Smftw2010 poessm 1hour_portland_me

Thank You for Attending Leave me your business card Sign up to receive information about future events Take notes but don’t worry about the slides Additional resources Share your feedback Get in touch with one of our consultants Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 2

Online Marketing Best Practices Connect | Inform | Grow ■ Connecting with people who care about you ■ Informing with messages of value and interest ■ Growing with targeted marketing outreach and action Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 3

Email Marketing and Social Media Marketing Start with your passionate customers Social Sharing and interesting ■Email Marketing content ■ Trusting relationships ■ Early relationships ■ Encourage broader relationships through SMM ■Social Media Marketing ■ New relationships ■ New prospects ■ Encourage deeper relationships through EM Targeted Sharing 4 Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc.

Why Email? Because almost everyone your business needs to reach reads it: ■ More than 90% of Internet users between 18 and 72 said they send and receive email, making it the top online activity¹ ■ If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined² Sources: 1 Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2009 2 Email Marketing Reports, 2009 Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 6 .

Why Email? It’s Cost-effective: Direct Mail vs. Email ■ For the same response, direct mail costs 20 TIMES as much as email 1 ■ Email ROI is the highest when compared to other internet marketing mediums 2 1 Forrester Research, Inc. 2 Direct Marketing Association Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 7

Email Marketing is… ■ Delivering professional email communications ■ To an interested audience who have asked to receive your emails ■ Containing information they find valuable Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 9 .

Build Trust with Email Marketing ■ Gaining Permission ■ Do they know me? ■ Do they care? ■ Setting Expectations ■ How many emails sent ■ When are emails sent ■ What type of information ■ Delivering on Promises ■ Matching expectations ■ Providing relevant content ■ Abiding by CAN SPAM Act ■ Including physical address ■ Providing opt-out ■ Utilizing Professional Services Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 10

Regular Email vs. Email Service Provider Email marketing services automate best practices ■ Provide easy-to-use templates ■ Reinforce brand identity ■ Email addressed to recipient only ■ Manage lists – adding new subscribers, handling bounce-backs, removing unsubscribes ■ Improve email delivery, track results and obey the law ■ No threshold for how many you Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 11

Build Your List Where You Connect Incoming or Events Email Place of Business Online Outgoing Calls and Meetings Signature Guest Book Presence 4 2 3 5 1 57% of consumers will fill out a card to receive email alerts when asked to by a clerk at a local small business. Customer & Prospect Database Source: Transact Media Group Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc .

Content Has to Have Value to Your Audience Promotional Relational Email Email Discounts, Savings Special privileges, coupons, offers, acknowledgement incentives. Knowledge Quality Informative Email Advice, research, facts, opinions, tips Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 15

Keep Email Content Concise Host large bodies of content… ■ On your website ■ In a PDF document ■ In a longer archived version Email only essential information ■ Use bullets or summaries ■ Link directly to the information ■ Give instructions if necessary Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 16 .

Call Your Audience to Action Calls to Action Include… ■ Links to click on ■ Information to print out ■ Phone numbers to call ■ Instructions for reading the email ■ Instructions for saving the email Describe the Immediate Benefits… ■ What’s in it for your audience? ■ Why should they do it now? Create immediate demand and desire for your emails Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 17

Frequency & Delivery Time How often to send ■ Create a master schedule ■ Include frequency in online sign-up, e.g. “Monthly Newsletter” ■ Keep content relevant to planned frequency When to send ■ When is your audience most likely to read it? ■ Day of week (Tuesday & Wednesday) ■ Time of day (10am to 3pm) ■ Test for timing ■ Divide your list into equal parts ■ Send at different times and compare results Maximum impact with minimum intrusion Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 18

Is Your Email Fantastic or Filtered? ESP Email Authenticated Deliverability Issues: aol msn yahoo other ISPs ■ Image Blocking ■ Individual Filters ■ Challenge Responses Filtering & Blocking (Avg 81% delivered – CTCT 97%**) ■ Bouncing ■ Blocking ■ Block-listing ■ Friends-listing ■ Reputation **Return Path verified ■ Sender Authentication ** Return Path verified Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 19

Get Your Email Opened The “From” line – Do I know you? Use a name your audience recognizes ■ Include your organization name or brand ■ Refer to your business in the same way your audience does ■ Be consistent 60% of consumers say the "from" line most often determines whether they open an email or delete it. Source: DoubleClick Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 20

Create a Great Subject Line The “Subject” Line – Do I care? ■ Keep it short and simple ■ 30-40 characters including spaces (5-8 words) ■ Incorporate the immediate benefit of opening the email ■ Write it last 30% of consumers say the Emails with shorter “subject" line most often subject lines significantly determines whether they outperformed emails with open an email or delete it. longer subject lines. Source: DoubleClick - MailerMailer (2008) Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 22 .

Avoid “Spam-speak” The words: free, guarantee, spam, credit card etc. ALL CAPITAL LETTERS Excessive punctuation !!!, ??? Excessive use of “click here” $$, and other symbols No “From:” address Misleading subject lines Example: Typical spam “From” and “Subject” lines Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 23

Capitalize on Click-Throughs Use click tracking to determine… ■ Audience interests ■ Clicks tell you what topics were interesting ■ Save clickers in an interest list for targeted follow up ■ Goal achievement ■ Use links to drive traffic toward conversion ■ Compare clicks to conversions and improve Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 25

STEP 4: Integrate Social Media with Email Microblogging site with 140 character space – share tips and links, monitor tweets for customer service Online profile site – share company personality, photos, staff, post news and events Online networking – share, solicit referrals and recommendations, and connect to interest groups Publishing space – build credibility as an expert and increase search engine results Video sharing site – gain recognition, offer how-tos, and increase search engine results Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 26

How Do You Use Social Media? Listen and interact with your audience Get to know your customers/clients/members Share resources, connections, information and advice Monitor Regularly Answer Effectively Post Regularly Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 27

Create & Send Content that Connects ■ Listen to conversations and react – address customer service issues, pull topics to use in email or blog content ■ Write once, post twice – push email content to social sites; write a blog and use content in email newsletter; chop a blog topic into individual tweets ■ Update your status – send updates that generate interest in email and other marketing campaigns – include signup option ■ Join the conversation – become a trusted source by answering questions and providing thoughtful comments in groups and blogs ■ Be authentic – talk like a human, not like a marketer ;) ■ Don’t sell or overly promote – keep the tone conversational, friendly and fun without the sales pitches Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 28

Integrate Email & Social Channels Allow readers to share email content Make email list with their social media networks opt-in available Make social on all social media opt-in media available in all platforms emails Make email list opt-in available on all social media sites Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc.

What’s next? Just getting started? ■ Sign up for a free trial ■ Start building your list ■ Create and send your first email ■ Create a Facebook business page and LinkedIn profile Ready to learn more? ■ Visit our Learning Center for webinars, tutorials, podcasts and more ■ Visit the Social Media section of our website ■ ReadThe Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing ■ Sign up for NutshellMail www.ConstantContact.com Copyright © 2010 Constant Contact, Inc. 34

Smftw2010 poessm 1hour_portland_me

by Corissa St. Laurent on Sep 27, 2010

Accessibility

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

Smftw2010 poessm 1hour_portland_me — Presentation Transcript