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 Three clients we met with recently have Web sites that are woefully out of date.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.

Why Your Customers Won't Wait

Are you losing sales, clients or prospects to competitors who are faster, nimbler or more responsive? These days, your customers and prospects can get the information and products they need almost instantly. If you can’t do that for them, they’re simply not willing to wait. Speedy interactive web sites, email, text messaging and all those other technology tools that keep us so connected have trained us to expect immediate responses.

Here’s what you can do if you are hearing lots of “I already bought it somewhere else” or you get lots of inquiries but can’t seem to close the sale.

Look at your sales processes. Do a little flow chart – doesn’t have to be anything fancy – of how your prospects hear about you, contact you and buy from you. Look at the time between inquiries and responses, offers and the actual sale. Where are the gaps in your process that keep your customer waiting – and that give them opportunity to look elsewhere?

Automate your processes. With all the technology available to you, there’s really no excuse for not having a bang-up system for responding immediately to people who show you they are interested. That might mean emails that go out automatically and interactive tools on your web site that guide people through the sales process (or event the information gathering process).

Make it easy to buy. Don’t you want to make the sales transaction as easy as possible for your prospects and customers? We’re amazed at the unintentional road blocks people put in their sales processes – everything from too much paperwork to convoluted policies that discourage buyers to plain old bad service. If you can’t make it easy on your customers, they’ll find someone who will. Check out Converting Telephone Inquiries into Sales. It’s good advice for all types of inquiries, not just telephone.

Four days. That’s the time limit one of our clients has for handling sales leads. If you can’t contact the prospect within four business days, they say drop the lead and move on to someone else. It’s not that they don’t care about that lead, it’s just that their research shows after the four day mark the chance of making the sale is almost zero. That person has purchased from someone else – or is so far along the sales process that it’s too late.

And speaking of four, a recent study from Akamai and JupiterResearch showed that the average online shopper will wait four seconds for a site to load before they move on. That’s right – you have four seconds to get your page loaded and wow that prospect.

Your response cycle may be four seconds or four days. But whatever it is, you better get to your prospects in a hurry – or someone else will.

Word of Mouth at WOMMA, Featured Blog and More

Technology, new media, social marketing - we're all abuzz with all the latest. And that goes for both nonprofit marketers and small businesses. I'm not budging off our foundation and steadfast belief in solid strategic planning, critical thinking and implementing tools based on strategy - as discussed in our missive earlier this week. But it is wonderful to have so many new tools and channels to work with.

Spending some time at the WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) conference in New Orleans this week, I was wowed with the creative ways people are using social networking, technology - and some old-fashioned strategies to boot - to generate great buzz. And if you are feeling a little behind, not to worry. Some of the national players at this conference didn't have it figured out either! In the next couple of weeks, I'll be passing along some of what I learned and some examples of success stories. (You won't believe the success some people have had in generating business through with very little in the way of traditional advertising support!)

And speaking of buzz, we were honored this week to be a featured blog on TypePad, where we were cited as a "castle of contemporary marketing wisdom with room after room of tools and resources for your perusal." You can still check out the profile. 

Happy marketing - social, traditional, e-based and otherwise!

Small Business Marketing and Non Profit Marketing: "I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends"

We're in the business of telling our clients how give their small businesses and nonprofit organizations a marketing a "fix." But, this week, I've been the one learning a lot about getting connected. By this point in life I think I have mastered the art in the real world, but it has been amazing to learn how different virtual networking is!

Blogging offers so many forms of education to small businesses and nonprofit marketers. Here are our favorite sources. Duct Tape Marketing Blog -- John's article about the snack culture only reiterates what it is that blogs are all about -- bite size treats (yum, my favorite). Likewise, props to Made To Stick. While you are reading what Chip and Dan Heath have to say, also download their Talking Strategy Manifesto. It's worth the read. Nonprofit Communications Blog is a great site for very specialized tips for a non-profit organizations. This week's piece about re-designing a non-profit website struck a chord. Most people see non-profits only as different in their lack of funding. What they don't realize is that the differences involve top line strategy. A website for a non-profit should look very different than a site intended to sell a product. Read Kivi's tips and make sure your nonprofit site is making the grade.

I wrote about "When not to Blog" earlier in the week. Would love to hear from more of you why companies should pass on blogging. It seems our friends at Diva Marketing Blog had this on the brain too. They offer a great expansion on the subject.

So, happy Friday and happy MARKETING! Talk to ya'll next week!

Search Engine Optimization: A Marketing Art Form

The internet is full, full, full of people discussing this topic! Being a prevalent website on search engine lists is so important to the success of your business.

Here's a rundown on our best advice:

Go to TopRankBlog to get a great list of SEO sites.

Consider your market first. Don't be so concerned about getting found in these engines as much as getting found by the right people. Your business' success rides on turning web viewers into relationships. not just on getting as many hits as you can.

We've written in the past about the new tools found on Google to find out which search terms are the most popular, but here's something else to consider...
Google gives 80% of it's search weight to off-page optimization. 80%!
That means you need to remember these three points:

• The amount of links pointing to your site and its pages
• The actual linking text (anchor text) of these links
• The quality of the pages which the links are

Don't always focus on your HTML tags but remember to be highly involved on the web as a whole!
We will be working on ours and hope you do to.

Let us know your recommendations for how to best obtain off-page optimization.

Getting In the Blog "Scene"

After reading a post recently on the Diva Marketing Blog I started to consider what a great social networking tool this blog has been!

Blogging allows us to almost effortlessly talk to you and by doing so strategically market what we have to offer. While we think we are creative, blogging doesn't require much time. All it really takes is for us to put out for the world to see and read -- who you really are and what we have to say. That essence of a blog is what opens so many doors for social network marketing.

As big as the world is, blogging has allowed all of us to have a discussion. We have found an endlessly expanding round table around which we can present our beliefs, talents and interests. It gives us the chance to find common ground and discuss our differences. It also gives many opportunities to learn from each other. And it's changed the way we think about the Internet too. I began to realize, after a little trial run, that when we search the web now with any search engine. Almost half of the results we find are in the form of a blog post.

Web 2.0 -- means we're vulnerable to potentially incorrect information, but more importantly, it means we have the potential to learn from the experiences of so many others that we might never have meet.

Call me an eternal optimist, but I think the trade-off is worth it. I would rather the chance to dig through stories and tips than to never hear them at all.

The Internet gets even more Marketing Friendly

    The New York Times recently did a story on the new developments in web-search technology. What they discovered offers tremendous capabilities for marketers.
    New web sites offer much needed answers to help our market research. We can now find online: how often a term is searched for, the history of searching for that term, comparisons between popular search terms or phrases, and also predictions on the term's future relevance.
    Some businesses are using this to decide which products to carry or even which area to start a business in. Our greatest challenge is "stab in the dark" at what consumers need. These search tools can give us more reassurance before we jump in face first.
    Another way to use them, is by deciding which pages you want to buy advertising space on. If you know which pages come up on the top of a search list for the most popular terms of phrases, then you know where people are going online.
    You can also determine which searches you want your web site associated with. When registering with search engines you can buy highlighted space or advertising bars. Now you can know, for example, whether "marketing," "marketing plan," or "internet marketing," is searched for more. (It's "marketing" by the way.)
    Most of these sites offer free versions for very surface level research. Paid-for subscriptions, though, can be well worth the dollar if your business is heavily weighted in web-based sales.

Here are some sites to try:

To Compare Search Phrases

For A Monthly  Overview

For Search Term Suggestions

For Search Forecasts

Your Neighbor does it. How about you?

Forbes.com "Web Celeb 25. The ranks of the world's celebrities used to be dominated by millionaire actors, athletes and musicians, but the Internet has leveled the playing field. A kid with a video camera has access to as large an audience as the biggest Hollywood star. A mom with a blog can attract more readers than a best-selling author. And an opinionated entrepreneur can become a guru to millions."

This quote, from Forbes.com is interesting to think about. Watch as the web trends away from professionals to expertise of the 'guy next door.' What this means for professionals, you ask? Our content has to be enriching. It has to be something that people need. We need to be everywhere online so that you will will find is in the enormous sea. We also need to tap into our society's need to talk, respond and be provoked by continually fresh and refreshed content.

On a side note: As I sit here writing this blog I laugh at the red marks all over my screen. The dialog of our country is changing, but where is Microsoft? Why is the word “blog” or “podcast” still unrecognizable in the widely sold Office Suite? It will be interesting to see how technology affects the English language. How long will the language resist what people are so openly embracing?