Autoresponders are something that not many small businesses use

If you’re not sure what an autoresponder is, it’s generally a series of automated email messages sent over a period of time. The autoresponders are set up in advance, and can be used, for example, when someone signs up to your newsletter and you want to follow up with a series of tips – this could be a great add on to a free report you’re giving away. Perhaps you’ve written a short course and want to deliver it by autoresponder so the people who sign up to it get their weekly instalments.

There are lots of things you can do with autoresponders and we’ve been using them for a while alongside our Savvy Marketing Tips newsletter. Until recently, subscribers received a series of tips delivered a few days apart when they signed up, but we’ve now created a new e-course. When someone subscribes to our newsletter, they’ll receive a copy of our guide ‘Content Marketing…what it is and why you need to do it”. After that the subscriber will receive a short course delivered weekly over a 10-week period to help them implement the tips in the guide.

You may wonder why we would want to give such a course away for free?

Well, it’s a great way of showing off our knowledge, helps our subscribers understand more about what content marketing is and how it can improve their online marketing, adds value to our free giveaway, plus it keeps us in the minds of our subscribers, particularly when it comes to online marketing!

Most email providers such as Mailchimp (who we use), Aweber & Contant Contact have this facility. If you use any of these providers, you can easily set up autoresponders to go out to new subscribers to your newsletter, or deliver an online course.

For small businesses these features are a great way of growing your business and can be used effectively to deliver training and add value to a free report or giveaway.

If you’d like to find out how autoresponders work, then click here to subscribe to our newsletter, receive our guide and 10 week e-course on content marketing!

Email Marketing is one of the cornerstones of online relationship building

Things have moved on a bit (about a million miles actually) since the days of rainbow coloured text emails and using the BCC field for your list while sending the message to yourself, although unbelievably some of these still occasionally drop into my inbox (bless!).

There are many excellent Email Service Providers (ESPs), including Mailchimp (we are fans & affiliates), Constant Contact, Vertical Response and AWeber. Which provider you choose is down to personal preference, but there are compelling reasons why you need to choose and use a professional ESP for your business Email Marketing.

Get More of Your Emails Delivered

Many people think that pressing ‘Send’ is all that’s needed to get their email message to its various destinations. Not necessarily so. For people still using their computer email packages, deliverability is unknown and open & click-through rates are unmeasurable.

Using your web domain host or shopping cart email service isn’t a guarantee of getting delivered either. These are OK for occasional mailings but messages are less likely to get through spam filters, so it isn’t a good idea to use as your main ESP, if you’re serious about Email Marketing.

The number of people reading their emails on SmartPhones is growing rapidly, so making sure your Emails are mobile friendly is becoming increasingly important. The main ESPs have this covered with special templates for the publisher to use and options to receive emails in a mobile friendly format for the reader.

Benefit from their Good Reputation

The best providers have a good reputation they’ve worked hard to establish. Not only for deliverability (over 99% is their proud claim), but also, importantly, for their adherence to the CAN-Spam Act, which they take very seriously.

I was chatting with an Email Marketing colleague recently and he told me the sad story of two clients who had their email accounts suspended as a result of using their computers to send out campaigns. This could have been as a result of the large number of emails going out, or because they fell foul of the Spam filters.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of being without email in my business sends icy shivers down my spine. It’s one of my primary communication channels and I’d really struggle without it.

Professional ESPs use a ‘double optin’ process to further protect their reputation – and yours by association! This process replaces the practice back in the ‘bad old days’ when you simply added all your contacts’ email addresses to a spreadsheet and sent out uninvited and unexpected promotional emails to them. “But wait,” I hear you say, “I still have some of those emails arriving in my inbox.” Yep, me too – and I report them as ‘Spam’ because that’s what they are. I didn’t ask for them.

A Double Opt-In is when you enter your details (usually just Name & Email address) onto a web based form, press Enter and are then taken to another screen with a message telling you to look out for an email which you need to act on. The email usually arrives within seconds and has a link you have to click in order to confirm that you really did fill out that form and want to receive the emails from that person.

The above are just a couple of reasons why using a professional Email Service Provider is so important for the small business owner. Check out our Guide for more information on Email Marketing, and please ask your questions in the comment box below.

I was chatting with a fellow business owner over coffee the other day

We went through the need and purpose of having a blog and setting up accounts with the various social networks where his target market were most likely to be, and then I asked him: ‘How big is your list?’

His answer was pretty much what I’d expected: that he had a lot of contacts but they weren’t organized in any way or stored in a central place, for example on an Excel spreadsheet.

The traditional way of collecting business cards at networking events and trade shows often results in a drawer full of cards and very little else. Even if these cards are put into a display folder of some kind, they still won’t be of any use for email marketing until they at least find their way onto a computer.

As I explained to my downcast colleague, in order to make the best use of email marketing, he really needed to have enough people to send his emails to!

We agreed that his best starting point was to create an Excel spreadsheet and manually enter the contact details. From there it will be easy for him to upload the data to an email service provider (such as MailChimp, AWeber or Constant Contact – and there are many others). When it comes to those drawers full of business cards, his options include various scanning machines & software packages, and he would do well to consider the newer technology Apps for smartphones, such as ScanBizCards.

A common list building mistake 

One of the problems I’ve seen recently with enthusiastic social networking business owners is that they’re so focused on building a following on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on, that they seem to have lost sight of the importance of building an email marketing list.

Just think about how quickly those online newstreams, updates and Twitter feeds move down the screen. You have no guarantee that your followers are actually going to see your message, amongst all the other messages vying for their attention, let alone click on a link.

On the other hand, an email is a targeted marketing message arriving in each individual’s inbox. They will have given permission for you to send them such emails and, providing proper opt-in procedures are followed, the recipient has to consciously decide what to do with each message they get from you. While some people may choose to delete without reading, if the campaign has been well put together, your email stands a much better chance of being opened.

By the time we’d finished our coffees, my fellow business owner had written down clear steps to get his email marketing list off the ground and had an understanding why it was urgent and important to keep taking action and build on it.

What would you have recommended he do to build his email marketing list? Please leave your suggestion in the comments below.

When you’ve worked really hard to build your email subscriber list ethically

After you’ve dried your tears, take a look to see whether it is an isolated case or have there been others during the past month or so?

If there are more ‘desertions’ than you’d like, it may be worth asking yourself a few questions about your overall email marketing strategy.

Did you ask permission to send Emails?

As I write this post there are two messages in my inbox from people I’ve met at local networking events and who have added me to their email list. They didn’t ask if I wanted to be added, so technically they are spamming me. It is tempting when starting out on email marketing to go through your business cards just to have some people to send your message to. Tempting but asking for unsubscribes and even a few spam complaints.

Are you providing valuable information?

The reason most people stay subscribed to a list after getting the freebie they originally signed up for is that the information in your emails is useful and valuable to them. Quite often, even though they may not have time to read your message when it arrives, they’ll move it to a folder until they do have time. But they will only go to this trouble if you consistently provide good quality, valuable content.

Is the content relevant to the recipients?

For people to trust you with their email address, they need to be sure that the emails they receive will contain articles, tips, tricks, and resources relevant to their situation or business. Coming up with fresh and interesting content on a regular basis can be challenging (as we both know from personal experience!), but it’s important to always keep in mind the needs and expectations of your reader. If your emails don’t resonate with your list, they’ll leave, and sign up with someone who does meet their needs.

Are you sending out too many emails?

How many is too many? That’s one of those questions which is difficult to answer. I’ve been subscribed to some lists for several years and look forward to receiving emails from the authors. Because their newsletter content is so good (valuable and relevant, as in points 2 & 3 above), I don’t mind receiving quite a few promotion-only emails from them when they launch a new product or service. Everyone’s tolerances are different and some people will unsubscribe as soon as you try promoting anything. So it’s generally a case of trial and error – and keeping a close eye on the unsubscribe notifications!

Is the tone of your message right?

We both started sending out email newsletters in 2003 so have obviously had plenty of opportunity to monitor what works for us, as well as what can cause people to unsubscribe from lists. Assuming the previous questions are answered satisfactorily, then the tone in which the message is written can be a deciding factor in building a loyal and happy list of readers.

Surprisingly, it often isn’t the wonderfully informative articles nor even the excellent resources that keeps the open rate high. But using a more conversational writing tone, as well as including a few details of a more personal nature will have subscribers eagerly awaiting a newsletter. People like to hear about real people whom they can relate to and get to know.

Click here for more tips about Email Marketing.

What makes you hit the ‘unsubscribe’ link? Please share in the comments below.

QR Code Generator – what you need to create your own QR code. Here’s a post with a useful list of code generators to choose from. (I’ve just used QRMobilize to set up my personal QR code and found it quite easy to use.)

We’re also experimenting with Goo.gl which is a URL shortener combined with a QR code generator. The benefits of this is that it lets you track the number of visits to the page where the QR code was read. Make sure you’re logged into Google and just type the URL of the page you want to direct people to. You’ll then see your newly shortened URL. Once you have your shortened URL, click on “details” and you’ll see your very own QR code has been automatically generated for you. You can then right click and save it as a JPEG (for best resolution) or take a screen shot of it. Then you can use it on any of the materials listed below AND you’ll be able to see clicks generated from the QR code and track what’s working for you.

QR Code Reader – which one you choose depends on which smartphone you have. For my BlackBerry, I’ve downloaded the free lynkee.com which was quite straightforward to do, and seems to work well. However I do find that you have to be very precise (and have a steady hand) when capturing the code to enable it to be read.

QR Code Applications for Small Businesses – While some TV ads are sporting QR Codes, personally, I’d struggle to snap the code in the very few seconds it was on-screen!

Perhaps their best applications are to be found offline, on printed media, such as:

• Business Cards
• Trade Show Literature
• Posters
• Direct Mail Postcards
• Take-away Menus
• Magazines and Newspapers
• Product Instructions
• and many more!

The QR code you can see at the top of this post is for our own Savvy Marketing Tips! In this case, we’re using it to encourage people to subscribe to our newsletter, and the link will take you to a sign up box.

If you’re using QR Codes, what’s the best application you’ve seen so far? Please share in the comments below, we’d love to know!

Many of the members are local retailers and one of the biggest issues they’re facing is footfall, which is an issue with almost every high street across the country. Competition from supermarket chains is the other main worry.

Now I can’t fix these issues, but one thing many of the local retailers feel is that online marketing isn’t for them. I can understand the thought of having yet more to do on their list, particularly when it comes to running a retail outlet, but it doesn’t mean it should be completely ignored. I can understand that the last thing these retailers may want to do is spend time on Facebook or Twitter, and these activities may not be for them.

The one thing that they could do though is send out an email newsletter. If getting people through the door is a struggle in itself, then perhaps retaining their loyalty via email correspondence may not be a bad thing, it fact it could help encourage more shoppers go back to them rather than to the supermarket next time. The one thing supermarkets will never be able to beat is the customer service that small retailers can give, and even more reason why keeping those customers loyal is important. Plus there’s the cost of getting those shoppers through the door in the first place, so reminding them about your business isn’t going to be a bad thing!

I’ve visited many retailers (mostly chain stores) who managed to get my email address one way or another, and there’s no reason why this shouldn’t apply to local businesses with a single outlet. Collecting the email addresses is just a matter of asking people to complete a form when they shop, and perhaps an incentive of a discount or voucher next time they shop there.

Let’s face it, in the current economic climate local retailers need all the help they can get, and if it means they remind their customers to visit them more often via a regular newsletter, perhaps with a little incentive, then all the better! We don’t want to see our local high streets becoming ghost towns. I know this isn’t going to solve the problem but it may help just a bit!

What else do you think local retailers could do to get more customers through their doors?

Do you share what you find online?

We realise that we can’t know it all: the marketing possibilities for businesses keep changing as the internet continues to evolve at an ever-increasing pace. We don’t pretend to be ‘gurus’ or ‘experts’ (how I loathe those terms!). Instead we share what has already been written or recorded by specialists on topics that we hope will be of interest to you, and help you develop your business online.

However, there is a difference between sharing random links to the latest viral cat (or dog!) video on YouTube and engaging in what is known as ‘Content Curation’.

It establishes you as an authority in your field

Once you decide what specialist area you will focus on, looking out for relevant material becomes much easier. As you share the timely and useful content you find, your online followers will hopefully begin to realise that they need to read/watch/listen to what you’re sharing in order to be kept up to date.

It is a generous thing to do

Most of the people you meet online are incredibly generous in sharing not only their own stuff, but other people’s material too. Just as with traditional networking, the ‘givers gain’ philosophy (from BNI’s founder Ivan Misner) also holds true on the internet. The more you share, the more other people will feel inclined to share your material in return. If you share without expecting any reciprocation, it’s a nice surprise when they do.

It means you don’t have to always think up new material yourself

For some of us, it can be difficult to keep coming up with new ideas to ‘feed’ the blog and our other online sites. Content curation, if done regularly and systematically, will make it easier. You’ll be able to see what topics are ‘trending’ in your specialist area, offer the latest news and add your opinion too.

Content Curation can be done in several ways, using some of the variety of online tools available. Rather than list them all here, take a look at the following posts that we believe explain the details of curating your own content very well.

8 Ways to Find Great Social Media Content

Robert Scoble on Online Curation (video)

Social Media Gold Lies in the Inner Circle 

Are you a content curator? If so, let us know how you do it – and share which specialist area you cover – in the comments below.

I love learning, and am fascinated by all the possibilities the internet provides for small businesses.

The internet provides more information than I can possibly take in. Not even a lifetime will give me enough hours to read all the blog posts, articles, and eBooks that attract my attention and cause me to lose track of time!

When I fall behind with other work because I’ve been reading, watching or listening to yet another great piece of content, I make excuses (mostly to myself) that it’s research to help clients

While the information was available just to read, I was largely able to contain it by downloading and storing until I had finished my working day, and then read it in my ‘free’ time. That worked, and continued to work reasonably well even when audio information came along.

But my self-discipline seems to desert me when it comes to how-to videos and I find myself irresistibly drawn to watch them. Even when I know they’re ultimately trying to sell me something!

So now, I’m not only falling behind with work, I’m also putting off launching my own products! What a crazy situation! And that’s before I own up to the time spent on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ …….

I’m not blaming anyone here – this overwhelm is totally a problem of my own making. So what’s the solution?

Well, just as email was once the enemy of business productivity and needed to be put in its place, now the overload of available information has become my personal ‘bête noire’.

One of the problems with digital information is that storage is not a problem. If I had to find space in my office for physical products, I’d be much more aware of just how much was accumulating! So, another step could be to have to cancel a subscription, or delete one product, before ordering or subscribing to anything new.

Because I’ve been falling behind on business building tasks (shame on me!), finding out which projects need immediate attention and focusing on getting them completed makes a lot of sense.

So here’s a summary of the first three steps I’m going to implement immediately

1. Clean up subscriptions to online newsletters and blogs
2. Put into place a ‘one out before another one in’ policy
3. Make a list of all current & proposed projects, and prioritise them by ROI, in other words those that will bring in the money the quickest!

Do you have any ideas or suggestions? What has worked well for you? We’d love to know!

One of the challenges when you blog about anything to do with the internet is that changes take place so quickly and frequently

So it’s important for us to regularly revisit as many posts as possible to check the information in them is still valid.

When I was doing this here on Savvy Marketers the other day, I came across a post about basic email newsletter mistakes which I wrote 2 years ago. As I read through it, two things occurred to me.

First, all the mistakes highlighted in the post are just as valid today as they were then. Second, I’m seeing these very same mistakes almost every day in email marketing (link to product) messages that arrive in my inbox. How depressing

It seems a little reminder is called for…

Let’s return to those Email Marketing basics

1. Don’t send out your email newsletter or announcement as an attachment. Opening files that arrive in your inbox, even from people you know, is how most computers become infected by viruses.
2. Don’t send out your email newsletter or main announcement as an embedded image. Not only may some people not be able to see anything, none of your links will be click-able.
3. Don’t send people irrelevant mailings. If they subscribed to your list for business tips, don’t send them the new pasta recipe you just discovered. Stay on topic.
4. Don’t automatically add people to your mailing list without asking their permission first. Just because you met them once doesn’t mean they want to receive emails from you every week.
5. Don’t send only emails that promote your business, if you want a) people to stay on your list and b) people to actually open and read your messages.
6. Do use a trusted Email Service Provider (ESP) and not Outlook or other computer based program. We use MailChimp, and recommend it. Other good providers include AWeber, Vertical Response, Constant Contact.
7. Do provide a ‘one-click’ unsubscribe for people to easily remove themselves from your mailing list. If you make them have to do much more than click once, you’ll increase the chances of being reported as a spammer.
8. Do make it clear what you want people to do, eg. ‘click here’, ‘read more’, ‘get more details’. If you’re going to do an email campaign, do it with a purpose!
9. Do provide useful and interesting information, tips, how-to articles. Be generous and show your readers that you know your stuff.
10. Do check your mailings before sending them to everyone. Typos, spelling, grammar, formatting, links go to the right places. Check everything. More than once.

For more posts on this topic, simply type Email Marketing into the ‘Search’ box on the right, or click on the ‘Email Marketing’ Category at the bottom of this page.  You might also want to take a look at our ‘Email Marketing Guide’ for more comprehensive information.

What would you add to this list?

Too many small businesses, by which I mean solo entrepreneurs and one-person businesses, either don’t have a list of prospects to market to, or they rely too heavily on word of mouth referrals

At a recent local networking group we attended, only a handful of business owners said they sent out newsletters, and most of those didn’t do so on a regular basis. What a lot of lost opportunities!

Even though networking locally with fellow business owners is still very effective, it doesn’t hurt to make more of those connections and take them to the next level. And the same goes for networking online. Both these activities are definitely to be encouraged and continued – but with the addition of building a list.

You see, there are only so many 60-second pitches, tweets and updates you can send out about your business before you begin to sound sales-y and spammy. And with so many people wanting to get their message across as well, it’s difficult to get your own message across!

Relying only on networking, online or traditional, means you have to be there in person. Building a list means you have so many more opportunities to market to prospective clients and remind influencers of what you do.

It’s of little use to collect drawers full of business cards if you don’t also build a list to mail to. Adding new contacts to your list without asking permission first is bad practice – but you already knew that

Use a service like Mailchimp to manage your list and easily give a more professional finish to the messages you send out.

Invite people to subscribe to your list and make it worth their while to do so. Give away something of value in exchange for their contact details and permission to mail to.

When you have a list, it opens up another channel of communication to invite people to events. Whether these are events you’re hosting, speaking at, or just attending, you can reach out and tell your list about it.

Building a list of people to send email marketing messages to isn’t an excuse to bombard them with promotions just because it’s cheap to do and you feel like it. But using email is an excellent way to keep people up to date with your latest products and services.

Your list is a natural extension of the relationship building which begins at networking meetings. It’s an opportunity to start building the know, like and trust factor everyone talks about – and which is essential if people are going to want to do business with you.

What tips do you have for list building? Please share in the comments below.