, November 12, 2013, 8 AM - Noon Where: Holyoke Community College, Kittredge Center Cost: FREE Featured Speaker: Corissa St. Laurent, Director of Regional Development, Constant Contact Hosted by: Liz Provo, Mass Marketing Resources Partners: Comcast Business & Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce The Small Business Summit is coming to Western Mass in less than two weeks. This is an event you won't want to miss! Come be a part of a high-energy morning filled with networking and learning opportunities. Our featured speaker, Corissa St. Laurent, has presented to over 20,000 people on the topics of engagement and online marketing. Having owned two prior small businesses and been on several nonprofit boards, she understands the unique challenges small businesses and nonprofits face. Her refreshing style and ability to explain complex subject matter in a simple way will leave you feeling informed, inspired, and ready to grow your business through engagement marketing!
What else to expect? Mini-roundtable sessions, email marketing demonstration, share best practices, gather ideas to make 2014 your best year yet. Who should attend? Business owners and staff, marketers, non-profit organizations looking to increase donor relations . . . ANYONE interested in learning how to use today's online marketing tools more effectively. This is a great networking event, so bring plenty of business cards. Check out the morning's full agenda and reserve your seat today. Seating is LIMITED and PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Please share this with everyone. In 2000 I started my first business, Massachusetts 4 Sale By Owner. In those days, for-sale-by-owner was a new concept to Western Mass residents. I needed to find a way to reach out to people and provide ongoing education about the real estate sales process. Being banned from advertising by local newspapers, I turned to a new tool called "email marketing" to help. I used my magazine, (Picket Fence Preview of Western Mass*) and my website to encourage sellers to sign up for my newsletter in order to learn about upcoming workshops, special promotions and educational resources.
What I learned was this: Email marketing worked and it worked very well. Everywhere I went, people would say, "I'm on your mailing list", or "I love getting your emails!" It was not unusual for a new home seller would walk into my office with a magazine tucked under his arm and exclaim, "I've been following you through your newsletter for three years . . . .we're now ready to sell and we want to use your services." Email marketing allows us to build and keep relationships unlike social media or our websites. It's cost effective, easy to use, looks professional, and you own it. What are you doing to build YOUR list? * The magazine was retired in 2008 as the business moved to an Internet model. Today, the website uses social media to promote its listings. I just opened an email from a business acquaintance who works for a local printing company. I expected it to be a personal message, as I had not signed up to be on his company's mailing list. The first thing I noticed was that it was not personal at all. Instead of seeing my name and email address and a personal greeting, it was SENT TO: "undisclosed recipients" -- a bulk email. To be fair to this individual, his company does not provide much in the way of marketing support. He's doing the best he can to reach potential customers, but is he missing an opportunity to really connect with his audience? Absolutely. Here are 5 things he could have done better: 1) Don't send me spam: Understand the CAN-SPAM Act and don't send me unsolicited email. Anyone receiving a promotional email from your business should have given permission to receive it AND an opportunity to "unsubscribe" from your list at any time, with no questions asked. 2) Use a personal greeting: Do you think of yourself as an "undisclosed recipient?" Of course not. We like to be addressed by our names, not as part of a "one size fits all" group greeting. Every chance we have to build a better relationship with our customers and prospective customers should be seen as an opportunity. 3) Use pictures: Yes, they are worth a thousand words. SHOW me a cute puppy pic that reminds me of the holidays, and you'll have my attention. At the very least, show me some of your cards and WOW me. A paragraph of plain text won't do it for me. 4) Make me an offer: Don't make me read your email twice to find out what you're selling and don't assume I know your products. Why do I care that you offer Birchcraft cards? What does that name mean to me? How much is envelope return address printing worth? 5) Make me respond: Get me to act - to email you back, click to order your holiday card, give me a special promo code or coupon to make me feel special. And be sure to give me a deadline. A promotional email is different than an informational email, but a "call to action" response tells us if our customers are engaging with us. The problem with using a standard email client like Outlook, Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, is that it is not set up to do what our marketing campaigns require. Email marketing is about reaching out to an audience who wants to hear from us, tailoring a message that is valuable to them; one that will elicit a physical, measurable response. Oh, and keep in mind . . . .keep those cute puppy pics handy! When you build a website you do it once, right? WRONG! Your website should be reviewed periodically for many reasons. Technology is always improving and your business is always evolving. It only makes sense to make sure your website continues to represent your brand well. Over the years I've had websites professionally designed as well as created them myself using HTML editors like Microsoft's Front Page (ugh!), Adobe PageMill and Go Live, Joomla, Homestead/Intuit and Wordpress. Today, you are visiting my newest website built on the Weebly platform! There are many website builder tools available to small businesses today, each a little different in capabilities, cost, flexibility, features, hosting and support. I like to roll up my sleeves and research design tools that will benefit my clients by trying them out, seeing what's good, what's clunky and what's awesome. So far, I'm liking what I see here in the Weebly family. Comments? |
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