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.

Many small businesses have a website built because they know they need to have one. But they don’t give much thought to what they actually want it to do for their business. Most people we speak to look surprised when we ask this question, and answer:‘More business – of course!’.

Well yes, eventually that probably is the desired result of having a website. But it isn’t usually the immediate outcome, unless of course your website is an e-commerce site. For professional services businesses there are many steps between someone visiting your site for the first time and becoming a paying client.

So, if selling isn’t the point of your website, what is? Here’s what we mean by that question

Here on Savvy Marketers website, we want to inform and provide great tips for small business owners. The ultimate outcome is obviously to be hired but before that happens we know we have some serious convincing to do. That’s why the most prominent request in the sidebar is for you to sign-up to our ‘Savvy Marketing Tips’ (with free Guide). That is one of the main points of this website and everything else we offer – the twice-monthly newsletter and the free information-packed monthly webinars are all a cunning plan to persuade people to join our little community!

Once they have entrusted us with their email address, we want to build on that initial contact and start to develop a good relationship with them. To achieve this, each blog post invites comments, and most provide links to other interesting posts (perhaps here or also on other peoples’ sites), as well as introducing related products or services. We certainly don’t stop providing useful information just because we have the email address. And we don’t send out spammy email campaigns either

The point of our website therefore, is to inform and teach, to encourage people to join our online community, and to begin a relationship that will hopefully result in business in the future.

What’s the point of your website?

Do you take the same amount of care over your Email Marketing?

Just because email is quick and easy to send out, doesn’t mean you can afford to get into sloppy habits. Or that you can simply ‘throw together’ your campaign email or newsletter in the hope no-one will notice if it’s full of typos. Because they will. If you’re lucky, your readers will take great pleasure in letting you know there’s a problem; if you’re unlucky they will just quietly unsubscribe from your list. After all, who wants to hire a [fill in the blank] if this is an example of their work.

Don’t be paralyzed by perfectionism

On the other hand, if you’re the type of person who isn’t satisfied with anything less than perfection, and who is forever making ‘just one more tweak’, your problem is slightly different. In your case, you need to learn that a misplaced semi-colon is not the end of the world – you might find this post about the curse of perfectionism helpful.

So, once you’ve got your Email message looking good and checked for typos, you’re ready to send it, right?

Not so fast Speedy!

Step back from the ‘submit’ button for a moment. There are a few more important parts of your Email Campaign to double check before sending it on its way. Some are obvious, others maybe less so.

1. The From field and From email address
2. The Subject Line is brief and spelt correctly, and the First Name is set up to show correctly (if you use this facility)
3. If you’re promoting an event, double check that the date, time and venue or call-in details are all correct.
4. Your contact information is correct (ie your name, business name, email, web site, phone number, postal address)
5. You’ve included clear information on how to unsubscribe with one-click – and make sure the link works.
6. ALL links work (both in the HMTL and TEXT versions of your message)
7. Send yourself a test message. This will make sure you see the message as your readers will and give you another chance to check for errors. If possible, have a proof-reading buddy who will let you know if they find any glitches when you send them a test message. It’s always so much easier to find other people’s typos than your own.
8. Send yourself ANOTHER test after fixing any problems and changing ANY text. Bordering on perfectionism perhaps, but it’s surprising how some changes can have an unexpected knock-on effect on another part of the message.

Once you’ve worked through this checklist, it’s time to publish your Email Campaign – good luck!

What have I missed? What else do you check before sending out your Email Marketing or Newsletters?

Publishing an Email Newsletter is a big commitment.

Even if you only send out your Email Newsletter once a month, the publishing date will seem to come around very quickly when you’re busy working in your business. So what tends to happen when there isn’t a plan to follow is that the main article is hastily written and poorly formatted, you forget to include things or important links don’t work because you didn’t have time to check everything properly before pressing the ‘Send’ instruction.

On the other hand when you do have a plan for your newsletter, you’ll be able to thoroughly research your articles well in advance and make them even more valuable for subscribers.  And because you’ll also know a few issues ahead what the topics will be, you can jot down ideas and gather together additional resources – all of which will make the content richer and more in depth, and show off your know-how.

Planning ahead also means taking full advantage of the opportunity to include your latest promotions or notify readers about a forthcoming event. You’ll also be able to strategically plan how to share your newsletter on the social networks for maximum exposure and effect, as opposed to randomly tweeting or relying solely on automated updates – which may miss your target audience altogether.

Overall, you’ll feel more relaxed and actually look forward to putting each issue together, you can feel proud of how it looks and the great information you’ve shared.

Your newsletter is an ambassador for your business, as well as being an excellent way to keep in touch with clients and prospective clients – surely that must make it worth taking a bit of extra time planning?

Do you have a plan for your email newsletters? Please share what works for you – we’d love to know!

Whenever we explain to newcomers to the internet how important, even vital, writing is

That isn’t what we had in mind.

Of course there are always exceptions. Like those business owners who launch into email marketing and/or blogging with gusto – sharing lots of promotions but unfortunately little substance to engage their readers. Wrong kind of impact.

If you’re unsure where or how to start writing to use the internet to promote your business, there are several related posts & great resources right here on this blog.

Impactful writing from the beginning

Keywords are what people type into their browser bar to look for information. To give your online writing a chance of being found you need to first establish and then include the right keywords, both in your heading and body text. (Sam explains it much better than I can in this post.)

Headline, Heading or Subject Line. Probably the most important part of any marketing material anywhere. And yet so often it’s treated as an after-thought and ends being lacklustre and uninspiring. If the heading lacks impact, the chances of your newsletter, webpage, blog post etc. being read are much reduced. A useful free tool used by many writers is the Headline Analyser at http://www.aminstitute.com.

Impact doesn’t mean being spammy

Steer clear of exaggeration and hype. From 1st March in the UK, the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) regulations include online advertising and marketing messages.

Deliver what you promise. On a related note, not only do you want to avoid being spammy or misleading, you need to make sure your article delivers what the headline promises. If you want people to continue to read your articles, blog posts and newsletters that is.

What impactful writing have you come across – for whatever reason? We’d love you to share.

1.    Don’t email everyone you’ve ever met
I’m sure some people just go through the piles of business cards they’ve collected over the months or years and add them all to their email contact list.  And/or they go through the member directory of the business groups they belong to and add those names too.  Not everyone is going to remember who you are.   Not everyone is going to be interested in what you have to say.
Best Practice Tip: Ask for permission to add people to your list when you meet them.

2.    Don’t email jokes, cute photos or ‘chain mail’ to your business contacts
I know they can be cute, hilarious or tug at the heart strings – but I’m going to be a killjoy and say they don’t have a place in business and they don’t do much for your professional image.  Speaking with a friend at the weekend she just deletes the emails without reading them now because the pictures take so long to download.
Best Practice Tip: If someone has entrusted you with their business email address, then business is what it should be used for.

3.    Don’t mass email from your computer Email programme
Once your list grows to over 50 people, it’s wise not to take the risk of sending emails to everyone from your Outlook or Outlook Express programme (or Mac Equivalent).  Your email provider will pick up the activity and may take the view that you’re spamming your contacts.  At best you’ll receive a warning, at worst your email account will be suspended – not good for business or your online reputation.
Best Practice Tip: Use a professional email service for your larger business mailings (see our March 2009 newsletter for suggestions)

4.    Don’t make your contacts’ email addresses public
If you must send small mailings from your computer email programme, for heaven’s sake don’t lump everyone into the ‘To’ or ‘CC’ fields where they can be seen by everyone else.  This practice makes it easy for your less scrupulous contacts to spam all your contacts with their messages too, which won’t make you very popular.  Read this cautionary tale.
Best Practice Tip: Send the Email to yourself and use the ‘BCC’ field for everyone else. (click on ‘CC’ to reveal it).

You might also be interested in listening to this short interview with Robin Houghton of Egg Box Marketing on the subject of permission email marketing.  Click here to listen

If you know anyone who could benefit from reading this post, please do us all a favour and show it to them

Isn’t it amazing how many different ways we have to communicate with one another?  The letter; telephone; mobile phone; text; fax; newspaper; emails; websites; blogs; twitter; audio; radio; television; video – just some that come to mind.

I’ve always been an avid reader.  As a child I wasn’t allowed to read my book at the breakfast table so I’d have to make do with studying the cereal packet ingredients!

These days I’m spoilt for choice and frequently have a backlog of articles & blog posts waiting to be read.  But over the last few months I’ve noticed a growing trend – of stuff that isn’t worth reading!

Everyone who has an opinion or knowledge they want to share, can do so quickly, easily and at minimal cost.  The speed at which information travels is now so fast it brings a completely new meaning to the term ‘breaking news’

A whole generation of internet users is determined to have their say and contribute to the gazillion pieces of information already out there.

Let’s face it, most of the blog posts and articles out there are simply rehashes of someone else’s.  Yes of course there are some truly great thought-leaders whose articles are inspiring and innovative, but they are rare compared to the many thoughts and opinions which would really be better left unaired!

Another major difference between the excellent publishers and the wannabes is their ability to write – to spell correctly and use punctuation appropriately.  While a conversational style of writing makes for easy reading, lazy writing makes me click away.

Other means of communication – audio and video – are further highlighting the differences between those who have something worth saying and those who don’t.

What I believe it all boils down to is that the people who communicate messages worth reading, watching or listening to, work hard to make sure they are.  They research and study; they edit and rewrite; painstakingly perfecting each piece before publishing.  And as with any professional, they make it look effortless.

But of course it isn’t, and that’s the difference.

OK, I’ll admit it doesn’t sound very exciting!  But it can mean the difference between your prospects and clients receiving a professional looking newsletter – and not being able to read it at all.

Rarely will they take the trouble to let you know there’s a problem, so you’ll never know.  You’ll have lost an opportunity to keep in touch, and if you were hoping to promote a new product or special event, you may have lost a potential sale.

When you put together an email newsletter or promotion, it’s worth having a checklist beside you of all the steps you need to take before hitting ‘Send’, because while most providers are pretty good at ensuring your message is checked for spam and spelling, they can’t check for other basic human errors.

Another advantage of sending a test message to yourself is you get the chance to read through it again for typos and to check all the links work.

Don’t forget to send a text only test message to yourself so you can check what it will look like for those people who prefer to receive text versions of emails.  Also remember when you use a lot of pictures in your newsletter; that they’ll appear as blank boxes if the recipient hasn’t enabled images in their email package.

If you’d like to find out how to avoid some other common email newsletter mistakes, here’s a previous post on the subject.

Have a plan
While you still have to write the piece, at least you’ll know what the topic is!  Plan at least a month ahead, and don’t forget to tie the topic in to any new event, product or service launch you have coming up.

Capture ideas
Just as I encourage my coaching clients to keep an ‘ideas book’ for their entrepreneurial flashes of inspiration, ideas for articles will often occur to you at the oddest times!  Write down those little gems immediately and return to expand on them at your leisure.

Record it
If you really find writing difficult, try using a digital recorder to talk about your topic.  Then get someone to transcribe it for you and, voila, you have an article ready to go!

Use it again
When you’ve been writing for a while, you’ll accumulate a nice stock of articles.  You don’t have to write brand new material every time.  Sorry to say, but your readers won’t remember every one of them as clearly as you do.  Use them again.

Re-purpose material
If you’ve written an article for your newsletter that you’re pleased with, don’t keep it a secret! Submit it to other publications, both offline (your local newspaper perhaps) and online (ezinearticles.com is the best known).  If it’s a long article, publish short ‘chunks’ on your blog to make up a series of posts.

These are just a few ideas.  Do you have any writing tips to share?  We’d love to hear from you.

While there are many other podcasting platforms available, Blog Talk Radio has several advantages for the novice podcaster:

• No technical knowledge required – It all happens behind the scenes.  All you have to do is follow the very easy instructions to schedule your show, dial in at the right time and hold your show.  The recording is done automatically and appears on your ‘show page’ about 20 minutes after the end of the show. 
• Free of charge – Apart from the cost of your phone call, there is no charge for hosting the recordings of your shows.  There are also some excellent guidelines available to download.
• Add content to your blog – This is as technical as it gets.  Simply copy and paste a few lines of HTML code from the show page into your blog and you have the recording of that show (or several shows if you wish).  Your show guests can grab the code too for their blog or website (spreading the word about you at the same time!)
• Google likes Blog Talk Radio – New entries show up in search results within just a few days.
• A good social networking tool – other Blog Talk Radio hosts will make contact and invite you to become a ‘friend’ of their show.
• Establish yourself as an authority – even if (as I do) all you do is interview your guests, if you do a good job you will enhance your own reputation as well.

While the advantages of hosting your show far outweigh the disadvantages, there are a couple of snags to consider:

• You may be approached by complete strangers offering to be interviewed.  Do some careful research before accepting, both to make sure they are of the calibre you want and their topic fits in with your overall theme.
• As with written blogs, podcasting requires a commitment of your time.  My Blog Talk Radio show is a weekly 30 minute slot (http://blogtalkradio.com/louisebj).  As the host, I have to dial in at the allotted time or it doesn’t happen.  Make sure you are willing and able to show up!

Do you have a podcast?  What platform do you use?  Let us know by commenting below.