Prepare your marketing for the holidays

Now could not be a better time to do your research and figure out what your customers are looking for this holiday season.  If you want it to be a successful season for your business, you’ll want to plan your marketing prior to the holidays.  It’s great to take advantage of this down time before the storm hits.  You’ll want to define your goals for this holiday season.  Is it to make more money?  Get past customers to spend more?  Obtain new customers?  That will also help you determine what kind of marketing you want to do.  Here are some tips from this article to use your e-mail marketing to your advantage this season.

1. Get a fresh lead on your market.  Go to your customers directly to find out what their plans are this holiday season.  If you’re a social networker, great.  Post questions on Facebook or Twitter for your customers to respond to.  Ask them what they’re planning on spending.  Ask them if they’re looking for specific gift ideas.  This will help you stock your items and know what a good price point is.  This is a great reason to get on Twitter and Facebook, too.  If you’re not, make sure to send out an e-mail to some past customers to find out these answers.  Send it via a survey for them to fill out.

2. Re-engage your current customers.  This is just a great way to get back in the minds of current/past customers.  You want them to make sure they remember you this season for their holiday shopping.  Ask customers what they use your products/services for or the best way they incorporated it into their business.  Publish the best ones in your next newsletter and award the “winner” with a free gift.  Ask them what they’re doing in their business, given the current economy.  Maybe you can work out a joint venture between your two businesses to be more profitable during the holidays. 

3. Refresh and expand your mailing list.  If you do have some down time, you might want to remove those addresses that are no longer valid.  Make sure that you’re still doing everything to gather new e-mails, whether it be from a Web site sign-up button or handing out your business card at networking events.  Have fans/friends sign up on your Facebook page.  That’s another way to drive business back to your Web site. 

With these tips, you’ll be sure to have a successful holiday season.  And always remember to reward referrals with handwritten thank you notes to the sender along with a small gift. 

If you’re ready to get your holiday marketing out, we can help!  Visit us online at http://www.completeresourceschicago.com

E-mail marketing tips for new subscribers

 

It’s always great news when you get someone new to sign up for one of your e-newsletters online.  Whether it was a referral, someone who came across your Web site, or a friend or past client, you’re thrilled for the opportunity to sell your products or services to a new customer.  Now is your opportunity to nurture this relationship and make sure the customer is getting everything that he expects.  You don’t want to bombard him with e-mails, either.  Here are some tips for new subscribers, auto responders, and when you have to say good-bye.

New subscribers:

You definitely want to make a good first impression when you get someone new interested in your e-newsletter.  Once you have the new prospect’s e-mail address, send them a welcome e-mail with a personalized note.  You’ll also want to set the stage for what’s to come.  Tell them how often they’ll be hearing from you, the type of information you’ll be sending (coupons, newsletters, etc.), and who it’s going to be coming from so they can add it to their address book.  Otherwise, it could end up in their spam box or junk mail folder.

Send them the last e-mail that went out to customers so they’re not waiting a month (if that’s your frequency) for the next one.  And in your e-mail, include a link to past newsletters they can view online or other online discounts for subscribers.

Auto responders:

All auto responders should have a call to action without asking for someone’s business.  You can have a link in the e-mail for an online discount or free consultation with you about purchasing a home.  Some readers aren’t ready for the whole enchilada when they give you your e-mail address.  Keep these messages less frequent than those you send to your regular subscribers.  You don’t want to bombard them with information and prevent them from signing up.  A monthly e-mail is a good starting point. 

Opt-outs:

To make it easy for all your readers, make sure that every e-mail does offer the option of them being able to unsubscribe.  Make it as easy for them as possible so they don’t get frustrated.  If you get a few of these, use the information to help you determine what future customers are looking for from you.  Here are some tips on these.

1. You have 10 days by law remove an e-mail address from your list if it’s requested.  It’s best to do it as soon as possible, however.

2. Send them a friendly note that their unsubscribe request has been received.  Something along the lines of “We’re sorry to see you go but hope to see you again in the future.”  You can always leave a note on how to resubscribe when the time is right or if they unsubscribed by mistake.

3. Give these customers an opportunity to write why they unsubscribed.  You will learn so much from their comments.  If it’s because they were receiving too many e-mails from you, you might think about toning down the frequency.  If they didn’t feel your information was valuable, consider replacing some of your newsletter content. 

More tips for e-mail marketing can be found in this article.

If you’re ready to get your e-mail marketing messages out there, let us help! Visit our Web site to get started.

Don’t lose customers with these marketing mistakes

One quick mistake in your marketing message or delivery might not only make you lose a customer, but could keep you from gaining a new one.  These tips should help keep you on track to make more money, and not lose any!

1. Signing up customers to your newsletter without permission.  Do you ever hand someone your business card and then start receiving their e-mail mailings or newsletter?  It’s very common, and unfortunately, could break a customer relationship.  People want the option to opt-in to these mailings.  They don’t want to receive it without being asked first.  This is especially hard if you just meet someone.  You want to develop a relationship first.  You also want to have the freedom to look at their information and then determine if you want to be on a mailing list.  If you send these newsletters out, make sure you have a sign-up form on your Web site or in your e-mail.  And always ask permission when meeting someone new if you can add them to your list.  Don’t just assume they want to be on it.

2. Changing your message because you didn’t get enough sales.  It’s also very common to see an advertisement: 30% off everything until Wednesday!  Then Wednesday is crossed out and it says 30% off until Friday!  You’ll create a much more powerful message if you stick to your word.  If you didn’t get enough sales, save the promotion for a few weeks.  It creates a lot more urgency and shows your customers that you are willing to offer promotions.  You’ll seem desperate for business if you keep changing your current promotion.  It can make customers think you’re going out of business. 

3. Making everything urgent.  Sending out mailings that say “Urgent!” or “Open Immediately!”  This tactic can definitely work, but once is probably best.  If customers continue to see the same messages on all of your mailings, they’ll know it is just a tactic and probably put it right in the garbage bin.

4. Spending it all in one place.  Don’t blow your entire marketing budget on one expensive TV ad or national magazine appearance.  It could be great to get new customers, but once you’ve done that, what’s left for other marketing?  Make sure to evenly spend your marketing dollars and find the best ways to do that based on your customer profiles.  We blogged a few weeks back about sending clear messages to the right target group.  Don’t get all excited about a new advertising stream without researching it first and determining that it’s right for you and your business. 

5. Fixing what isn’t broken.  Some companies think changing their marketing pieces is necessary, even if they’re still getting great success with the same old pieces.  This isn’t necessary.  If it’s working, that’s fantastic.  Don’t just assume you need to change something because it hasn’t been done in a while.  Use test markets and get feedback before trying something new. 

You can find more common mistakes in this article. Visit us online for help designing your marketing piece!

Learning about your customers will drive up sales

Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in determining what next promotion to offer?  You realize that you haven’t put items from your fall collection, for instance, on sale yet, so maybe you should give that a try?  You should recognize that by learning about your customers and their past purchasing habits, you can earn more money by appealing to them.  Marketing Professional Ray Boucher has written an article on five important things you should know about your customers.  You’ll want to go through your database and make note of these, as it will greatly improve your marketing effort and sales in the future.

1. What is the most popular purchased product or service?  Let’s use real estate agents, for example.  If you’ve mostly sold condos in the past year to first time buyers, you’ll want to start marketing move-up opportunities for them.  Try to send them information about 3 bedroom single family homes, or the benefits of selling in their particular complex.  For a small business that sells handmade jewelry, what is your most popular product?  Let’s say it’s a bracelet with add-on charms.  Consider advertising to past clients about the new birthstone charms you have available.  If you buy 1, get 1 free.  Try to think outside the box with what products are the most popular.  It should drum up the most new sales if it’s tied to that.

2. What are your customers spending on each purchase?  Let’s say that an average purchase goes for about $50.  Find out what your competitors are charging.  If they have similar products and price, if you offer a product for $44.99, you should get more sales since you’re selling at a discount. 

3. Find out how many of your customers are repeat customers.  First of all, here’s hoping that most of your customers are repeats.  You want to keep them in your database and contact them at least twice a year so they don’t go to your competitor.  If you have their birthday, make sure you send them a card.  Always send them information when you’re offering a new promotion. 

4. When are you getting most of your sales?  Is it typically in a certain month?  Is it generally on a Friday during the week?  By figuring this out you’ll be able to offer marketing that has promotions during the slower periods to help generate more business.  But don’t forget to still market during the busy times so that those times stay busy.

5.  Where do your customers come from?  Are you getting referred from a certain Web site?  That’s where you’ll want to put a lot of advertising.  Do you have a local shop where customers from a certain neighborhood come from?  Sponsor one of their little league teams. 

This information will be extremely helpful when planning your marketing.  Do you have this information and now need to design the perfect marketing campaign?  Visit us online for more information and a free quote.

How having a partner can boost your business

You’re probably working on overtime trying to build your business, beat your competitors, and save money during this recession.  You want to make sure you’re still in business and making money on your own.  What if we had a solution for a way to build up your business, for free??  Have you considered a joint venture?  A joint venture, by definition, is a partnership where people undertake an economic activity together and is a way to share knowledge and expertise.  Terrance Charles’ blog offers his take on the top three most effective joint ventures.

1. E-mail list swaps.  You can immediately add hundreds or thousands of e-mail addresses to your subscriber list by doing this.  So how do you find your swap partner?  If you are a subscriber to some marketing lists, try responding to some of the newsletters you receive to see if the authors are interested in a swap.  How about a past colleague you’ve reconnected with on LinkedIn or Facebook?  We’ve had real estate agents swap lists with financial planners.  You want to make sure you do this most effectively, though.  Let’s say you have a database of 500 current clients, past clients, and prospects.  Let’s take the example of the real estate agent and financial planner.  They decided to swap 10 names a week.  Why so low?  Because they each sent each person a note highly recommending the other’s service.  Then they called the new name and introduced themselves.  Then they each wrote a handwritten note thanking them for speaking with them and sending out a card.  It was then that they added them to their regular list.  So it took time, but the plan was for them to thoroughly introduce themself so they knew they were comfortable receiving their e-newsletters first.  It helped them achieve a lot more sales than just blindly adding names to a list.  So consider how you want to best approach this.  With patience and the right partner, you will no doubt have success this way.

2. Trade content.  Do you have another blog or Web site that you’re constantly reading?  See if the author will allow you to post their information on your site and vice versa.  You can add hundreds of views a day to your site by adding their visitors, as well.  And make sure you give them credit.  Link to their page from your Facebook or Twitter page. 

3. Teleseminars and webinars.  Terrance says, “For a JV, this is good because your building credibility and value for your subscribers and customers. Not only that, marketers are always looking for more content, so it usually get’s passed around on blogs, forums, articles and to their list. It doesn’t have to be a long teleseminar, it can be from 5 minutes to 1 hour, it all depends.”  You don’t even have to make it as formal as a teleseminar.  Just post a video on each other’s sites with some new content.  Posting videos is extremely easy to do these days with the new technology that YouTube and Facebook offers.

Hopefully this blog gave you some ideas on how to expand and build your business by forming a joint venture.  Once you’re ready to get those marketing pieces out to your lists, visit us online so we can create the perfect piece for you!

The social networking conversion factor

So you did a great job setting up your pages on MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  You’ve connected with old friends, past colleagues, and even met some new friends who are interested in your business.  You got them all to come visit your Web site.  So they’re all there and, NOW WHAT?  How do you get their e-mail address so you can add them to your newsletter list and keep in touch with them?  Christine Gallagher talks about just that.

You always want to have a sign-up form on your Web page.  Make it really easy and just ask for a first name and an e-mail address.  Make sure you mention something about privacy and not distributing their e-mail to any other sites.  A submit button after that should do the trick.  And let them know what they’ll receive if they put in their address.  Maybe mention something about a free drawing every month if they register.

Where do you put it?  Studies have shown that one of the most effective places to put the box is in the upper right-hand corner of the page.  Don’t make prospects scroll all the way to the bottom, if you can help it.  Try to make it one of the first places they see.  Also, you’ll want to put a sign-up box on every single page of your site.  If they search for you, they might not come in directly to the home page, so you want to make sure that there’s a way to sign up no matter how they found you. 

We mentioned a monthly drawing.  That’s one incentive, but you might want to offer something else for signing up.  People love free stuff.  You might send them your last newsletter that you sent out to clients.  It could be an interesting article related to your site, but make sure it’s something that they’ll find interesting and help them.  A real estate agent might offer an article on tips to keep your home safe while you’re showing it, for example.

Now that you have their e-mail address, it’s up to you to keep up your end of the bargain.  Make sure they’re getting regular e-mail mailings from you.  Send them promotional flyers with discounts and deals.  Don’t just let them think they signed up for no good reason.  And keep active on the social networking sites. You never know how much more traffic you can get.

Need help designing an e-mail newsletter?  Visit us online for a quick and easy quote.

Picking the perfect e-mail address

So you have your own online business, or you work with customers on a regular basis.  It’s important that if you communicate via e-mail, that the address after the @ sign means something.  You don’t want your clients or customers accidentally deleting your e-mails because they think they’re spam if they come from a Hotmail or Yahoo! account, for example.  If you are the owner of a business, you need to have credibility, and your e-mail address is an important part of that.  So if I owned XYZ Company, then my e-mail address would be myname@xyzcompany.  Donna Price is a business success coach.  She offers these important reasons that your e-mail address match your Web site:

1.  Having a professional looking e-mail address clarifies exactly who you are and what your business is.  People don’t have to guess when going to their inbox to read your message.

2. It advertises your Web site.  Most people realize that if your e-mail address ends in xyzcompany, then they can log on to www.xyzcompany.com and find your Web site.  It’s like getting free advertising for your business!  If a friend forwards an e-mail from you, you could get business to your Web site from someone you don’t even know.  How’s that for free advertising?  By the way, you should always have a link to your site in the signature of your e-mail, also.

3. A professional e-mail address makes you seem legitimate.  Would you trust someone advertising their goods in an email from myname@xyzcompany.com or myname@hotmail.com more?  Which one seems more credible to you? 

Just as a reminder, what we said earlier about putting your site in the signature of your e-mails, you’ll also want to include all your contact information.  It also helps make you look more credible to the receiver.  You’ll also want to act professional.  Avoid emoticons like , , 8) and others.  Try to avoid abbreviations.  Always run a spell check.  Another great tip is to wait to fill out the To: portion of your e-mail until it’s completely proofed and ready to go.  This way you won’t accidentally send it when you meant to add an attachment, or are running a spell check.

And another important reminder!  The U.S. Postal Service changed their mailing rates on Monday.  First class stamps are now 44 cents each.  So if you still have 42 cent stamps lying around, make sure to add 2 cents or it will get returned.  Forever stamps can still be used at no extra charge!

Visit us online for more helpful tips to get your Web site up and running!

Make repeat customers happy and earn more $$!

Did you know that it costs more money to market yourself to new clients than it does to earn sales from current and past clients?  You can save money by getting your past customers to purchase more from you.  It will help you earn more sales by having repeat customers that are already loyal to you purchase again and recommend you to others.

Barbara Findlay Schenck is a business strategist and author of “Business Plans Kit for Dummies.”  She got great advice from Doug Tunnell, the founder of Brick House Vineyards.  His strong suit in selling is working his past customer base to earn repeat business.  He offers some great tips:

1. Keep current records of your customers.  If you don’t have any records, now is the perfect time to start!  Gather as much information as you can, including name, address, e-mail address, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  You’ll also want to keep track of what each customer buys, so if you’re offering a promotion, you can specifically tailor it to different customers.  With this list, you’ll also be able to mail birthday cards and offer something special.

2. Use e-mail to reinforce your brand image.  Make sure that the e-mail has a link where you can “forward to a friend” so your business can be introduced to others.  Also, make sure to include an opt-out option for those who no longer wish to receive e-mails.  And for those customers, they should be receiving something in the postal mail from you instead. 

3. Be brief.  The Vineyards e-mail includes a greeting, a photo of what’s being offered, a short description, the price, and how to buy it.  That’s it.  No long and wordy descriptions about the new product or why it’s on sale that week or anything like that.  You want to hit on why it’s a good deal and how to get it.  Simple and effective.

4. Offer good incentives.  But don’t give too much away, either.  You might want to offer a really good deal on a new product, but only if they purchase an existing product first.  Or make sure the deal only lasts 72 hours so people act quickly.  We receive e-mails from a retail store we purchase from where you can get 40% off one item, but it has to be used within 48 hours and it can only be used once.  If that isn’t incentive to get to the store…

5. Communicate consistently, but don’t overwhelm them, either.  An e-mail a week is way too much.  You want to switch between e-mail marketing, direct postal mail, telephone calls, and maybe sending a card for the holidays and their birthday.  The customers will be turned off by constant “sales pitches” too often. 

Need help preparing your e-mail campaign?  Please visit us online so we can help!

Tips to help you stay in top form!

We came across a great blog today about 17 things you should know before you start an online business.  This is a great benefit to everyone who has a small business.  It’s so easy to lose focus when you’re doing everything you can to get your business up and running.  These tips should help you achieve your best!

1. Build a list.  We’ve mentioned this before.  You’ll want to keep a list of customers (past and current), prospects, past coworkers, neighbors, book club members, etc.  That way you can contact all of them to let them know what you now do and hopefully they can become customers or recommend some to you.  It’s always best to start with a handwritten note and throw in a business card and a great offer!

2. Start a networking group.  Or join one!  It really helps to meet people in similar situations as yours, plus it’s great for referrals.  A lot of them meet during the week for breakfast or happy hour and you can help make your business better by listening to their advice.

3. Outsource as much as you can.  By hiring someone else to take care of payroll, copywriting, Web site updates, etc., you can focus more time ON your business rather than IN your business.  It can be affordable, especially if you only need a little help once you start up.  You’ll notice the benefits of hiring someone because it will make you more money in the long run to give the menial tasks to someone else.

4. Focus on one thing at a time.  So many new entrepreneurs get hundreds of ideas in their head and want to start on everything at once.  It may be hard, but try to focus on one idea at a time.  Then try it out.  Test it.  Make sure it’s up and running before jumping to the next. 

5. Take time off.  Another hard one to accomplish.  You’ll be much more productive and happy to be at work if you’ve had some R & R.  Time off means time off.  No phone, no e-mail, no client contact.  Aim for at least one day every week.  And this is where outsourcing comes in handy!

6. Attend classes and seminars.  Even coaches are going to more classes.  You can never stop learning new information.  You can meet people in similar fields to yours and make great contacts.  You never know how much new business you can obtain from seminars.  You’ll also obtain a lot of new ideas that we’re sure you’ll want to implement.  Just one a time! 

Need more tips?  Visit us online for a quote on how we can help you!

Build your e-mail lists with these tips

People always seem less and less likely to give out their email addresses in the age where spam clogs up their inboxes.  They don’t want to get sent emails on a daily or weekly basis anymore.  Ali Brown, an online marketing guru, wrote a great article on how to expand your email list and collect more emails than you know what to do with!

1. You want to decide who your ideal customer is.  This fits back in with the theme of niche marketing.  If you’re a Realtor, you want to pick a specific Chicago neighborhood, for example.  Or lakefront homes.  You get the idea.  Don’t generalize it.  If you’re focused on who you want to market to, it’ll be a lot easier to do it.

2. Research!  Find other companies, competitors, trade publications, etc. that are already marketing to your group.  Come up with a list of the top 5 Web sites and top 5 ezines that market to your target audience.

3. Once you have those Web sites chosen, you’re going to want to contact them.  See if they’ll review your products or services on the site.  When and if they do, ask them to direct consumers back to your Web site for more information.  Then make sure you have a site with online forms for people to leave their information or sign a guestbook. 

You can also see if they’ll accept guest articles.  Offer to write an article on the specific housing market where you’re farming, for example.  Then in the article make sure to list your site to come back to for more information.

For both of you to expand your marketing, offer to swap ads or articles.  Maybe they could post an ad in a newsletter you send to your clients if you post an ad in their ezine.  It’s a win-win situation for everyone.  If this doesn’t work, offer to promote their Web site for them in your newsletter if they’ll do the same for you. 

Purchase a banner ad on their site.  It may cost you a little money, but it’s a great way to get noticed.  Make sure you use a tracking program to find out where your new leads are coming from. 

Make sure your Web site has a link to receive your newsletters and join your mailing list if they enter their email address.  And always advertise your Web site in your e-mail signature and in your address labels.

For more tips and online marketing assistance, please visit us online.