The most prosperous time of year is approaching: the fourth financial quarter and the holiday season. How can your business capitalize from the holiday rush? Start planning your holiday marketing efforts now! Use your business’ social media sites, online marketing, and public relations efforts to build a comprehensive holiday marketing plan.
The most prosperous time of year is approaching: the fourth financial quarter and the holiday season. How can your business capitalize from the holiday rush? Start planning your holiday marketing efforts now! Use your business’ social media sites, online marketing, and public relations efforts to build a comprehensive holiday marketing plan. Continue reading “Start Planning Your Holiday Marketing”
Over the past few years, the popularity of Internet-based advertising has increased tremendously. One of the most widely used methods of Internet-based advertising is through email. Email advertising offers businesses a cheap, easy way to reach out to a large number of potential or current clients. Its advantages have led to a decline in direct … Continue reading “The Better Method: Direct Mail or Email Marketing?”
Over the past few years, the popularity of Internet-based advertising has increased tremendously. One of the most widely used methods of Internet-based advertising is through email. Email advertising offers businesses a cheap, easy way to reach out to a large number of potential or current clients. Its advantages have led to a decline in direct mail advertising, the more traditional system of sending tangible advertisements to consumers. Despite the lower costs associated with email advertising, does it bring in a higher return on your investment?
There are many advantages to email advertising. For starters, emails can contain clickable links. In addition to text information and pictures found on advertisements, links can be used to send a consumer to any web page a business desires. Also, emails are sent to consumers immediately. There is no waiting period for an email to be delivered to a consumer like there is with direct mail. However, the main advantage to email advertising is very basic: it is cheap. As long as a business is connected to the Internet, sending an email comes at almost no cost. Direct mail incurs costs such as printing and postage, which can add up quickly if a business is trying to reach a large number of consumers. Continue reading “The Better Method: Direct Mail or Email Marketing?”
Email marketing (newsletters and promotions) is one of the most powerful and cost effective marketing tools for small to mid-sized businesses. It provides a good segue to convert leads into sales, and they can be completely customized to strengthen your brand. Here are six ways to maximize your email marketing success: Experiment to Create a … Continue reading “6 Ways to Improve Your Email Marketing Campaigns”
Email marketing (newsletters and promotions) is one of the most powerful and cost effective marketing tools for small to mid-sized businesses. It provides a good segue to convert leads into sales, and they can be completely customized to strengthen your brand. Here are six ways to maximize your email marketing success:
Experiment to Create a Schedule
In order to find out what days and times are best for your company to send out emails, experiment and create a schedule. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are said to be the best days of the week to send out emails, but see what works best for you!
2. Hire a Designer to Customize your Emails
Graphics are one of the most important parts of an email. Hire a designer to help with customization and branding. This will increase the engagement of recipients, leading them to click on and read through the rest of the email. Our Science of Email Marketing says that 65% of people prefer emails with mostly images.
3. Customize the Content of your Emails
In addition to custom graphics, customizing and personalizing the written content in an email is just as important. Our Science of Email Marketing also says that the chance of your email being read increases by 14% when it is personalized and addressed to each individual person. Using a catchy subject line may also increase the chances of your email being read.
4. Incorporate Calls to Action
Offer something in your email, like a download, a coupon or a free consultation. This will entice your audience to take action in response to your email. For example, add “Download our free coupon today!” or “Contact for a free consultation!” to your email. Also, use phrases like “for a limited time only,” and “offer ends July 1,” to create a sense of urgency.
5. Track your Results
Using an email marketing software, such as Streamsend or Constant Contact, can help you see how many people are actually reading and clicking through your email. Tracking your results is a way to see if your emails are effecting your subscribers in a positive or negative way.
Monitoring click through rates and conversion rates are the two most accurate ways to track results. The higher click through and conversion rates you have, the more relevant your email was to the audience.
6. Use a CRM
Consider using a CRM (for more information read A CRM Overview: What is It? And Do I Need It?) to pull in your data- specifically CRMs are a great way to store information on prospects.
With the correct programming, CRMs can take the contacts you make on your website, on social media, via email etc. and import them to a central location where you can effectively cultivate relationships, and ensure that your sales cycle is efficiently managed.
More than ever before, businesses and marketers are turning to a marketing approach that, unlike traditional brand and direct marketing strategies, encourages consumers to regularly interact and participate with a business. Engagement marketing is based on the idea that consumers should be active participants in the business and its marketing strategies. From social media to … Continue reading “How to Build Your Business with Engagement Marketing”
More than ever before, businesses and marketers are turning to a marketing approach that, unlike traditional brand and direct marketing strategies, encourages consumers to regularly interact and participate with a business. Engagement marketing is based on the idea that consumers should be active participants in the business and its marketing strategies. From social media to email campaigns, the Web has provided multiple venues for marketers to engage their audiences with valuable content, two-way conversations, multimedia and lead-generating calls to action.
Engagement marketing is all about strengthening relationships between businesses and consumers. For years, consumers could only watch a television commercial or glance at a print advertising product without any real interaction on their part. While these traditional marketing methods can still be effective, one-way communication fails to provide a way for customers to effortlessly respond and interact with the company. The mission of engagement marketing is to encourage a two-way conversation with customers through new venues like social media sites, blogs and email campaigns. Since customer relationships are the core of any business’ success, any organization will benefit from incorporating the following engagement marketing methods into their business strategy.
Social Media — Social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are ideal for engagement marketers because they provide ways for brands to create a two-way dialogue between businesses and consumers. This communication can also take place faster than ever before with the accessibility of social media on smart phones, iPads, laptops and desktop computers. For those who are new to the idea of engagement marketing, it’s best to begin by developing a presence on social media. Before you post anything, you must be in sync with your target audience and what they are looking for. It’s essential to be able to confidently answer the question, “What content is most valuable to my audience?” This could be anything from an article on a problem that your business solves to a photo that your audience would find interesting. Another tip is to run social media contests to promote engagement, attract fans and keep your audience engaged and entertained. Give social media followers a reason to look forward to seeing your business’ posts pop up in their newsfeeds.
Blogs — A blog is only as effective as the content it contains. Like social media, when developing a blog, it’s essential to put yourself in the consumer’s mindset to determine what content would be most valuable to them. Depending on your industry, create articles that provide solutions to the needs or problems that your customers face. While it’s fine to include information on your business, avoid self-promotion. Consumers are far more receptive to valuable, interesting content than straight sales pitches. For more information on blogging, read our articles, “Should My Business Have a Blog?” and “5 Blogging Mistakes and How to Fix Them.”
Email Campaigns — Targeted email marketing campaigns can successfully build engagement, build brand awareness and nurture leads. By creating punchy, interesting taglines, strong content and engaging graphics, your emails should look professional and appealing to readers. It’s best to include a variety of content since everyone takes in information differently. For example, include an article, photos and a brief call to action that encourages readers to get in touch with you. If someone replies to an email, it means that they have demonstrated an interest in your company or services. Make it a top priority to contact them within one day, at the latest, or you could miss out on a potential customer or client.
By nurturing interactive relationships with customers and providing them with valuable content that they will look forward to reading, your business can increase brand loyalty and customer engagement. Not only will you be able to strengthen relationships with existing customers but these customers will be far more likely to talk about your business, share your content online and recommend it to their friends and family.
For more information about our services or to find out how we can help you attain your marketing goals, click here to email us, or call: Toll Free: 855-PRMG-123 .: Phone: 631-207-1057
The most prosperous time of year is approaching: the fourth financial quarter and the holiday season. How can your business capitalize from the holiday rush? Start planning your holiday marketing efforts now! Use your business’ social media sites, online marketing, and public relations efforts to build a comprehensive holiday marketing plan. Continue reading “Start Planning Your Holiday Marketing”
