Archive for the ‘My’ category

Grow Your Biz–From eBay and Beyond

October 27th, 2009

from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/onlinemarketing/article191984.html

E-businesses have great opportunities–and steep competition. Develop lasting customer relationships with these e-mail marketing tactics so your first sale isn’t your last.
By Gail Goodman | March 27, 2008

Setting up shop on eBay, Amazon, ProStores, and other auction and e-commerce sites is a great way to live the entrepreneurial dream. The problem is you’re not alone.

Competition for buyers is fierce in this vast, virtual marketplace. Unless you give customers a reason to return after the initial sale, they may be gone in a click. Once someone finds you and makes a purchase, it’s your job to retain that customer for future purchases.

Online or offline, buyer-seller relationships are built on communication and trust. Trust is especially important for people buying on eBay, Amazon, and other portals, where little is known about sellers beyond buyers’ comments and ratings. Here’s how to stand out from the pack:

E-mail marketing is an easy way for online sellers like you to:

Present a credible, professional image
Build a reputation as a trustworthy expert
Differentiate yourself from other online merchants
Keep customers coming back after the initial sale and referring others
Take your auctions or e-business to the next level of success

Regular e-mail communications that combine both informational and promotional content help you become a trusted seller and resource, so customers remember you the next time they need what you sell. Here’s how e-mail marketing can help online sellers grow their businesses inside eBay and beyond.

Take advantage of eBay’s free newsletter tool. If you sell on eBay and you’re not already using their free e-mail marketing newsletter tool, consider doing so. While eBay doesn’t allow sellers direct access to buyers’ e-mail addresses, the newsletter tool lets you to stay in touch with buyers after the initial sale. The “Sign Up for Store Newsletter” link that you can add to your store home page lets buyers and prospects “opt in” for your e-mail communications.

Send your eBay newsletter subscribers regular promotional and informational content (See “5 Tips for E-Mail Marketing Success” below). Staying connected to your customers is valuable to the growth of your business. If you don’t give buyers a reason to come back to your auction or store, they may not remember where they found that great item when they’re ready to buy more like it. Be sure to abide by eBay’s Rules for Sellerswhen engaging in e-mail marketing.

Connect with customers from Amazon, Pro Stores and other portals. If you expand your business beyond eBay, you may have an opportunity to collect customers’ (and potential customers’) e-mail addresses and communicate with them directly (with their permission). Some e-commerce portals such as Amazon allow sellers access to buyers’ e-mail addresses. This gives you more options to promote your business using e-mail marketing.

Professional e-mail marketing services offer customizable e-mail templates to best represent your business. Some e-mail marketing services also offer a feature that lets you integrate PayPal directly into your e-mail communications. Buyers can “Click to Buy” directly from your newsletter and go straight to the payment page, without first visiting a website. This way, e-mail becomes a direct line to sales.

When working with a partner, such as Amazon, abide by their rules and regulations for e-mail address collection and for e-mail marketing in general.

Use e-mail to drive website sales. Many eBay sellers also have their own e-commerce website. E-mail marketing is a great way to drive sales to your site. Make sure you are capturing the e-mail addresses of those who visit your site. Even if people haven’t bought from you yet, they may be interested enough in your business or products to want to learn more–and buy from you in the future. An e-mail marketing service gives you a “Join Our Mailing List” box for your homepage that makes it easy for visitors to sign up.

5 Tips for E-Mail Marketing Success
Whether you’re selling on eBay, Amazon, other auction or e-commerce portals, or from your own website, e-mail marketing is a great way to promote products and stay connected with customers. When done right, e-mail marketing can be a powerful sales driver and a way for you to stand out as an expert seller who cares about customers. And its affordability makes it available to all businesses, no matter how small. Here are some tips to keep in mind as you build your e-mail marketing program.

1. Make your e-mails interesting. You’re an expert in whatever it is that you sell. Share your expertise in an e-mail newsletter with short items like tips about caring for or using your products, answers to frequently asked questions, or customer success stories. Also ask customers to submit their own ideas for newsletter content. Include a mix of promotion (sales and event announcements, coupons, free samples, VIP specials, sneak peeks at new merchandise, etc.) with informational or educational content that’s valuable to your readers.

2. Ask permission. Ask buyers for permission to add their names to your e-mail marketing list and offer a way for them to unsubscribe. (It’s not just polite–it’s federal law.)

3. Send consistently. Stay in touch with customers and prospects with monthly e-mail marketing promotions and newsletters.

4. Ask for forwards. Happy customers are your best salespeople. They can help build your business through referral sales and viral marketing. Ask them to forward your e-mail to people who may be interested in your products.

5. Archive your newsletter. Make past issues of your communications available on your website (or through your e-mail marketing service). Posting your past content can help build your rankings with natural search engine marketing.

These strategies can help share your expertise and encourage repeat business and differentiate your eBay or other e-business.

Gail F. Goodman is the “E-Mail Marketing” coach at Entrepreneur.com and is CEO of Constant Contact, a web-based e-mail marketing service for small businesses. She’s also a recognized small-business expert and speaker.

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Marketing in the Recommendation Age

October 27th, 2009

from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/techadvisor/article193516.html

As customer review venues and their influence increase, business owners should capitalize on this trend.
By Alexa Vaughn | May 02, 2008

If you’re still talking about how to market in the Information Age, catch yourself–that was so five years ago. We’re now in a booming Recommendation Age.

Getting hundreds of search engine results from one keyword loses more of its novelty and efficiency every day as consumers opt for recommendations from real people. Instead of typing “hip sushi, Portland” into a search engine, consumers are going straight to websites like Citysearch and Yelp, where they can find several customer reviews for restaurants fitting that description. And as social networking websites like Facebook automatically import reviews into profiles, the exposure and influence of customer reviews are increasing.

Even consumers still primarily using search engines find customer review pages at the top of their search results. If you really type “hip sushi, Portland” into a Google search, for instance, you’ll see pages of review results before a result that goes directly to a restaurant.

The main reason: Studies, such as one done by Deloitte and Touche in late 2007, are finding that 80 percent of readers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by customer reviews. And 70 percent of them say they share business reviews with friends and family online.

“It’s critical for companies to respond to this trend because you just don’t know what influence that message board or blogger might have if you’re not listening and responding,” says Toby Bloomberg, president of Bloomberg Marketing and a blogger for Diva Marketing. “If you’re not continuing the conversation in a better direction, then people are left to their own conclusions.”

Though turning customers into brand advocates online is still a conundrum for many business owners, Bloomberg says the most important thing to do is make a commitment to monitoring online conversations about your business and being proactive and public in your response to those conversations.

Highly reviewed and rock-themed Birds Barbershop of Austin, Texas, did just that when a customer wrote a bad Yelp review about his experience.

After finding the review, Birds Barbershop offered him a free haircut the second time around. The same customer then went back on Yelp to graciously report the act of redemption: “Kudos to Bird’s for knowing what good customer service is, and for reading Yelp!”

Instead of blatantly encouraging customers to write better reviews for his barbershop, owner Jayson Rapaport prefers letting customers know the staff cares about the feedback.

“What ends up happening is our stylists build relationships with their clients, and they’re checking out the reviews to see if they’re OK more than I am,” Rapaport says.

Businesses also become more conducive to online recommendations when customers feel the business supports a lifestyle they value.

Food Fight Grocery, for instance, is one of the most highly reviewed businesses of foodies in Portland, Oregon, because of the political activism its vegan owners encourage. The home page of the store’s website even opts for a news and events blog over advertising its plethora of vegan products.

But Emiko Badillo, who owns the store with her husband, Chad Miller, says she doesn’t look at Yelp or their reputation online.

“I think people still appreciate that we’re casual and that we’re really putting our own personalities into the business,” Badillo says. “We run this business mainly for the activism side of it and to inform people about veganism.”

For Seattle-based Theo Chocolates, the only roaster of organic cocoa beans and the first roaster of fair trade certified cocoa beans in the United States, factory tours of its environmentally friendly operations as well as the causes it supports help drive a high amount of positive customer reviews.

“Our overall brand draws a lot of traffic because the growth is driven by our commitment to organic and fair trade products,” owner Joseph Whinney says, adding that taking a factory tour extends the consumer’s understanding of the business.

To make sure your business doesn’t fall behind in the Recommendation Age, consider the following tips:

Make your business part of a lifestyle.
Let your customers know you respond to customer feedback.
Don’t risk your company’s reputation by faking reviews.

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Tags: Age Marketing Recommendation

9 Tips for E-mail Marketing Design

October 27th, 2009

from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/onlinemarketing/article194474.html

In today’s visual world, good design is a must. Here’s what you need to create e-mails that look great and get results.
By Gail Goodman | June 05, 2008

The good news about e-mail marketing is you don’t have to be a design expert to create great-looking campaigns. Most e-mail marketing service providers offer pre-designed templates you can choose from (that are created by professional designers). But even with templates, you still have some design decisions to make: what colors and fonts to use, what size to make the fonts, and how much text you should include, to name a few. Follow these nine tips and you’ll create e-mails that not only look great, but also get great results.

Tip 1: Include your logo in the same location each time.
Build your brand with every marketing e-mail you send. One way to do this is to include your logo in all of your e-mail communications. The best practice is to include it in the same location each time you send out an e-mail. It may be in the header or somewhere else in the e-mail (preferably above the point where a reader would have to scroll down to see it, but don’t take up the whole preview screen).

Tip 2: Keep the preview pane in mind.
A recent study by Marketing Sherpa found that 70 percent of recipients that have the capability to read e-mail through a preview pane do. What this means is your subscribers may only see a portion of your e-mail before deciding to open it and look at it in its entirety. Make sure your logo, as well as some enticing information about the e-mail contents can be seen in the preview pane.

Tip 3: Use color for emphasis
While it might be tempting to use a lot of colors in your e-mail campaigns, resist. When deciding which colors to use, start with your company’s colors. All of your e-mails should represent your visual brand, and a key component of that is using your colors consistently.

Colors outside your brand should be saved for emphasis. Use it to call attention to something that is important in the e-mail–to make it really stand out to the reader.

One of our designers here at Constant Contact likes to use a cooking metaphor when he talks about using color. He makes the point that just because you have every spice on your rack doesn’t mean you use each one. You use a little bit here and there to add a little flavor. It’s similar with design; you want to use colors to add flavor.

Tip 4: Limit the number of fonts you use.
A good rule of thumb is to use a max of two fonts in your marketing e-mails. You may use one for the body and another for the headlines and subtitles. Use standard fonts like Arial, Times New Roman or Verdana for the greatest readability. If you use a less common font that not all the people on your list have, their computer will make a substitution that can change the format of your e-mail.

Tip 5: Make your point clearly and quickly.
When it comes to writing the copy for your e-mail, get to the point quickly. The reality is that most people scan. They don’t give you much longer than a second to capture their attention. If it takes much longer than that for them to engage, you may lose them. With every moment, a reader is determining if he or she will keep reading or abandon your e-mail.

In the case of newsletters, your copy will be longer than with a promotional e-mail, but the concept of getting to the point still applies. I’ve found that most first drafts of articles can be chopped down to as much as half their original word count while still conveying the article’s message.

Tip 6: Pick photos that support your message.
Including images in an e-mail campaign can make it more attractive and help you communicate your message. (A picture is worth a thousand words.) But this isn’t true of any image. If there is too much going on in your photo or if it’s poor quality, it can distract the reader and reflect poorly on your business.

When choosing an image for your campaign, look for something that is simple and easy to focus on and relates directly to your content. You don’t want readers to look at an image and question what it has to do with your message. If the image doesn’t support your message, it will only take away from what you’re trying to communicate.

Tip 7: Don’t embed your text in an image.
Many of the programs people use to receive and read e-mail have images turned off by default. To ensure that people with this default setting get your message, include text in your e-mail that is not embedded in an image.

Tip 8: Remember that white space is your friend.
What is white space? It’s a resting place for the reader’s eyes. Without it, your reader will not know where to look. Make sure that you have plenty of room between headlines, articles and any other content you’ve included in your e-mail.

Tip 9: Keep it simple.
In design, less is more. E-mails that are uncluttered visually and have a clear message get a better response. The goal of your e-mail is to get your readers to take some kind of action. You want them to visit your website, buy now, get more information, etc. A well-designed e-mail will get your readers to pay attention and make it easy for them to take the action you desire.

Gail F. Goodman is the “E-Mail Marketing” coach at Entrepreneur.comand is CEO of Constant Contact, a web-based e-mail marketing service for small businesses. She’s also a recognized small-business expert and speaker.

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Keep Your Eye on the Prize: Customers

October 27th, 2009

from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/onlinemarketing/article199450.html

If your customers don’t give your marketing a warm welcome, its impact is lost. Here are 4 tips to help you avoid that fate.
By Gail Goodman | January 12, 2009

I speak with dozens of entrepreneurs a week and am regularly struck by the passion with which they talk about both their businesses and their customers. Uniformly, entrepreneurs want to understand how their marketing impacts their customers, and their first rule is to do no harm. Nearly every small business owner I meet wants to avoid unwelcome marketing borne of their own lack of experience. Below are four tips on how to protect your customer relationships, increase your customer base, create a feedback loop and avoid over-communication. Following these suggestions will help ensure that your marketing will be welcome, thereby forging a stronger relationship with your customers.

1. It’s all about the customer. The underlying message for businesses of all sizes, especially in the current economic climate is simple: Hang on to your customers. The most important actions businesses can take right now is to stay in contact with customers, assure them that your business is here to stay, listen to their needs and treat them like they are valued. Try to focus your communication on informational content that adds value to them–not just promotional content. Make every customer touch point count.

2. Grow your list. Keeping a customer is less expensive than attracting a new customer. Customers want valuable information from you; you just have to make sure they know it’s available. Capturing their e-mail addresses and getting their permission is essential. Begin by making every connection count–in person, on the phone and online. When prospects visit your website, enter your place of business or call, be sure to get their contact information so you can expand your relationship. Offer them useful and meaningful information about promotions, special events, new products or offerings related to those products and services they already enjoy. Be sure to let them know what they can expect from you in terms of frequency and content and stick to your promises. Remember to ask for permission before you add them to any distribution list.

3. Create a feedback loop. We’re all in this rocky economic environment together. So, now is the time to engage in a personal conversation, ask customers how they are faring and listen to the answers. In this climate, going above and beyond expectations can mean offering customers more than they expect, letting them know that you appreciate their business and thanking them for their patronage. Surveys are a good way to assess how particular programs or products are being received. But old-fashioned one-to-one communication can also be a powerful way to measure the strength of your activities. Simply asking a customer in your store how things are going or placing a phone call to key customers can give you insight and reinforce your commitment to their satisfaction.

Take what you hear to heart. Passionate customers can be your best source of new customers. Integrate feedback into everything that you do, so your business gets smarter, stronger and more valuable to customers. Seeing that their feedback adds to your success will give customers a sense of ownership and pride, increasing the likelihood they will become an evangelist for your business.

4. Balance the need to communicate. Businesses must balance the need to communicate with the risk of overdoing it. Too much communication can be as damaging as too little. Be deliberate and judicious in your communications. For instance, in e-mail marketing, over-communication can lead to high “unsubscribe” rates, which can diminish the value of your list over time. A communications calendar can help manage the frequency of communications, and metrics such as e-mail open rates can help measure the effectiveness of programs.

Despite the gloomy forecast, there’s great hope and opportunity for savvy, determined small businesses in the months ahead. Entrepreneurs’ natural instincts make them particularly likely to succeed in this environment, so keep your eye on the prize and keep marketing. Sixteen of the 30 corporations that make up the Dow Jones’ industrial average were started during recessions. The next one could be yours.

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The Unwritten Rules of Social Networking

October 27th, 2009

from: http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/onlinemarketing/article198998.html

Is your social networking strategy actually costing you customers? Use these strategies to get it right.
By Francine Kizner | December 03, 2008

Drumming up a fan base on MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter isn’t as simple as sending out friend requests. To find followers, you need to create threads and promote products on social sites. To do so, there are a few unwritten rules of etiquette you should know. Master the etiquette so you can stop sending Super Pokes and start winning over your connected consumers.

Be Patient
It’s hard to feel competitive when you’re comparing your 50 friends to someone’s 5,000, but if you take it slow as you build your social content, you’ll fare better in the long run. Don’t request friends blindly.

“In most cases, there is no viable mass adding strategy for companies,” says Joel Postman, principal of Socialized, a social media consultancy for businesses. “To start off, follow a few people, get referrals and create a network that’s useful to you as a businessperson.”

Also resist the urge to ask all your contacts to join your network. Tom Lewis, vice president of marketing for imaging toolkits and applications provider Atalasoft, imported his Gmail contacts into Facebook and then asked them all to friend him, sending messages to professional contacts as well as people he didn’t know very well. Big mistake. He issued a mea culpa message afterward, calling it a “definite mistake.” A better idea is to announce social networks on your site, in your newsletter, or in an e-mail signature, and let contacts come to you.

Be Inclusive
Just because you shouldn’t be sending out friend requests to everyone in your address book doesn’t mean you should be shy about connecting with networkers that come to you. Don’t take a chance on alienating potential customers.

“So long as it’s not a spam request from a porn site or get-rich-quick scheme, I will friend anyone who appears to be a real person,” Postman says. “For a business, you have to accept every live person because you run the risk of offending a customer.”

Be on Message
Once connected, keep your connections’ sensibilities in mind. One evening, Brooke Webb, marketing and PR director at Vicinity Manufacturing, started posting to Twitter after a failed client dinner and a few cocktails. She says, “I tweeted several messages that compared my clients and their cities to the adventures of Dante in The Inferno. You know, seventh-circle-of-hell references, and so on.”

Even worse, her Twitter account posted to her LinkedIn so all her professional contacts could see what she had written. Webb has since learned to keep her Twittering professional, using it for her company’s customer service and encouraging clients to reach out to her directly. She also posts about social media and has some much tamer personal posts.

Your online presence is a very visible part of your brand, so make sure what you say and do online reflects your company’s culture. If you’re comfortable joking around or sharing details about your personal life, go for it, but as a general rule, Postman says to ask yourself “How would I behave I weren’t online?”

Though there’s a delete button for a social slip-up, you may never be able to completely fix a misguided communiqué. Last summer, SocialMedian CEO Jason Goldberg Twittered about raising angel investment for his company, possibly running afoul of securities regulations. He tried deleting the Tweet, but in moments, it was captured, published and lambasted on TechCrunch and other blogs.

Be Transparent
When filling out your profile, don’t copy and paste your white paper–a few sentences will do. Show some personality by sharing information under your interests, but if you’re more comfortable keeping things strictly business, relate everything back to your core message. Also, don’t add any Facebook applications your contacts need to add to see–they look unprofessional and can annoy your network. Take charge of your online persona by posting a profile image. If your account is under your name, use a headshot; if your account is your business name, opt for a logo. If you’ve hired a community manager to handle your accounts, give some information on your site about that person, as well. And always include two-way links, from your social site to your website and vice versa, to help people quickly find and vet you.

Be Tactful
To get some business out of your social networks, it’s best not to immediately send new friends offers to download an e-book or to sign up for a newsletter. Be more subtle. Work your promotion into your everyday conversations by telling people about upcoming conferences, responding to questions in your field, or pointing out new and relevant blog posts.

As a general rule, try to match the way your contacts interact with you. Respond to a wall post with a wall post and a message with a message. Most other communication should be done via more passive Twitter or status updates. Postman says, “What works is being genuine, not being a hype machine.”

Be Alert
To improve your brand standing, search for complaints or problems about your business, and respond in a helpful way, without necessarily adding the person as a contact. For example, Comcast has a ComcastCares account on Twitter that responds to complaints and provides customer service right in the platform. By empowering a community manager to listen and respond to complaints, you’re taking a big step toward winning over customers.

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