We have put together this presentation with the most important email marketing tips we could think of.
As a business-owner, you have a hundred things clamoring for your attention. But you also need to be on social media, to listen and talk to your customers and to influencers in your industry. Focusing on one or two channels will probably be more useful to you than creating profiles on many that you can’t keep up with.
The biggest factor that determines what social media you should focus on depends, of course, on where your customers are. But here are some other factors that might help you make the decision.
If you’re a B2C business, you probably can’t afford to ignore Facebook. Facebook has a huge user base, and it’s where everyone hangs out — teenagers, office workers, stay-at-home parents, freelancers, grandparents. So you should seriously consider having an active Facebook page if:
We use Trello to manage our tasks, and this post gives you a lovely breakdown of why and how you should use it. And it’s free!
Here are six writing tips from Roald Dahl, via Copyblogger.
Copyblogger also breaks down Facebook’s EdgeRank and tells you what you should be doing for more engagement. Tl;DR? Keep trying different things to engage your audience (as Sahil Khan says here).
Create better landing pages with these tips from Hubspot: we especially like the last one!
Rand Fishkin ponders how you can get the best out of your employees.
And lastly, I loved this article about productivity myths. Now I can continue to not get up early or sort my emails properly without feeling guilty!
Does every business have to be on social media?
I’ve heard the arguments: it’s too risky, it’s not profitable or measurable… It’s not necessary for your industry. None of these is usually true.
Today, I tell you the real reasons why you shouldn’t be on social media.
Contrary to what most people think, social media is primarily about listening. It enables you to listen to what your customers or even competitors are saying about you. It lets you view conversations about your industry or your competitors. It tells you what people are thinking.
If you’re not interested in any of that, sure, stay off social media. (And don’t talk to your customers, either.)
Didn’t we say, don’t keep your customers guessing? Well, if that wasn’t clear enough, here is a story of how a company can make it very difficult for potential customers to understand its offering. SocialEdge is a product (or service?) by Infosys. In their words:
“Infosys SocialEdge provides a comprehensive way to engage with consumers, influence their purchase decisions and provide post-purchase assistance”.
Does that tell you what SocialEdge actually is or does? It doesn’t even explain how it’s “social”!
Below is a Twitter conversation I had about this yesterday. Continue reading
Gini Dietrich manages the marketing blog Spin Sucks and is the founder and CEO of marketing firm Arment Dietrich. She talks to us about marketing, entrepreneurship… and cash!
Read on. My questions and comments are in bold.
Tell us about Spin Sucks. Why call it that instead of something like, you know, the Arment Dietrich blog?
In the very first paragraph of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Caroll writes:
“What is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversation?”
When I first read that as a kid, I nodded in agreement. But it’s not just when writing stories for children that you need to think about pictures and conversations. Alice in Wonderland isn’t exactly a marketing textbook, but this is great advice for marketers!
Amber Naslund says: “Smart businesses don’t make it difficult for people to leave.” And “Desperation is not a customer retention strategy.” Wise words, those.
Have you created your editorial calendar yet? Make sure you haven’t made any of these four mistakes.
Don’t try to write impersonally. Dan Shipper says: Continue reading
If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know Lisa Barone is my favorite marketing guru — she gets quoted in most of my weekend reading posts! So I’m tremendously excited to bring you this interview with Lisa Barone, internet marketer, popular blogger, witty tweeter, fabulous inspiration, and very very nice person!
In true Lisa style, she opens up about her work, marketing in general, and advice she has for small businesses.
Let’s get to it! My questions and comments are in bold.
So, why Overit?
Call it marketing or customer service or just call it business strategy — you hardly need to debate the importance of demonstrating to your customers that you value them. We all want to retain customers and usually go above and beyond to please them — by giving something extra, by offering lower rates, or by providing premium service.
Larger businesses have loyalty programs to handle this, but small-business owners usually like to use their own discretion and not allow employees an easy way to make these decisions. But good employees want to keep regular customers happy. They may go ahead and offer these “extras” anyway — by giving the room overlooking the pool, making small repairs in addition to the contracted job, or by over-pouring.
These “extras” are part of your cost of retention, but do you know how much that cost is? Are these extras proportional to the business you are getting from those customers? Are these extras in addition to the priority rates/service you are offering those customers? All these are important questions, but the most important question is – Does your customer even realize you are giving her something extra?
Continue reading