Zephyr 47′s small business marketing practice will be co-presenting a workshop on email and social media marketing in partnership with Constant Contact. Details of the event are listed below.
Zephyr 47 is a Constant Contact Solution Provider and provides fixed-rate services for small businesses looking to expand their email marketing efforts.
You can register for the event at the Constant Contact Events site HERE.
ENROLL easily for a FREE 60 day trial by clicking on this logo:
Email is alive and well. Don’t let social media hype convince you otherwise. For businesses of any size email is still the most cost effective channels of reaching customers. (Print direct mail is one of the least effective and MOST expensive!) For small businesses the challenge is building and maintaining a strong email list. It’s not easy and takes work and nurturing. Brian Hansford gives a brief podcast recorded on CinchCast to give small businesses some ideas on how to build and maintain an email list the right way.
Here is the link to the podcast!
Are your emails bouncing like balls?
Email marketing is still a relatively young practice that many small businesses manage manually. There are a number of risks and problems that arise if the proper tools and technologies aren’t used to increase email marketing effectiveness.
One of the more common problems is undeliverable email. Two types of undeliverable email are soft bounces and hard bounces. In the realm of email marketing, these terms are grouped under “Bounce Rates”.
Simply using a desktop email client like Microsoft Office Outlook or email services like Google’s Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail and others greatly increase the problems of email bounce rates. Risks from poor email management are lost revenue opportunities and a damaged reputation! Here are some suggestions to help small businesses (and even larger enterprises) manage the valuable email list and reduce bounce rates.
1. Find the right tools or technologies designed to help with email marketing. (A service perfect for small businesses is Constant Contact. A fantastic service for larger enterprises is Eloqua. )
2. Send confirmation emails to contacts who subscribe or opt-in to your emails. This will help confirm the contact really wants your email and that you have the right address.
3. Send regular and relevant emails to your contacts. BUT, don’t OVER-EMAIL! Sending regularly scheduled email using a recognized service provider like Constant Contact helps prevent soft bounces and keep the list up to date.
4. Use common sense with subject lines. We all get spam with terrible grammar, symbols, ALL-CAPS and ridiculous promotions. Spam filters and junk email folders will commonly block, delay, filter and even delete emails with spam-like subject lines. Put yourself in your contact’s place. Would YOU open the email?
5. Provide a method for your contacts to opt out or unsubscribe from your email. Always remember your contacts have given you permission to email them. Don’t abuse that honor. This is a best practice and quite often a legal requirement that follows anti-spam laws and regulations.
6. Provide a “Sent-By” email address that is relevant to your message and business brand. Again, would you open an email from an unknown person?
Desktop email clients or free services like Yahoo! or AOL make email marketing very laborious for a small business. Find a reputable, reliable, and economical email tool or service that easily automates the process and increases effectiveness and connections with customers. Eliminate the BOUNCE!
Additional Resources
White Paper – 10 Keys to Maximize a Marketing Automation Investment
Brian Hansford Cadence Campaign Workflow Christopher Doran Comunity Marketing Constant Contact Contact Governance Content Content Development Content Marketing Content Publishing Content Strategies CRM Customer Loyalty Customer Marketing Demand Generation Desired Outcomes eBook Eloqua Email Marketing Event Marketing Expert Guest Blog Key Performance Indicators Lead Management Lead Nurturing Lead Scoring Manticore Technology Marketing Automation Marketing Campaigns Marketing Communications Marketing Messages Marketing Operations Marketing Programs Marketing Strategy marketo Positioning Product Marketing Sales Cycle Small Business Marketing Social Media Social Media 201 Social Media Marketing SOSTAC Strategic Marketing Zephyr 47
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
“Here at Isilon, we have a growing dependence upon and sophistication with our marketing automation solution and its integration with CRM to support global marketing campaigns. Zephyr47 has provided us with high quality, timely and affordable program support, enabling us to expand both the type and number of digital marketing programs launched concurrently.”
~ Michael Korch, Sr. Marketing Operations Manager, Isilon Systems a division of EMC
“Zephyr 47 is a great resource to augment our in-house marketing staff. They have developed concise messaging, targeted outreach programs and professional marketing material. I would highly recommend Zephyr 47 based on their commitment to produce deliverables on time and budget and the quality of their work.”
~ John A. Novell, SVP, Safeharbor Knowledge Solutions
Twitter: Zephyr47