Manage those unsubscribers and grow your e-mail effectiveness

They love you enough to sign up, so why do you e-mail subscribers leave you? A recent Jupiter Research study says 53 percent unsubscribe because content isn’t relevant to them, and 40 percent leave because e-mail is sent too often.

“That doesn't mean you make it harder for people to leave, however. Instead, learn why people leave, offer them other ways to remain in the relationship, and make the process a great customer experience,” says Loren McDonald of Silverpop on the MarketingProfs site.

A few tips:

• Make it easy for people to unsubscribe. A recent Federal Communications Commission ruling says you can only require entry of an email address (not require people to view an offer, answer any questions, etc.) to unsubscribe. And you really don’t want people subscribed who truly don’t want to be on your list.
• Do offer alternatives – like a less frequent email or one delivered to their mobile device instead. If a page pops up with their subscriber information, it’s easy for them to change to a less frequent schedule or choose a different newsletter if you offer more than one.
• Ask unsubscribers to complete an exit survey. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to actually know why people are leaving so you could shore up those areas?
• Use a thank you page or unsubscribe message to confirm the action and explain when it will take effect.

Digital media: danger zone for small business marketers

It’s a small business marketers’ dream world. Digital media gives us immediate access to customers and prospects. We can e-mail, podcast, Facebook and RSS them. Now we can Twitter and Plurk them.

But from a marketing standpoint, there’s a dark side. Just because the technology is available (and fun and cool), doesn’t mean it is right for your company. Far too many businesses are using digital media tools without thinking through the strategy behind them. Equally alarming, many businesses overlook or ignore the basics in favor of adding more digital media capabilities. Three clients we met with recently have Web sites that are woefully out of date. They have no organized way of reviewing and updating, and even worse, no one in house or outsourced who is set up to quickly and efficiently make updates.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t use new media, just that you need to use it with the same thought and carefully analysis you would use with any other marketing tools. Read the whole article.

Strategic Marketing Means Tackling More than Low Hanging Fruit

Your house is a mess. It's easy to pick up the dirty clothes, straighten the shoes left by the back door, make the beds. You know, the easy stuff. But when was the last time you reorganized dressers and closets? Climbed a ladder to dust the tops of light fixtures and moldings? Or bent low to clean your cabinet under the sink? Now if you did that, your house would be really clean. But who has time? Or the energy to do all that?

Can much the same can be true of your marketing efforts? Too often we spend our time addressing "low hanging fruit". Like the clothes left on the floor, we spruce up what's easy and not especially time consuming. Get a new logo, ask the agency to come up with some new ads, write a few press releases and leave the harder stuff like market research and strategic goal setting to another day.

Today, Brandcurve.com comments on this very issue. Seems Toys R Us has a cute new logo. Is the logo good enough to hide the fact that their stores are crowded, difficult to navigate and rate badly on customer service? Not really. I'd suggest they are just trying to sweep the bad stuff under a pretty new rug.

Want to know how you can tackle your strategic marketing? Log on to our website for free tools!

Mid Year Marketing Check: Are You Making Good Grades?

If you had to grade your marketing for the first half of 2007, how would you do? "A" for effort, but short on results? "C-" for being stuck in a rut, doing the same things but not reaching the goals you set?

This mid-year point is a great time to take a hard, close look at what you're doing: what's working and what's not. It's a time to be brutally honest in your assessments and fearless in looking at new and better ways to create the marketing organization you want. Read our July e-newsletter to find the right questions to ask in order to answer whether you are right on course, or need to change your direction.

New Takes on Networking: Get Out There!

Does the thought of networking make you shudder, with visions of randomly handing out business cards to people or sitting through "official" networking events with dozens of other people trying to meet people?

Hold on. While networking is an old concept, you may need to update your thinking about what it really means. Like every marketing strategy for small business and nonprofit marketers, your networking should be strategic. There's real value in building a network of contacts and resources who can help you with everything from business and operations challenges to finance, housing, medical care and more. And beyond the obvious benefits of having a contact you can call on, there's a serendipity about networking. Who knows who you might meet - and who they might know.

Here are a couple of good sources for strategic networking tips that cover everything from using email to targeting your networking to the worst networking mistakes. You've probably heard of Scott Ginsberg, who always wears a name tag. He's built his networking into an art - and a business. Check out his "51 Thoughts on Networking." And entrepreneur.com has a series of easy reading articles that include networking for introverts, networking etiquette and more.

So before you move networking to the bottom of your to-do list again, re-think it. Building a bigger network just might be easier - and more productive - than you think.

Best Crisis Communication Starts with a Plan

Despite the run of recent crisis situations (think Virginia Tech, Jet Blue, Walter Reed Army Hospital), plenty of you are still going about your business without a crisis communication plan. Here’s a tip for you nonprofit marketers and small business marketers: the only time you can develop a solid crisis communication plan is BEFORE the crisis. AFTER a crisis happens, you’re not planning – you’re just reacting. And that’s a dangerous place to be.

Before you decide your chances of a crisis are small and you can handle it, think again and while you are at it read our enewsletter month for a checklist of where to start your planning process.

Small Business Marketers, Take a Lesson from the Best Commercials of 2006

Ok, you are running a small business, working your hardest to market your products and services. And, your advertising budget is missing a couple of zeros compared to American Express or Geico. Never fear, you can still learn something from the "big guys".

The Association of Independent Commercial Producers announced this week awards for the best commercials of 2006. The spots are downright fun to watch - and a great lesson in how companies put creativity to work to promote their brand. Even as a small business marketer you'll appreciate the creative thinking and strategy behind some of these spots --and the web site is killer. You can see the awards categories (humor, animation, public service, low budget, etc.) And you can take a walk down memory lane as you review the winning spots from every year back to 1992.

If you’re looking for ideas or just want to entertain the creative side of your brain for a few minutes, it’s worth a look.

Dos and Don'ts of Email Etiquette

This morning I had 100 emails waiting for me at 7:15 a.m. That's especially remarkable since I last emptied my in-box at 9:30 p.m. last night. There are so many emails flying around cyberspace, are your emails getting the attention they deserve?

Making sure that you are "up" on the dos and don'ts, ins and outs of email etiquette is one way to stay out of the junk mail folder. David Shipley and Will Schwalbe can help you out. Their reference book, Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home, should be essential reading before you next hit SEND.

Too busy emailing to read the book? Help also comes from Emailreplies.com. Here's their 32 most important email etiquette tips:

1. Be concise and to the point
2. Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions
3. Use proper spelling, grammar and punctuation
4. Make it personal
5. Use templates for frequently used responses
6. Answer swiftly
7. Do not attach unnecessary files
8. Use proper structure and layout
9. Do not overuse the high priority option
10. Do not write in CAPITALS
11. Don't leave out the message thread
12. Add disclaimers to your emails
13. Read the email before you send it
14. Do not overuse Reply to All
15. Mailings use the bcc: field or do a mail merge
16. Take care with abbreviations and emoticons
17. Be careful with formatting
18. Take care with rich text and HTML messages
19. Do not forward chain letters
20. Do not request delivery and read receipts
21. Do not ask to recall a message
22. Do not copy a message or attachment without permission
23. Do not use email to discuss confidential information
24. Use a meaningful subject
25. Use active instead of passive
26. Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT
27. Avoid long sentences
28. Don't send or forward emails containing libelous, defamatory, offensive, racist or obscene remarks
29. Don't forward virus hoaxes and chain letters
30. Keep your language gender neutral
31. Don't reply to spam
32. Use cc: field sparingly