Filed under: Email Marketing
Are you not getting the results you want from your email marketing? Is the open rate dismally low? Do you feel your “deletes without opening” rates are higher than the actual number of emails you sent out?
KEY TIP: make sure your content isn’t hidden in images
The security settings in programs like Microsoft Outlook can prevent the downloading of images, thus showing broken image links throughout your email message. Unless your recipient knows you, trusts you and is really interested in what you have to say, chances are they will simply delete the email. You’ve probably done the same thing yourself.
That’s what I just did with an email from a Las Vegas restaurant I’m not familiar with. Instant death to that message.
KEY TIP: Add copy to the very top of the email that tells the reader what your email is about
By inserting a couple lines of copy at the beginning of the email that succinctly describes your topic, you’ll put your readers at ease and give them a reason to open your email.
Remember, everyone has attention and time deficit syndrome these days. Make it easy for your readers to take the action you want by eliminating obstacles like using images to hold your email content.
By taking steps that will increase your email’s open rate, you on the road to increasing conversions.
Corporations and other businesses spend billions of marketing dollars each year to entice consumers to buy their products or services. Bottom line to all the messaging: “we want your business.”
But what happens when the reality doesn’t match the marketing promise? Could you be doing the same thing in your business?
Community Bank of Nevada and Wells Fargo Bank are two excellent examples of how reality is vastly stronger than a marketing message.
I mourn the passing of Community Bank of Nevada because, as one of its many non-business customers, I appreciated being appreciated. The staff at the Sunset branch always greeted me by name, something that always surprised me since I wasn’t a daily or even weekly customer. I enjoyed being able to talk with a teller in a normal voice level without the nearly sound-proof security Plexiglas in the way. Best thing of all – again for me as a customer – was the lack of long lines even on Fridays. I could walk right in the front door, get my business done, and be on my way – in and out – perfect for the busy professional like myself.
So you can imagine my confusion and disillusionment when I stopped at the Wells Fargo branch on Eastern, north of Tropicana, to handle some business for a vacationing client.
The door I tried entering through was “Exit Only” and it took me a few moments to comprehend the signage. In effect it said that access to the bank was limited to the other side of the building.
With no sidewalk or safe walkway around to the other side of the building, I got back in my car and drove to the back. Good thing I did. Another customer nearly got flatten by a speeding motorist wanting to use the ATM.
At the entrance, I was then faced with figuring out how get inside. A disembodied voice told me to wait for the green light. That’s when I realized this was a double-entry security entry with a metal detector. The voice told only one person could enter at a time. Okay, but what about the elderly woman leaning heavily on her cane? Could she make it through on her own?
After a process of green light-red light, I made it inside, feeling as I had entered the inner sanctum of a most holy temple. The exit process looked a little easier but I could help but wonder if its security setup would encourage hostage situations.
The Wells Fargo staffer at the door greeted me warmly, though I could tell she was bracing herself for another irate tirade from a customer. The tellers behind their Plexiglass shields looked just as uneasy. No one would comment on the new security measures or answer any questions about them. I could only speculate and wonder if this is the wave of the future for banking.
Despite its excellence in customer service, Community Bank of Nevada failed because of being under capitalized and having an increasing amount of bad commercial loans on its books.
But, if these new security measures that shout “I DON’T TRUST YOU” are widely implemented, how will Wells Fargo continue to attract customers based on marketing messages of “Welcome, we want your business”?
Only time will tell.
Filed under: Education / Classes
DATE: Monday, July 6, 2009
TIME: 5:30 – 8 p.m.
PLACE: UNLV Paradise Campus, Room 140
ADDRESS: 851 E. Tropicana Ave., Las Vegas, Nevada
COST: $59
To be successful in any business endeavor, you not only have to keep on top of the latest trends, developing markets and changes in the marketplace, you have to know what your competition is doing to get the very business you’re working hard to get.
Wonder how you can still meet the demands of managing your day-to-day operations and still have time to keep an eye on what your competition is doing?
In this class, you will learn the online techniques and tools you can use to monitor what your competitors are doing, what keywords they are using on their Web site and PPC campaigns, what is being said about them, and so much more. Imagine having some of this important data sent to you automatically!This is information you need to know to stay ahead and in the game.
We’ll also discuss ethics – gathering the competitive intelligence from sources readily available online and how to avoid situations that would compromise your personal and professional integrity.
REGISTER NOW TO SAVE YOUR SEAT: Call (702) 895-3394, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or go to course description page at UNLV Educational Outreach web site and click “Enroll Yourself.”
Filed under: Education / Classes
Are you looking to increase conversions and the overall effectiveness of your landing pages whether they are for your PPC campaigns or a page on your Web site?
I will share the secrets of successful SEO copywriting and page design that will increase your sales, conversions and brand perception by avoiding “keyword stuffing” in your copy and creating a focused landing page.
In this hands-on class, you’ll apply what you learn in class to building an effective landing page for a pay-per-click campaign (for products, services, promotional efforts or message driven) beginning with knowing who your target audience is, how best to communicate with them and set objectives. From there, understand the importance of keyword research, writing effective action-oriented copy, key elements in page design, and the importance of testing page variants to improve results.
You’ll present your page in HTML or another format for feedback from your fellow students and me.
This class is perfect for site owners and Web designers as well as professionals in advertising, marketing, sales and public relations with limited HTML knowledge or experience. We’re focusing on how search engine marketing and optimization can improve Web page performance.
This course is offered through the Internet Design & Technology certificate program at University of Nevada, Las Vegas Educational Outreach.
- Dates: Tuesdays, May 12 – 19, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., & Tuesday, May 26, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
- Location: UNLV Paradise Campus (PAR), Room 140
- Fee: $115 includes parking permit and 0.5 CEUs (3 sessions)
Register online at http://edoutreach.unlv.edu or by calling (702) 895-3394. For more information about the Internet Design & Technology certificate program, call Kyle Yahiro-Okino at (702) 895-4490.
Look forward to seeing you there!
Filed under: Ramblings
Is it just me or are you, too, feeling pessimistic, angry and frustrated?
As a business communicator, I need to keep up on the latest news about the economy, business, world affairs and the like to better serve my clients. But seeing and hearing stories of people losing their homes and savings, corporate executives getting bonuses from their U.S.-taxpayer-bailed-out employers, local gaming institutions filing for bankruptcy, the conflicts along and beyond our border…<sigh> it certainly can be overwhelming.
I can feel the anxiety here in Las Vegas, a city struggling to deal with being on so many “Worst of” lists when it’s been on the “Best of” lists for decades. You can see our residents’ frustration by watching how they are driving – ever faster, zigging in and out of traffic, zooming up behind you, etc.
With all the reports and examples of doom and gloom, who can blame business owners and senior management for cutting back on expenses – including employees and their marketing efforts (a topic for another post) – because they are fearful that the bad luck or hardship befalling their neighbors and competitors will happen to them.
The problem is fear-based thinking only makes those problems worse and makes for a miserable quality of life.
I believe it’s long past due for adopting a new attitude, one that looks for the silver lining in the terrible black clouds everyone keeps talking about.
No, no, no, no. I’m not going “airy-fairy” on you.
I’m not about to say ignore what’s happening around you and go on living like it was 1999 (or some other by-gone era). But I believe what Ventura County reporter Michael Sullivan recently experienced supports my suggestion.
Your attitude colors your world. Think bleak thoughts and your world will be bleak. Think thoughts of possibilities, ideas and beauty, then your world will feel a bit lighter, brighter and bolder.
Physicist Albert Einstein said “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Metaphysicist Ernest Holmes said quite succinctly “Change your thinking, change your life.”
So let’s start today – right this very moment – with thinking differently. Let’s look for the possibilities, solutions, ideas – all those “silver lining” things that will energize our minds and souls. Yeah, it’ll be tough especially when we’re surrounded by all the negative chatter. It’ll be like adopting a new habit. But I believe it’s well worth the effort.
Perhaps this quote from American humorist Will Rogers sums it up the best, “An economist’s guess is liable to be as good as anybody else’s.”
To me, that means we’re in control of our outlooks on business and in life. Let’s make it a positive one.
A few weeks ago, I attended a business seminar for women looking to ramp up their businesses during uncertain economic times. The attendees I met were quite experienced in the business world. The majority went out on their own after years in the corporate world. They all had a good handle on who their intended customers were, had ideas on how to attract more potential customers, and understood the value of existing customers.
One of the topics at the seminar was how to use email to push your marketing message. The importance of “opt in” (letting your prospect sign-up for your e-efforts) was fully covered including how annoyed recipients can mark your unwanted email as spam, thus potentially labeling you as a spammer (even if you use a reputable email service provider who, in turn, will warn you about such tactics). I saw lots of note taking on paper, laptops and electronic gadgets.
So it’s surprised me to see the amount of e-stuff coming from some of these attendees – stuff I didn’t sign up for (and stuff that really doesn’t pertain to my own business). The cynical part of me wonders if all that note taking was actually writing some report, doing a grocery list or working on the next great American novel.
Sending an invitation to sign up for the e-marketing tool accomplishes at least 4 things:
- Makes a personal connection with a prospective customer. In addition to the usual marketing copy encouraging sign ups, include copy about the event you and the prospect attended and mention something you learned that can be applied to what your e-marketing tool is about. This method tells you prospect that you look at them as a person, not just another “target.”
- Increasing conversion. By allowing prospects to opt-in, you know know who is interested in what you have to offer. You’ve narrowed your list of prospects to those with the biggest potential of doing business with you. Your conversion and sales rates will go up.
- Reducing expenses in both time and money. By allowing prospects to opt-out, you no longer have to manage unwieldy databases, deal with bounce-backs from bad email addresses, waste time trying to develop messages that ultimately won’t be heard, and decrease the cost of your email campaigns (as most email service providers base their fees on the amount of outgoing email).
- Showing respect for your prospect. We’ve all got more inbound email every day than we really truly keep up with. By using an e-invitation, you’re saying “Hey, I know what I have is very valuable but I’m not here to waste your time or force it down your throat.” Not every prospect will realize this but you will and it will overflow into other areas of your business.
What else can be achieved by using opt-in invitations? Share your ideas here.
Filed under: Business Development
I’ve just returned from the greater Seattle, WA area after a few weeks of securing new business, meeting with clients, attending the Washington State Watchable Wildlife Conference and the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau’s Quarterly Forum, and enjoying a bit of a vacation with family and friends and to just “chill” after a hot Las Vegas summer.
My road trip gave me the needed time, space and solitude to think about my business and professional life: mull over quandries and challenges, stoke the fires of creativity and optimism, consider new ideas, and, my favorite, await inspiration and exciting “ah-ha” moments. I captured those thoughts and ideas on tape – old-fashioned cassette tape – for later transcription and review (something I can do at the gym while on the treadmill or bike). I’m already at work putting a few ideas into play.
Given the cost of gasoline these days, you might naturally think twice about using a road trip as a business planning tool. But if you come up with at least one good idea that brings in new business, increases sales, reduces expenses, etc., then it’s time well spent.
You’ll also come home more energized, organized and mentally “refueled” – things we all can use more of.
Okay, perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration but I did experience a lot of exasperation.
Every four years, I’m practically glued to the TV to watch as many competitions as possible during the Summer Olympics – from the obscure like archery, equestrian and rowing to the “biggies” of swimming, gymnastics and volleyball.
I am always moved by the passion, dedication and ability of every competitor – no matter how perfect or imperfect their performance is. They’ve trained for years for their one chance at glory – at that very moment, their dreams teeter on success and failure. No matter the outcome, I know they’ve done their very, very best.
For the first time (in my memory anyway) the presidential candidates ran campaign ads. And not occasionally. It seemed every commercial break contained an ad by candidates Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.
But instead of running different commercials highlighting what they would do if elected, both campaigns replayed their same ad over and over and over and over again to the point that even changing from NBC to MSNBC (or vice versa) didn’t help me escape the onslaught. These ads ran more than the replays of that amazing swimmer Michael Phelps winning his eight Olympic gold medals or the Olympic theme song.
It’s the tactician in me who wants to know what the candidates’ plans are, how they will work to make those plans reality, where they stand on issues, and – perhaps most importantly – how truthful they really are about their records.
It’s the “authentic communications” marketer in me who wants to know these important messages. Instead, I saw “politics as usual” in these two candidates’ ads – only the tones were different. McCain was on the attack and Obama kept to his campaign slogan.
It frustrates me – as a communicator and citizen – to feel that I know more about an Olympic athlete from a 3-minute interview than I do about a presidential candidate after 19+ months of marathon campaigning.
So next time, I want my Summer Olympics free from presidential politics.
I can dream, can’t I?
Filed under: Ramblings
When I drove past acres of California almond and citrus groves between Bakersfield and Buttonwillow today, I was struck at how much the area had changed since last September when I came though.
The fields and groves are shrinking, the fields being enveloped by tract houses, gated communities and new shopping centers. Meanwhile, the once-new area of Rosedale Hwy at Hwy 99 had more “For Lease” signs in front of the shopping enclaves.
Is this really “progress”? Plowing under precious farmland at a time when this country is relying more on imported foodstuffs? When we hear the call to “think global, buy local”? Building new neighborhoods that suck the life out of established ones? Making it almost impossible for folks who want to live and work with the land by making the land, seed and equipment too expensive?
Does anyone have any answers?
Filed under: Public Relations
The June issue of the Public Relations Society of America’s E-News reported that CBS has its own rebuttal to its legal analyst’s Andrew Cohen rip about all PR professionals being unethical and liars.
Mr. Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of corporate communications, used smart wit to correct Mr. Cohen on several points including two important ones: the relationships public relations professionals have with their clients and with journalists.
Yes, the PR-journalist relationship can be viewed many ways, but the reality is one cannot exist without the other.
Thank you, Mr. Schwartz, for setting the record straight in such an intelligent and wry manner.
