Archive for the ‘General Business’ Category
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
If you haven’t started an email marketing campaign for your business. . . that’s your first DO!
Why you ask?
The average return on investment for an email campaign is roughly $44.00 for every $1 spent!! That’s 20x better than direct mailers! And a little more than double internet marketing’s $19.00 for every $1 spent.
DON’T . . .
. . . send out a plain text newsletter. Instead, send out a professional looking newsletter branded to your business. Professional newsletters are opened 8x’s more than plain text newsletters.
. . . send a generic email. Instead, personalize the email to the person who will be opening it. Their name in the greeting, your signature at the bottom and content that is relevant to THEM. A great example, if you just bought a new car, you wouldn’t want the car maker to send you a newsletter with discounts on new cars, would you? NO, you’d want them sending you info on service specials or safety stats, maybe even an add on if you are into modifying cars.
. . . miss an oportunity to grow your list. Instead, build your email list every chance you get, on the phone; on your email signature; on your website – EVERY PAGE; through your social media channels; on your newsletter( if the content is good, people WILL FORWARD); in your actual ’brick and mortar’ establishment (if you have customers there)
. . . expect people to sign up for your newsletter for the sake of signing up. Instead, give something of value away for when someone signs up – coupons, free downloadable report, ebook, etc. and if you can show them what they are going to get from your newsletter, show them a sample.
. . . SPAM, it’s easy to buy a list of email addresses and send your newsletter off this way, but the fact is, you won’t get much business this way. Instead grow your list organically, as I mentioned above, there are lots of ways to grow your list. If you are just starting out send it to friends and family, if they like it they will send it on.
. . . SELL, SELL, SELL. I know it sounds backwards, but people want to build trust with you before they buy, if you are always trying to sell them something they are going to get tired and end their subscription. Instead, provide content that it relevant to them, human interest stories, YOUR story, show your expertise, show them your excitement for what you are doing. And as a side note, add A product or service.
. . . make your newsletter 3 pages long. Instead, short snippets of information, people read 25% slower on the internet than on paper. BE KIND.
. . . use a black background and orange font. Instead, use something that won’t kill your reader’s eyes, they’ll thank you for it and you’ll keep your readership growing.
. . . write staunchy and stiff. Instead, write like you are having a conversation with us and through in your humor once in a while, it’s much more interesting!
There are LOTS of companies out there to choose from when starting a campaign, make sure to do your research and find a provider that will help you through it, give you statistics regarding open rates, clickthroughs, and options for background designs. If you need help, we would be happy to help you get started. Contact us today!
Tags: click throughs, content, email marketing, open rates
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Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Just a few years ago I would have considered myself a perfectionist. No work of mine could leave my desk until it was as near perfect as I could get it. I would painstakingly go over it and over it until I had exhausted myself. Needless to say, it was not a fun process.
So what changed? And why am I writing on perfection today? Well, what changed is that I was so stressed and so anxious that I was driving myself and everyone around me nuts. I mean absolute nuts! Through a series of serendipitous events, I went to a workshop that changed my life and has taught me how to release that intense need and pressure that I apply to myself. And the reason I am writing on this topic today is because I see so many small business owners doing exactly what I was doing to myself a short time ago.
There is a fine line between perfection and paralysis when it comes to getting yourself out there. Believe me I have dealt with my fair share as an artist and writer. I have fought many a demon as I prepared to release my soul to the world.
As a business owner, you want the world to have a certain perception about your company and product, however, if you can’t let it go out into the world because it has to be at the highest standard, they won’t have any perception of you anyway. Not to mention the valuable time, energy, and resources you are wasting.
As a business that helps other businesses, we have seen many a client who couldn’t put their site “live” because it had to be absolutely PERFECT. Now don’t get me wrong, we strive for the highest quality in all our work, but in life, there is NO PERFECT. Especially when you are dealing with numerous browsers and varying opinions. What you see as perfect may be very different from your customer’s perfect.
So who is most important in the grand scheme of things? Your need for perfection and this pie in the sky perception you are looking for, or your customers? If you said anything else besides your customers, maybe you should rethink your whole vision. At any rate, yes it’s your customers and I can guarantee you that as a consumer myself, I do not rip apart most websites or won’t do business with a website because they had a typo or because the picture they have up is not the perfect size or shape.
Think about what is most important to your customers . . . the right information and a site that is appealing and easy to navigate. Have you got that? Then good, get out there and start selling. The best thing about websites, they are always a work in progress and you can make changes as you go. It’s not like print materials that must be set in stone because once it’s run, that’s it, no going back.
Tags: small business counseling, website design
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Saturday, January 30th, 2010
I thought I would take a bit of a detour this morning. I have been reading, among many others, Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles”, and thought I would share a bit today. In chapter 4, Jack talks about believing in possibilities and getting what you expect, he relays the following story and ideas~
” Doctors in Texas studying the effect of arthroscopic knee surgery- assigned patients with sore, worn-out knees to one of three surgical procedures: scraping out the knee joint, washing out the joint, or doing nothing.
During the ‘nothing’ operation, doctors anesthetized the patient, made three incisions in the knee as if to insert their surgical instruments, and then pretended to operate. Two years after surgery, patients who underwent the pretend surgery reported the same amount of relief from pain and swelling as those who had received the actual treatments. The brain expected the ’surgery’ to improve the knee, and it did.
Why does the brain work this way? Neuropsychologists who study expectancy theory say it’s because we spend our whole lives becoming conditioned. Through a lifetime’s worth of events, our brain actually learns what to expect next – whether it eventually happens that way or not. And because our brain expects something will happen a certain way, we often achieve exactly what we anticipate.”
Which way are you going to turn?
The brain is an amazing muscle, it works in so many ways that we are just beginning to understand and many more that haven’t been tapped into yet. The world of possibilities are seemingly endless.
This leads me to the point of this post, what do you expect?
Take a nice long look at what you have created in your business in terms of financial success. Have you been one of those who because of ”hard” economics times expected that your business will do poorly? Or have you expected another outcome? What about your expectations for the following year? Do you expect this to be a financially prosperous year?
Now would be a great time to evalute your expectations and if you aren’t expecting much success, re-evaluate. Just because something such as financial hardships are happening “out there” doesn’t necessarily mean they have to affect your business. Take another look around, there are PLENTY of businesses that are thriving in this down economy.
Shouldn’t your business be one of them?
Posted in General Business | 1 Comment »
