The Single Best Way to Market Just About Any Business

Of all the many ways you can promote your business today, I want to share with you one of the most effective, most profitable, and least risky ways to market your products or services – email marketing.

Now just to be clear, I’m not in any way talking about buying an email list of people that don’t know you and blasting out a million messages in the hopes of making a few sales. Sending any promotional emails to people who have not given you permission to contact them is clearly spamming and there are rules and regulations that prohibit that in most countries.

What I am talking about is “Permission Based Marketing” – where you offer someone some free, valuable information (like a free special report, audio or video) as an incentive to give you their email address and permission to contact and market to them in the future. Offering a free email newsletter to your prospects gives you the chance to get your name in front of your website visitors on a regular basis and allows you to provide value and develop lasting relationships with them.

What’s so great about email marketing? Perhaps the greatest, is that studies have shown that commercial e-mail marketing returned a whopping $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009, according to the DMA’s (Direct Marketing Association) Power of Direct economic-impact study.

That’s an incredible return on investment of over 4000%!! Most businesses are lucky if they run an advertisement and get a 200% or 300% return, but when you can get $40 back for every $1 you invest, I’m amazed that more businesses don’t take advantage of this marketing method.

Here are some important points to keep in mind as you consider using email marketing in your business, and next time I’ll introduce you to some of the best online services available to help you with your email marketing efforts.

1. You must always ASK for permission to email someone first, and once it’s granted to you, you must respect and honor the responsibility that you’ve been entrusted with. You must never sell or give your list of addresses and names to anyone and you must maintain control of your list at all times.
2. If someone doesn’t want to be on your mailing list, you must respect their wishes and make it easy for them to be removed from your list.
3. If you don’t already have one, create a Privacy Policy that states exactly what you do with the information you collect from your visitors – and honor it! Just posting a link to a privacy policy can increase the likelihood that a prospect will sign up for your list.
4. If you’re a marketer in the U.S. you must be certain your email marketing efforts comply with the CAN-SPAM act. It’s not difficult to do, especially if you use a reputable email service provider to handle your mailings for you,
   but the penalties for violating it can be steep.

 

SourceOne Technologies Offers Email Marketing services to help every business.  Find out more about our Email Marketing Services Here.

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Increase your Creditability and Make them Want to Open your Email Every Time

Email marketing is one of the top strategies when it comes to marketing online.  Unfortunately, however there is a lot so SPAM or unwanted email that hits everyone’s inboxes on a regular basis.  This is why it is critical that you work on gaining the trust and respect from your target market so that when you send them email they want to know what you have to say.

One great way to help develop your credibility and gain the respect of your target market so they want to receive email from you is to have a professional image.  One component of this is having a functioning professional website that showcases who you are and what you offer, and maybe even has some of your previous newsletters displayed.

The content you provide in your emails is also very important for gaining the respect of your subscribers and getting them to want to open everything you send to them.  You will want to keep your messages pretty short and to the point.  The goal is to share the information and hopefully make them take action by asking for more information, clicking on a link and in some cases calling you pr coming into your shop or restaurant.

Always try to make your subscribers feel that they would miss out if they didn’t get your emails and newsletters.  This can be done by always providing great content, coupons and specials and making it known that they get this because they are on your list.

There are several ways to gain subscribers to your email list.  One method you can use is to connect and communicate with your target market on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  You could also contribute to forums that are of interest to your target market.  The goal is to have a link back to your website and email opt-in form without selling on these tools.

Once you have a subscriber base it is important to be consistent with your emails and newsletters that you send to them.  You will also need to be patient because it will take time to build up trust and recognition with your subscriber base.

SourceOne Technologies offers serveral plans to help you get started with Email Marketing.  To find out more compelte the form below

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Boost Your Business With Blogging!

A Business blog is an incredible online marketing tool that saves you thousands of dollars but provides great business opportunities in just one click. Blogs are user-friendly, customized and flexible medium for disseminating useful information for effective positioning of your products in the market. 

Businesses that are actively blogging have a huge advantage of their competitors.  Here are just a few of the advantages:

Word-of-Mouth – In a survey, there are currently 14 million blogs with 80,000 more being added each day and about 30 percent of the 50 million users are blog readers. Imagine how much exposure your company will have, if your products are advertised through blogs.  The Internet allows information to spread quickly especially if an impressive write-up goes with your product. Soon your blogs will be passed on to hundreds of possible customers.

Awareness and loyalty – Open communication with your customers creates trust and loyalty among them. Being there to respond to their questions and comments makes them more willing to try your products and services.

Feedback – Blogs are great for product research and reviews. It would be easier to improve on your products if you observe your customers’ thinking and behavioral patterns. You can also take immediate action to your customers’ concerns.

For better marketing results, actively promote your business blogs by submitting your blogs to blog search sites and directories. Do not forget to paste in with your blogs, your URL. Be sure that your blogs contain exclusive information with value and are always updated to keep readers visiting for updates.

SourceOne Technologies offers several blogging packages to help you get started.  If you are interested in starting a blog today for your business please contact us at 720-306-5001.

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Christmas is Coming – Begin your Marketing Now

The holidays can be a very lucrative time for many businesses, however in order to capture this opportunity you must be ready.

This means that starting the end of August you must begin to plan and start to implement your holiday marketing.  Your holiday marketing can consist of many components, however for now we are going to focus on Email Marketing.

In August you need to start thinking about the different promotions you can offer as you head into the holiday season.  If you plan in advance you can offer several promotions and hit on the following holidays or events; fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years as well as you plan out far enough you can plan for Valentine’s Day and the other holidays.

Once you have your promotions it is time to create your messages that you will use to send to your list via email.  The goal of these messages will be for your list to take action – and hopefully this will mean revenue for your business. 

These messages can contain coupons, links to products they can purchase online, a special promotion they can call you for or visit your store for, etc.  The goal is to tie in with the holiday, offer something and close the sale by having an enticing message that your list will take action on.

SourceOne Technologies has several Email Marketing Plans available and we would be happy to discuss these further with you so that your business can be sure to take advantage of the holiday promotion window.  For more information just complete the form below or visit our page on Email Marketing .

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Social Media Tip – Shift your Focus

When it comes to successful social marketing one of the biggest

mistakes that many marketers make it that they are too focused on

making money and not enough on socializing. As an end result they

unknowingly spam their followers which often ends up in getting your

posts ignored, blocked or even banned.

 

When it comes to social marketing it’s very important that you use

social networks as they were intended (to socialize), especially if you

want to see any real results from your efforts.

 

Always remember to socialize first and promote second! When you do

this you will have no problem attracting hundreds, maybe even

thousands of happy fans, friends and followers that will be interested in

what you have to offer!

 

That ends today’s quick tip

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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.

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.

 

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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.

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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:

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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.

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Are you leaving money on the table ?

As a business owner are you leaving money on the table?  Unfortunately many business owners are doing just this, leaving money on the table; but this doesn’t have to be the case.

One of the top things we see all the time is a business owner missing out on additional revenue, sometimes thousands of dollars worth by not capturing the name and email address of their current customer base.  The good thing is that this is something that can easily be corrected.

One of the largest assets a business has is its customer list, but the value in this asset is only there if it is utilized.  Current customers that have already benefited from your products and services more than likely will use you again, however you must stay in front of them so they remember you.

Implementing Email Marketing where you capture your customers name and email address and send them regular newsletters and coupons can be set up very quickly for you and in many cases can be greatly automated.  Once this is in place you will usually see at minimum a 10% increase in revenue from your current customers.

In many cases your current customers will also become word of mouth advertisers for you and begin forwarding your newsletters and coupons to friends who will also be interested in your product or service.

If you are interested in seeing how Email Marketing can be implemented for your business please contact SourceOne Technologies at 720-306-5001 today.

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