e-Newsletters

Friday Five – Uses for Top 10 Lists

September 16, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

An easy way to create content for your website or promotional material for your business is with a Top 10 List.

Before you create your list, it helps to know the purpose for your list.

This weeks Friday Five will give you five places you can use your Top 10 List.

Blog post – lists are an easy way to create content for your blog, and can be done regularly, just like the Friday Five lists that I have here.
Free Reprint Article – general information lists, such as a list of toilet training tips for a parenting website, make great free reprint articles. Make sure the information is general and you have written a bio box for the bottom of the article promoting your business.
Newsletter information – lists make great content for your newsletter as they are easy to put together and quick for your readers to read.
Promotional Postcards – these are a great way to promote your business as well as give some useful information to customers and potential customers.
Facebook Updates – one way to provide interesting updates is to post a list over a period of time, one point per update. You may want to post one point a day, or even spread the list out over a single day. Then compile the points to make a list for use elsewhere.

Now that you have some ideas of where to use Top 10 Lists, next week I will give you some ideas for general topics for your Top 10 Lists.

Filed Under: Blogging, e-Newsletters, Friday Five, Promoting your business

Marketing Monday – Ask for referrals to grow your newsletter list

August 29, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

One way you can use to get more subscribers to your email list is to invite your current subscribers to recommend you to their friends. There are a number of ways you can do this:

Set up a referral form where your subscribers enter their email along with the emails of up to 5 friends. Send these friends an introductory email about your busines and newsletter and invite them to sign up. Make sure in the email you say their friend has recommended them, and reassure then that they have not been added to your list, until they go to a form and sign up themselves. There are “refer a friend” programs you can use to set this up.
With your newsletter, include a “forward to a friend” link. Some email programs have code you can enter to track this for you, including whether or not the friend signs up.

You may want to run this as a referral drive and offer a gift or free postage to any current subscriber who gets 5 friends (or more) to sign up.

With both of these ideas, don’t automatically add these people to your list. They have not given you permission to add them as their friends are referring them. It would also be a good idea to include a note explaining to your subscribers what you will send their friends, maybe include a copy of the email you will send them. Reassure your current subscribers that you will not automatically add their friends to your email list.

When a friend of a subscriber signs up, be sure to send your subscriber a thank you note for recommending you to their friends.

Do you have any other ideas to encourage people to refer your newsletter to their friends?

Filed Under: e-Newsletters, Growing your business, Promoting your business

Spelling

July 20, 2011 By Melissa Leave a Comment

Check your spelling!

While moving posts and editing them, I came across an old post on spelling. The beauty of a blog is I can easily change any spelling errors (one thing I’ve been doing as I’ve been updating posts!).

It was also a good reminder about how spelling and the way you communicate on your blog, website and in newsletters can affect people’s perception of your business.

Where possible, get someone to proof read your writing before you publish it for customers and potential customers to see, especially if it’s going to be printed and can’t easily be changed. Even if the person you have proof read it isn’t an expert in editing, they may pick up some typos you didn’t see, and let you know if things don’t make sense.

I have known some business owners to have a competition encouraging people to let them know of any spelling errors on their website that they may have forgotten.

Another danger is to use “SMS” speak in your communications, including on Facebook pages. For many people, this can put people off using your business!

So, consider your spelling and make use of the spell check as well as proof readers. It is very important.

Filed Under: Communication, e-Newsletters

Friday Five – Planning your email newsletters

January 28, 2011 By Business Mums Leave a Comment

Email newsletters are a great way to connect with your customers as well as future prospects. When done well, they can generate more sales for your business.

To help make your newsletters more effective, it helps to have a plan.

Here are five things to include in your email newsletter plan.

How often do you send it out? This will impact on the information you include in your newsletter. You may want to send a shorter newsletter more often or a longer one less often. There is no right or wrong answer here, it really depends on your own business and what you want to do.
Theme or topic. Having a theme or topic for your newsletter helps to decide what information to include in your newsletter. This will depend on your business and your newsletter.
Article or tips. If your newsletter is just a sales promotion, you may find a lot of people unsubscribing quickly. Including articles and tips will make your newsletter more interesting and have people wanting to read more.
Special offer for newsletter subscribers. Offering your newsletter subscribers a special offer can turn them from simply being on your list to being a customer. It could be a discount or a value add. It could also be a special, subscriber only competition.
Advertiser or recommendation. You may want to recommend a website or complementary product in your newsletter, or have some advertising. This can be a way to get some extra income as well as introducing your subscribers to some new businesses and services.

I have started planning my newsletters using a spreadsheet. I put the date of the newsletter and the topic at the top and a list of the sections down the side. I then put details of the sections underneath. This helps with planning and to keep the information fresh. It also helps with advertisers so that none are forgotten.

I hope this helps you plan your email newsletter. If you have any tips, please share them by adding a comment.

Filed Under: e-Newsletters, Friday Five, Promoting your business

Setting a Challenge

November 29, 2010 By Business Mums 2 Comments

I'm setting you a challenge

Over the weekend, I noticed a lot of Facebook pages had been closed down. Some had disappeared, others had been hacked so the admins could no longer access them. I don’t know the reasons behind this, I just saw that a lot of pages had sent out requests for people to join their new pages.

One of the problems with a Facebook page is that people can lose their fans very quickly. Many people don’t have their fans on their newsletter list or any other database other than Facebook.

I know it’s Monday, and I should be posting a Marketing Monday post, but what I saw over the weekend has prompted me to do something a bit different today.

My challenge to you this week is to go through the business pages on Facebook that you are a fan of (or the pages that you like) and sign up to their newsletter lists, or, even better, buy something from them. This is so you are on their database and if anything happens to their page, you will be told about it and be able to join up again.

Many newsletters also have other great information and resources as well as details of any sales they may have. Joining their newsletter lists is also a great way to support the businesses you like on Facebook.

This is a spur of the moment challenge, however I would like to hear about your progress and how many businesses you’ve signed up to. I’m planning to contact some of my alliance partners to see about getting some prizes for this challenge.

So, get subscribing and supporting those businesses you like! (Also, this would be a great time to finish your Christmas shopping with some of these businesses!)

Filed Under: Business Mum, Competitions, e-Newsletters, General, Growing your business

Marketing Monday – Aim of your stand

October 25, 2010 By Business Mums 2 Comments

Last Friday, I went to the Melbourne Pregnancy, Babies and Children’s Expo with my sister and her baby. We had a great morning and visited a number of stands, got piles of brochures and showbags, and generally had a good time.

I made some interesting (to me at least) observations about the stands which brings my question:

What is the aim of your stand?

Some stands seemed to want to hand things out – brochures, samples, goodie bags, and so on. They didn’t do anything to collect our details in return for the goodies they were giving us. At a couple of stands there were 2 or 3 people in front handing out brochures, so we had the potential to get multiple copies of the brochures as we were walking along.

Some stands had sign up forms in exchange for the goodies. Melbourne’s Child gave a great bag with a book and magazine in exchange for joining their email list. A couple of other stands handed out samples in exchange for you entering their competition.

The difference between these stands is the second one had a way to follow up with their visitors, and the first just handed out brochures, samples & show bags. We were happy to leave our details in exchange for the goodies we were given. The brochures from the first have ended up in the bin.

So, when you are planning a stand at an expo, especially a big one, work out what your aim is. For the second example above, the aim was obviously to grow their databases, which they achieved. Once you know what your aim is, you can then plan the activities on your stand around those aims. You will also know whether or not you have achieved those aims.

Filed Under: e-Newsletters, Expos, Growing your business, Promoting your business

Friday Five – Reasons NOT to send your e-newsletter as an image

October 8, 2010 By Business Mums Leave a Comment

Looking at e-newsletters there are many different formats and styles to choose from. One format that many businesses choose to use is to send their e-newsletter as a single image (or a big one “cut up” into smaller files). These e-newsletters look pretty, as the business owner can play with different fonts and styles, however they can be harder for people to read.

This week, I will give you 5 reasons not to send your newsletter this way.

Many spam messages are a single image, so many spam filters are set up to block emails that are made up of mostly images. This will mean your newsletter will either not get through in the first place or will end up in a junk email folder and not be read.
Because of point 1, many people have set up their email program to blog any images downloading. If these people are on your email list, they will be unable to read your newsletter because the images simply won’t show up.
In order to reduce the size of the image file, the quality may be reduced. For some readers, this can make the text fuzzy and hard to read, so they won’t read your newsletter and your message will be lost.
There are still people who use a dial up or slow Internet connection. Having your newsletter as an image file may be slow to download and can clog up email programs.
If you want to include links in your newsletter, it can be harder if it’s all an image, unless you know what you’re doing. Readers may also be unsure where to click to follow any links.

If you want to send your newsletter in html format, it’s better to have a mix of text and images. As with any newsletter, test and measure different formats, subject lines and content for best results.

Filed Under: Customer Service, e-Newsletters, Friday Five, Promoting your business, Technology

I am not your target market

September 29, 2010 By Business Mums 2 Comments

Not everyone fits your target

Recently I unsubscribed from a number of email newsletters. There were a few that were sending their newsletter to two email addresses (I have no idea how that happened!), however there were some I unsubscribed to because I’m not their target market.

There are a number of reasons for this, including:

my kids are no longer babies, so maternity wear and baby products are no longer of interest
one recently included a regular, long astrology article, and this doesn’t interest me
they have changed their business focus from kids in general to more girl products (I have 2 boys)

This is just a few examples. A couple of them asked the reason I was unsubscribing, so I simply said I was no longer in their target market and (where space allowed) gave a reason. There are also a number of page requests I have ignored because I quite obviously don’t fit their market (eg cloth nappies – my kids are 6 and 8).

There are also some Facebook pages I have removed myself from for similar reasons, however here there is no way to tell the page owner that I’ve left or give any reasons (not that that’s important for this post).

When you have decided who your target market is, stick to it. Don’t worry about the people who leave because they are not in your target market. Believe me, there will be others to take their place, and you will be able to market to them much more effectively.

If you are unsure of who is in your target market, join us for our workshop in Melbourne on October 6. You can find all the details here.

Knowing who your target market is is a powerful tool for your business, and not just in your marketing materials, however that is a post for another day.

So, do you know who your target market is? What does he/she look like? If you don’t know, are unsure, or just want to review them, book your ticket to next weeks workshop now!

Filed Under: Customer Service, e-Newsletters, Facebook

E-mail doesn’t always work…

September 2, 2010 By Business Mums Leave a Comment

Email isn't always the best form of communication

Recently I changed the way people can get a newsletter from my business. Now, they can either get it via email or in the post. A number of people questioned this and the answer is simple – not everyone wants to get an email newsletter, some people prefer something in the post, and others simply don’t sit on the computer as much as we do.

I run a number of workshops and events – one is tonight – and I sent invitations to my database via email. Looking at the statistics, less than a quarter of the people I was inviting opened the email, and even less clicked on the link to book or for more information.

Thinking about my own habits, I often receive an email newsletter and leave it marked unread until I have the chance to go back and read it… and sometimes it stays unread until I delete it to clear out my inbox.

So, what have I learned from this?

Simple, communicating with your customers solely via email doesn’t always work.

It’s helpful to communicate via a number of methods, both online and offline. This could include sending something in the mail and picking up the telephone.

What am I going to do next time?

Next time I run an event, I plan to send a postcard or invitation to my database as well as send them an invitation via email, Facebook and other places they hang out.

How do you communicate with your customers? Is it solely via email, or do you have other strategies as well?

Filed Under: Communication, Customer Service, e-Newsletters, Promoting your business

Marketing Monday – What’s the point?

August 9, 2010 By Business Mums Leave a Comment

There are so many different marketing ideas and opportunities out there – from directories to networking to banner ads to letterbox drops to… the list goes on and on and on.

It is tempting to look at the opportunity and your bank account & jump on anything that comes along that can get you in front of your target market that you can afford. Much of the marketing material I see looks like this is what has happened – basically there is no thought to it.

Before taking up any opportunity, think about what you want to get out of it. Do you want subscribers on your newsletter list, traffic to your site, sales, people signing up to your next information session or do you simply want people to see your business name? Whatever the aim, make sure your marketing material supports this.

For example, you have the opportunity to put some items in a goodie bag that will be placed directly in the hands of your target market. As a first step, you want people to visit your website and subscribe to your newsletter. With whatever you include in the goodie bag, include an invitation for people to visit your website and have an amazing bonus for anyone who subscribes to your newsletter. It could be an eBook or audio or gift voucher or some other “no strings attached” gift.

Once you know what your goals are, you can then track how well your marketing material works for you. Make sure that whatever invitation you have in your marketing material backs up the goals you set.

Filed Under: Branding, e-Newsletters, Growing your business, Promoting your business