Originally posted on Mashable: 5 Tactics to Grow Your Email List.
Back in January, many email marketers said increasing their lists was their top goal for 2013. Well, spring is here. Is your mailing list growing as fast as your flowers and lawn? If not, it’s time to execute a new plan.
Many marketers have email addresses only for 30% or less of their customer and prospect lists. They’re tempted to revert to their direct-mail experience and reach for a quick fix like email append (“e-append”) and list rental/purchase.
But in today’s engagement-based inbox placement world, this “quick fix” approach can give you more headaches than new sales.
If you seek quantity over quality in list growth, you’re practically inviting the ISPs either to block your entire opt-in mailing list or route everything to your recipients’ bulk folders, where they’ll languish in obscurity until the ISPs dump them automatically.
So, what should be in your email list growth plan? Below are five tried-and-true methods to ignite your email list growth, in a safe, permission-based way.
1. Make It Easy to Opt In on Your Website
Your customers and prospects must be able to find your opt-in form easily on your home page. This advice has been around for years, but today’s web designers apparently didn’t get the memo. They position Facebook and Twitter icons prominently but send you on a search-and-rescue mission to find the opt-in field.
Many websites undersell the email value proposition, using just a link saying “Sign Up for Email” relegated to the homepage footer. Worse, the email opt-in call-to-action isn’t even on the page. Make your forms stand out.
If you want to get more opt-ins, make the email invite more visible. Use a benefit-based call-to-action, and test an offer that you subsequently deliver in your welcome series.
2. Don’t Stop at Just One
Add more opt-in forms throughout your site and in various placements: above the fold (the horizontal halfway point on your website, like the fold in a newspaper), below the fold, in the right rail, in left-hand navigation and on a dynamic layer that displays according to visitors’ site activity.
Test these locations to see how many more opt-ins you can drive, each one alone and in combination with each other. One opt-in form on a page might drive X, while having two opt-in form placements on a page might drive 1.5X to 2X.
At the EEC Summit in 2012, Tommy Hilfiger reported that his company drives 2% of all site visitors to opt in by using a dynamic opt-in layer served to new site visitors on site entry.
3. Collect Emails at Your Stores
Ask your customers to opt in for email at your checkout counter or when requesting an email receipt. However, be sure you are collecting high-quality names.
You’ll have to develop a request procedure that helps you overcome two big pitfalls of point-of-sale requests: phony addresses, either provided by reluctant customers who can’t say no to the request or keyed in by sales associates who have to meet email quotas.
Mistakes, which happen when sales people misspell a written address, misunderstand a customer’s spoken address or omit a crucial detail like the “@” symbol.
Here are a few suggestions for collecting more and better addresses:
- Let customers type in their email addresses on a POS touchpad or credit card terminal.
- Give them an offer or benefit for signing up in-store.
- Explain what they’ll be receiving.
- Get explicit permission before adding the address.
4. Make It Mobile
Consumer adoption of mobile sites and apps makes mobile another important collection point for opt-in for both email and SMS text. The best mobile site home pages have two opt-in forms: one for email, one for SMS. Remember the constraints that mobile puts on viewing and data input.
Don’t ask users to fill out lots of form fields. Keep the form short and simple. You can collect more information later in your welcome series using progressive profiling.
5. Remember Your Social Networks
Give your Facebook followers a simple opt-in form page. Call out the benefits and differences between your social experience and your email communications.
Consider using social login, also known as social sign-in. This uses existing login information from social networks such as Facebook or Twitter to sign in to a website without having to create a separate login account specifically for your website.
You can also use this process to allow your site registrants to quickly and easily sign up to receive your marketing emails.
How Does Social Media Help Build Credibility for Your Business?
Imagine that you had the opportunity to have a face-to-face conversation with each and every one of your existing and potential customers.
That sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? While it would be incredibly time consuming to actually accomplish this, social media allows a business to establish a more personal connection to customers than ever before.
Creating a strong connection with customers is a good thing: it establishes trust, builds credibility, and demonstrates the personality behind a company, distinguishing it from other competitors in the field. Here’s what you need to do to get there:
Be a Credible Source of Information
Show your fans and followers that you are an expert in your field by being the go-to source for relevant information. The more you share valuable information, the more you gain authority; the more authority you have, the more you are perceived to be an expert in your field.
Focus on Your Followers
Though it might seem counter-intuitive, your business’s social media is not just about you—it’s about your followers. While you definitely want to include news about your company and your product, you also want to maintain a balance by including other information that might appeal to those reading your social media content.
Take Customer Service to the Next Level
Social media provides a business the opportunity to show its customers that the company really cares. A sound social media strategy will allow you to keep your finger on the pulse, anticipating what your customers want and responding to any customer service complaints swiftly and appropriately. Social media allows you to connect with customers like never before: you simply cannot afford to miss out.
Interact With Your Community
Build trust with your customers by creating a bona fide community around your business. Encourage your followers to ask questions (and, of course, answer them!).
Engage community members to participate in your social media initiatives, and create a two-way dialogue with your customers. Don’t forget to listen: when you take the time to really hear what your customers have to say, you can gain knowledge that will help you improve your products and policies.
Let Your Customers Speak
The best way to boost your credibility is to let your satisfied customers do the work for you.
Encourage happy customers to share their testimonials on social media, and highlight their Tweets, photos, or posts on your own social media. It’s one thing to tell your customers how great you are, but it’s even more effective to have your loyal fans share their satisfaction with their own community. Begin to see your happy customers as brand ambassadors, and embrace them within your social media strategy.
Be Authentic
If you are not being fully and completely authentic in your company’s social media initiatives, then you are missing the point. It’s hard to build a connection with a phony person, and it’s even more difficult to do so with an inauthentic brand.
Use your business’s strategy and values to shape your social media strategy. Maintain a consistent, honest imagine across your social media channels. Give your customers a behind-the-scenes peek into the people and processes behind your product. Don’t be afraid to reveal your company’s true personality.
Start-up Content Strategy: How Important Is It?
So you’ve just launched a new venture with a shiny new website. How’s traffic? Non-existant? Well, here’s how to change that with a solid content strategy.
Search engines use various methods to determine page rank and position in search engine results pages (SERPs). A large part of that is determined by relevant and credible links to your content, social media interaction, online discussion, articles and white papers, slide shares, videos, etc.
A start-up should focus on getting as much exposure as possible early on. There are several methods that help to build brand awareness, and they should all be considered.
It is very important to understand that without a solid content strategy that will genuinely appeal to users, social media efforts and other inbound marketing efforts will fall short and the return on investment will be very little.
Creating original content and utilizing tools such as article submission, eBooks, blogging, white papers, slide shares, videos and press releases will help to not only build brand credibility and improve your company website’s page rank (through link backs and shares), it will also give you something to talk about.
Once you have a solid content strategy and have built up enough of a library to feel it is worth presenting to the public, you reach out and you share it like crazy!
And that is where social media comes in. Social media is, in essence, the curation of content. It gives everyone the ability to share content as they see fit. This gives the end-user the control over how extensively your content is shared – unless you use fan blockers or other forceful tactics, which are not recommended if you want to build “goodwill” with your fan base.
If you do not have anything original or well-thought-out to share, people will simply and unapologetically move on and not look back. Which, of course, you don’t want. You want to be the source that people flock to for solid information and share with their friends, colleagues, coworkers and so on. But that is only accomplished when the product is good.
We get a fair amount of start-ups asking for just social media. And while a solid social strategy coupled with Facebook advertising and perhaps contesting can yield good results in terms of social media fan growth and engagement, it may not be the answer to increasing traffic to your web site and ultimately into the sales funnel or develop into leads.
So, is a content strategy important for start-ups? Most definitely.
Introducing AltiTube – Whistler’s Weekly Web Show
Launching December 2, 2013
AltiTube is the answer to weekly video content on your Whistler business website. AltiTube dishes on local events, festivals, activities, weather, mountain conditions and anything else happening that week in Whistler. Each week we produce a 1-2 minute high definition video shot in Whistler. The videos can be embedded on any Whistler business website and are updated automatically each week – creating fresh, engaging content with no maintenance. Hosted by Liz Hammond and Adam Kaye.
Learn more about AltiTube and the subscription packages at www.altitube.ca or contact us directly for more information.
Watch our intro video below:
How to Get Personal with Email Marketing
In March of 2012, 59% of B2B marketers said email marketing was the most effective channel in generating more revenue, according to HubSpot. So whether or not it’s your strongest lead-generator, there’s no denying you should be using it.
But how do you use email marketing most effectively?
When 43% of adults in the U.S. say more than half of their emails are coming from marketers, according to a survey by Blue Kangaroo, it’s a competitive marketing practice to become successful in.
While testing, testing and then testing again is the only surefire way to determine what will work for your email marketing strategy, the element of personalization is no doubt a winning tactic in 2013.
Personalized Email Marketing
In general, personalizing emails can help start conversions, but there can be instances in which being too personal is something to avoid. Walking this fine line between customization and intrusion is something your company should examine closely before embarking on personalizing an email campaign, but it is worth the investment, as personalized emails can raise click-through rates.
Follow these key tips when personalizing emails:
Use the name in the body of the email: Using the consumer’s name in the greeting and throughout the email, the body is likely to get their attention. At the mention of their name, the reader may be more inclined to read the content.
Use the first name in the subject line: Consumers are more likely to open an email if their first name is used in the subject line, but only if the sender is a company they trust. There have been studies showing that using the entire name can be considered too familiar, so it is best to use only a first name. Furthermore, the use of the name is most acceptable if it is based on a pre-existing relationship.
Use the consumer’s city in the subject line: Another way to get personal without getting too familiar is to include the consumer’s city, region or state in the subject line.
Customize the content of the email: Although a name may help grab attention, the subject material of the email will ultimately cinch the deal. In order to get your reader to take the next step in your sales funnel, it is critical to offer them something they want. Offers, sales, coupons and informational content that satisfy a current desire can help initiate that conversion.
Segment your email blasts: Although it is tempting to send emails to all of your leads, there is the risk of losing those with no interest in the content. In order to limit unsubscribes, you should use personal information to generate market segments that are more likely to respond to a more tailored email. Recognizing key characteristics, like where your customer is in the sales cycle, helps deepen the relationship and encourages them to take the next step in the conversion process.
Personalize but know when to keep your distance.
Don’t get too familiar: Using a first name can help arouse interest in your email, but it may not be welcome if the user prefers anonymity. This can be a serious concern if your businesses offers products or services that are of a sensitive nature.
Less familiar = less personal:
Security is a major concern on the Internet, so it is essential that you establish yourself with the consumer before displaying too much knowledge about them.
Emails can often be considered akin to nosy neighbors; unwelcome unless they are there to serve a useful purpose. Identify the needs of your target consumers and then identify the goal of the email. Your email can help satisfy your consumer’s needs making your email content much more inviting, welcome, and, ultimately, successful.
15 Online Advertising Stats
Online advertising has come a long way in the relatively short existence of the web. Today’s ads come in a variety of shapes, sizes and forms, from simple text to interactive multimedia. Here are 15 online advertising statistics about ad spending, revenues, consumer perception and more.
As these statistics illustrate, online advertising has become more complex over the years, but there is still plenty of value in tried and true formats such as paid search. The key is to carefully target your ads so that they reach the right audience and entice them to take action.
Matt Astifan helped someone get 11,000 Fans in 3 weeks
This was an email I received from Matt Astifan about the Facebook for Brands Workshop we (Cloud9 Marketing) co-produced with him in March. Amazing results!
__________________
I love Whistler.
And that’s why when Virginia-Rae from Cloud9 Marketing asked me to host Facebook For Brands in Whistler I quickly agreed!
After the event, I was pleasantly surprised by the feedback I got at the workshop.
Not only did several people tell me it was the best Social Media Workshop they had ever attended. I had several emails from people showing me their new stats.
One person named Patrick from GetBud.net actually shocked me with his results.
He wrote:
“Hi Matt, I’m currently running 5 total ads and spent only $27.00 to generate all this interest…the numbers just keep going up and up! I’ve received a bunch of positive messages and no negative so far. Very encouraging for the start of my online venture! I’d be interested in knowing what you think…is this a normal response for a few $1.00 ads?”
At first, I actually thought he was doing something wrong! I was afraid he was racking up a huge bill without knowing it! So, I offered him a free online consultation to review his Facebook Ads dashboard.
The results: Gnarly.
Patrick was using the exact techniques I showed him in the Facebook For Brands Workshop and getting THOUSANDS of targeted fans for pennies!
He knew his fans’ demographics and what they were passionate about and designed Facebook Ads that engaged them.
Here is what he wrote on his wall:
Before attending the Facebook For Brands Workshop in Whistler on March 20th, 2013 Patrick had only 197 fans, today he has over 11,000!
Do you want to know exactly how he did it? Attend the Facebook for Brands Workshop in Vancouver on May 2nd and I’ll show you how. :)
It’s only been 24 hours and we’ve already sold 25% of the seats!
Get tickets here now –> http://www.webfriendly.ca/facebook-for-brands-workshop/
Best,
Matt
5 Tactics to Grow Your Email List
Originally posted on Mashable: 5 Tactics to Grow Your Email List.
Back in January, many email marketers said increasing their lists was their top goal for 2013. Well, spring is here. Is your mailing list growing as fast as your flowers and lawn? If not, it’s time to execute a new plan.
Many marketers have email addresses only for 30% or less of their customer and prospect lists. They’re tempted to revert to their direct-mail experience and reach for a quick fix like email append (“e-append”) and list rental/purchase.
But in today’s engagement-based inbox placement world, this “quick fix” approach can give you more headaches than new sales.
If you seek quantity over quality in list growth, you’re practically inviting the ISPs either to block your entire opt-in mailing list or route everything to your recipients’ bulk folders, where they’ll languish in obscurity until the ISPs dump them automatically.
So, what should be in your email list growth plan? Below are five tried-and-true methods to ignite your email list growth, in a safe, permission-based way.
1. Make It Easy to Opt In on Your Website
Your customers and prospects must be able to find your opt-in form easily on your home page. This advice has been around for years, but today’s web designers apparently didn’t get the memo. They position Facebook and Twitter icons prominently but send you on a search-and-rescue mission to find the opt-in field.
Many websites undersell the email value proposition, using just a link saying “Sign Up for Email” relegated to the homepage footer. Worse, the email opt-in call-to-action isn’t even on the page. Make your forms stand out.
If you want to get more opt-ins, make the email invite more visible. Use a benefit-based call-to-action, and test an offer that you subsequently deliver in your welcome series.
2. Don’t Stop at Just One
Add more opt-in forms throughout your site and in various placements: above the fold (the horizontal halfway point on your website, like the fold in a newspaper), below the fold, in the right rail, in left-hand navigation and on a dynamic layer that displays according to visitors’ site activity.
Test these locations to see how many more opt-ins you can drive, each one alone and in combination with each other. One opt-in form on a page might drive X, while having two opt-in form placements on a page might drive 1.5X to 2X.
At the EEC Summit in 2012, Tommy Hilfiger reported that his company drives 2% of all site visitors to opt in by using a dynamic opt-in layer served to new site visitors on site entry.
3. Collect Emails at Your Stores
Ask your customers to opt in for email at your checkout counter or when requesting an email receipt. However, be sure you are collecting high-quality names.
You’ll have to develop a request procedure that helps you overcome two big pitfalls of point-of-sale requests: phony addresses, either provided by reluctant customers who can’t say no to the request or keyed in by sales associates who have to meet email quotas.
Mistakes, which happen when sales people misspell a written address, misunderstand a customer’s spoken address or omit a crucial detail like the “@” symbol.
Here are a few suggestions for collecting more and better addresses:
4. Make It Mobile
Consumer adoption of mobile sites and apps makes mobile another important collection point for opt-in for both email and SMS text. The best mobile site home pages have two opt-in forms: one for email, one for SMS. Remember the constraints that mobile puts on viewing and data input.
Don’t ask users to fill out lots of form fields. Keep the form short and simple. You can collect more information later in your welcome series using progressive profiling.
5. Remember Your Social Networks
Give your Facebook followers a simple opt-in form page. Call out the benefits and differences between your social experience and your email communications.
Consider using social login, also known as social sign-in. This uses existing login information from social networks such as Facebook or Twitter to sign in to a website without having to create a separate login account specifically for your website.
You can also use this process to allow your site registrants to quickly and easily sign up to receive your marketing emails.
A Question: Valuing Customer Choice
Here is a question I received through my Linkedin account in regards to customer choice – I thought the question was pretty interesting and touched on companies having to build on trust and goodwill to move forward, especially with the new Panda and Penguin releases in Google – so I decided to share it…
Hi Virginia,
I know you deal with a lot of people everyday and as a marketing professional I thought you may be able to give me some feedback. I have now been in a sales role with Paladin Security for just over 8 months. Cutting to the chase here is I wanted to know in your opinion what your feelings are to NOT having to lock into a 3 year contract for a business service such as cell phone service or as in my situation security alarm monitoring (for commercial or residential customers). Would not having to sign a fixed term contract be more attractive to you or people you know in general? Or would your answer be that it wouldn’t influence you in any way? Paladin just went with all services on a no fixed term contracts so I’m trying to see how I can position that in my conversations with decision makers. Thanks for any feedback. Greatly appreciated!
Warm regards,
Christine
————————–
Hi Christine,
Thanks for your message and congrats on your relatively new position!
Personally, I like the idea of a product not being available only on a fixed term. Especially as we are moving toward an era of genuine and transparent B2C interaction. With the importance of social media and socially influence search playing a much bigger role in SEO and other business ranking factors, the more trust you can build with your customers the better.
In my experience when you lock someone into a contract there is a mild feeling of mistrust – like “Why do they have to lock me into a contract? What don’t I know that I may not like down the road?”. Which does not build a feeling of goodwill and trust toward the business, and ultimately a negative impression – if only slightly. This may influence how they talk about your product OR if they talk about your product at all. Your customers want to feel in control about their choice to use your service and that by offering a flexible no-obligation option, you value that choice. I think if your marketing efforts can focus on humanizing your brand and developing a great customer satisfaction strategy, then your company’s move to no-fixed terms will be a success. Good luck – thank you for your question!
With appreciation,
Virginia-Rae Choquette
4 Ways to Get More from Content Marketing
If you’re reading this, you’re probably already sold on the idea of using content marketing to benefit your business. However, you may still be looking for ways to get the most out of your content marketing endeavors.
Here are four suggestions for making your efforts more worthwhile:
1. Post content that your customers want: You might think that you should write your blog about your business; after all, a lot of people do just that. However, you need to remember that customers really don’t care about you as much as they care about themselves. You can actually take advantage of this by providing customers with content that they want and getting their attention in exchange. You can post any type of content that you believe will help you achieve this goal. The content might be a video, a how-to article, or a detailed guide, but it should be something that will draw customers to your site and make them more likely to become interested in your business.
2. Mainly write content that is for the benefit of your customers and only promotes your products occasionally: People are interested in reading articles that benefit them. They do not find posts that praise products particularly appealing. If you provide customers with content that they want to read 9 out of 10 times, you’re more likely to create a reliable target audience.
3. Post “cornerstone” content on your site: This type of content is categorized and archived in such a way that customers will have no trouble finding it. It also remains valuable for extended periods of time. KISSmetrics provides cornerstone content with its marketing guides, Copyblogger provides it with a sidebar, and River Pools and Spas exemplifies it with its Pool 101 content. Cornerstone content brings you excellent ROI (returns on investment) because it benefits you over time.
4. Look at other sites to see the types of content customers want: Visit the websites of other business owners in your industry to get an idea of what people seem to enjoy reading. You can find out how many tweets and shares certain types of content get to figure out what is popular. You should also be aware that creating posts about Twitter or Facebook is sure to get you a lot of shares. Although you shouldn’t limit yourself to writing exclusively about these subjects, doing so on a regular basis will definitely increase traffic to your site.
Contact us to find out how Cloud9 Marketing can help you develop a solid Content Marketing Strategy.
5 Reasons to use a Whistler Social Media Marketer
5 Reasons why you should use a Whistler-based Social Media Marketer if you’re a Whistler business:
1. Local Knowledge: A Whistler-based social media marketer knows the unique local insider tips and info that is valuable to visitors. Secret powder stashes, advice on cheap food, and local’s hangouts. Want to convey a reason why someone should come up for that shoulder season weekend? Maybe there’s an awesome deal on at a restaurant or a great discount on activity that only a local would know about.
2. Timely, Relevant Posts: Social media and blog posts with relevant information is key, and can really only be accomplished while in-resort. A good example: a picture of the first snowfall or a pic accompanied with the “Run of the Day” tweet. That’s a lot more powerful than a link to the weather report!
3. Local Event Coverage: Having your social media presence at the events is so much better than simply posting that it is happening! Provide your followers with up-to-the-minute photos and updates. Plus, in-resort marketers know every little thing that is happening in Whistler, not just the big signature events. “Find unique #Whistler souvenir at the Made in Whistler Artisan Market – Every Saturday!”
4. Location Tagging: It appears a lot more genuine when your social media posts are tagged with a Whistler location. Especially if your posting about mountain or weather conditions!
5. Community: Posts are more engaging within the community, tagging local businesses through developed relationships is a great way for Whistler to help support each other. Plus, social media folks in town know each other, and they constantly share content – spreading the word.
Of course, this applies to any resort or business that relies on tourism to drive business. Social media needs to be genuine in order for it to work – and a company outside of the business area isn’t going to be able to deliver a genuine local voice.
Contact us here at Cloud9 Marketing to learn more about our local Whistler Social Media Management services.