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The Power Of Word Of Mouth Among Online Groups

The Power Of Word Of Mouth Among Online Groups

By Sridhar Ramanathan

Today I was struck by how powerful my wife’s mom’s club is in terms of word of mouth.

Gina, mother of our four kids, is a board member of the Livermore Mothers club. She was drawn to this community of moms who support, inspire, and share experiences with one another. Like most moms, they are often the “economic buyers” of the household. And that makes them a powerful force in Livermore because they talk about their buying experiences—the good and the bad.

Gina once posted a note asking, “Does anyone have recommendations for electricians?” She received many responses, yet one name came to the top of the list–Carl Keeney.

We hired him based purely on the strength of references from fellow moms. It turns out that his business comes almost exclusively from referrals from the Livermore Moms Club. The moms use Yahoo groups to communicate, so what would take months of verbal word of mouth only takes a click of the mouse to get out to the 350 moms. Talk about power.

But this club is not so unusual. For example, I personally belong to the following:

• HP Alumni Association (5000+ members)
• Women in Consulting (200 members)
• EPIC – Enabling Partners in Consulting (72 members)
• Bay Area IChild (170 members)

All of them are part of what internet marketers call the “long tail,” or where there are far fewer “visitors” to a website because they represent a very specific interest group, unlike portals which serve the masses. But I see a further distinction here than the “long tail” descriptor. These are communities that foster word-of-mouth which, in turn, has a huge impact on buying behavior.

Common Characteristics Of A Private Online Group:

• Open vs. closed: Blogs, podcasts, and niche websites are community builders in the sense that they attract people with common interests. Anyone can visit the site and post a comment. But a community using, say, Yahoo groups, is typically closed to non-members. This exclusivity makes the group more intimate.
• Member vs. visitor: Because the group is closed, participants in the community are “members,” not just anonymous visitors to a website. Membership confers with it a responsibility—what you say matters and will affect your relationships with other members.
• Trust and honesty: People join this community because they share a common area of interest and, more importantly, a common experience (e.g. motherhood, HP tenure, consulting expertise, etc.). And that bond engenders both trust and a desire to help one another.
• Elicit, not solicit: Community lists facilitate member requests. Members elicit a response when asking for inputs — whether it’s about accounting, entrepreneurship, computers, or consultants. This is very distinct from websites, association mailing lists, or publications in which vendors solicit its subscribers with specific offers.
• Conversation vs. communication: You’ll find most online groups have “threads” or conversations online on a particular topic (e.g. does anyone know…?) as opposed to one-way communications (e.g. announcements).

What Marketers Can Do To Leverage Word Of Mouth:

• Look beyond the obvious targets: Who would have thought that one of the biggest influencers of electrician hires was mothers? Ask your clients who they turn to for advice and whether they belong to an online group.
• Deliver excellence: There’s no hiding in this venue; both good and bad service experiences will get telegraphed instantly in an online community, so your service better meet or exceed expectations well past the initial agreement. This is true whether we’re talking about electricians or architects.
• Nurture relationships: My mantra is that client retention is more important than acquisition. This holds especially true when marketing to a tight community where your very first client and your last one will carry equal weight.
• Be a member or befriend one: Carl, our electrician, was connected to the Livermore moms club through one of his early customers. And that connection proved vital since virtually all his business now comes through club referrals. You can do the same by finding out how you can better connect with your target group. If it’s CIOs of banks, perhaps your best client can give you visibility of what conversations are taking place among them.
• Don’t market: If you do somehow get to be a member of your target group, resist the temptation to promote, brag about, or pitch your service in any way. Sure, you can buy a sponsored ad, but never solicit business in the online group. You only hurt your credibility and risk blowing relationships.

So to sum up, we all know that word of mouth is the #1 best form of marketing because of its impact on purchase behavior. But do what Carl Keeney, our electrician, does:  identify your target buyer’s community, deliver excellent service, and build lasting relationships that will reward you many times over.

How To Write An Effective Email Newsletter

How To Write An Effective Email Newsletter

By Tom Pick [Original source]

Email newsletters are a popular marketing medium for professional services firms for several very good reasons. They:

• Maintain Relationships: E-newsletters enable firms to maintain relationships with clients while cross-selling and upselling their services. At the same time, e-newsletters “nurture” prospects who aren’t yet quite ready to buy.
• Showcase Your Expertise: E-newsletters position your firm as an industry expert.
• Spread Word-Of-Mouth Marketing: E-newsletters are easy for recipients to forward to colleagues.
• Provide Client Feedback: You can collect valuable feedback from your clients and prospects through surveys, polls, and links to online forms.
• Are Cost-Effective: E-newsletters are far more cost-effective than printed mail. Plus, they don’t waste trees, and don’t cause paper cuts.
• Are Easy To Use: E-newsletters are easy to create. Use a hosted email service provider and your team can concentrate on creating great content, rather than focusing on more mundane tasks such as writing HTML code or managing subscriber lists.

Because of their utility, e-newsletters have become much more common over the last several years. And there is no doubt that inbox clutter is an increasing problem. Despite their increasing ubiquity, however, newsletters can still be a powerful marketing tool – but they must be well-crafted to stand out from the crowd. Here are a few tips for creating newsletters that will help you to successfully attract and retain readers.

Content Tips

Provide News That Is Interesting To Your Reader.

Unless you’ve got a really hot new product to announce, your latest “company news” is likely to make readers hit the DELETE key faster than you can reel off your elevator pitch.

On the other hand, news about industry trends or statistics – buying patterns, inventory levels, employment, products, regulation – is generally of interest. The more industry-focused, the better. Bookmark key sites or use a newsfeed service such as Moreover to collect this type of data.

Offer Tips And Advice.

Business readers are naturally drawn to any article with “How To” in the title (assuming it’s actually something useful). Tap the knowledge within your firm – engineers, developers, field techs, consultants – to develop these articles.

Develop Case Studies.

Stories about how real companies solved real problems are always interesting (Marketing Sherpa built an entire business around marketing case studies). Try to let your client’s words promote your company rather than being too self-promotional. Make sure the case study also makes your client look good, of course, and gain their approval by promoting the case study in publications that target their prospects.

Make It Interactive.

Include a quick poll relating to an industry topic (e.g. “How effective is podcasting at generating leads for your company?”). People love to have their voice heard, even if only through a quick vote, and to see how their peers view an issue.

Have A Voice.

Express an opinion about a industry topic of interest, similar to what bloggers do (if your company has a blog, your newsletter is a great place to link to your latest post).

Make It Fun.

Business is serious, but doesn’t always have to be humorless. Include a cartoon, a link to an odd (but not offensive) website, a trivia question about a completely unrelated topic (e.g. one-hit wonders of the music world, movies, TV, history, etc.), a quote-of-the-day, or something else amusing or off base.

Formatting and Technical Tips

Keep It Short.

Keep the body of the newsletter short by providing headlines and excerpts linking to longer articles on your website or blog. This enables readers to scan the content quickly, then link out to articles of interest.

Provide Both HTML And Plain Text Versions.

Most hosted email services allow you to set this up automatically. Some readers prefer the nicer HTML look, while others won’t be able to view an HTML version due to firewalls and filters.

Provide An RSS Feed.

Create an RSS feed of your newsletter content for readers who prefer that option. You can also use services such as Feedburner to promote your newsletter RSS feed.

Use A Professional And Relevant Subject Line.

The more reader interest-specific the subject line is, the better. “Your XYZ Company Newsletter” is accurate but b-o-r-i-n-g. On the other hand, subject lines that include phrases such as the following are effective at grabbing readers’ attention:

• How to…
• 10 Signs It’s Time To…
• Secrets of…,” “10 Successful…

How To Use Email To Establish Value-Based Relationships

How To Use Email To Establish Value-Based Relationships

By Ilise Benun

Whether you call it marketing or not, every single contact you have with a client or prospect is a marketing opportunity, as is every email message you send. So whether you’re researching a prospect, following up after a meeting, or delivering a proposal via email, treat this correspondence as a marketing tool and it’ll have a stronger impact.

Here are three simple strategies for using email to reach out to prospects and clients without resorting to (or being accused of) spam.

Strategy #1: Hang Up, Then Follow Up.

After an initial conversation with a prospect, whether you called them, or they called you, start your follow-up right away, building on the momentum by sending an email in which you:

1. Thank them for their interest, for taking the time to speak with you, for visiting your website, or anything else they went out of their way to do.
2. Express that you understand the challenge they’re facing. Echo words they used in your conversation.
3. Refer to an experience or project in your background that supports your claim that you’re the right resource to help them.
4. Provide a link to your website and, in particular, a portfolio piece or case study that’s relevant to their business challenge. Here’s sample text that you can tailor to a variety of situations:Thanks so much for your time on the phone earlier. I understand your need to unify your brand, and this is an area in which we have a lot of experience, which is why I think working together would be a good fit. In fact, you can see some work we’ve done for (Client) in that area here: (link). I’ll also send you some samples in the mail and will call you to continue the conversation.
   Name, signature file

Do this literally as soon as you hang up. If too much time passes before you follow up, even a day or two, the conversation may slip into the recesses of the prospect’s mind or blur with others, and your follow-up loses all its impact.

Strategy #2: Introduce Yourself Via Email.

There’s nothing wrong with using email to introduce yourself and your services to someone who’s never heard of you, as long as you have something of value to offer. A personal, targeted email can be extremely effective in initiating a relationship with a company you aspire to work with. Here’s how:

1. Call first. Start with an introductory phone call. If you don’t get through, leave a message with your name, the reason for your call (”I’d like to introduce our firm.” Or “I’m calling to find out whether you work with design firms.”) and direct the prospect to your website where they can view your work. Then tell them you’ll follow up by email. (You can usually get the email address by telling the receptionist that you’ve been playing phone tag and would like to send an email message, in case they prefers to respond that way.)
2. Send email next. Refer to your voicemail message and repeat your request. Offer something you know will be of value, such as a sample you did for a similar company. Here’s a sample email message you can adapt for your needs:Bob, on the heels of my voicemail message, I’m wondering if you would like to see samples of collateral materials for software companies. If so, just reply to this message with your mailing address and I’ll send them along. Some of our clients are [drop names here] and you can see the samples here as well: [link to the page on your Web site].
   Name, signature file

Some people are more comfortable responding to an email message than returning a phone call, in part because they can do it at their convenience, outside of business hours if necessary. Using email rather than (or in addition to) the phone increases the odds that you’ll get a response.

Strategy #3: Keep In Touch Via Email.

An email marketing campaign—sending regular email messages to everyone you know and everyone who knows you, is the ideal way to market your services because it can consistently accomplish many things at once. It can showcase your creativity, increase your visibility, and build credibility, while also distinguishing you from the competition. Plus, it’s the best way to drive traffic to your website; it’s much more reliable and targeted than search engines.

Many professionals fear creating an email marketing campaign because of the effort they think it takes to compose original content for each mailing. But it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Once you find a template and a formula that works, treat your campaign like a client project and devote the necessary time. Here are five content ideas:

1. Case studies and real-life examples. People love to see what others like them have done, which means they’ll take time to read a simple case study that describes a problem you solved for a client. This is a good springboard to offer more general advice. Showing how you’ve helped clients address specific challenges is good from a promotional perspective, too, because it gives concrete examples of your work, which may otherwise seem abstract to those who hire you.
2. Offer a list of your top three to five tips on a subject. There must be hints you can give your clients and prospects about how to make the process of working with you go smoothly. Turn these hints into tips, like “How to Hire an Accountant” or “How to Get Great Work from a Designer.”
3. Answer your clients’ frequently asked questions. Keep track of their queries, whether via email and/or in person. Then answer each in a short article. If you can’t think of any questions, send your current clients a quick message asking for their questions.
4. Offer your opinion on a hot topic. Don’t be afraid to tackle the key issues in your field. Offer your own expert opinion—your readers want to know.
5. You don’t have to create all the content from scratch. You can simply pass along links to articles that would be of interest to your market, or websites they might find useful.

Relationships are built upon the back-and-forth of communication, including email. It makes you visible, keeps you connected to your market, and literally motivates people to respond. If you do your email marketing right, your recipients will actually look forward to receiving your messages. They may even thank you.

How To Build Website Traffic With Content

How To Build Website Traffic With Content

By Tom Pick

Imagine you meet a couple at a dinner party – let’s call them John and Jane Doe. It quickly becomes apparent that John’s favorite topic of conversation is himself: his background, his career, his kids, his golf game – you get the picture.

Jane, however, is completely different. When you mention what line of work you are in, she seems to have an instinctive grasp of your industry. She knows about all the major players and happenings, and has useful, interesting tidbits of information to share. Some of her observations confirm your own knowledge, but others stimulate new thoughts. Jane talks about herself only when asked.

Which Doe sounds more interesting? (I’m guessing Jane.)

The same principles apply to your website. Of course, your site has to provide information about your company for potential prospects: your services, your company background, your office locations. But to attract and engage qualified new visitors, it needs to offer something more — valuable content that both helps the visitor and positions your company as the expert in your industry.

Here are 12 ways to attract site visitors with compelling content:

1. News Feeds

   No one has time to monitor all the various sources of industry intelligence. Publishing an aggregated news feed on your site lets you provide your visitors with virtually all of the important news in your industry in one place.

   You don’t need to generate original content (although the feed provides an excellent source of research if you’d like to) — just set your search parameters carefully and then let an automated current awareness solution do the rest. Services such as Moreover, NetContent, and YellowBrix offer customized news feeds based on your specifications.

2. White Papers

   Still popular with both marketers and prospects, a well-written white paper subtly positions your company as an industry or technology expert, while providing useful “how to” type information to the reader.

   According to white paper guru Michael Stelzner, white papers “have become a common tool used to introduce technology innovations… [and] are powerful marketing tools used to help key decision-makers and influencers justify implementing solutions.” You can write the white paper internally (if you have the right resources), hire a freelance writer, or have the white paper authored on your behalf by an analyst group or recognized industry expert. This last option is the most expensive, but also has the greatest impact.

3. Directories

   While directories of various types abound on the Web, creating a high-quality directory can still make your site stand out and add value for visitors. Most Web directories are incomplete, obsolete (i.e. full of dead links), and limited in scope.

   To create a directory that has value – as opposed to just a page of links – you’ll need to first search out as many existing directories on your topic as you can find, to assure that yours is the most comprehensive. (Tip: online book marking services such as Backflip or Furl are very helpful in compiling and organizing your list of links.)

   Next, think about how you can add value by including original content (such as review or description of the service, company, site, or organization) and/or linking to related content (such as industry ratings, analyst opinions, financial reports, related news, blogs, etc.). Finally, monitor industry happenings to keep your directory up to date.

4. Stock Quotes

   If your directory includes a lot of publicly traded companies, use a service such as QuoteMedia to add an instant link to stock price and performance graphs for each listing. You can even create and track your own index of stocks, or enable site visitors to create individualized portfolios of watch companies.

5. Quirky Characters

   A creative way to provide useful content on your site, while creating a presence that stands out from the crowd, is to use a quirky character to deliver helpful tips and information. Rapid injection molder Protomold does this with their Professor Plastic character, while network storage maker Xiotech makes complex technology simple by having “mom” explain it.

6. Blogs

   Business blogs are rapidly increasing in popularity, as evidenced by a spate of recent books such as Blogwild! by Andy Wibbels, Publish and Prosper by DL Byron, and Blog Marketing by Jeremy Wright. Blogs are easy to create, less formal than other forms of communication (such as newsletters), interactive, and naturally search engine-friendly.

7. Webinars

   Essentially PowerPoint presentations delivered online using a web conferencing service, webinars are an increasing popular way to present educational and white-paper-like content. They are common in the technology industry but underused in many other market segments. Webinars give your message the combined impact of audio, visuals, and interactivity. However, they do tie your audience to their computers for 30-60 minutes, whether the webinar is viewed live or recorded.

8. Podcasts

   Audio podcasts can be almost any length and can be used for a variety of purposes, from creating an interest-generating “teaser” to an audio white paper. “Podcast” is actually a misnomer; these audio segments should be called “netcasts”, as most executives listen to them at their desks.

   While podcasts lack the visual component of webinars, they give your content wings, freeing your recipient from their computer; once downloaded to an MP3 player, a podcast can be listened to on a plane, in a cab, while working out — virtually anywhere. While you can record a podcast using various software packages or web services, unless you’re an expert, it’s best to hire a podcasting expert to edit out the pauses, “ums” and “ahs,” and otherwise assure that your podcast is produced and promoted effectively and professionally.

9. Reports And Statistics

   These can be a great traffic draw, but unless you’ve got a very sophisticated internal research staff, they will have to be produced externally. Fortunately, in most industries, there are independent research firms, analyst groups, and publications that will be happy to produce “sponsored” reports for a fee. Marketed similar to white papers, reports and statistical summaries can both draw traffic and serve as an incentive-for-response vehicle.

10.  Regulatory Updates

In certain industries (finance, law, healthcare, insurance), keeping site visitors appraised of regulatory developments and changes is an effective way to position your company as an industry expert and draw repeat site traffic. Information is available from both governmental and private sources, such as Thomson and LexisNexis.

11.  Book Reviews

(Almost) everyone knows they’d be smarter if they kept up with the latest best-sellers on the business list – but who has the time? Making the time for members of your staff to not only read these books, but also write synopses/reviews of them on your web site, provides a double benefit: a wiser staff, and an intelligent way to draw qualified web traffic.

12.  Write Your Own Book

Reviewing books is a smart way to attract site visitors, but writing your own book can be even more powerful. B2B sales and marketing experts such as Brian Carroll and Jill Konrath have written books that fuel interest in their services. Sales trainer Duane Sparks funds much of his marketing effort from sales of his books. And professional services marketing guru Mike Schultz has published a two-part report on the business impact of writing a book, along with a guide to getting published.

The bottom line is, to draw more qualified web traffic, make your site less like John Doe and more like Jane Doe. Make it a source of interesting information that your clients and prospects care about and can use. Emulating the second Doe will attract more bucks to your business.

Giving Clients the Direction They Need in a Recession

Giving Clients the Direction They Need in a Recession

Off the Wall: A Column by Alan Weiss, Contributing Editor

The bromide is that a consultant borrows your watch and then charges to tell you what time it is. (I’ve always preferred this chestnut: A consultant is someone who arrives to study a problem and stays to become part of it.)

If you’re too stupid or too myopic to look at your own watch to tell the time, then maybe that consultant is providing value for the money. I know: blasphemy. But perhaps we need to reevaluate the current environment and what’s blasphemy and what’s not.

Fear on Parade

I find most businesses today fearful. Their most cherished “beliefs” have abandoned them: unending prosperity; reliable investment advisors; government safety nets; the power of credit; the loyalty of clients; the equalizing power of the global marketplace. (Perhaps that’s why so many churches are reporting heightened levels of attendance these days.)

As a result, executives and business owners cut back, retreat, and cower. Yet we all know that you can’t grow by reducing; and we all know that these times, too, shall end; and we all know that many organizations in tough industries (MacDonald’s) are doing well; and we all know that many entire industries (health care) are doing well.

You get the picture.

The increased perceived ambiguity today is causing the buyers of your services to freeze. They are in a paralysis caused by the departure of their normal mileposts and parameters. They are in the fog and are afraid of hitting a mountain or landing in a sinkhole.

They need light.

Borrow their flashlight and lead them through the gloom.

The Light Isn’t Extinguished

What do I mean by “their flashlight”? I mean that these organizations, large or small, for-profit or non-profit, public or private, haven’t gone blind. They simply don’t know where to look and they’ve misplaced their means for doing so.

You don’t have to come in with some beacon to lead them. How could you? You really don’t understand their business better than they do, and you’re probably not a content expert to any greater degree than their own people.

What you have to do if find their own light and direct them with it. That “light” constitutes the following:

• Current, past, and future clients
• Key talent to retain and attract
• Products, services, and relationships in the market
• Key competitive edge now and in the future
• Public image and perception

You get the idea. All of these issues are within the company’s borders. You simply need to identify them (add whatever others make sense), help gather the relevant information, provide the knowledge about which courses of action are best, and help in the implementation.

Organizations are so shaken and fearful that they’ve lost their bearings and have taken their hands off the controls. They are purblind. People within the organization are loathe to offer bold or innovative solutions when they see the boss confused.

The light isn’t extinguished; they’ve just lost sight of it.

What’s Wrong with Borrowing?

If someone can’t read their watch, but you can for them, you’re providing a real service. After all, why is it important that it’s not your watch? Every day we use the client’s information, resources, finances, experience, and myriad other contributions to create our own insights and advice. No one has ever suggested that we, as service providers, do that in a vacuum and not use the client’s “possessions.”

So now it’s time to borrow the light so that we can help the client shine it in the right directions, follow it confidently, and arrive at desirable destinations. We apply the client knowledge, product and service dispositions, competitive edge, internal talent, and so on to illuminate the path.

That’s what we ought to be offering. We don’t need dramatic new approaches, and the most pathetic new offerings are those “survival” philosophies that tell everyone to hunker down and save themselves until the storm passes. That’s not value added. That’s not improving the client’s condition.

We need to offer the fresh air and objective view of a learned advisor who can use the client’s current information to turn it into valuable competitive knowledge and, eventually, the wisdom required to avoid such predicaments in the future.

Over my career, 90 percent or more of what I tell clients they already know and I’m merely validating their understanding. That’s never changed, and it needn’t today.

And I always return the flashlight.

Getting in the Door:

Getting in the Door: The Key to Convincing Decision Makers You’re Worthy of a Conversation

By Jill Konrath, Contributing Editor

Don’t get me wrong! I love being a consultative seller. It’s literally a part of my sales DNA. But a few years ago, I discovered that “being consultative” didn’t convince decision makers that it was worth their valuable time to meet with me.

To show you what I mean, let me take you into their world and put you center stage as the designated future client.

* * *

You’re busy working at your desk—and have been since 7 a.m. this morning. The phone rings. You glance at the clock and see that it’s 2:57 p.m. You can’t believe that it’s so late already. Your “to do” list is longer now than it was when you started.

But you’re expecting a very important call at the top of the hour so, without even a glance at the originating number, you pick it up.

“Hello,” you say.

“Pat,” the voice on the other end of the phone answers. “This is Terry. I’m the account executive from Global Solutions. I’m glad to finally catch you in. Do you have a few minutes?”

You shudder. You’d have never answered the phone if you thought you’d end up talking to a salesperson. “I’m expecting a call at 3 p.m.” you reply tersely, hoping to shake yourself free from this unexpected interruption.

“Not to worry,” says the voice. “I’ll be brief. As I said, I’m from Global Solutions. We specialize in state-of-the-art services to help companies like yours with all your solution needs. I’d like to set up a time to meet with you to find out how you’re handling your needs in this area—and share with you how Global might be able to help you out. I’m wondering how your schedule looks next Thursday?”

“You’ve got to kidding!” you blurt out. “You expect me to take my precious time to meet with you and tell you how we’re doing things here? I’ve been slaving at my desk since bright and early this morning without even a break for lunch.

“Yet you have the audacity to request a meeting with me when you can’t even give me a valid business reason for doing so?”

The voice jumps in, “Pat, I would never assume to know your needs. Every business is different. And I couldn’t possibly recommend anything without learning more about your goals this year and how you’re currently handling things.

“Plus, I’d like to understand the problems you’re facing, as well as their impact on your organization. It would be presumptuous of me to assume.”

“And,” you butt in, “You’d don’t think it’s presumptuous to request a meeting with me when you haven’t even taken time to learn about my company. Sorry, that just doesn’t work with me. If I meet with you, you better bring something to the table.”

The voice on the other end stammers, “I would never want to assume anything.”

“You just don’t get it!” you say emphatically as you slam down the phone, disgusted with another so-called ‘consultative salesperson.’ As far as you’re concerned, all they’re doing is wasting your valuable time without offering anything in return.

* * *

What just happened here? It’s the end of a consultative sales era as we know it. Prospective clients simply don’t have time for it today.

Instead, they need you to be assumptive! That’s right. You need to assume—even though you were trained that to do so was to make an ASS-out-of-U-and-ME.

In short, you need to demonstrate expertise right up front in order to earn the right to be consultative.

So how should you approach a prospective customer? How about something like this:

“Pat. Terry from Global Sales. I know how much the economy is having an impact on manufacturing companies like yours. What we’ve found is that way too many organizations are paying way too much on their software licenses.

“We’ve been able to trim their expenses by up to 22.7% in the first year. If you’re like other CFOs, you’re looking for dollars everywhere in your budget. Let’s set up a time to see how we can cut your costs in this area. Sound good?”

Feels completely different, right? You’ll get appointments—not brush-offs—when you start assuming.

To be effective in today’s crazy business environment, you need to be assumptive to demonstrate your value. Yes, you have to spend time doing research up front. Yes, you need to craft a personalized message.

But that’s what it takes to get in the door. And after that, you can put your consultative sales skills to good use.

Five Reasons e-Newsletters Get Trashed

Five Reasons e-Newsletters Get Trashed

By Dianna Huff

I’ve been collecting B-to-B e-newsletters from various companies for about six months. My intent was to showcase one or two in my own e-newsletter, but I realized early on that many of the newsletters I received weren’t really that good—and in fact, a few were downright bad. If I hadn’t been saving them, I would have trashed them.

What are some of the reasons people delete e-newsletters without reading them?

1. Irregular Publishing Schedule.

If you’re like many companies, your newsletter’s publishing schedule is supposed to be monthly or bimonthly, but in reality it’s “whenever we get around to it”—with that “around to it” stretching out to once every six months.

Tip: One reason for publishing an e-newsletter is to remain top of mind with prospects and customers. If you publish infrequently, people will forget who you are—and will be more likely to delete your newsletter when it does come in. Also, “spam” complaints are more frequent when the newsletter is infrequent. If your in-house staff is swamped and can’t keep up, consider hiring an outside writer to help keep your newsletter on schedule.

2. Too Much Content.

Companies who publish infrequently tend to overcompensate by overloading their newsletters with content. One e-newsletter I received had nineteen articles: eight feature articles, six event descriptions, four product blurbs and one application note.

Tip: The worst online sin you can commit is to make your readers think. Everyone is overloaded with information—and having to skim through nineteen articles is too much work. Rather than posting so many articles in one newsletter once every six months, increase your publishing frequency to monthly or bimonthly and spread content over several issues.

3. Content Focused On Company’s Products Or Services Only.

A number of the newsletters I received were well-designed and easy to read. However, the content focused solely on the company’s products and services. Sales-oriented copy aimed at getting people to click through and buy on the website does nothing to build relationships with customers and prospects—which is the whole point of sending out an e-newsletter (or should be anyway).

Tip: Yes, you want to sell your products and services, but you must give people information they can use. One company that did this well is Accent Technologies. In their newsletter, Presentation Directions, they had an article on how to choose vendors by the quality of their PowerPoint presentations. 3M Touch Systems featured a helpful case study showing how they solved a problem for one of their clients.

4. Sidebar Clutter.

Have you noticed how media “white space” is being filled with unnecessary clutter? News scrolls, weather information, graphs and charts, and station ID logos fill our TV screens. It’s happening to e-newsletters too—with many newsletters using the left- and right-hand margins to list additional information.

Tip: At a conference I attended, Steve Krug, web usability expert and author of Don’t Make Me Think, showed a video of a person’s eyes traveling over a website looking for information. It was incredible to watch as the subject’s eyes rushed over the computer screen, looking for the one thing he needed. Even though information is mostly electronic these days, we still read left to right, top to bottom. Help your audience read online content by eliminating unnecessary clutter and following standard formatting and design guidelines.

5. Not Formatted For Printing And Saving.

Are you one of those people who print newsletters for reading later? I am, and I know a number of others who do the same. If your company publishes an e-newsletter, do the following: print it out. Did all the information make it to the page or was it cut off on the right side or not included at all?

Tip: Make it easy to print information to be read later. Planet Ocean, publisher of Search Engine News, has a “Print and Run” feature where you can print the entire newsletter from one web page.

Don’t let your newsletter get trashed. Give readers valuable content, keep the design clean, make it easy to read (and print!) and stick to a regular publishing schedule. You’ll see a noticeable increase in click-through rates—and, over time, an increase in leads and sales.

Don’t Forget Your Electronic Etiquette

Don’t Forget Your Electronic Etiquette

By Ashley Kizzire

During the last 10 years, the widespread use of e-mail has literally transformed business communication, so much so that the business letter has reached near extinction. Even professionals who clung dearly to fax machines as their most efficient means of communication can’t imagine corresponding today without e-mail. And for good reason — electronic mail is fast, inexpensive, and ultra-efficient.

Perhaps because of its speed and efficiency, e-mail has become a casual, and often too informal, means of communicating in today’s competitive marketplace.

Whether you’re communicating via a letter printed on engraved letterhead or an electronic message that will travel the Information Superhighway, the same rules of etiquette apply. And all rules of etiquette have one goal in common: to make things easier and more understandable for another person.

When any situation is carried out with good manners, the other person feels valued, important, and respected. More important, good manners in the business world create a professional image, which is one key component of marketing your company.

Caps, Smalls, Etc.

A former coworker of mine (we’ll call her Sherr) had no idea she committed one of the most offensive of all formatting errors with each e-mail that zoomed from her outbox. Sherry perpetually kept her “caps lock” function engaged, and every letter was in capital form. My colleague didn’t realize that in e-mail language, writing in all caps is the equivalent of shouting. I think she just liked the way her words looked in capitals. Maybe she thought it looked important. Maybe she thought it was easier to read. It wasn’t. It was, in fact, very impolite.

In certain situations, all caps may be appropriate when you need to add special emphasis to certain words. But in these rare instances, check your e-mail program first to see if the bold, underline, or italics option is present. If so, always choose one of these functions before all caps.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the e-mails that contain no capital letters whatsoever. In an attempt to save time or perhaps to look cool, some senders neglect the caps function. The result is another difficult-to-read e-mail that looks unprofessional. While it’s true that e-mails can drop some of the formality of a business letter, always adhere to standard rules of writing and grammar.

Know Your Functions

Not too long ago, I sent an e-mail to a former colleague, requesting information I needed for a deadline. I waited an appropriate amount of time – at least 24 hours or more – before trying again. I even followed up with a phone call. Still no response came. So I decided to move on and track down my information elsewhere. When I later found out my associate had been on vacation, I was furious.

Why didn’t he set up an auto-reply message that would respond to every incoming message while he was out, or include a comment on his voicemail message that he would be out of the office for a few days? The message would have immediately told me that he was unavailable, and I quickly would have known to find what I needed elsewhere. Since this colleague of mine is no technophile, I have a feeling he didn’t mean to be rude. He probably didn’t know how to set up the automatic response. In fact, he most likely didn’t realize such a function exists.

There are two lessons here. First, if you’re unable to respond to e-mail for a significant amount of time, set up an auto response message to notify senders of your absence, and — if possible — direct them to another person who can provide assistance. If you don’t have the capability to send an auto response, make sure that your key contacts know that you will be gone and provide them with a secondary contact or commit to checking your e-mail once a day while gone.

The second lesson goes much deeper: Ignorance is no excuse for being rude. If you’re using e-mail, you need to understand as much as you can about your e-mail software. You need to know how to perform such basic tasks as setting up an auto response and creating a signature that will include contact information. Your e-mail program probably has a tab containing information about how to use the program. Spend an hour or two thoroughly familiarizing yourself with your e-mail’s functions and capabilities. The time spent will be well worth it in creating a professional, respectful image.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

E-mail can save vast amounts of time, but there are occasions when pen put to paper or a phone call is the better option. For instance, when you want to thank an associate, employee, or client, a handwritten note on personal stationery is the most appropriate and gracious way to respond. If someone has taken the time to do something that warrants a thank-you, then you should take the extra time to write a note. Your colleague will feel valued, and you will demonstrate your sincere appreciation.

Other circumstances for shunning e-mail include more delicate matters. A good friend of mine recently told me that she’s swearing off e-mail for good. “Please just call me if you need me,” she requested. I was a little shocked by her comment. My friend, who teaches ballet to young children, rarely uses e-mail for her work needs. Still, she filled me in that she received an e-mail containing some very bad news. She couldn’t believe someone would have the nerve to send such an unfortunate report through e-mail. It was cold, impersonal and very rude.

I doubt my friend will stick to her conviction, considering how large a role electronic communication plays in today’s world. Still, the lesson holds true for those of us who rely on e-mail every day. If you have unfortunate news to report, pick up the phone or deliver it in person. The same rule should be applied when you have very good news to deliver. The few extra minutes you spend in person will be well worth it in the long run.

In the modern business world, e-mail is perhaps one of the biggest time savers. It allows us to send and receive information quickly and for a nominal expense. Yet amidst the hubbub of keypads clicking, be sure to remember common rules of courtesy. Your polite and gracious manner will demonstrate your professionalism, your clients and colleagues will feel appreciated, and your business will reap the benefits.

Comparing Corporate Communications

Comparing Corporate Communications: The Protocols of E-mail Versus The Telephone

By Carey Ransom

Everyone reaching out to clients, listen up. Readers treat e-mails like phone calls, and you must recognize it. As the volume of e-mail per person per day now vastly exceeds phone calls and direct mail, e-mail recipients have become more discerning in how they react and respond to an already overloaded inbox.

The primary method of corporate information delivery has switched from telephone to e-mail, and the deluge of e-mail now forces marketers and relationship-builders to wonder why their e-mail campaigns are stagnant, ineffective and resulting in single digit response rates.

The root of the problem is mismanaging recipients’ expectations. E-mail communication must follow consistent, socially acceptable business communication protocols.

The closest comparison to e-mail in today’s business world is the telephone. Both the telephone and e-mail are used for conversations to connect vendors to clients and prospects. However, sending e-mail marketing campaigns and generic e-mail newsletters are not conversations.

Below are some thoughts to ponder before you send your next– we hate to say it– e-mail campaign. Consider the expectations of your recipients and how they view your communications with them. Do your communications resemble direct mail, or have you begun to adopt a more respectful, and expected, set of telephone rules when using e-mail automation? Remember, readers can delete e-mail as fast as voice-mail, and Caller ID is pretty much the same as your From Address and Subject Line.

Will your clients, partners, colleagues, and prospects answer or hang up the next time you hit “Send”?

Focus On Timeliness

Is the information that you send timely enough for your readers’ needs, or are you constrained by traditional e-mail campaigns? For example, what happens when you want to quickly share information about a new service, a recent client win, or a pricing change with prospects, clients or partners?

Professionals who call with these timely updates are usually successful at improving their relationships. In the case of e-newsletters or client-requested bulletins, your e-mail updates should be just as timely and even more consistent in reaching interested subscribers. E-mail relationships should allow you to ask a subscriber when and how often they would like to hear from you. This practice is no different than the instincts you and other professionals might use to manage sales calls.

Finally, e-mail can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When a new contact subscribes or requests information, do you send what they want immediately, or do you have to make them wait until your next campaign or e-newsletter send? Generic “thanks for subscribing” confirmation messages do not show responsiveness or build your relationship with the subscriber. Good relationship managers respond immediately and satisfy the information needs quickly and accurately. The way you set up and manage your e-mail program should do the same.

Be Relevant

When you or your colleagues decide to call a client, prospect or partner, what motivates this action? Do you have information to share?

Most professionals believe the information they’re calling about will be seen as relevant to the recipient. Would you call if you didn’t know? If you were to leave a contact a voice message about several different topics without knowing for sure if they were interested, would they call you back? If the topics were irrelevant to their needs, would they take your next call?

Think about relevance and try to understand how e-mail should convey your information simply and efficiently. Stay relevant, and your audience will respond favorably.

Watch Message Length

Ask yourself how long a typical client call lasts. In most cases, people will only discuss one or two topics and the main points can be conveyed in a few minutes. Longer telephone calls usually result from a previous face-to-face meeting, or they serve as a planned conversation that meets the longer time expectations of the participants.

Similar to your typical phone calls, do not try to send too much information in your e-mails. Studies show that most e-mail recipients spend less than 15-20 seconds scanning e-mails they actually open. They immediately delete the others.

Send a summary format with topics that are simple and easy to navigate. Do not over-design your e-mails or attempt to “boil the ocean” in one transmission. Keep it short, and the relevant information will be read and retained by your recipients.

Create Dialogue: Listen First, Respond. Then Listen Again.

How do your e-mails and e-newsletters foster a dialogue with your contacts or subscribers? Do you believe e-mail campaigns are interactive? They are not.

Do you engage and listen to your contacts before you send them e-mail? Do you give recipients a chance to respond and react to your information, or are you just blindly sending without the desire or ability to take feedback? Effective firms sell by listening to their clients, prospects and partners. You can have an electronic dialogue with your individual contacts if you address their interests and exceed their expectations.

When someone asks you for information, are you actually listening to their expectations? These ideas are the very same expectations your contacts would have if you chose to call them on the phone.

Revenue Retention

How does your firm communicate electronically to retain clients and prospects? Are you actually building relationships when you send e-mail to them? More importantly, do your recipients believe you are helping the relationship with the information you send?

Do you provide value or an experience that your competition does not? Are your e-mails or e-newsletters generic and merely a sampling of your corporate information, compiled to fish for leads? Do they look and feel like a cold call?

Clients and prospects know the difference between revenue desperation and long-term relationship and loyalty building. E-mail campaigns and e-newsletters seldom convey a sense of personalized effort and value. Clients and prospects who do not feel valued and engaged are difficult to retain.

Improve Your Reputation

What does your e-mail strategy say about your firm and your brand? When your clients, prospects, and partners interact with you electronically, it affects their perception of your reputation. Each e-mail is a relationship opportunity that can help you or hurt you.

If a professional from your firm unexpectedly called a client with generic, untimely, or poorly targeted information, would the receiver view it as a positive boost to your reputation? Additionally, what if that professional did not provide a chance for the client to respond and give feedback?

Your e-mails say a great deal about your efforts to educate, inform, and build relationships, exactly like your colleagues and their phone calls currently do. Your clients and partners will know when you are making an effort to personalize and impress them. Remember, irrelevant e-mail marketing can train people to ignore you.

Embrace The Power Of E-Mail

E-mail’s ubiquity and timeliness make it an ideal relationship medium. Don’t alienate the people with whom you’re trying to build rapport. Use e-mail as a way to consistently improve your organization’s personality and brand by empowering the readers of your messages, and by inviting them to participate in conversations and relationships with you.

Choosing The Right Partner

Choosing The Right Partner: The Many Faces of Web Specialists

By Scottie Claiborne

I know of a great book that I strongly recommend you read. Although short and sweet, it packs a powerful message: do what you do best. Focus on doing what you do best. The book is Soar with your Strengths, by Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson. It starts with a little fable about the Animal School, and how the squirrel’s teachers decide he needs to spend more time learning to swim, since he’s already good at climbing.

We as humans seem to think we should be good at everything; if a child excels at drawing but struggles with math, we tend to give them more tutoring in math instead of nurturing the artistic talent. That struggle to be good at everything comes at a price. We often block ourselves from truly excelling at something by thinking we have to be able to handle every task involved with it.

Specialists Do What They Do Best

I had a plumber come out to the house last week to find out what was causing the dark stains on the ceiling. He found a leaky vent pipe in the attic and fixed it. That didn’t help me with the existing damage to the drywall in the ceiling, though. Just because the leak caused the ceiling problem and the plumber could recognize the problem, it didn’t make him qualified to fix drywall. He was able to fix the source of the problem, but not everything it impacted.

When it comes to your website, it pays to find professionals who do what they do best. We are becoming a culture of “one-stop-shops”; we want to pick up our prescriptions, dry cleaning, movie rentals, milk and eggs in the same place. Why not? It saves time.

With web professionals, it’s a lot harder to find a one-stop-shop; even large multi-disciplinary firms have weaknesses. Most companies- from one-person setups to huge conglomerates- have a focus and a selling point; something they do better than most or all of their competition. There might even be many things they do well. But chances are there are some tasks they handle out of convenience, simply because people have asked them to take care of it or it’s another source for profit. That doesn’t mean they know how to do it right.

Outsourcing Can Be A Smart Option

Companies that recognize their weaknesses and strive to give the most value to their clients often outsource work to qualified professionals. However, sometimes it’s simply outsourced to more inexpensive labor.

Find out if your web professional is outsourcing all or part of your project; if they are using trained professionals they are likely to use that as a selling point and a benefit. No matter whom they use, the results reflect on their company.

Can You Do It All?

If you work on your own website, assess your own strengths. Does your site look great but lack compelling copy? Does it show up well on the search engines? Are you a little lost when it comes to ideas for getting more sales or making your site more useful? Some of the professionals you might consider hiring would be:

Web Designer

Often asked to do anything and everything for a site, from planning and implementing to marketing, most designers are really best at… designing.

A good design can make or break your site, so it pays to hire someone who understands your style, your goals, and understands the basics of web site usability.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Copywriter

This professional is the most-often overlooked member of the team. Many people decide to “save money” by doing the writing themselves, because after all, anyone can write, can’t they?

This error is often compounded by poor SEO advice. Suddenly, a page that was just mediocre moves to terrible as keywords are stuffed into every sentence.

A good SEO copywriter can write copy that sells and ranks well and typically, the investment in good content is repaid over and over throughout the life of the site.

Search Engine Optimizer

SEO isn’t rocket science, but if you don’t have time to learn it and keep up on what is going on with the engines, you are often better off hiring an SEO. Editorial (or organic) rankings are a powerful marketing tool and much of the “old” advice out there simply doesn’t work anymore (if it ever did!)

If you are a do-it-yourselfer, consider hiring an SEO simply to consult with you on a regular basis and make sure you are headed in the right direction.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Manager

PPC is one of the fastest-growing and highest-ROI marketing channels available today. Even small businesses can take advantage of PPC and simply run until their budget is met.

To ensure you are getting the most out of every click, consider hiring a PPC manager to set up and monitor your campaign- more often than not, the money they save you will pay for their fees several times over.

Link Building Specialist

You can’t rank well in the search engines without links! Getting those links is a time-consuming process that can literally eat up hours of your day for very few results.

Consider hiring a professional link builder; they know the most effective places to get your links and can save you hours of ineffective work.

Programmer

For custom applications and other programming needs, consider looking outside your web designer, who may have enough basic skills to do what you need but can’t manage the long term growth of an application. Building an application right from the beginning is a lot less expensive than tossing it out and starting over later.

Usability Analyst

When things just aren’t going as well as you expected, you should consider a usability analysis. Usability analysis typically covers marketing, desirability, technical, and mechanical issues of your site and can uncover obstacles that are keeping your customers from finalizing their purchase.

Statistical Analyst

A thorough review of your web statistics can tell you a lot about your site; where visitors are coming and where they are leaving, how many pages they view, and at what point they abandon the shopping cart among other things. A detailed review of several months of web statistics can point out opportunities to improve as well as major obstacles that could be tripping your visitors!

Often one of these specialists can recommend other professionals if you need them. Our plumber was used to seeing drywall damage and gave us a referral for a drywaller instead of offering to fix the damage himself.

Articles, newsletters, and forums are great for learning the basics of successful websites but often their greatest use is in helping you to know what to look for in a professional. If your livelihood depends on your website (or you’d like for it to), know that creating a successful site may require attention to more specialized areas than you realize. The cost of a professional is often far less than the revenue you lose by not hiring them.

After all, if you are a squirrel, shouldn’t you be perfecting your climbing skills instead of learning to swim?