Marketing & Client Attraction for the Solopreneur & Small Business Owner
Which is better out of sending your newsletter in HTML with images and a fancy layout OR sending it as plain text?
This is a great question that I’ve been asked many times over the past 8 years. The best option may actually be a combination. I’ll explain exactly how that looks in a moment. First, let me explore the two suggested scenarios.
Email Marketing is still one of the most effective ways to keep in touch with prospects and clients. And it is still one of the most effective ways to move prospects along the path to become clients.
Yes there is social media which is a great opportunity for business to connect and communicate with their prospects and clients. We’ve covered making the most of social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and more here on this blog and love them all!
But a big difference between social media and email marketing is that email marketing gets you closer to the recipient because it arrives in the recipient’s own inbox. And your email stays there until they do something with it (hopefully read it!). To me, it feels like there is a closer connection, and I believe that an email subscriber is more valuable than a like, or a follow.
The online business world in many ways is no different to the offline business world. Online and offline, business success is almost always based on creating relationships with people.
In fact, if you think about it, every dollar that is spent online must come from an individual making a decision.
And first they need to decide if they trust the business and people (or person) behind the website. [Read more...]
In a recent article for SMH, Valerie Khoo writes that Scott Stratten, bestselling author of Unmarketing, still believes that email marketing is more powerful than social media. This is even though he built his massive following on social media and used twitter to create a national best seller before his book was even released (he has over 117,000 followers on twitter alone).
“Email address and sign-ups are still, to me, exponentially more valuable than a follower [on Twitter] or a ‘like’ [on Facebook],” says Scott. “Email marketing is alive and well. Don’t ignore what has been the backbone of communication for a long time now.” [Read more...]
I often get asked how often to send a newsletter.
The short answer is… it depends.
Sending more often means your subscribers get more regular reminders of your existence. You have greater opportunity for them to get to know, like and trust you. There are more frequent opportunities to inform, educate and sell to your subscribers.
Sounds fabulous doesn’t it? But…
In Australia the average open rate for email marketing, across all industries is consistently around 22%. Averages in the US and other countries are likely to be similar. Seems low, but compared to other marketing mediums it’s a good result.
Personally I like to have clients aim for an open rate of 28-35% which is possible with a targeted list and good emails!
The inboxes of our newsletter subscribers (and our own!) are getting fuller every day. Subscribers are getting bored as they see more of the same old content hitting their inboxes, or even worse, irrelevant content!
It’s becoming harder to get and to keep attention.
So, if you produce an email newsletter then today is the day to review what’s working and what you need to change.
Open Rates are the first vital clue to the health of your Email Marketing Campaigns. A high open rate indicates that you are consistently providing your subscriber list with valuable and useful promotions and information. A low open rate tells you that there is work to be done on your strategy and execution.
I often have new clients who are surprised when their email newsletter is not opened by all of the recipients. If you have reacted this way then I assure you that you should not be dissapointed as this is normal. There are many factors involved and believe me, no one gets their emails 100% opened unless they are sending to a very select small list.
Email Marketing is a highly effective and very cost effective way of marketing your products or services. However, as all of our inboxes get fuller and fuller it becomes even more critical to get the formula right so that you are welcomed into your recipients inbox.
You DON’T want to be a quickly deleted pest!
Often it’s just a case of ensuring the content you send is valuable to your recipients and that you have their consent. Think about your own inbox for a moment. If you receive an email from a business or a name that you are not familiar with and have no recollection of having met or subscribed to, what is the first thing you do? Assuming of course that the email did not go straight into your spam filter you would likely delete it or mark it as spam. Right?
So how do we get through the clutter and get results. [Read more...]
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