Grow Your Business 2015 - Mobloggy®
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All the online marketing tools you need for your small business or nonprofit. Grow your business using Constant Contact®, connect email, events, surveys, promotions, and Facebook.
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Grow Your Business 2015 - Mobloggy®
- 1. © Constant Contact 2015 GrowYour Business with Email andSocial Media Simple Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses and Nonprofits
- 2. © Constant Contact 2015 Rebecca Ruck Mobloggy® Constant Contact®Authorized Local Expert Welcome Questions after the event? facebook.com/mobloggy @rebeccaruck @mobloggy
- 3. © Constant Contact 2015 All the channels that matter. Email. Mobile. Social. Grow withConstantContact All the marketing campaigns you need together in one place.
- 4. Agenda 4 1.Marketing for today 2.How to set marketing goals 3.Campaigns that drive action 4.How to get started
- 5. Agenda 5 1.Marketing for today 2.How to set marketing goals 3.Campaigns that drive action 4.How to get started 1. Marketing for today
- 6. 6 Where are you today?
- 7. A: Email More than half of all emails are opened on a mobile device Q:What is the #1 app on cell phones? 7 1. Marketing for today More people own a cell phone than own a toothbrush! Source: Litmus
- 8. 8 At its core, marketing is about getting results. 1. Marketing for today
- 9. Generate revenue or donations 9 1. Marketing for today Clicks or downloads Visits to the store/office Reservations, appointments Calls What kind of results?
- 10. Engagement is the new word of mouth 10 1. Marketing for today
- 11. “Forward” and “Share” 11 1. Marketing for today are your new best friends
- 12. You have an advantage. Your customers love you!
- 13. Agenda 15 1.Marketing for today 2.How to set marketing goals 3.Campaigns that drive action 4.How to get started 2. How to set marketing goals
- 14. 16 2. How to set marketing goals Engage members, advocates, volunteers Increase donations, revenue Nurture leads and relationships Drive repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals Reach new customers, donors Marketing goals are general
- 15. 17 2. How to set marketing goals Marketing Objectives are measurable • Get 100 new likes on Facebook through content download • SendVIP event invitation to past attendees and sell 30% of tickets • Announce new products and special savings weekend to drive 10% increase in sales
- 16. Write this down. 18 2. How to set marketing goals Your general marketing goals • “I want more website visitors” • “We need more revenue on Monday nights” • “Would like to increase donation dollars” • “500 more site visitors next week” • “Double Monday night sales month over month” • “Raise $2500 in donations by the end of the quarter” Set measurable objectives
- 17. Agenda 19 1.Marketing for today 2.How to set marketing goals 3.Campaigns that drive action 4.How to get started 3. Campaigns that drive action
- 18. 20 3. Campaigns that drive action Pull response Push content What are campaigns?
- 19. 21 3. Campaigns that drive action An email campaign Types of campaigns
- 20. 22 3. Campaigns that drive action The difference between... Email Email marketing and...
- 21. Email is hard to beat. 23 Why • Lots of physical, measurable response • Easy to brand with colors & logos • Low cost with high ROI • Connect with your audience • Reaches people wherever they are (mobile) • Drives business! How • Announce your latest new products • Send seasonal gift ideas • Alert to upcoming events • Offer coupons toVIPs • Deliver tips to your new clients 3. Campaigns that drive action
- 22. 24 3. Campaigns that drive action Email campaigns Facebook promotions Run & Promote events Online Surveys Donation Campaigns Types of campaigns Initial Tax Consultation for Only $99 by Threads by Lauren
- 23. 25 Email & Social Drive Response Repeat & Referrals Mobile Friendly Immediate Payoff GrowYour List Track Everything 3. Campaigns that drive action What do they all have in common? by Threads by Lauren
- 24. What do you think? 26 3. Campaigns that drive action Which campaign types work best for you? • Announce a new product • Invite people to an event • Promote a seasonal special • Run a Facebook offer • Launch a fundraising drive • New client appreciation • Tips and tricks related to your products or service • Details about your event • Free whitepaper or download • Photos or videos from your most recent project What kind of content do you think might work? • Email & Social • Direct Mail • Other methods… How will you get the word out?
- 25. 28 3. Campaigns that drive action Three words to rule your world as a marketer… [because an email that isn’t opened isn’t effective]
- 26. 29 3. Campaigns that drive action Now, later or never 1. Who is your message from? 2. What is your subject / headline? 3. When do you send or post ?
- 27. 30 3. Campaigns that drive action 1.Who is it from? Winning the battle of priorities How will you be most recognizable? CAN-SPAM Act and CASL CAN-SPAMAct: www.business.ftc.gov and search “CAN-SPAM” CASL: fightspam.gc.ca
- 28. 31 3. Campaigns that drive action 1.Who is it from? The importance of consistency and recognition
- 29. 32 3. Campaigns that drive action 2.What is your subject? Winning the battle of priorities SECONDS WORDS TODAY
- 30. • 2 Seconds – keep it short • 2Words – make the first two impactful • Why does it matterTODAY? Write down a few ideas for subject lines that work with your objectives Let’s try it. 33 3. Campaigns that drive action
- 31. 34 3. Campaigns that drive action 3.When to send & post Social media • 3-5 times a week is plenty • Use automated tools to help Email • Monthly is most common • When are they likely to take the action you want?
- 32. 35 3. Campaigns that drive action 3.When to send How to test the day and time that’s best for you Time: 1.Use the same three audience lists 2.Select three times on the day with the best open rate 3.Send your email at three different times and watch for the best open rate Day: 1.Select three different audiences 2.Select three days in the week 3.Send your email and watch for the best open rate
- 33. 36 3. Campaigns that drive action You can do this... ...and you can start with a small list.
- 34. 37 • Be consistent • Use images • Use consistent language 1. Make it look like you Website Email 3. Campaigns that drive action
- 35. 38 3. Campaigns that drive action 1. Make it look like you ProTips • Place your logo left or center – not right • Include your business name in text Website Email
- 36. 39 2. Make it easy to take action 3. Campaigns that drive action • Keep key action above the scroll line • Try to limit choices! • Less is more Source:Constant Contact Data Reveals DirectCorrelation Between Email Campaign Effectiveness and Number of Images andText Lines Featured, 2015
- 37. Source:Constant Contact Data Reveals DirectCorrelation Between Email Campaign Effectiveness and Number of Images andText Lines Featured, 2015 40 3. Campaigns that drive action 2. Make it easy to take action ProTips • Make pictures clickable • Include text labels • Less is more
- 38. 41 3. Campaigns that drive action • 40% of people respond to visuals more than text • Videos increase clicks • But remember your objective! 3. Make it engaging with visuals Source:The Power ofVisual Content, Market Domination Media
- 39. Source:Constant Contact Data Reveals DirectCorrelation Between Email Campaign Effectiveness and Number of Images andText Lines Featured, 2015) 42 3. Campaigns that drive action 3. Make it engaging with visuals ProTips • 3 or fewer images for highest click through • Try to keep videos under 90 seconds
- 40. Repurpose Everything 43 3. Campaigns that drive action 4. Make it easier on yourself
- 41. 44 Avoid using too much text. 80% of users delete email that doesn’t look good on mobile. Source: Blue Hornet 3. Campaigns that drive action 5. Make it mobile
- 42. 45 3. Campaigns that drive action 5. Make it mobile ProTips • Avoid multiple columns • Clear and easy calls to action • Avoid tiny fonts • Use images carefully
- 43. • What is your objective? • What kind of content? • Write a subject line • Decide what channels would be best Take a few minutes to consider what you have learned here and write down one plan for a campaign. Apply what you’ve learned. 46 3. Campaigns that drive action
- 44. Agenda 47 1.Marketing for today 2.How engagement works 3.Campaigns that drive action 4.How to get started 4. How to get started
- 45. 48 Three simple steps… • Get your contact list together, even if it’s just five people. • Create and send one campaign…hit send! • Watch what happens…do more of what works.
- 46. 49 4. How to get started • Add “Join My List” to your website • Add a link to email signature • Set upTextTo Join • Get them on Facebook • Create a paper form (don’t just rely on technology) Prepare your “pitch” and ask. Just ask. Get your contact list together, even if it’s just five people.
- 47. Try something simple first… • “ThankYou” or “Welcome” • Special offer or piece of relevant content • Picture, paragraph and a call-to-action • Post your newsletter to your social channel. Hit “send!”
- 48. 51 4. How to get started Do more of what works. Watch what happens.
- 49. 52 •Small business marketing is... Nurturing relationships. Delivering on your promise. Getting measurable results.
- 50. 53 •You really can do this! One toolkit. One login.
- 51. 54 Special offer –Today only! Sign up and get a free custom template (Usually $199) & 40% off for first 3 months. Sign up online or add a star to your form to get a call/email for a free trial. Plans start at $20/month | No Contract | 100% Money Back Guarantee •Questions?
- 52. © Constant Contact 2015 Rebecca Ruck Constant Contact® Authorized Local Expert Email: rebecca@mobloggy.com Thank you Questions during and after the event? facebook.com/mobloggy @rebeccaruck @mobloggy
Notes de l'éditeur
- [SPEAKER INSTRUCTIONS: Welcome your audience, thank those that are hosting and let people know about how long your session will be. If you plan to take a break halfway through (suggested for a two hour session) then let them know that as well.]
- Please also let them know to watch for a follow up email from Constant Contact. ]
- OPTIONAL “COMMERCIAL” SLIDE [SPEAKER INSTRUCTIONS: this is your short introductory “commercial” to explain what Constant Contact is to your audience.] SUGGESTED TALKING POINTS: …. Everything we talk about in today’s session is intended to help you grow your business. Strategies, tips and ideas that you can leave here and try. You can apply these ideas to any system or marketing tool you want to use, you do not have to be a customer of constant contact to come to this session and even if you use a competitor, all of the information provided here today will still help you. That said, I want to make sure everyone here knows what Constant Contact is. How many in the room use Constant Contact or know what it is already? Great, I encourage those of you that did not have your hands raised to speak to someone that DID have their hands raised about our service. I’m confident that you will hear good things or I wouldn’t have said that. Constant Contact is an online marketing system with tools to help you manage mass communication and marketing campaigns easily and without spending a lot of time or money. You can send email newsletters or announcements of any kind, run your own special offers or deals, get feedback or run an online survey and you can promote and manage your own events. It’s all together in one place and everything also works closely with social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and it’s also designed to help you look good on a mobile device. Constant Contact is the leader, and the support is outstanding. I will of course encourage you to use Constant Contact – it only costs about 20 a month – but let’s get to the class and then I’m happy to answer any questions you may have about Constant Contact at the end of the session.
- Here’s what we’re going to talk about today. We’ll discuss marketing in today’s changing world. We will go over some simple steps for creating your own marketing goals. I will show you different types of campaigns that really help drive action for you And then we will touch on how you can get started, no matter where you’re starting from and really, no matter what service you may or may not be using. Please feel free to raise your hand anytime if you have questions and believe me, there Are no stupid questions. Raise your hand loud and proud if you want to know something.
- OK, let’s talk about marketing today.
- So, we all know that the world as we know it is changing. I want to get a sense of where you are with online marketing right now so let me just ask how many of you use [click to build] Facebook for business? How many are on Linked In? Twitter? Anyone tweeting right now? (remind them of your twitter handle) OK, hands down. Now [click to build] Who uses Pinterest? Instagram? YouTube? (do these one by one, if you have time you can ask people How they use instagram or pinterest ) [click to build] And how many have checked your email today? (all hands up) …. Anyone checking their email while I was speaking? (laughter) It’s fine, I completely understand. No worries. But it’s important to point out that many of you are on some of these channels. Some of you are on others. ALL of you are using email. Email remains the best way to reach people directly. We’re going to talk a lot about How to reach thru other channels like facebook and linked in and twitter today. But always remember that a At the core of all of it is the relationship you build with your clients, your customers, your followers and having their email address will help you manage and nurture that relationship in a big, big way.
- OK, trivia time. Question: What do you think is the #1 app on cell phones? Let people answer…. The answer is EMAIL. Let’s talk for a minute about the importance of mobile on email. Like I said on the last slide, 64% of adults (AND GROWING) own smartphones and as a result, more than 51% of emails are opened on a mobile device. In some countries, mobile internet usage is even out-pacing desktop internet usage, actually. [click to build] 51% of emails are now opened on mobile (Litmus, January 2014) https://litmus.com/blog/email-client-market-share-where-people-opened-in-2013/litmus-email-client-market-share-2013-infographic And 52% of mobile owners send or receive email with their device (Pew Internet & American Life Project) http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/09/19/cell-phone-activities-2013/ So what does this mean for you? Many people are reading their messages – which include your emails – on a tiny screen.
- I want to give you a simple definition, or a framework, for what marketing really is. You already know, generally, what it is – but when I say the word marketing, I mean something very specific and it’s important that we are on the same page. My definition of marketing has three simple parts – 1. you define an audience: a group of people that you want to target. 2. You reach out to them with a message that is specific to that audience. And 3. you elicit a physical and measurable response – which are the results that you want (and need) your business to get. What kinds of results are we talking about? [click to next slide]
- These are examples of physical and measurable responses. These actions represent a decision by a person to do something in response to what you put out there. It’s not a mechanical response, it is human. And it must be measurable. But keep in mind that your overall goals come back to why you’re in business or what’s going to keep you in business…[click to build]…generating revenue or donations. If the responses you’re getting don’t lead in some way directly to the bottom line, then you should evaluate why you’re driving those types of responses.
- We used to tell people things over the back fence, [click to build] now we tell everyone – our family, our friends, our colleagues, our clients, even our BFFs– through social media channels, review sites and email (which is the original social media). It’s less about spending all of your time/money and energy finding new customers and more about fully engaging your existing happy customers and making it easy for them to tell others. The changes have leveled the playing field for smaller organizations like yours to compete with the big boys. The point we’re making is that social media is the new word of mouth. Social media helps to kickstart that word-of-mouth marketing. Because your messages have the chance to be amplified and shared, social media marketing will bring you new customers (and donors, supporters and volunteers if you’re a nonprofit, repeat business from your current customers, and referrals from your happy customers. Is this starting to make sense – why social media is important? It’s a part of your entire business. Social media, the social visibility that it gives you, and how your business and customers engage with each other make up what we call the engagement marketing cycle. Let’s look at the engagement marketing cycle, and talk about how social media and engagement work together in the day to day life of your business.
- Remember that email and social work together to promote your business - so, let’s just say that Forward and Share buttons are your new best friends. It’s a single click and your biggest fans can pick up the megaphone and tell others about you, your products or your services. I know you know what a forward button does. And you’ve seen share on Facebook. On twitter, a share is called a retweet. And in email, there is [click to build] the social share bar – any reputable email marketing service will provide this tool. This is what it looks like in constant contact, at the top of an email. [CLICK TO MAKE IT BIGGER] This is what it looks like. When someone gets your email, they can share it easily with all of their friends and followers. And by the way, it helps if you ASK them to click those buttons somewhere in your email to them. More will click if you ask them to. More engagement, more reach, authentic and relevant reach to locals with like interests and economics. Good prospects for you. This is all about engagement.
- One of the best things I can tell you is that, as a small business or a nonprofit, you actually have an advantage over “big business” in this new era of marketing – it is specific to your use of email and social media marketing. You have an advantage because you can be the face of the company, the person people associate with that business or organization. You can be your authentic self. Best Buy cannot do that. Pepsi cannot do that. Today we’re going to talk about some of the ways you can leverage this advantage and also take some of the mystery out of online marketing strategies and how email and social media can help you grow your business. [click to next slide]
- THIS SLIDE IS OPTIONAL, IF YOU WANT TO USE IT, RIGHT CLICK AND UNHIDE THE SLIDE. Put differently, we should be spending 90% of our energy focused on current customers, about [click to build] 9% focused on those word of mouth referrals and only [click to build] 1% of business is coming from brand new prospects. I also suspect, that if we charted the time, effort and money you spend on those groups, that we’d find that the majority of your focus is on that small group of brand new prospects. Does that seem out of balance to anyone else? What we’re going to talk about today, a solution to that imbalance, will get you focused on the 99%. [click to next slide]
- THIS SLIDE IS OPTIONAL, IF YOU WANT TO USE IT RIGHT CLICK AND UNHIDE THE SLIDE Let’s walk thru the engagement cycle and apply it to our real lives. So you have a business. Whether it’s a brick and mortar place or an office or even virtual, this is your business. [CLICK] People come and do business with you and they have a great “wow” experience with you. We all know they are going to tell two friends or 11 friends or whatever if it is a bad experience. But the same is true in reverse. [CLICK] While they are still in your store or place of business, or soon after you have interaction, you should entice them to stay in touch. Ask them to join your “croissant of the month” club or tell them your email subscribers get 10% off everytime – however you want to do it, get the digits. [CLICK] Engage. Send emails, post on facebook, tweet, make it human, make it real, be yourself. Also make sure you are giving them ways to tell friends easily – with the social share bar and by ASKING. [CLICK] Those people come back – did you know that a repeat customer spends on average 67% more than a new one? They bring friends, people learn about you on social media through continued engagement [CLICK] and NEW customers arrive – on their own or with those happy, engaged customers. Now you have another chance to deliver a “wow” experience and to keep the cycle going. This grows over time. It starts small – ish, but it begins to take hold and you realize that you know your customers. You are authentically engaging with them. That drives more people to your place. “Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name” right? You can do this. And it doesn’t have to take a lot of time or money. Let’s keep talking and I’ll go over how in a little bit.
- Now let’s talk briefly about setting your marketing goals. [If you are using the workbook, refer to it here as this section has a writing component]
- With all of your pushing and pulling to run campaigns, it’s important to have an idea of your goals. Here, we are looking at some general goals. General goals for your marketing are something that we all have [click to build], and they are fairly standard across the board for all businesses or nonprofit organizations because you’re in business to do something, and at the highest level that’s what these are. Another way to think about these is that they are the “30,000 foot view” of marketing…very much part of your marketing strategy. But what we’re here to do today is come down a bit, and get more specific. [click to next slide]
- Remember these? Physical, measurable results – these types of things are usually part of an objectives – the tangible outcomes that benefit you and fulfill the goals you’re trying to achieve. Make sure you’re as specific as you can get [click to build]…
- [This slide can be used with the companion workbook. But you can also just have people make notes during the session. If you do not want to use this slide, simply right click and hide it.] So now that we have a framework to talk about overall goals and measurable objectives, let’s see if you can put pen to paper and come up with yours. First, consider your goals. Here are some examples but use your own, related to your own business. What are some of your marketing goals – remember, goals are very general but still specific to you and your business. [give them a minute to write down some of their goals, if you have time to allow interaction, either ask them to share with their table or ask a few people to share their goals with the class] So moving on, let’s get more specific and write down a measurable objective for these goals – it probably works best to think short term, monthly or quarterly in this exercise. You can go big when you get home and can take a step back and really look at this. I’m showing you examples on the screen that correlate to the goals above. Your objectives should correlate the the goals you wrote down. [give them time to write their objectives and again, allow for interaction if you have time]
- OK, armed with your goals and objectives, you are ready to think in terms of campaigns that drive action, meaning they drive people to make decisions that will help you hit your objectives. [If you are going to take a break, this is a natural place to stop
- First, let’s talk about “campaigns” - -what does that word really mean? Very simply there are two parts to a campaign First, you [click to build] push out some sort of to your followers, supporters, etc Second, you hope to [click to build] “pull” some sort of response from them – you want them to read, forward or share what you sent, show up, call, attend – you want them to take an action of some sort Think about a campaign in terms of push/pull and more importantly do not think about it as just putting an offer out there and making the sale … in this new marketing world, it’s more like a conversation – which lends itself to that advantage we talked about that you have over big business. As a small company, you can engage in a conversation that feels and in fact IS much less like a sales gimmick and more like nurturing a relationship. If you’re doing it right, it will seem like that from both sides of that conversation.
- So let’s talk about different types of campaigns. Here is an email campaign. You create it by logging into an email marketing service – not your regular email – and you drop in pictures, text and links that help you drive response.
- To clarify, there is a difference between a regular email from your outlook or gmail/yahoo account And an email service provider, like a Constant Contact. - looks better - gets through the servers - has opt out tools - tracks everything.
- Email is hard to beat for real marketing value. And it’s very much a part of social media. Email is how you can monetize your social media activities. 64% of American adults own a smartphone And it still has the highest delivery and response, much higher than social media. In addition to the actual email, there are a number of tools you can use to expand the reach of your emails and help you build your lists for the future. [click to next slide] http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-1322200-carpentry.php?st=6ca4679
- What is a campaign? A campaign is something you push out, thru email or social media – any channel, really and then you try to PULL a response. So let’s look closer at some types of campaigns. Updates & Announcements or Newsletters – you might push these out to keep your members aware of what is going on, to make sure they know about special events coming up, to keep them in the loop. You might pull from them a response to a survey or an event or to volunteer for something. Special deals, offers and promotions. You might push these out to give a discount, to give incentives to customers to come back, to ask them to invite a friend for a special aware – you push and pull these on all channels Surveys and feedback forms – you push these out through various channels (email and social) to get feedback. About anything. These are all different types of campaigns that are easy to run and easy to measure. Event announcements – invitations, updates, etc.. You push these out to get people to sign up and show up
- What is a campaign? A campaign is something you push out, thru email or social media – any channel, really and then you try to PULL a response. So let’s look closer at some types of campaigns. Updates & Announcements or Newsletters – you might push these out to keep your members aware of what is going on, to make sure they know about special events coming up, to keep them in the loop. You might pull from them a response to a survey or an event or to volunteer for something. Special deals, offers and promotions. You might push these out to give a discount, to give incentives to customers to come back, to ask them to invite a friend for a special aware – you push and pull these on all channels Surveys and feedback forms – you push these out through various channels (email and social) to get feedback. About anything. These are all different types of campaigns that are easy to run and easy to measure. Event announcements – invitations, updates, etc.. You push these out to get people to sign up and show up
- [This slide can be used with the companion workbook. But you can also just have people make notes during the session. If you do not want to use this slide, simply right click and hide it.] Do any of these types of campaigns make sense for your business, would one of them or maybe more than one, help you start working toward the objectives you wrote down earlier? Consider what type of content might work for you – we will talk more about some of this in a little bit so maybe just jot down a couple of ideas… and how will you get the word out – what channels will you use? Use the workbook to write down your thoughts. [give them time to write their objectives and again, allow for interaction if you have time]
- [This slide can be used with the companion workbook. But you can also just have people make notes during the session. If you do not want to use this slide, simply right click and hide it.] Do any of these types of campaigns make sense for your business, would one of them or maybe more than one, help you start working toward the objectives you wrote down earlier? Consider what type of content might work for you – we will talk more about some of this in a little bit so maybe just jot down a couple of ideas… and how will you get the word out – what channels will you use? Use the workbook to write down your thoughts. [give them time to write their objectives and again, allow for interaction if you have time]
- We’ve talked about marketing today, engagement and the types of campaigns that you can send out as part of your email marketing efforts. But an email that isn’t opened just isn’t effective, so now I want to talk about three words that you need to keep in mind as you go about building those emails… [click to next slide]
- Look at these three words. These three words rule your world as a marketer and as a consumer or business person. Every email or social media post that you get and every one that you send or post falls into one of these three categories. Now. Later. Or Never. Think about this morning when you checked your email. Whether you were aware of it or not, you were sorting your messages into these three categories automatically. Now, later, never. And I apologize now for bringing this to your attention and making it a conscious experience for you now. For the next two or three days, when you go through your email, you will find yourself saying it out loud, “now, later, later, never, never, never” and you’ll want to curse me for making something that was seamless now very obvious to you. It will go away. But it’s important that you know that – you need to know this both as a recipient and as a sender or poster. How do you make sure that you are a now? You don’t want to be never – obviously. And a later, let’s face it, is a well-intentioned never. Right? You flag it or tell yourself, “oh, I’ll come back to that” but 9 times out of 10…do you? (they will usually laugh and say no) [click to next slide]
- So how do you win the battle of priorities and get more people to stop and open your email or to stop and read your facebook post or your tweet or to share your pin on pinterest? Think about how you sort your email – or if you’re on facebook, think about the newsfeed. Typically when you open up your email – think about it this morning – you start at the top of the list and you go down, sorting by who it’s from. WHO the email or the social media post came from turns out to be the most important part of winning the battle of priorities. You do it based on WHO, so it’s important for you to [click to build] be recognizable… You do need to exercise care [click to build] and consider how you’re identifying yourself across the channels you’re using. If you send your emails as “Jane Doe,” but your Facebook page shows up in people’s newsfeeds as “Famous Cookies,” people might not make the connection. Just be sure that you’re consistent with the name you use – and ensure that it’s the one that you’ll be recognized by, so that ultimately your readers and followers will stop and open your email, read your posts – because they know they’re going to get something of value and relevance from you. Now, there are some important considerations that shouldn’t be overlooked, and they relate to something called the [click to build] “CAN-SPAM” act…which is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have you stop emailing them, and spells out tough penalties for violations. The law makes no exception for business-to-business email. That means all email – for example, a message to former customers announcing a new product line – must comply with the law. One provision of CAN-SPAM is that the “from,” “to,” and “reply to,” names “must be accurate and identify the person or business who initiated the message.” Therefore if I signed up for an email from Joe Pizza the from address should be “Joe Pizza” and not “Joe Smith.” (If you have a longer session, here are more notes for talking points) If you are not sure that people will recognize you because they mostly know the company name, then use a combination Of your name, then a comma, and then the company or brand name – so you can piggy back off of the recognition of that Brand but knowing you’ll get more people to stop and pay attention to an email from a person. Another way to look at it – when you get an email from a company, don’t you automatically assume that It is a marketing message so if you are busy or going thru your own battle of priorities, that one usually goes Into the later or never pile. One other note, for nonprofits in the room, you are – and sorry to say this – often starting at later. And not because people Do not care about your message. That’s not it at all. It is more about the timing of your messages (which we will cover in a little bit) But if you think about it, if people are at work and their focus is supposed to be on their work, and then they get an email About your cause or program, even if they really care about it, they cannot always pull away from their primary responsiblities at the office.
- Templates make the process of sending emails much easier…while still allowing you to preserve the look and feel of your brand.
- Here is a simple method for writing more powerful subject and headlines. It’s called the 2-2-2 principle. Let’s walk through it quickly. The first two is for the 2 seconds you typically have to compel them to pay attention. The second two if for the first two words of your subject line or headline. That’s really all they read before making a decision. And not a decision about whether to read your message, but as to whether or not they will bother to read the rest of the subject line. The third to is for “why does this email or message matter today” Today – that’s the third two. If you can answer that question In your subject line or headline, as close to the first two words as possible, more people will stop and at least open your message. So – how do you do it? How do you write one of these? Is anyone here on my email list? Do any of you get my class invitations? (some will raise their hands) …have you ever noticed that my subject lines sometimes begin with something like “12 seats left for tomorrow” Or “ten seats open tomorrow”? … first, let me tell you that it’s always true. And you should always be honest in your messages as well. But the reason I start with that is because it expresses very quickly why the message matters today. Seats are running out for an upcoming session. Some of the emails I send you start with “some seats left”… ever notice those? That’s when I have a lot of seats left and I don’t want to lie to you, But I want it to be more compelling than saying “57 seats still open for tomorrow”… that’s not compelling. It’s important to point out that you don’t need to go to the “urgency well” all the time, meaning you don’t always have to put a time stamp on it or Say things like “today only” or “by close of business” or like that. It’s more about making it very clear to people that your message is relevant and timely in order to win that now, later or never battle.
- [This slide can be used with the companion workbook. But you can also just have people make notes during the session. If you do not want to use this slide, simply right click and hide it.] So now that we have a framework to talk about overall goals and measurable objectives, let’s see if you can put pen to paper and come up with yours. First, consider your goals. Here are some examples but use your own, related to your own business. What are some of your marketing goals – remember, goals are very general but still specific to you and your business. [give them a minute to write down some of their goals, if you have time to allow interaction, either ask them to share with their table or ask a few people to share their goals with the class] So moving on, let’s get more specific and write down a measurable objective for these goals – it probably works best to think short term, monthly or quarterly in this exercise. You can go big when you get home and can take a step back and really look at this. I’m showing you examples on the screen that correlate to the goals above. Your objectives should correlate the the goals you wrote down. [give them time to write their objectives and again, allow for interaction if you have time]
- When to send is another very common question. Both for how often to send and also when in terms of the time of day and the day of the week. For social media, we recommend a baseline frequency of at least 3-5 times a weekly. It’s what they used to tell us for exercise. There are tools and guidelines for what times have the highest traffic and most response but it really depends on your industry, your audience and what you are trying to get them to do. For email marketing frequency, monthly is the most common but it’s also a good idea to add unexpected messages every once in a while [click to build through the steps for testing]
- THIS SLIDE IS OPTIONAL – if you don’t want to provide this information, simply right click and hide the slide.
- Timing is important during the holidays. Leverage those key dates – of course the national holidays, but think about the retail events that have become popular over the last few years. [click to build] Black Friday – day after Thanksgiving – Nov. 29 $648 million spent, 9% increase -comSCORE, 2010 [click to build] Small Business Saturday – weekend of Thanksgiving – Nov. 30 27% of small business saw an increase in sales -American Express OPEN, 2010 [click to build] Cyber Monday – Monday after Thanksgiving – Dec. 2 $1.028 billion in online spending, a 16% jump in spending -comSCORE, 2010 Some people make up their own holidays like Christmakwanzakah and use them to promote sales Think about shipping dates in your promotions – alert your customers when you have free shipping or what date do you need to ship by to be delivered in time. Plan for exclusive offers and sales – give your customers enough time to take advantage of discounts BellaSoleil UID 1102490454400(ams9yycab) Agway of Central Mass UID 1101631493734(gtfvf4bab) The Tea Spot UID 1102033812980(up4kflcab) The Pavilion at Salisbury Beach UID 1103201627438(oj8b4ndab)
- Timing is important during the holidays. Leverage those key dates – of course the national holidays, but think about the retail events that have become popular over the last few years. [click to build] Black Friday – day after Thanksgiving – Nov. 29 $648 million spent, 9% increase -comSCORE, 2010 [click to build] Small Business Saturday – weekend of Thanksgiving – Nov. 30 27% of small business saw an increase in sales -American Express OPEN, 2010 [click to build] Cyber Monday – Monday after Thanksgiving – Dec. 2 $1.028 billion in online spending, a 16% jump in spending -comSCORE, 2010 Some people make up their own holidays like Christmakwanzakah and use them to promote sales Think about shipping dates in your promotions – alert your customers when you have free shipping or what date do you need to ship by to be delivered in time. Plan for exclusive offers and sales – give your customers enough time to take advantage of discounts BellaSoleil UID 1102490454400(ams9yycab) Agway of Central Mass UID 1101631493734(gtfvf4bab) The Tea Spot UID 1102033812980(up4kflcab) The Pavilion at Salisbury Beach UID 1103201627438(oj8b4ndab)
- Make it easy for customers to take advantage of your promotions. Your content should help them find the gift they are looking for. This email from Russell’s Garden Center definitely does that – look at the top of the email – Tired of fighting mall traffic or online shopping delivery deadlines? They’re a small business that can help. They have a list of gifts right there; at the bottom of the email, they list their store hours. Visuals are key – who has heard that a picture is worth 1000 words? It’s even more true today when we think about [click to build] This email from Baked by Melissa has great visuals – and it’s well organized. Has photos of the products, description, and links on the bottom that enable you to click and purchase directly from the website Use your design wisely – the template used for Creations Abound’s email is one that’s built for product promotions. It is well organized, spotlights 3 products and has room for a description and buttons that are linked to the product’s page on the store’s website. Side note – try to avoid giving too many choices in your campaign. These are supposed to be quick decisions to act (clicking to shop in your online store or selecting an item and clicking to buy) Too many choices will reduce the number of decisions / actions a person can take. It’s a time limit thing. Think of your campaign as window shopping. You want to entice someone to come in right then and buy because of whatever got their attention.
- Include text labels (35-67% don’t see images by default) Less is more Don’t overload on content – emails with 20 lines of text get higher click-throughs Make it easy for customers to take advantage of your promotions. Your content should help them find the gift they are looking for. This email from Russell’s Garden Center definitely does that – look at the top of the email – Tired of fighting mall traffic or online shopping delivery deadlines? They’re a small business that can help. They have a list of gifts right there; at the bottom of the email, they list their store hours. Russell’s Garden center also helps their customers with visuals – they have photos of the products they’re selling [click to build] This email from Creations Abound also has great visuals – and it’s well organized. Has photos of the products, titles that show price range, description, and links on the bottom that enable you to click and purchase directly from the website Use your design wisely – the template used for Creations Abound’s email is one that’s built for product promotions. It is well organized, spotlights 3 products and has room for a description and buttons that are linked to the product’s page on the store’s website. Side note – try to avoid giving too many choices in your campaign. These are supposed to be quick decisions to act (clicking to shop in your online store or selecting an item and clicking to buy) Too many choices will reduce the number of decisions / actions a person can take. It’s a time limit thing. Think of your campaign as window shopping. You want to entice someone to come in right then and buy because of whatever got their attention.
- Videos increase click-through rates by 300% Keep videos short – 58% will stop watching within 90 seconds BUT – if you need people to do ONE THING, consider photos rather than videos to keep them focused on your physical, measurable result. Video is a powerful way to engage with your audience. People prefer watching a video to reading long web pages full of text. You can make video work for your business. [CLICK] Forrester study: video content increases click-through rates by 300% [CLICK] Make sure you mention the video in your subject line so your readers know about it right away [CLICK] what should you feature in a video? product demos customer testimonials promotional user-generated Boloco – chain of burrito restaurants in New England – created a pumpkin shake. Did a video about it. Want people to watch your video? Promote it on all of your marketing channels. That’s exactly what Boloco did. They got the word out by promoting it using many of their marketing channels - promoted it in this email newsletter – and [CLICK] on their Facebook page
- Spotlight your products, services, employees and customers 3 or fewer images. Limit your images – emails with 3 or fewer get the best click-throughs Forrester study: video content increases click-through rates by 300% [CLICK] Make sure you mention the video in your subject line so your readers know about it right away [CLICK] what should you feature in a video? product demos customer testimonials promotional user-generated Boloco – chain of burrito restaurants in New England – created a pumpkin shake. Did a video about it. Want people to watch your video? Promote it on all of your marketing channels. That’s exactly what Boloco did. They got the word out by promoting it using many of their marketing channels - promoted it in this email newsletter – and [CLICK] on their Facebook page
- You don’t have to write something new every day. Take that pressure off of yourself. Keep it very simple. You can use content more than once on various channels – here is an example of this from the Boys & Girls Club in Austin. They have a press release. CLICK Posted the piece on their website CLICK added a notice in their newsletter CLICK posted several times on twitter with quotes CLICK shared a link on facebook …You can do this too.
- We talked earlier about how mobile has become prevalent in the world around us, …now we want to show you 5 tips for what you can do today to start taking advantage of mobile for the holiday season. Tip #1: avoid using too much text Think about it – do you want to read long and complex messages on your phone? When you’re on the go? No. Which means neither do your customers or supporters. Do you want to read a message like the one here? [click to build] Probably not… What you want is to see something more like [click to build] this…the result of some basic considerations as you build your message: Start to re-think your content. Long-form content (think newsletters that have more than a couple of short, to-the-point paragraphs) doesn’t work for mobile readers. So look at the content you’re building and start to re-think it: could it be condensed? Can a picture tell the story better? Can you turn one newsletter into a series by cutting it into pieces? If you have longer, or more complex content or assets you want to share (like a product guide, or new regulations for your clients or a research report that supporters of your non-profit would be interested in), send an email with a clear call-to-action that directs people to where that asset lives (on your website, blog, etc. [click to next slide]
- Tip #2: avoid using multiple columns Prior to the rise of mobile and mobile communication, emails had started to take on an almost website-like feel – with multiple columns and navigation elements similar to what you find on websites. But with mobile communications driving content to be more focused, and also just to fit a more physically condensed space, multiple columns cause problems. Tip #3: clear and easy calls to action You want to make it easy for your readers to take an action, to do something that keeps them connected to you – come to your website or event registration page, click through to a white paper you wrote, learn more about your services. You can increase the odds of them taking that action by carefully thinking through the design of your emails. Tip #4: avoid using tiny fonts This one would seem to be pretty self-explanatory…but is no less important. While you might be able to fit more text with smaller font, like 9 and 12 point font, who can read it? People will need to pinch-to-zoom the text, and then have to scroll around. They’re more likely to delete the message, as well as unsubscribe from future small-fonted emails. We recommend at least 11 points for body text and 22 points for headlines, and starts to bring greater contrast between the text and the background. But even that it still hard to read. Tip #5: use images carefully Images are a great way to convey a message, tell a story…create a connection. But if you don’t carefully consider how you’re going to use images, you may end up with some unintended consequences that lead, at best, to someone not reading your email. Here are some things to keep in mind: some mobile email clients may not display images by default…so be sure that you’re using what is called “Alt Text,” or text that appears if the image doesn’t, to at least let people know what’s there. Great images still shouldn’t push the call to action all the way to the bottom of the message, making it less likely that the reader will actually click through. The position and size of the images matter too - You may need to resize images as you build your email (a lot of email marketing tools have simple, built in image-editing capabilities). Before you send any message out to your customers or supporters, TEST THE EMAIL BY SENDING IT TO YOURSELF!! And then view it with your readers in mind…and make changes accordingly. A few extra minutes of testing can save a lot of headache later. [click to next slide]
- [This slide can be used with the companion workbook. But you can also just have people make notes during the session. If you do not want to use this slide, simply right click and hide it.] So you have taken in a lot of information. Knowing what you now know, look over your thoughts from earlier about what type of campaign might work best for your business, choose one of your ideas and give it some structure in the space provided in the workbook. [give them time to write their objectives and again, allow for interaction if you have time]
- If you’re really just getting started, here are your first steps. Pull together your contact list. It can be in any format. And in a variety of places – loading them into a system like Constant Contact helps you eliminate duplicates and gets them all in one place. It’s easy to upload them. New biz? Load friends and family – people that will not think you are spamming them [this is a place to make sure they know they could do this free without a credit card if they set up a CC trial] Send out a monthly email campaign, doesn’t have to be complicated. Can be done in a few minutes, and can Be done ahead of time and scheduled out. But do it and you will be amazed at what it does for business. And then watch what happens…look for those actions and results that we talked about earlier. Let’s take just a little deeper look at each of these…
- This is the all-important first step…get your list together. Or all of your lists. No matter how big or small…get them into one place. You can collect names and email addresses in a bunch of different ways…here’s a few of the most popular ways… [click through each example] Also make sure that you’ve prepared (and practiced) your “pitch” – how you’ll ask people to join your list. It doesn’t have to be awkward – if they’ve had a great experience with you, they’re ready to be asked. You just have to make sure you ask. (And make sure that your staff knows how and when to ask as well…if you can’t always be there, ensure that your people know what to do.) [click to next slide]
- Once you’ve got your lists consolidated and in one place, send something out. Don’t get caught up in trying to craft an award-winning email…keep it simple, send something of value, and get it out there…here are some simple examples [click to build through the examples] Simple messages like “Thank You” or “Welcome” are a great start…add a special coupon and you’re ready to send. Or send a special offer or piece of content. If you use social media, don’t forget to post your newsletters to the channels you use – [click to next slide]
- Finally, watch what happens. And look for the things that work…so you can do more of them!! I just want to encourage you to use a service with tools that help you measure your efforts. I cannot say it enough - If you’re not measuring you are not marketing. Period. Whether you use Constant Contact or another service, you can save so much time and money if you will let technology track what is working and what isn’t. You should know who is opening your marketing emails, when and how many times – what they clicked on – individually and generally, percentage-wise. Know how many people respond to your surveys, sign up for your events, pay for your events or pay for a special deal or make a donation if you’re a nonprofit. These are some of the reports in Constant Contact. Most reputable services will give you similar reports. You have to know what is working and what isn’t – because you should do more of what is working and stop doing what isn’t. Simple but you have to measure to know what is helping you grow.
- RELATIONSHIPS. delivering on the promise you make when someone engages with you measurable results: show a screenshot of a results report… This will be the segue point to the next section…because if you’re focused on measurable results, the place to start is with goals and objectives…
- You CAN do this. There are tools out there to make it easier, like Constant Contact, and we are going to go over some simple ways to help you use less time, money and energy running your marketing.
- Open the session up for questions and have your Call To Action visible on the slide. If you want them to fill out a form, say so. If you are making a special offer, edit the slide. CHANGE the URL. To claim your free trial, remember to fill out the form at your table. To take advantage of the special offer to get a free custom design, sign up for a paid account online at {your url here} or add a STAR to the form and I’ll contact you within 24 hours to help you get started.