When laying out a plan for your email marketing, you first want to ask yourself a few basic questions:  How often will communications be sent out?  What will be the content of these emails?  Will they be in the form of newsletters, updates and specials or ecards?  Once you have answered these questions, you will be better equipped to make your plan.

I would suggest planning for either six months or a full year.  With a six-month plan, you can re-evaluate your current strategy, make changes to it and see if you get better results in the following six months.  You can evaluate based on whether or not you hit your goals for that six-month period.  These goals can range from reaching a desired number of opens, keeping your unsubscribe rate to a minimum or revenue that was generated from emails.

Companies like eTouch Marketing, create email marketing plans for their clients that range from ecards to enewsletters.  The plans that they create, include details as to what will be in each email that is sent out each month (ex. Valentine’s Promo in February).  If you have decided that you want to send out two email communications monthly (ex. an enewsletter & a monthly promotion), eTouch Marketing can provide you with a roadmap that shows you exactly what you will be sending out and when you will be sending that email out.  They also provide peace of mind in the form of automation.

What is automation, you may ask?  It is the ability to have your emails sent when they are planned to go out without you having to lift a finger.  Because you have a plan in place, you can trust a company like eTouch Marketing to send out your communications when they need to go out for you.  They will also monitor your click-throughs, open rates, and unsubscribe rates.  I call that peace of mind.  It is one less thing to have to add to the busy to-do list of running a business.

 What I know is there are five groups or types of people in any business-raving fans (want more of those), customers, prospects, suspects and those we will just call the disinterested. The challenge always is to determine who fits in the disinterested group, so we do not spend our best energy, effort and marketing dollars on this group. They are never going to buy from us, donate to our cause or solicit our help, they are simply disinterested! The next question is  how are you educating and differentiating your services or products from others in the field to those that are “suspects and  prospects”. After all, we all want to move prospects and suspects to our customer list and then quickly to the raving fans group. What are you doing to let your customers know about your new projects, new services or products? Lastly do your raving fans know just how grateful you are for their kind words and efforts on your behalf?

Our database can help us to direct the type of marketing message we want to send  and even the format (newsletter, card, gift, survey, announcement, or event). But if our databases are not up to date, accurately segmented and always being fed by us…sadly our efforts will not be as effective. Your database is your most important business asset and it is either ALIVE or DEAD or Dying.

A business database needs constant food..it needs your ongoing attention and new entries. After this database work you can then have fun crafting different messages for each group on your list.

Well the advice I give almost daily is you must be consistent in your efforts to be in front of your contacts. I am the one that monitors when the next eMail campaign needs to go out for a client or when the next postcard or newsletter gets mailed and so I take it very seriously to be on target, on time for all my clients. It is just FOR ME that I fall behind on my own marketing and my own communications. I can say I work diligently, work all the hours I can, juggle allot, my clients come first…etc, etc. In other words I can give the same excuses my clients can give to me when I ask for an item promised last week. The truth is we all put so much into every single hour of the day, we all multi-task, we all get overwhelmed from time to time and we all have the same number of hours in a day.

So why are some business owners more timely in getting their own marketing out in a timely fashion? I think some hire out the work to another marketer and I must say I have thought about going this route myself. But I am not there yet…I am going to mark my calendar two Fridays a month that is “work on my own business” days. I am going to treat the two days as out of the office so decline appointments. I will blog two days a month, I will work on systems and I will market thyself.

I will let you know how it goes. Please share with me your attempts to do the same!

We all know it takes  considerably more energy and more money to secure new customers and yet that is what the majority of people do. Why is that? Why is it perceived as easier to secure new business? There is so much being said now about Relationship Marketing,  Engage with the Customer, Start a Conversation and most make this reference about ONLINE relationships. I get it, my profession is helping my clients maintain online and  off-line relationships, but what concerns me is most people spin their wheels focused solely on getting the new client.

If you were to  stop and create a list of who you actually do know from previous work experiences, your church, your neighborhood, your book club, your community or service organizations, the gym, all the people you purchase services from, your family involvements in sports, school….if you put all this together most people will find out they know more people than you ever imagined. (Be sure to add all those people who have purchased from you EVER.) This is the group of individuals I encourage my clients to develop a relationship with both online and off-line. Find out how you can be of service to them, what are their life concerns, what are their joys, what are their challenges, what is of interest to them? Then begin to build a relationship.

Be sure when you are sharing information with people, that the information  is valuable in their eyes and not just yours. If you build a relationship with people you personally know, nurture it all along the way, stay consistent in your contact… there will be a harvest at some point. They will become a client, a repeat client or they will become your best referral source.

Spend your first marketing dollars and efforts here and you will expand your business with those you enjoy and know. We all crave being known, understood, appreciated and touched. Be that someone who touches people in a meaningful way. You will reap the sweetness of good business and good relationships.

Have you heard the term Conversation Marketing? It is creating a dialog with customers where you exchange useful information so you both benefit from the relationship that you are building. You cannot even have a conversation if you don’t have a reference list of who is considered a client. Okay I stop the rant…I feel better now.

“Random Acts of Kindness=Good, Random Acts of Marketing -Not a Great Idea!”  by speaker  Gloria Pobst with the Gwinnett Small Business Developement Center. (www.georgiasbdc.org)

I have probably had the conversation a gazillion times that inconsistent marketing can almost do more damage than good. People thrive on consistency and predictability even though we exist in a world that is neither most of the time. Change is the norm, but people still crave the consistency. If you are sending a message that you are here today but not next month,  you are saying “I am sometimes here and sometimes not. I don’t see the importance of developing a relationship with you via my marketing until I need you again.” That may sound harsh, but that is a message too many people get from us when we are inconsistent.

I suggest you decide what your message will be, you create a plan for sharing that message via traditional marketing and social media and you must make it a priority to deliver the message on a prescribed plan. If you can’t manage this on your own there are people who can help you -hire them.

How do you make sure your marketing message is consistent? I would love for you to share the ways you make sure it is not random marketing.

What I truly believe and advise my clients is go for a media mix-some printed, some digital, and some social. It is not black and white, nor a either or method. Our world is still made up of people who like to touch/ feel whatever you are sending to them and the world includes those who prefer you touch base with them only digitally.

Some information is best shared digitally and other information needs to printed to communicate a message clearly. I recommend you let the content rule the method of delivery. Unfortunately some people let the budget dictate the delivery method used. Ms. Planeta shared her belief that “Conversation is even more important than content.” I wholeheartedly agree; what is important is that you communicate with your target audience in a way they prefer and in a way that keeps or gets a conversation going. Touching your client or prospect is the important aspect of marketing here. So ask yourself the question what accomplishes “the touch” best with the message you have to deliver. 

Well, I am being ruthless today-two boxes of paper already for the recycle bin that  I decided I could throw away because I did not even know I had it in the first place. Now that was an easy decision!  I am seriously considering hiring an office organizer to help me create a better filing system. In all honesty I know my real downside is it does not matter how good my  system is if I  do not take the time to file it as I go. That is the crux of the issue-I always think everything else is more important than filing! Part of me says well duh yes that is true. So I am asking does anyone out there have  suggestions for me on ending this cycle of feeling like the Paper Queen? Do you have suggestions for how to change my perspective on the importance of filing paper? If you do let me hear from you….I have about a week before my office will need another rainy day!

So I was sitting back, very satisfied from a lunch at The Sports Page, looking at all my lunch partners thinking this was one of the best business decisions I have made in oh about 38 years. That’s no small compliment! I am grateful to be a part of this company even if my role is only as a solutions provider. I think it will be very interesting watching this company continue to grow. Hey….I wonder if they have a paid staff position for head cheerleader??