Contemplating creating an e-mail marketing program, an e-newsletter or a social marketing campaign? Constant Contact is one of the leading online marketing solution companies and for a very low monthly cost allows you to create e-mail newsletters and updates, online surveys and more. You can even send marketing e-mails from your smartphone. Try Constant Contact’s free 60-day trial offer and create an e-newsletter for your customers from one of the many templates. E-mail address can be stored directly at Constant Contact. Want to discuss your needs with someone in person? The company has representatives all over the country.
Small Business Success Index 4
| Index Score* | Grade | ||
| SBSI INDEX | 73 | C- |  |
| Capital Access | 67 | D+ |  |
| Marketing & Innovation | 65 | D | |
| Workforce | 76 | C |  |
| Customer Service | 88 | B+ |  |
| Computer Technology | 73 | C- | |
| Compliance | 92 | A- |  |
| *Index score is calculated on a 1-100 scale. | |||
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Small Biz Resource Tip: Groupon.com
October 12th, 2010 :: Rieva_LWant to drum up local business and get your community talking about your company? Then you’ll want to get your business highlighted on the daily deal site Groupon. Consumers who join Groupon get daily e-mails promoting one business in their area and offering them a deal such as two-for-one specials or 50 percent off your products or services. It costs you nothing to participate, but Groupon does take 50 percent of the amount the consumer pays. The plusses outweigh the minuses, though, as this site is wildly popular and gets new customers in your front door. Then it’s up to you to get them to come back.
Using Social Media and e-Mail Campaigns for a one-two marketing punch
July 23rd, 2010 :: Steven FisherFor the last few years people have been working with social media tools trying to increase customer acquisition and web site click through rates (CTR). Social media is at its very basic a conversation and anyone with an opinion or content can join in that conversation. This is different from e-mail which offers a more personalized and intimate level of contact with your customer.
GetResponse‘s “Email Marketing and Social Media Integration Report” found that the inclusion of social media sharing buttons in email generated click-through rates around 30% higher than email sent with no sharing options. The BizReport.com also says that “a Twitter button proved to be the most effective, increasing click-through rates by 40% but in order to garner the highest rates, around 55%, more than one social media button needed to be incorporated”.
Aweber has some great tips on how to leverage social media and e-mail campaigns together:
- Occasionally, you may want to broadcast a brilliant newsletter beyond your list. Follow these steps to tweet your newsletter and show the Twitterverse the value of your emails. Put a sign-up form in the newsletter for new converts.
- Post a sign-up form on your Facebook fan page. Your fans’ contacts will see any posts they make about you, and potential fans can also find your fan page via search. If they click over to your page, a sign-up form instantly invites them to join your list.
- People who start following you via social media need a reason to subscribe by email, too. Make your web form is clearly visible, and try offering an extra incentive for signing up.
- You aren’t the only one who can hype your campaign: your readers can, too.Buttons to share your emails on social networks offer opportunities to promote your message – and give you a chance to go viral.
Entrepreneur.com also has some great tips on making the most of your social media and e-mail marketing mix:
Make the most of the social media and e-mail marketing mix.
E-mail and social media marketing can work together to build on what each does best. Here are five things you need to know so you can make the most of the social media and e-mail marketing mix:
- Be where your customers are. You won’t know whether your customers are on social media sites, and which ones in particular, unless you test the waters and look for them. Different people prefer different means of getting their daily info and opinion fix. Millions like the streaming feed of Twitter. Others prefer the posts on Facebook. More professionally oriented people may use LinkedIn. You want to swim in the channels that are frequented by your customers and prospects.
- Use your e-mail list to build a social media presence. The big question we get from e-mail marketers is how to get that snowball rolling down the social media mountain. Here’s the good news: The secret is your e-mail list. Use it to jump-start your social media presence by inviting your subscribers to follow you on Twitter and become your fan on Facebook. They will get the ball rolling for you. How do you engage prospects on social media websites? The same way as with e-mail marketing: valuable, relevant, interesting content.
- Repurpose content from your newsletter. Content is still king. That applies to social media, too. You don’t need to create brand-new content to engage people on social networking sites. Instead, repurpose snippets of articles you’ve already created (or aggregated) for your e-mail newsletter. Think of these as “microcontent”-one tip, one idea, one article you found interesting. A teaser and a link back to your archived newsletter or blog is all the content you need to get started posting on social media sites.
- Invite people back to your website or blog. If your website is your online hub or headquarters, then think of social media sites as your satellites. They allow you to extend your business presence. When you post on social media, be sure to include frequent links back to your website, newsletter archive or blog, where interested people can learn more about your business. Then you can engage potential customerson a deeper level, away from the distractions of the social media world. Just be sure you’re not always selling; social media is better-suited for sharing information and expertise.
- Ask for mailing list sign-ups on multiple channels. Use your e-mail list to build a presence on social media sites, then use your presence on the sites to invite even more people to sign up for your mailing list. Put a link to your sign-up form on multiple channels, including your website and Facebook fan page. Tweet about your newsletter articles on Twitter, linking readers back to your newsletter archive, where they can sign up for your mailing list.
Your Email and Social Media Tactics
Have you tried any of these methods with your campaigns? Are you seeing a change in the relationships you have with customers and email newsletter subscribers?
Social Media in Action Part Two: How a Farm Has Achieved Inbound Marketing Success
May 5th, 2010 :: Monika JansenMy last blog post, Social Media in Action Part One: How a Farm Cultivates Fans on Facebook, looked at one significant aspect of Great Country Farms’ (GCF) successful inbound marketing program. With the help of public relations, social media, and event planning expert Christine Geno of Geno Communications, GCF grew their Facebook fan page 580% in 8 ½ months—and for 4 ½ of those months, they were closed (not much going on at a farm in northern Virginia during the winter months).
Just to recap quickly: GCF is a 200 acre working farm owned by the Zurschmeide family nestled at the base of the Blue
Ridge Mountains in small, historic, rural, and beautiful Bluemont, VA. They are part of the thriving tourism industry in Loudoun County, VA that is heavily promoted in and around the metro Washington, DC area and the Mid-Atlantic region. Though they have gotten promotional help from Loudoun County’s very active tourism board, the Zurschmeides have done a great deal of work themselves to promote their farm.
So what is GCF and why do they attract so many fans? Their tagline “Buy Local. Play Local. Eat Local.” pretty much describes what they are. GCF offers organic farm shares from May through October (list is full for 2010, but you can get on a wait list for 2011); rents their facilities for special events, and provides a fun farm experience for us city-folk, including picking produce, climbing and playing on old tractor and farming equipment, going on hayrides, shopping at their farm market/store, and petting and feeding farm animals.
In addition to cultivating a robust, active, and enthusiastic fan base on Facebook, GCF and Chris Geno (her company’s website is under construction) are successfully using several platforms to drive their inbound marketing strategy.
- Twitter. Kate Zurschmeide tweets what GCF is currently planting and picking, and, as mentioned in the first post, their Twitter account is linked to their Facebook account, so all GCF Facebook posts are also tweeted. Chris Geno then retweets via her own Twitter account, and her tweets are also often retweeted by others, including the local tourism board. Chris has a large media following on Twitter and has strategically positioned her Twitter account to follow media, event planners, moms groups, etc.
- Newsletter. Members of their CSA and Fans of the Farm (aka, season pass holders—yes, there is a daily admission to the farm) receive a monthly newsletter that includes special events and promotions, recipes, farm news, produce information, and more.
- Theme weeks. To boost attendance during the week, GCF decided to get creative and
“theme” each week they are open. “Future Farmers”, “Dirt Dirt Dirt!”, “Flower Power”, Berrylicious”, and “Cowabunga” are a handful of examples. - Auction items. GCF sometimes donates gift certificates for birthday parties to local auctions/benefits for worthy causes.
- Military perks. Entrance fees are waived for anyone with a military ID, which Chris advertises on the USO’s and various moms group Facebook pages.
- Bumper stickers. Lots of cars sport black and white oval “GCF” bumper stickers in northern Virginia. Cheap, mobile advertising! Can’t beat it.
- Cross promotions. Directly across from the entrance driveway to GCF is a driveway leading to Bluemont Vineyard, which is co-owned by the Zurschmeides. Both the winery and farm cross promote each other. This is a unique situation, of course, but one they fully take advantage of. As a result, the winery is kid- and dog-friendly and full of picnicking families during weekend afternoons.
- Festivals. Who doesn’t love a festival? Starting with the Marshmallow Harvest and Egg Hunt in March and ending with the Pumpkin Chunkin Weekend in November, they are holding a total of 14 festivals this season.
- Other online channels: Chris uses LinkedIn to promote events at GCF and videos of the farm are listed on YouTube
- Advertising. GCF has moved away from traditional advertising (in local newspapers), and instead utilizes their own website, listings on tourism websites, and word-of-mouth advertising to promote the farm.
Because of their extensive marketing efforts, GCF is a known entity in northern Virginia. They have gotten a lot of coverage in the news media, on local blogs and television stations, their parking lot is packed on nice weekends from spring through fall, and rental demand for weddings, birthday parties, corporate retreats, and group events has taken off. Not bad for a family farm, huh?
All photos courtesy of Great Country Farms.
I am Inbound Marketing and So Can You – Book Review of "Inbound Marketing"
April 13th, 2010 :: Steven Fisher
Last fall, the co-founders of Hubspot and InboundMarketing.com put out a book which is the core of what their company does, measure inbound marketing efforts and success. For many, the term was a bit nebulous and hard to define. Ken Yeung over at Solutions Are Power has a great overview of Inbound Marketing and explains Inbound Marketing as essentially “marketing focused on getting found by customers.”
Basically this means that whether it’s through tools like search engine optimization, social media, etc. as opposed to anything outbound where you are paying to get people’s attention. David Meerman Scott says that it’s akin to “earning your way in” and I think that inbound marketing is a pretty good thing to work on.
David did the forward for this book and it is a solid read with all the fundamentals you need to understand and execute an inbound marketing program.
Inbound Marketing Mantra – Get Found, Convert, Analyze and Improve
There are four sections in this book – Basics, Getting Found by Prospects, Converting Customers and Make Better Decisions. The basics are well, the basics. Tells you what this whole inbound marketing thing is, asks you a hard question if your web site is a marketing hub and not a megaphone.
Getting Found by Prospects discusses content, search and social media tools. Converting customers is about how you use those tools I just mentioned and turn those visitors to your marketing hub to real leads and then to customers. They continue with the process by analyzing campaigns and other metrics from the various tools to understand success. They also define the various people that need to be a part of this team and contribute to the overall success of the inbound marketing program.
Overall, a Solid Application Book with great case studies
It is a quick read (I finished it in about 3 hours) but it provides what you really need to know along with the tools and HOW TO USE THEM. Almost all business books can be separate into two groups – theory or application. This is about 5% theory explaining the concepts and 95% application with the tools and how this fits into the inbound marketing campaign.
If you are a marketing practitioner or in a small business where marketing is one of the hats you wear, you need this book.
You can find out more about the writers at Hubspot.com and InboundMarketing.com and the book is over at Amazon.
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Using Inbound Marketing to set up your own Small Businesses "Watering Hole"
April 7th, 2010 :: Steven FisherHave you ever heard of the term “Inbound Marketing”? I bet you know what “Outbound Marketing” is if I mentioned a few terms – trade shows, seminar series, email blasts to purchased lists, internal cold calling, outsourced telemarketing, and advertising. These methods are called “outbound marketing” because a marketer or small business owner pushes their message out far and wide hoping that it resonates with that needle in the haystack. While this works in some cases, for many small businesses they don’t have the budget to experiment or invest in the size that these programs require to get a measure of success.
Inbound Marketing Defined
The concept “inbound marketing” is where you use tools like your website or blog to construct a “hub” for your business and hopefully, your industry to attract people naturally through search engines. Ways people do this is by utilizing social media tools like blogs, Twitter and Facebook Fan Pages as a start. This dramatically increases the chances you will be found by those looking for the help you provide. Companies “get found” in this way because potential customers are already learning about and shopping in your industry, therefore they are using .
Setup Your Own Small Business “Watering Hole”
A great analogy from Hubspot is the “Watering Hole Analogy“:
“The best analogy I can come up with is that traditional marketers looking to garner interest from new potential customers are like lions hunting in the jungle for elephants. The elephants used to be in the jungle in the ’80s and ’90s when they learned their trade, but they don’t seem to be there anymore. They have all migrated to the watering holes on the savannah (the internet). So, rather than continuing to hunt in the jungle, I recommend setting up shop at the watering hole or turning your website into its own watering hole.”
Upcoming Inbound Marketing Series
This month the them is “Inbound Marketing for Small Business” and we will be connecting the dots and showing you the tools and best practices to set up your own “watering hole”. Stay tuned.
CRM: Five Tools that Can Improve Your CRM
February 23rd, 2010 :: Thursday Bram
It’s hard to overemphasize the importance of using a good CRM tool for your business. Anything you can do to make it easier to stay in touch with your customers, as well as connect with new customers, is worth while. Customer relationship management software can give you the added edge you need, by bringing together information about your customers as well as helping you track when you’ve communicated with them. These days, there are plenty of different options including robust CRM options like Salesforce or ACT! But a few tools can help more than others, especially if you have specialized needs when it comes to contacting your customers.
- Gist: In addition to standard CRM features, Gist can go out and find more information about your contacts. It can automatically important information from your email and online networks, as well as conduct searches to help you find news about your customers.
- Highrise: If you have a few other people in your business, Highrise can help you coordinate your communications. It’s got a shared company-wide address book, along with task management features that allow you to delegate and follow up on communications.
- Relenta: Email marketing is crucial to small businesses and there are CRM tools built with your business newsletter in mind. Relenta can pull in contacts from Aweber, Constant Contact and a variety of other sources to make sure that you can market your product or service effectively.
- Aplicor: Need some analysis done on your customer list? Aplicor provides a suite of tools that will help you get a clearer picture of who your customers are and what they want. This tool can also integrate your informationwith productivity and accounting tools.
- PlaybookIQ: If your biggest concern is identifying leads and following up on them, PlaybookIQ can help you organize your contacts. Built with leads in mind, this toolgets your sales team all on the same page.
While it seems like cost should be the first consideration for a small business owner choosing a CRM solution, this can be one of those situations when spending a little money now will pay off down the road. It’s more important to choose a tool that will not only allow you to communicate with your customers and earn repeat business, but will also help you grow in the future. Switching to a new CRM system can require re-entering the whole database of contacts you’ve built up over the years if you choose an option that doesn’t have an easy import or export option — not something you’re going to want to do every time your business gets bigger.
It’s also worthwhile to check what tools can be integrated with the software and hardware you’re already using. For instance, Gist offer an iPhone application, as well as an Outlook plugin to help you stick with the tools you’re already using. Not all CRM tools offer such features, of course, but the more steps in your process that your tool can automate, the more time you have to spend on marketing.
Image by Flickr user Macinate
Pass It Along: 8 Tips for a Successful E-Newsletter
February 22nd, 2010 :: Monika Jansen
From cocolinda on Flickr
Like blog writing, e-newsletters can be really fun to write while at the same time being a great way to position you or your company as a thought leader. Make them entertaining, keep them filled with useful content, and give them personality, and you will attract eager readers.
OK, that last statement was a little disingenuous. It’s not really that easy. There are several other things that go into a successful e-newsletter. (By successful, I mean one that is not only read by people but that also drives traffic to your website.)
Here are 8 quick tips to help you put together a successful e-newsletter:
- Send it to the right people. Know who your audience is (hint, it is not everyone in your address book!). Unless you put together a solid list of people who would find your newsletter useful, few people will read it. Keep in mind that whether you use Network Solutions, Constant Contact, Vertical Response, or someone else, you cannot buy a list and use it with their programs.
- Keep it short. Just like with blogs, no one has time to read a long article, let alone several long articles. Include one article/topic of no more than 300 words. If there is more information to share on that topic, write about it in your next e-newsletter or provide a hyperlink to your website in case readers would like to learn more.
- Make it easy to pass along. Be sure it’s easy for people to forward and subscribe to your newsletter. Email marketing programs provide ways to do this in their templates. Use them! Remember, the more readers the better!
- Include graphics. Photos, illustrations, even charts or graphs will make your newsletter more interesting to read and look at. Just be sure they are relevant to your topic. I like to pull photos off of Flickr for this blog (type in Creative Commons in the Advanced Search box—you can use any of those photos), but most email marketing programs allow you to use photos in their gallery (you’ll have to pay for that feature). Be sure you give the photographer or artist credit for the graphic you are using.
- Use your logo and your logo/company colors. This is just good branding. You want your readers to recognize your newsletter as yours.
- Keep format and delivery timetable consistent. People like consistency. If you’re going to share a tip, an interview with a client, or a coupon, do it in every newsletter. Figure out a delivery timetable and email your newsletter out around the same time, whether it’s every month, every other week, or every week.
- Let content build on previous topics. This will keep readers eager to hear what else you have to say on a subject, and it’s easier for you—you don’t have to keep thinking up new topics.
- Use attention-grabbing subject lines. The subject line that shows up in your readers’ inboxes must be intriguing. It can be witty, sarcastic, silly, a little out-there, whatever. It just needs to be compelling enough to get your reader to click on it.
