Reaching Customers Through Social Media & Email Marketing presentation delivered by Shane Fell of Top Floor Technologies at the 2013 Mid Am Horticultural Trade Show at Navy Pier in Chicago.

1. Welcome!
Reaching Customers Through
Social Media & Email Marketing
Mid America Horticultural Trade Show 2013

2. Overview
• Introduction
• Social Media Strategies
– Getting started with the primary social media venues
– Open discussion about your existing/future tactics
• Email Marketing
– Building and Managing Quality Lists
– Developing Effective Messages
– Measuring Campaign Results

3. Top Floor Technologies
• Website Design &
Development
• Search Engine Marketing
• Social Media
• Email Marketing
• Web Analytics & Conversion
Improvement
Maximizing Online Marketing Results
for Hundreds of Businesses Since 1999

4. Social Media
Strategies

5. Where to begin?

6. Communications in a Connected World
• Communications has changed from a monologue to a
dialogue
• Consumers trust reviews more than corporate
advertising
– 91% say consumer reviews are the #1 aid to buying decisions.
• Social media facilitates word of mouth, which is the
most powerful advertising medium
6

8. • More than 845 million active users globally
• Over 50% of the United States population
• Over 425 million mobile users

9. Potential Business Benefits
• Branding and Word of Mouth
• Customer Engagement and Loyalty
• Customer Feedback
• Targeted Advertising

10. Create Your
Facebook
Business
Page
facebook.com/
business/

11. Build Loyalty with Customers
and let them spread the word!

12. • Over 465 million accounts
• While over 50% of Americans use
Facebook, about 15% use Twitter.

13. Starting Strategies
• Sign up and reserve an account in the name of
your business
• Spend time searching on Twitter for:
– Products/services you offer
– Competitors
– Your own company
• Follow people and companies of interest

14. • Find potential clients, service
providers, subject experts, and
partners who come recommended
• Be found for business opportunities
• Post and distribute job listings
• Get introduced to other professionals
through the people you know

15. Basic Strategies
• Reserve your business name
• Research competition
• Look up customers and connect with
them
• Encourage customers and vendors to
recommend/endorse you

16. • 250 million accounts
• Actual use is lower than this

17. Basic Strategies
• Reserve your business name and setup
your page
• Use keywords in your text
• Encourage people to
follow you and +1
your page

18. Tools to Help
Manage Your
Social Presence

20. Basic Strategies
• Sign up and claim your business name
• Create specials
• Offer incentives for repeat check-ins and
“mayors”

21. Millions of reviews of local
businesses posted by users.

22. Basic Strategies
• Set up your business on Yelp (free)
• Add information about your business
• Announce special promotions
• Encourage positive reviews from
customers

23. Closing Social Media Suggestions
• Identify your goals and how you will measure
results.
• If you are new to social media, begin by
observing.
• Don’t forget Marketing 101.
• Social media is not a substitute for having an
effective Website and search strategy.

24. What Social tactics have you
engaged in?
Any success stories to share?

26. Email Usage
 210 billion emails sent per day
 2 million emails sent every second
 1.3 billion email users
 516 million business email inboxes
worldwide
 Globally, mobile users have
surpassed desktop users

27. Marketers Using Email
 92% of all marketers employ some
type of email marketing
 65% of marketers planned to
increase email marketing spending
in 2012, while only 3% planned to
decrease1
1MarketingSherpa 2012 Email Marketing Benchmark Report

28. Key Benefits
 Highly targeted and immediate
(dynamic, personalized content)
 Measurable and Cost effective
 Drive sales and up sell current clients
 Build customer loyalty

29. The Results
 66% of email marketers surveyed agreed that email is the most
cost effective marketing tool at their company.1
 Marketers said they enjoy an ROI two to three times greater
with email than any other direct marketing.1
 Email marketing delivered a $40.56 return for each $1 spent in
2011 (Direct Marketing Association).2
1Forrester Research, 2Direct Marketing Association

31. Build Your List Organically
 Existing Customers
 Sales Leads
 Trade Shows & Events
 Sign Up Link in Email Signature
 Social Media
 Leverage Your Website Traffic with Sign Up Boxes on Your
Website

32. Sign Up Form Examples

37. Tip: Keep sign up forms simple
and offer meaningful value to
your target audience. Let
them know what to expect
and when to expect it.

38. List Segmentation
 Reach segments of your list with relevant messages
 Segmentation of your list can yield an increase in open rates of
approximately 14%
 Possible segmentation methods
 Demographics – gender, age, geography, company size, etc.
 Behavior – email response, purchase history, browsing history, etc.
 Customer Lifecycle – buyer vs. prospect, stage of customer
journey, products/services purchased, etc.

39. Purchasing Lists?
 Not recommended … but if you must:
 Make sure your landing pages are aligned to your list’s interests.
 Don’t mention the fact that it’s a rented/purchased list.
 Test results against your other lists.
 Don’t sacrifice quantity for quality.
 Instead of using large list collectors, consider specialty lists (from trade
publications, associations, trade shows, etc.)
Source: B2B Magazine, E-Mail Marketer Insight

40. CANSPAM Compliance
 Put your contact info in footer of
emails.
 Use a current email address.
 Have consent to contact your list.
 Offer immediate un-subscribe
action.

41. When asked why recipients
stopped subscribing to opt-in
emails, more than half said
the content was no longer
relevant, and 40% said they
were getting too many offers.
- Forrester Research

43. Attributes of Successful Messages
 Timely and relevant to the reader
 Not over-selling
 Clear and compelling calls to action
 Formatted to look good in multiple
email clients
 Effective landing pages

44. Topics to Consider
 Upcoming events
 Special promotions
 Product reviews
 Insider information
 Free tips, expert advice
 Information that will help your readers

45. Email Message Examples

52. Landing Pages
 Clearly related to
message content
 Simple call to action
 Less information is more
 Mobile friendly

53. Subject Lines
 Keep it simple
 Don’t be overly flashy or pushy
 Clearly and concisely describes the
purpose/content of your email
 Directly relates to expectations you set
with subscribers during the opt-in
process

54. Designing for Readability
 Keep width to 600-650 pixels
 Test for compatibility with various email clients
 Consider responsive design for mobile devices
 Leverage the preview pane

56. Responsive Design for Mobile

57. Responsive Design Tips
 Single-column layouts that are no wider than 500 to 600
pixels work best on mobile devices.
 Links and buttons should have a minimum target area of 44
× 44 pixels.
 Keep your message concise, and place important design
elements in the upper section of the message.
Source: Campaign Monitor

58. Run Design
and Spam
Testing
Source: Campaign Monitor

60. Basic Metrics to Track
 How many people you sent the email to
 How many opened it, how many times
 How many unsubscribed
 How many forwarded the email
 What links they clicked
 What they did after clicking a link

62. Overall U.S. Industry Averages
 Email Open Rate – 19.9%
 Email Click Through Rate – 5.4%
 Remember, the best benchmark is your own results. Analyze
your results and pursue continual improvement.
Source: 2012 Silverpop Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark Study

64. Hundreds of Vendors
Good list of vendors at http://www.marketingprofs.com/bg/

65. Important Closing Considerations
 Running a campaign takes more than just having a platform.
Ensure that you are managing your list well and developing great
messages.
 Don’t forget marketing 101 – understand your target market and
plan your campaigns with them in mind.
 Integrate your email marketing with other efforts.

66. What Email tactics have you
engaged in?
Any success stories to share?

67. Thank You
Shane Fell
Top Floor Technologies
262.364.0010 ext. 241
sfell@topfloortech.com