Here are some uses for email marketing:

1. Email newsletters
2. Email offers and coupons to past customers or visitors
3. Email surveys for market research and to measure customer satisfaction
4. Additional income stream with email advertisements or email list rentals
5. Marketing through ads purchased in others’ email marketing campaigns

Spam laws put restrictions on email marketers, from how email marketing lists can be built or gathered to the rights of email list subscribers to unsubscribe from future mailings. Follow these email marketing tips to stay out of trouble with anti-spam laws, and to build an email list with the best potential for conversions to sales, ad clicks, or more, by focusing on subscribers genuinely interested in the message.

1. Make the email list double opt-in (subscribers will sign up for the email list from a form on the website, and will have to confirm the subscription through an email before the subscription becomes active).

2. Include an ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of every email sent to the email list. Never make it difficult for someone to unsubscribe from the list.

3. Try to gather the email marketing list independently, through on-site subscription forms or subscription options being included in the online order process for customers.

4. If purchasing or renting an email marketing list, purchase only from reputable email list distributors, and purchase lists highly targeted to the site’s target market to improve the rate of interest in the email campaigns.

5. If subscribers are slow to come naturally, offer an incentive, such as a free e-book, articles, reports, software, or something similar of interest to the target readership that can be included with a welcome email or in a download.

6. To increase the probability that email newsletters and similar mailings will be read, offer both an HTML and a plain text version to account for readers who use non-HTML email providers or programs.

7. If using email newsletters for email marketing efforts, try to keep email campaigns regular, but not so often that they become a nuisance to the subscribers.

1. If your Advertising isn’t working – STOP IT!
   Let’s start with the simple stuff. If you are running advertising that is not working, please stop it!
   This applies to you whether you’re running ads in newspapers, magazines, or on radio, television, billboards, posters, taxis or buses.
   I know it sounds obvious but here’s what often happens: People run advertising because they feel they ought to. They’re not really sure if it’s working but they are hesitant to stop it because it may be one of their main forms of marketing. 
   By the end of this report you will have enough information to ensure that you are never in that position again. You will either be running great ads that produce great results, or you will be spending your marketing money elsewhere.
    
2. Only use Direct Response Advertising
   There are two types of advertising – direct response advertising and brand advertising.
   Understanding the distinction between the two will immediately save you a fortune.
   Brand advertising is used by companies like Coca Cola and the large car manufacturers to build and increase awareness of their brand. Unless you have huge amounts of money which you are happy to lose, you should avoid brand advertising at all costs. For a small business it is a complete waste of money. The only type of advertising you ever want to consider is direct response advertising. The only purpose of direct response advertising is to produce a clear response.
   The type of response may vary depending on the type of business you are in and your overall marketing strategy. You may want the response to be an immediate purchase. You may want the response to be for someone to contact you to ask for a brochure. 
   The great thing about direct response advertising is that you can instantly tell whether it is working (see the next point) It either produces a response or it doesn’t. One of the reasons that most small business advertising does not work is that it’s a combination of half hearted direct response and highly ineffective brand advertising. 
   Fortunately, you now know the difference. In the land of the small or medium business, direct response is King!
    
3. Testing and Measuring
   It is absolutely essential that you test and measure all of your advertising. 
   If we are going to engage in direct response advertising we obviously need to be able to measure that response, otherwise we are not going to know if the ad is working.
   At the very least we need to know how many people responded, how many of them were converted to a sale and what that is worth to you. Then you need to compare that figure to the cost of the ad and you can immediately work out how profitable the ad was, or whether you should stop running it.
   So many businesses just allocate a certain mount of money to an advertising budget, spend the money every year…and they’ve only got a vague sense of whether the ads are working are not. This is crazy. If your ads are working, you want to roll them out on a larger scale. If they’re not, STOP and use the money on one of the dozens of other marketing strategies that can bring you a 100 or 200 or 300% return on your investments.
   You will obviously need some sort of system for asking people who contact you for the first time where they heard about you. If you have a larger business, you may even want to set up a separate phone line with a number that only appears in your ad. If you’re directing people to a website, you may want to set up a special web page that also only appears in your ad. This will ensure that you can clearly identify when people are responding to your advertising.
   One of the reasons that Radio and TV Advertising can be so high risk, is that it’s very difficult to test it on a small scale. You should never invest in Radio and TV Advertising unless it’s money you can afford to lose.
    
4. Your Headline is the most important part of your Advertisement
   In the ad itself the most important element is the headline. The headline is either the heading that goes at the top of the ad or if there’s no heading it’s the first words of the ad. If you’re on the radio it’s the first thing people hear. If it’s TV it’s the first thing they see and hear. The headline needs to grab peoples’ attention. One change in a headline can produce a 50-100% increase in response. 
   One of the biggest challenge that any print advertiser faces is getting people to read their ad – let alone for the ad to produce a result. So the main purpose of the headline is not to sell your product – it’s just to get people to read your ad.
   The headline should be about your readers – not about you. If your headline has the name of your business in it, you are probably losing out. Imagine you owned a company selling £10 fire alarms. Which of these headlines do you think would be most likely to get the reader’s attention:

   Simpson Fire Alarms – Your Guarantee of Safety
   OR
   Is your Family’s Life worth the price of a round of Drinks?

   Be adventurous with your headlines. Test different versions to see what works best. There are no rules – except what works.
    

5. Remember AIDA
   There’s a classic formula used by advertisers and it’s well worth remembering. The formula is AIDA. This stands for
   Attention
   Interest
   Desire
   Action
   If you follow this formula in every ad that you write or produce, you will greatly increase your chances of success.
   Attention – the first thing your ad needs to do is grab the reader’s attention. You achieve this with your headline.
   Interest – once you’ve got their attention, you need to create an interest in your product or service. 
   Desire – There is a big difference between being interested in a product or service and desiring it. You need to convert the reader’s interest into a strong desire for what you are offering.
   Action - Even if someone desires what you have, it is not enough until they take action. At the end of the ad you need a call to action. Tell people exactly what they need to do to follow through and make it easy for them to do so. This is where many people go wrong. Even if you have a good ad, you still need to tell people precisely what to do – how to take action.
    
6. Benefits, Benefits, Benefits
   One of the principles that should drive all of your marketing is communicating the BENEFITS of your product or service.
   Your ad needs to be a personal communication to the individual reading, hearing or seeing it. And it needs to be about them. It needs to address their needs, desires and fears and it needs to constantly communicate the benefits of what you are offering. 
   Nobody will buy anything from you until they have explicitly understood how they will benefit from what you have to offer. So here’s a useful tip. When you’ve written your ad, imagine stepping into the shoes of your prospective customer. From this perspective does the add fully convey what those benefits are? If not go back and fine tune the ad until it feels right.
   
   
7. Don’t Advertise on a Left Hand Page
   If you’re doing newspaper or magazine advertising,  this one piece of knowledge can turn an unsuccessful ad campaign into a successful one. This has been tested again and again. When you read a publication, your eyes are drawn to the right hand page as you flick through, so statistically, more people will see your ad if it’s on the right hand page.
   If you look at the big national magazines and newspapers, you will see that most of the large advertisers are on the right hand pages. The few that appear on a left hand page will be paying less because their advertising agencies know that less people will see the ad.
   When you book your ad space, tell them you want it on a right hand page. Very few people in your position ask for this, so the publication will normally oblige. If they tell you they can’t guarantee it – tell them you’ll advertise in a future edition when they can guarantee it. You’ll soon discover how obliging they can be!
   
   
8. Never pay the full rate for advertising
   The person selling you the advertising needs to know very early on that you have absolutely no intention of paying the full rate. 
   Most advertising rate cards are far too high and you can always negotiate. If you’re a small business remember that large companies who use ad agencies are buying based on the readership or audience levels rather than the rate card – so haggle and negotiate. If you can pay 20 or 30% less for your ads it can turn an unprofitable ad into a successful one.
   Here’s another handy little trick to pay less for your advertising. The closer to the deadline you can book your ad, the better. Sales teams work towards targets and as the deadline approaches they get more desperate to fill the ad space. They become far more open to negotiation. 
   This applies to all forms of advertising. If your local radio or TV station does not sell all its ad space that they have available for tomorrow – it’s gone forever. If you come along and offer them a deal at what seems a ridiculously low price, you might be surprised at how low they’re willing to go.
   
   
9. Don’t Follow the Competition
   One of the biggest mistakes people make is advertising in publications or on various forms of media (taxis, billboards, buses etc) just because their competitors are doing so. Don’t for a minute think that all your competitors are there because their ads are producing great results. They’re more likely to be there because everyone else is and most of them wont have a clue whether their advertising is working. 
   In fact, this is a well known sales trick used by the people selling ad space. If they can get one or two of your competitors to advertise, they can call you up and tell you how you’ll lose out if you don’t advertise too. What they fail to mention is that your competitors probably never test their advertising, often haven’t got a clue how to market and are only advertising there because they think you will. This is a highly effective way to sustain the advertising industry. It’s not a great way for you to run your business.
   
   
10. Don’t buy into the myth that Advertising is essential for your Business Success
    Now that I’ve shared some of the strategies for making your advertising work for you – I’ll let you into a secret. I’m not a huge fan of advertising for small businesses. If you can get it right it works brilliantly – but generally, advertising is one of the least effective ways to grow a business.
    There seems to be a cultural myth that to run a successful business, you must advertise. Whoever came up with that one is the same person who said that if you get a university degree you’re guaranteed a great, fulfilling career.
    Advertising is just one of many marketing options that you have. But you really shouldn’t be dependent on it. In fact, here’s a strategy I use with my clients which is really powerful:
    When I work with a client, one of my goals is to get them to the point where they have so much great marketing going on it makes little difference to their business if they stop advertising.
    Why do I do this? Because quite honestly I’ve seen more business owners pull their hair out through advertising problems than anything else. Ultimately, my work isn’t about marketing. It’s about Freedom. It’s about giving business owners the freedom that comes from having a successful and profitable business which is supported by multiple pillars of marketing.
    It’s hard to be free when the future of your business involves trying to get a couple of ads to work in a crappy local newspaper.
    So start to think out of the box. Ideally, you should be using a combination of up to at least ten other marketing strategies to grow you business. They include (but are not limited to).

• Telephone Marketing
• Direct Mail
• Internet
• Email marketing
• Direct Sales
• PR (Why spend money on advertising when PR gives you coverage for free)
• Strategic Alliances
• Lead Response Marketing
• A multi level Referral system
  Have a look at this list. How many of these are you implementing in your business? More importantly, what would happen to your business if you could start to combine some of these extra marketing approaches? How would that effect your profits? What would that do to your financial freedom?
  Here’s another thought. At least four of the items on this list will cost you either nothing or very little to implement. Why throw money at advertising when some of the best marketing is Free?
  By Chris Cardell

What a Press Release Looks Like

Press releases generally fall in the 300-600 word range, and rarely exceed one print page if being distributed through fax or mail. The growing popularity of online press release distribution allows for greater flexibility in press release length, as well as the addenda that can be attached to press releases for distribution (such as photos, company logos, or other supporting documents).

While sometimes confused with more general articles, press releases should be written in a more journalistic style called the reverse pyramid, where the most newsworthy information is presented first. Press releases are kicked off with a headline, which is a catchy title designed to explain the general news angle while grabbing journalists’ attention. Press releases are dated, and also contain the hometown of the issuing person, company, or organization.

The Press Release Process

1. Do something newsworthy enough to be of interest to journalists and / or bloggers.

3. Write a brief summary of the news, if using online press release distribution methods.

4. Write the body of the press release.

5. Write a boilerplate to close the press release (a background paragraph about the issuing person or organization).

6. Distribute the press release online or offline to journalists, newswires, or press release distribution sites.

7. Respond to any media calls or emails requesting further information.

8. Track the resulting coverage of a press release using a media clipping service, or online search engine tools, such as alerts.

The first goal is always to get people to open your email marketing campaign. For the time being, however, let’s assume you already have a captivated audience that has eagerly opened your message. Once opened, we’ll assume you have spent an adequate amount of time creating compelling copy for your email campaign that clearly explains to your reader exactly what you’re offering. Now comes the important part, where you want to take them from your email and onto your website where you can complete the sale.

Many marketers will include big bold calls to action in their email marketing campaigns that explicitly direct the recipient on what to do next. For example, phases like “Click here now” or “Quick! Click To Buy Now. Limited Quantities Going Fast” are all good calls to action. Other marketers however, take a more passive approach and write something a bit mellower, like “Learn More” or “Additional Information”. Depending on your audience and the product you are selling, you will have to choose an appropriate method. But, if you find one doesn’t work in your email marketing campaigns, then you can always switch to the other.

Just getting them to click is only the beginning of the battle. One of the most important pieces of the puzzle that can make or break your sale and really drive home the effectiveness and ROI of your email marketing campaign is the page you bring the person to, also know as the “landing page”.

A landing page does not have to be your homepage. Most marketers have found that with email marketing, much like search engine marketing, often times a custom landing page just for the specific campaign is the most effective. This is not to say that your homepage is not a good source of information, but it may be so cluttered with other distractions (like other products) that the user gets confused.

A custom landing page for your email marketing campaigns should be directly related to the link that was clicked. For example, if the reader clicks a link talking about a certain type of widget you have for sale, then the landing page should focus almost exclusively on that widget. After all, intuitively we know the user expressed interest in this widget, so why would we take them anywhere else but to the quickest route to close the sale for the widget?

Good landing pages for email marketing campaigns have a few common elements:

1. Less is more
You may have tons of products and many things you want to say, but please restrain yourself. The old marketing philosophy of “keep it simple” completely applies to landing pages. By the time someone gets to your landing page, they’ve already opened your email and clicked on a link, so the last thing you want to do is make them work even more to find the information they’re looking for.

2. The page is an extension of the link they clicked
When someone clicks a link in your email marketing campaign, they should see information directly related to that link. If someone, for example, clicks on one of your call to action statements about a particular product, the moment they get to your landing page, that product should be staring back at them. If someone clicks a link and then finds themselves looking at totally unrelated information, it takes less than a second to close your website and, suddenly, you’ve lost the sale.

3. Don’t oversell your product and scare your customer off
While this point does tie into the “less is more” philosophy, it does warrant its own section because all too often businesses will attempt to cram every teeny tiny bit of information onto a webpage. I refer to this as ‘overselling’ because you are presenting the user with so much more information than they need to make the purchase. In fact, it’s just hindering your ability to close the sale. We’ve all probably seen the sales pages on the internet that seem to scroll endlessly, touting benefit after benefit about why a certain product is the greatest product in the world. Those make for the worst kind of landing pages for your email marketing campaigns because every time users have to scroll, they get more time to give up on the sale. Tell people what they need to know and then stop. If you want to provide a link on your landing page for detailed specifications, that’s totally acceptable, but don’t make your page intimidating because it’s trying to cram so much information into your customer’s mind.

4. Make it obvious what you want the user to do next
If the goal of your landing page is to get someone to click the ‘buy now’ button, then make sure that button is very obvious. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a big button on your page that clearly tells the customer ‘I’m the next step’, like ‘Click here to buy now’. If, however, your goal is to generate phone calls, then make sure your phone number is prominently displayed. If people have to guess what the next desired action is, then they may guess wrong or, worse yet, not guess at all and just leave.

With the above tips, you will be able to create well crafted landing page that will help boost the ROI of your email marketing campaigns. Lastly, make sure you are using a quality email marketing software that will track the clicks in your email marketing campaign so you can get instant feedback on the action, from the point users open your email, leading up to the point they get dropped on your landing page.

Author: Robert Burko

For more information go to www.three-marketeers.co.uk

Speculate to accumulate

There is a very good case at the moment for actually increasing your marketing spend or at the very least reviewing and investigating new ways to increase your ROI. Every pound you spend needs to accounted for and needs to generate sales. With the advent of cheap digital cameras, DTP and cheap web design software, almost anyone can put together a leaflet or website. Does it actually sell your business, does it compare favourably with your competitors marketing, is it cost effective.. almost always the answer is no.

To be blunt, let the professionals do it for you and free up your time to do what you do best… sell your products and services and look after your customers. After all you wouldn’t really consider rewiring the office yourself… would you?

Getting the right marketing mix

Many companies for instance, still do not have a website, or have one that has remained static and unchanged for a number of years. With the expotential increase in the use of the internet it is unwise to ignore this medium. Without a website a company can be viewed as out of date and technologically unsound and if your company can’t be found… who do people go to… your competitor!

A website isn’t the ‘magic bullet’ that will solve all of your marketing problems and often a website needs to be accompanied by other marketing material such as brochures, datasheets, flyers, and traditional advertising. Getting this mix right can prove to be expensive. This is where an audit of your existing marketing plans and collateral will pay dividends.

Three Marketeers, based in West Berkshire offer a free, informal marketing audit to ascertain how your existing marketing is working (or not), suggest ways to improve the impact and reach, and ultimately drive more customers to you.

Call 01488 680669
email: enquiries@three-marketeers.co.uk

For more information go to www.three-marketeers.co.uk

Protecting and Securing Your Investment with the Cisco Smart Business Communications System

Designed for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) running the Cisco® Smart Business Communications System (SBCS), Cisco SMARTnet® Service for SBCS helps you resolve problems and protect and secure your SBCS data, voice, and wireless IT assets. Delivered by your trusted partner and backed by Cisco, this industry-leading support solution provides you with greater network availability while reducing operating costs. Cisco SMARTnet Service for SBCS is simple and affordable and offers a range of service delivery options according to your preferences and needs.

Empowerip is a certified Cisco partner for Cisco SMARTnet® Service. For more details go to www.empowerip.co.uk

Current Financing Options from Empower IP

Defer IT – NEW OFFER 
Available until end 2008, Defer IT gives your customers the financial freedom to rapidly adapt technology to meet changing business needs.

Program features:

• Defer payment for up to 3 months with no hidden costs
• Defer IT is available on 36 or 48 month terms (the deferral is included in the term)
• Available on all Cisco technology solutions
• Solution must be minimum 70% Cisco
• Solution must be minimum 10% Cisco hardware
• Minimum transaction size £50K
• Maximum transaction size £150K

For more information contact us on 01488 681304 
or ciscofinance@empowerip.co.uk

0% financing offer with EasyLease
Flexibility to match your business needs Affordable Unified Communications from Cisco Capital EasyLease

Take advantage of Cisco Capital’s genuine 0% financing offer for Unified Communications, enabling you to acquire the communications solution your business needs rather than the one that budgets dictate. By simply spreading the cost of your solution over a period of up to 36 months, you could:

Conserve your cash flow
You don’t need to compromise your cash flow by paying a lump sum. Instead, by financing your business communications solution with EasyLease, you make regular, predictable payments. They’re easy to budget for, can conserve your valuable cash, and can help you demonstrate ROI from day one.

Keep your technology fresh
Your EasyLease agreement can include a technology refresh option, so you can upgrade to the latest Cisco communications technology without investing more valuable capital.

Be flexible
With EasyLease, your communications can keep pace with your business as it evolves. Financing with EasyLease allows you to change your technology when you need to, and also includes hardware, software and support services – taking care of your entire solution.

Take a new approach to technology
EasyLease can help you take a better planned, more strategic approach to your technology spend. Instead of trying to develop and upgrade on an ad hoc basis, you can plan a technology roadmap for your business, knowing its flexibility can help accommodate your future plans.

Program Features:

• 0% interest financing for up to 36 months
• Minimum 4 Cisco IP Phone handsets required
• Minimum deal size £1000
• Maximum deal size £100,000
• Minimum 70% Cisco Solution (including hardware, software and services)
• Minimum 10% Cisco hardware

Open to business users only.

Full terms and conditions available on request.

Subject to status and credit approval.

For more information contact us on 01488 681304
or ciscofinance@empowerip.co.uk

Now your small business can deploy a simple, affordable, easy-to-manage unified communications system with the industry-leading Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business. This solution eliminates multiple servers and combines voice, data, voicemail, Automated Attendant, video, security, and wireless capabilities. It also integrates with existing desktop applications such as calendar, e-mail, and customer relationship management (CRM) programs. The easy-to-manage solution supports up to 50 users in flexible deployment models based on your needs.

The solution includes:

• Eight IP phone station support
• Four trunks
• Optional T1/E1 voice interface (PRI and CAS)
• Integrated voicemail
• Automated attendant
• Basic call center capability
• Music on hold
• Optional wireless access
• System management

Call processing capability is included and enabled via Cisco Unified Communications Manager Express. Automated attendant and integrated voicemail are included and enabled via Cisco Unity Express Software.

It is expandable by adding the Cisco Catalyst Express 520 Series companion switches. These fixed-configuration, 8- and 24-port switches with embedded security are preconfigured to work with the Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business.

Cisco Unified Communications 500 Series for Small Business and the Cisco Catalyst Express 520 are integral parts of the Cisco Smart Business Communications System, a complete system of voice, data, video, and wireless networking products for small businesses. This system provides companies with a new way to communicate, enabling secure access to information anytime and anywhere, while helping people to work together more efficiently and effectively.

This whole concept may include AJAX, social bookmarking, RSS feeds, tags, and blogs. Of course, this does not even begin to encompass the whole concept of web 2.0, but it does give you a relatively good idea. Each and every day, we use Web 2.0 as a whole. With all of the media, graphic intensive websites, and the ease of use, you are experiencing the technology with everything you do, without even knowing it.

There was a web 1.0, a long time ago in “internet years” that is. Really, think about the “old” internet and the “new” internet, which is known as web 2.0. What could you really do? With 1.0, websites were static, they were not attractive in terms of the latest in interactive and animated websites with 2.0. With Web 2.0, updates are as regular and necessary as the sun coming up each day, with 1.0 updates were extremely rare for websites of any nature. Now, let us compare some of the differences, to give you a better picture.

Comparing Web 1.0 with Web 2.0

With Web 1.0 if you really wanted to look something up, you had something similar to an online dictionary. You could look up a definition, but that was about the extent of it. With Web 2.0, you have the concept of Wikipedia, which provides you deep and intuitive information submitted directly by other users. This is so much more than just a simple definition, this is an entire history or background of virtually any topic.

With Web 1.0, you essentially had personal websites. They were not updated all that frequently and they essentially did not do a whole lot. With Web 2.0, blogging is the latest and greatest. Blogging is used as both a personal journal and for business purposes at the same time. Gaining more traffic and more interest than ever before.

With Web 1.0, many webmasters relied upon page views to determine traffic. Now with Web 2.0, cost per click or pay per click are doing the traffic work. Page views are no longer essential in understanding the amount of traffic your website receives. The amount you pay per click is now the best indicator.

Before, if you wanted the news, you had to go looking for it. RSS feeds now do that for you automatically and delivers it directly to you. Many websites have automatic RSS feeds that you can choose to receive and there are one stop type of shops that allow you to sign up for many different feeds at the same time, so you can avoid having to search for the news and headlines.

Tagging is also a Web 2.0 technology. Tags allow users to search for specific items and information that they are looking for. It really simplifies the internet for users everywhere. When a person makes a post on a blog or social bookmarking websites, they can identify tags. When a user searches for these tags, they will find the posts that relate to their search terms.

Essentially, Web 2.0 just makes the internet a more user friendly and easier place to work, play, shop, and research. Now that you know how Web 1.0 has evolved to Web 2.0, where is it going from here?

Contact Three Marketeers to find out!