Marketing and Advertising

Tips for Using Email Marketing Effectively in your Business

Tips for Using Email Marketing Effectively in your Business

Using Email Marketing as part of your marketing mix is a great way to stay in contact with your prospects and current customers and in most cases generate more revenue on a regular basis. Email Marketing Tips

One key to using email marketing successfully is to be consistent. Being consistent with your email marketing will keep you in front of your market and help build a connection. Consistency being key you should market to your email list approximately 2 – 4 times a month.

Here are a few additional tips to help you use email marketing effectively in your business:

Provide something of value to members of your list when you send them email. Coupons are great to send out to your list and are often shared with others.

Track your results. It is important that you know what emails are effective and which ones are not. This can be achieved by using a system that shows you who opens the emails and if they click on any links included in the email or not.

Personalize the emails you send. Use a tool that will allow you to personalize the email you send to each prospect and you will see an increase in your open rate. Everyone likes to be addressed by name.

Respect your list. It is critical that you respect your list and never spam them with email they do not want. To prevent this a system should be used that allows subscribers to un-subscribe if they no longer wish to receive your email marketing.

Make it easy to share. Make it easy for your list to share any email you send with someone else. This will help you grow your list over time.

These tips will help you effectively use email marketing to reach your prospects and customers and stay in front of them on a regular basis, ultimately generating more revenue.

About the author:

Stefanie Blackburn is an Internet Consultant with SourceOne Technologies. SourceOne Technologies currently offers assistance to business owners in establishing a complete online presence by offer their services as an Online Marketing Consultant.

If your business is ready to capture the benefits of Email Marketing SourceOne Technologies can assist you in getting started. We offer several plans that range from the do it yourself to the everything done for you plans. Click here to find more about our Email Marketing plans.

By admin|E-Mail Marketing|0 Comments

Implementing an Automated Email Marketing Campaign for your Business

Implementing an Automated Email Marketing Campaign for your Business

Businesses that are run online have been using a strategy for years for selling products and services; email marketing. This is a marketing tool however that many businesses with a store front or office overlooked and did not include into the marketing mix. Email marketing however, can no longer be overlooked and should be incorporated into every businesses marketing mix.

Email marketing will allow a business to build a list of customers or prospects and keep in touch with them on a regular basis. In most cases staying in contact with your list of prospects and customers will increase revenue.

There are several benefits to using email marketing in your business. Here are a few of those benefits:

Low Cost
Offers Unlimited follow-up with your prospects and customers
Offers increased opportunity for more sales
Is a great customer retention tool
Can be automated
Implementing Email Marketing typically increased revenue

There are also several ways that you can use email marketing with communicating with your prospects and customers. Here are just a few:

Thank them for their purchase
Provide a coupon
Send information on a sale or special promotion
Promote an event
Send a newsletter
Share information on new products or services
Profile the customer of the month

As you can see using email marketing has many benefits and uses for every business. Email marketing should no longer be an overlooked item in any business marketing mix.

Stefanie Blackburn is an Internet Consultant with SourceOne Technologies. SourceOne Technologies currently offers assistance to business owners in establishing a complete online presence by offer their services as an Online Marketing Consultant.

If your business is ready to capture the benefits of Email Marketing SourceOne Technologies can assist you in getting started. We offer several plans that range from the do it yourself to the everything done for you plans. Click here to find more about our Email Marketing plans.

By admin|E-Mail Marketing|0 Comments

Why You Need a Blog for your business

One thing that all business owners large or small should be focusing on this year is connecting with prospects and customers; moving them into the sales and marketing funnel. There are several ways that this can be accomplished, however one key way is by having a blog and using it to share information and connect with your target market.

A blog is really just a simple website that is typically updated frequently with what are called posts. In most cases the posts on your blog are shown in reverse chronological order. This allows the visitor to see your last post first.

A blog can be used in addition to your main website, instead of a main web site and your blog can even function together with your website. A blog however should be updated frequently, once a week at minimum if possible, two to three times would be better.

A blog is very easy to use to share information quickly and typically this can be done without calling your web master or IT support. This makes a blog a great cost effective tool to use to share information on upcoming specials or promotions, review new products, features customers and even address customer complaints.

There are several reasons that every business large or small should have a blog and use it in their marketing mix for connecting with prospects and customers and moving them through their sales and marketing funnel. Here are just a few that you should consider:

Search Engines Love Blogs

Google and other search engines love blogs. Blogs offer what is called an RSS Feed and these feeds are typically picked up very quickly by search engines. It is very possible to write a post on your blog in the morning and have it appear in the search engines by lunch time.

Builds your Brand

Building a brand takes works and requires many pieces of marketing collateral, a blog being one of them. Having a blog with your branding will allow you to be seen by others on a regular basis and your target market will begin to recognize who you are and what you offer.

Establishes You or Your Business as an Expert

Having a blog where you provide up to date information on a topic or niche that you have experience in will help you become known as an expert in that area. Once others begin to see you as an expert of subject matter expert on the topics you focus on you will develop a reputation and hopefully a following as an expert.

Drives Traffic to Your Web Site

When a blog is used as an extension of your web site often readers of your blog will also check out your web site and see what products and services you offer for sale. To ensure that this happens always be sure to include a link to your web site from your blog.

Builds Relationships with Prospects and Clients

Blogs and be opened up so that your readers and add comments to your posts. Using a blog to share information, get feedback and then respond is a great way to build relationships with your readers who are your prospects and clients.

A blog is definitely a tool that you need to include in our marketing mix this year if you haven’t already. Blogs are great cost effective tools to create exposure and connection with your prospects and customers.

About the author:

Stefanie Blackburn is an Internet Consultant with SourceOne Technologies. SourceOne Technologies currently offers assistance to business owners in establishing a complete online presence by offering their services as an Online Marketing Consultant.

If you are ready to include a Blog in your marketing mix and don’t know where to start SourceOne Technologies would be glad to help you establish your blog and other online marketing components. Contact SourceOne Technologies today, your Online Marketing Consultant.

By admin|Blogging|0 Comments

Business Marketing — Fewer businesses will continue with Yellow Pages

Business Marketing — Fewer businesses will continue with Yellow Pages

If you are a business owner that has used the Yellow Pages in your marketing mix you know that this can be very costly, and sometimes there is little return on this cost. A huge cost with little return is something that most businesses can not afford to keep and remain profitable.

We have one client that was paying almost $1200 a month for their Yellow Pages listed and from what little tracking tools they had were only able to attribute about 2 customers a month from those ads. We have now switched this client to other marketing channels which include Social Media, Blogging as well as Email Marketing. The goal is that within three months of adding these services (at a MUCH lower cost) that we will be able to a substantial increase in traffic and revenue from these efforts.

Looking at other methods to market besides the Yellow Pages is becoming a trend with small businesses or what some call micro-business (micro-business = 10 employees or less). Personally, I believe that there are better methods to market than the Yellow Pages where you can better track and measure the effectiveness of your marketing.

Vistaprint conducted a survey in April of 2010 of 1,100 customers and in this survey found that two-thirds surveyed have no interest in marketing in the Yellow Pages and only 11% plan to use it in the future. Here is graph of the marketing channel trends of those surveyed:

In looking at this graph it is nice to see that many businesses are currently using Social Media, Online Direct Marketing and Physical Direct Marketing. This is a trend that will continue and is one that will help small or micro-business cut cost and build focused prospect lists.

If you would like to read the full survey you can do so here at Vistaprint’s Small Business Blog.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can use social media in your business please contact us via the form below:

By admin|Marketing|0 Comments

Social Networking Can Produce Great Benefits for Your Business

If you're a business owner, large or small, now is the time to begin to capture the benefits of using Social Networking for your business. Many businesses in today's economy have tightened their belts and no longer have a large budget to use for marketing; so now is the time to explore another and possible better avenue; Social Networking and reap the benefits.

There are several benefits of using Social Networking for your business, however we are only going to touch on a few at this time; increasing your network, building relationships, building an online reputation or brand and zero cost marketing.

Increasing your network is a very important thing to do in order to bring more business to you. Social Networking can help you do this. When you begin to use Social Networking and start connecting with others you will find that they know others that are either a resource for you or someone that is interested in your product or service. Since you are currently networking or connected with the first layer of individuals this gives you the opportunity to connect with their contacts as well and increase your network or sphere of influence.

In today's market things have changed and marketing is more about building a relationship than it was 10 or even 5 years ago. People are more selective in who they do business with and prefer to do business with someone they know. If you do it correctly Social Networking gives you the opportunity to learn about your prospects and understand better the needs they have and the challenges they face. Social Networking creates a relationship that will position you as a resource and possibly an expert so that when your network needs what you have to offer you will be the first person they think of.

Using Social Networking properly can allow you to build a reputation as someone that provides tremendous value. In the past companies may have invested thousands and even millions of dollars to create a reputation or brand with advertising, but now you have another method that is faster and less expensive. You can establish your brand and reputation using Social Networking by providing information and value to those that you network with.

A key benefit of using Social Networking in business is the ability to create a zero cost marketing stream. It is not advocated to blatantly promote your product or service, however as you build your Social Networking profile you can provide information on who you are and what your business is, even including the URL to your website or blog. Using this form of marketing is often more effective because it draws customers to you in a non threatening way and it is zero cost marketing.

Social Networking is truly a tool or medium that every business should be using. The benefits are great and in most cases can be seen quickly. You can increase your network, build strong relationships, create an online reputation or brand and create a zero cost marketing channel, using Social Networking. The benefits will improve your business, just be sure to focus on providing value and information to your prospects and building that relationship before you focus on making the sale.

About the author:

Stefanie Blackburn is an Internet Consultant with SourceOne Technologies. SourceOne Technologies currently offers assistance to business owners in establishing a complete online presence by offering their services as an Online Marketing Consultant.

If you are interested in more information on how you can use Social Media in your business please contact us by using the form below.

By admin|Social Media|0 Comments

Create coupons online for FREE to promote your business

Create coupons online for FREE to promote your business

Coupons are a great way to market your business, products and services, but sometimes they are time consuming to create and manage.

Oneminute coupon is a new service that is in beta testing that allows you to design a coupon for free that can be posted on your website and printed out by your customers and visitors.

It is a tool worth investigating and incorporating on your site to bring customers into your business.

SourceOne Technologies can assist you in implementing this service along with many more to help you drive customers to your business.

By admin|Cool Sites|0 Comments


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Tips for Using Email Marketing Effectively in your Business

Implementing an Automated Email Marketing Campaign for your Business

Business Marketing — Fewer businesses will continue with Yellow Pages

Create coupons online for FREE to promote your business

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