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Marketing
Guest Post: Marketing to Your Tribe
Stephanie Holmes-Winton Stephanie Holmes-Winton, The Money Finder, is a crusader for financial freedom. She doesn’t wear a cape (but that would be kind of cute). She does have an important message for you and me and every small business owner… This just in: some people … Keep reading…
Why Use a Bulk Email Service?
For a small cost, using a bulk email servicer provider (ESP) gives you LOTS of benefits: Cost is minimal. It allows you to schedule your email sends. It handles subscribes and unsubscribes effortlessly and accurately. It has built-in functionality to manage your contact lists and … Keep reading…
A Networking Philosophy
In conversation last week, I was surprised to hear for the third time in as many weeks, a similar reason for resistance to joining a networking organization: “I don’t want to connect with people that are just looking to sell me something.” It has me … Keep reading…
Building your Reputation
You don’t build a reputation by churning out facts or putting on a suit. A reputation is built through walking the talk. The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. – Socrates If building your reputation … Keep reading…
Delivering the Goods
Think about the executive summary that prime ministers and presidents read every morning. That has to be a darn concise document. Up-to-the-minute information, well-curated, and accurate, with an appropriate level of detail. Doesn’t that sound like a great newsletter? A newsletter has to be useful … Keep reading…
Don’t Leave Them Wanting More
Whenever you or I read something that we like, often a “What’s next?” comes to mind. I’m frequently cautioning about using calls to action strategically and not having so many that they become distracting. The other end of the spectrum would be not having a … Keep reading…
Content That Saves Time
This is worth getting excited about – the best kind of content possible. That’s because content that saves you time also helps you meet so many other goals. How can taking the time to create content actually save you time? Well, you create content out … Keep reading…
Don’t Dilute Your Message
Let’s say you own a business that sells services to the general public. And, because you are so good at what you do, you also sell different services to other businesses in your industry. This is a common scenario for successful small businesses. You want to start an enewsletter – let’s … Keep reading…
Stick with the Plan
12/12/12 marked 7 years since I incorporated Daley Progress. If I only knew then what I know now! The last couple of years have been very different from the previous ones. I finally stuck to a realistic plan. Now, I know all about plans and … Keep reading…
How are Email Marketers like Santa?
Santa can reach every person in the world all in one night. Email can do that too… as long as every person has an email account. Santa has a hard and fast deadline. Email marketers have hard and fast deadlines maintaining consistency to keep their … Keep reading…
The Devil is in the Details
Mistakes happen – appointments get missed, deadlines slide by, and that phone call doesn’t get returned. These things happen to everyone sooner or later. Sometimes these are things that can be avoided next time, sometimes they’re unavoidable, and sometimes they’re just plain old stupid mistakes. … Keep reading…
The Outrageously Simple Formula for eNewsletter Success
GOALS + VALUE = SUCCESS Simple, right? As small business owners, our email marketing goals can be quite different and varied. Whatever your GOALS are, you won’t reach them if you don’t seriously consider the other side of the equation: giving VALUE to your subscribers. … Keep reading…
Warm Up those Cold Calls
Many organizations are engaging in email marketing these days – informational newsletters, promotional emails, or both. Some of these organizations have even done a great job of integrating email marketing with their social media efforts as part of a comprehensive online marketing strategy. But few … Keep reading…
Call to Action [Wrap Up]
No matter what your topic or type of email, you will have a call to action for your readers. It can be a secondary point to your main message, such as signing up for your newsletter. It can be the main point of the whole … Keep reading…
It Doesn’t Have to be About You
Let’s face it: some businesses are in a better position to provide valuable information through newsletters (blogs, social media) than others. Take our own newsletter as an example. We could easily publish a newsletter about publishing newsletters. (Stay with me here.) It would have lots of tips … Keep reading…
The Moral of the Story
Aesop’s Fables have a clear moral lesson backed up by a little story. The story makes it more interesting than just passing out advice. It demonstrates the results of heeding or not heeding the advice. Advice delivered as a ‘fable’ appeals to both our emotions … Keep reading…
Un-credible Words
Just because you say it’s so, doesn’t make it true. Take this email disclaimer below as an example. Please, read the small print. The first line sounds pretty good… ethical and all that. And hey, they respect me. I might believe it if I had actually subscribed. … Keep reading…
9 Ways to Personalize Your Newsletter
We tell our new clients that the newsletters we design for them will be completely unique. Part of being unique is making a personal connection with your reader. Here’s our best advice about how to make your newsletter more personal and distinct. 1. Write a … Keep reading…
eNewsletter Design and Formatting Mistakes
Mistakes stand out and they can be fodder for others’ discussions. Aside from obvious spelling, grammatical and hyperlink errors, formatting and design can also be a big turn-off. You can have awesome content that delivers value to your readers – but it’s no good if … Keep reading…
Graphic Solutions
Copyright and graphics are topics that come up in our business all the time. When you are using images on your website, blog or in your newsletter, you need to ensure they are copyright free or you have paid the copyright owner for use. You … Keep reading…
Introducing Your Very First Issue
Update – Find a newer version of this topic here: How to Write the Introduction to Your First Newsletter. When writing the introduction for your first newsletter issue, here are some things you might want to include: Acknowledge that this is your first issue and that you appreciate … Keep reading…
A Different Kind of Feedback
Most of us would agree that feedback is generally a desirable thing and necessary for continuous improvement. Yet there seems to be a whole area of performance that gets ignored due to little or no feedback: internet marketing. If you are ignoring your feedback (in … Keep reading…
Avoiding False Assumptions
I am not my own ideal client. Certainly, I fit within the target market I have so clearly defined. Being a small business owner, I can identify with all of my ideal clients – we share many of the same needs and desires. But there … Keep reading…
3 Keys to Creating a Call-to-Action
We all use calls to action but we often don’t think of them that way. Writing an email to a friend asking for feedback, emailing to arrange a coffee date, sending a follow-up note – these all contain calls to action whether obvious or implied. … Keep reading…