In This issue:
:: New Constant Contact Partnership!
:: The 4 Secrets to an Effective E-Newsletter
:: Does Your Site Have What it Takes to Close the Nine Visit Sale?
:: Is it Time for a Site Inventory?
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New Constant Contact® Partnership!
- Jeune Ortiz
Email marketing is nothing new at future-ink, but our partnership with Constant Contact® is.
We're so excited about this partnership because it means that your email marketing efforts will be more effective than ever. To celebrate, we're having a special introductory offer. If you haven't done any email marketing, now is the time!
Here are just a few of the great benefits you'll reap on your next email:
Improved Deliverability |
Constant Contact® has all the necessary ISP relationships to ensure that your email skips the spam box and is delivered to the inbox of everyone on your list. |
Reporting |
Our clients now enjoy direct access to all email reports so you can see for yourself how effective each mailing is. |
Database Management |
Forget about having to track your unsubscribes and your new opt-ins. Constant Contact®will host your mailing database and automatically add newcomers, as well as ensuring that people who unsubscribe are removed. |
From now until August 31, we're offering a 15% discount on the creation of your newsletter template. E-mail or call us at 619-303-8454 today to get started!
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The 4 Secrets to an Effective E-Newsletter
- Christianna Connell
"Around 65 percent of marketers say they plan to increase their use of email newsletters." Source: Intermarket Group
It's no secret that offering value to your customers in the form of useful information is one of the best ways to initiate, develop and solidify relationships. But how do you continue, issue after issue, to make your newsletter stand out in the crowd and keep your readers reading?
1. Make it Useful.
With a business to business newsletter in particular, it's difficult to get any traction with readers if you don't give them some kind of actionable "aha" with every issue you send. They are barraged with emails, and eager to click the delete button as often as possible.
Your goal, therefore, is to give them pause. To make them live in fear that if they delete your newsletter, they will miss some insight that would have made a significant impact on their success. Useful information rises to the top of the pile, and when your newsletter is on top, you need not worry about how big the pile is.
2. Make it Interesting.
I don't know who started the rumor that significant and profitable businesses must also be serious and boring, but it seems to have caught on nonetheless. That's good news for you and me. Because with all the dry as dust e-newsletters out there, all trying to sound like the front page of the Wall Street Journal, we can make our newsletters shine with little effort.
Personal anecdotes, conversational language and the occasional joke here and there will keep your readers involved long enough for them to hear the "real" information you're trying to give them. They probably won't read it just because it's interesting, but they definitely won't read it if it's not.
3. Make it Simple.
An effective newsletter isn't a doctoral thesis; it's not even a case study. It's what I like to call "a nugget." One insight, tip or concept that your readers can take in, understand, and hopefully remember long enough to put into practice. If you give me too much information (even if it's good), I'm likely to stockpile your newsletters until I delete them in one, "I'll never get around to reading these old ones anyway" frenzy. Give your readers something small enough to understand and remember.
4. Make it Authentic.
Done right, your e-newsletter is the voice of your company. It reflects your unique personality and culture, whatever that happens to be.
I've walked into enough companies to know that each of them - even the ones in seemingly straight-laced, hard to differentiate industries - has its own language, pace, sense of humor and approach. Don't hide all that in an effort to sound "professional." Marketing is the opposite of fitting in - do yourself a favor and fit out!
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Does Your Site Have What it Takes to Close the Nine Visit Sale?
- Jeune Ortiz
This week I was on the phone with a client we've been doing business with for three years. I don't hear much from this client except for needing to make small changes to his site – phone number additions, policy changes, and every now and then adding or changing a name on his shareholder page.
While we were chatting, I asked him if he had any more press articles he wanted to add while we were making these changes. He said what he always says, “No, not this time around.” But then he added, “I don't think anyone is even looking at those pages anyway. It's just good to have for new people coming to the site to see what we've done.”
I almost fell out of my chair in shock. I finally understood why he was always reluctant to make changes to his site. To him, his site is simply a brochure for newcomers seeking information. But he's missing the big picture. Are you?
Your web site is not a brochure. It's a sales-force!
All web sites have a shelf-life. They become stale over time, and even the search engine robots will get bored with the same old information and stop by less frequently. Frequent updates provide a “sticky” element to your web site, and it's one of the most powerful things you can do to empower the sales-force within your web site.
According to Webpronews.com, “Research indicates that it takes the average shopper up to nine visits before they'll make a buying decision. In other words, every effective sales process requires an element of repetition.” They go on to say, “Unlike a 'bricks-and-mortar' retail store, there is no 'drive-by' traffic on the Internet. In many cases when someone clicks on the little 'exit' button in the top right hand corner of the screen... they're gone forever.”
Nine visits to sell your product is a lot to ask from a site that offers everything it has on the very first go-round. So, how can you update your site if there's nothing new to add? Remember our “sticky” concept? What you want are frequent visits and sticky elements - things that keep people coming back to your site.
What's sticky?
Surveys, Industry News, Blogs, Forums, an FAQ Corner where you change out the question once a month, Highlights (highlight a product or service once a month) and regular Product or Service Specials are just some of a long list of elements that will keep users coming back to your site. The best news is that these elements don't require a ton of new information to come up with once a month. And yet, they're powerful, and will show the frequent visitor that there are things happening at your company. Indeed, there are people behind your site that care about the user enough to provide all this great information!
Note: The terms “sticky” and “stickyness” are real web terms. Feel free to use them when mingling at your next cocktail party to dazzle and amaze.
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Is it Time for a Site Inventory?
For most business owners, getting a web site is just one of those things that you have to do – just like you have to get business cards. Once your site is launched you might be tempted to scratch it off the to-do list. In reality, having web site is just the beginning. Your site can be your best sales tool, customer relationship builder, and marketing lynchpin. However, if left to languish, your site can be worse than an unhappy customer at your front door.
If you haven't made any improvements or changed your content in a while, make some time to take a site inventory.
Site Inventory:
» Remove old information
» Double check accuracy of phone numbers, pricing, and technical information
» Change out images or add new images
» Make sure all links still go to live pages (especially if you're linking off your site to other sites)
This list might seem basic, but it's a great starting point for getting your site up to date. It might even inspire you to add a new section or feature that you've been putting off.
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