11 Email Marketing Strategies To Drive Results

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Email marketing is STILL a critical component of your marketing toolbox. There are many reasons why email still outperforms practically all other marketing avenues. In fact, research has shown that email returns on average $36 for every $1 spent. That ROI is hard to beat by any other marketing platform. Some of the most compelling reasons you want to use email marketing:

Reason Number One: You Own Your List!

Unlike marketing that you do on platforms such as Facebook, Google, or other networks where you essentially rent space, your email list is yours to keep. No matter what happens, your list is your list. You are free to use as you wish, within the bounds of law and good practices of course.

Reason Number Two: It Allows You To Deliver Personalized Content

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Online marketing for small businesses on a budget

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We are at an age in marketing in which small businesses can compete with the big boys without having to spend like the big boys.

If you are a small business owner wanting to promote your business online, you have unprecedented access to consumers you can reach with speeds that even the big guns could not achieve ten years ago.

While the choice of online marketing channels and strategies may seem confusing, here are some tips that can help you set course so you can market your product or service online without breaking the bank.

Let’s take a look at some of the most effective and proven methods of connecting with your current and future customers. Remember, there are no “Past Customers”. Read more

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Great examples of ‘Welcome’ emails you can use to inspire your strategy

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We’ve all heard how important it is to make a good first impression. Show up late for a job interview? That’s a bad first impression. Eat a ton of garlic and forget to brush your teeth right before a first date? Also a bad first impression. Go to meet your significant others’ parents for the first time dressed in Crocs and sweatpants? That might also result in a bad first impression (depending on prevailing fashion sensibilities).

It turns out that the “make a good first impression” principle holds true not only in face-to-face encounters, but in email interactions as well.

When you send off a welcome email to a new blog or newsletter subscriber, or to a new customer, you’re making a first impression on behalf of your brand.

To help ensure you’re making the best first impression possible, we’ve rounded up some examples of standout welcome emails from brands big and small. As you’ll soon discover, each example showcases different tactics and strategies for engaging new email subscribers. Let’s dive in …

7 Examples of Standout Welcome Emails

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How to plan you 2015 online marketing using an editorial calendar

 

An editorial calendar is a concept that has only recently emerged on mainstream marketing circles. Disciplined publishers have used editorial calendars as a way to maintain a consistent flow of content for years. The practice has been mostly a domain of big publishers since they, by the nature of their business, have to produce quantities of content that has to be delivered with predictability and consistency.

For most of us small to medium business owners and consultants, and especially for us in the Real Estate and Mortgage Industries, we are still grappling with trying to put together a cohesive business plan. And I would lay money, most of us have not heard of the “editorial calendar”.

So why is this something we need to now pay attention to? Only if you want to create an effective online presence without having to stress about coming up with content ideas every time you decide to publish content for your audience. If you are like most of us, you probably have anxiety attacks when you even think of publishing a new blog post, an article, newsletter piece, etc. Which is probably the reason your blog/social media properties are… well, ghost towns!

Writing and publishing content is just not something most of us have a natural ability or inclination to do. That is where an editorial calendar can come in very handy. By setting out time to plan your Read more

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Social Media is not a direct marketing channel-surprise!

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In spite of the fact that Social Media Marketing has now reached relative maturity, it seems that most small businesses are still mystified that their expectation of a consistent stream of sales from their social media campaigns, is not turning out to be a reality. I still talk to people that after “trying” out social media of 30 or 60 days without an avalanche of sales, they decide that Social Media “doesn’t work”. They are 100% right, it does not work as a direct response, immediate sales channel. That is not the purpose of Social Media Marketing.

Take a step back and consider the basic premise of the channels on which the marketing is being done; Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Google+., For the most part, these are web properties where people gather to “socialize” and “be entertained”. They do not come to those websites with the expectation that they are going to be sold something.

A marketer’s expectation that they are going to place an offer in front of the audience, and they are immediately going to stop looking at photos of their friends, or tweeting about their most recent escapade, and pull out their wallet to buy the product that they see an ad for, is Read more

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Making Your Website Mobile Friendly

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If Your Website Isn’t Mobile-Friendly, You’re Hemorrhaging Customers (And Money)

You simply can’t afford to make it harder for customers to buy your products or services. Unfortunately, many local businesses aren’t making things easy when it comes to their websites. As more and more customers are trying to find nearby businesses on their mobile devices (according to Google, 1 in 3 searches are for local information) companies are still running antiquated sites that look dreadful (let’s face it) on smartphones and tablets, if you can see them at all!

Are you chasing away customers? Read more

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The Power of Words

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[dropcap style=”2″] T [/dropcap]his video clearly exemplifies what successful advertisers and copywriters know : The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword. This well known adage coined by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton is as true today as it was in the past. The words we use can create or destroy.

Writing magnetic copy for your website or blog is one of the most important elements of successfully growing your audience, and thus, your business. Understanding how words influence what your website visitor/blog reader will do when they read your content is pivotal to forming that emotional connection with them and enticing them to engage with you, your website and your business. Read more

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Profit from branding your business

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[dropcap style=”2″] M [/dropcap]aking a company a household name is a very important task to any businesses. You can learn how by implementing tested and proven techniques…

Discover Branding – A guide on how to profit from effectively branding your business

So many companies fail in their industries because they do not know how to make their product or service a brand that customers know they can rely and count on. There are many practices that must take place in order for a business to effectively establish themselves as a trusted brand with the consumer. Read more

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Top seven reasons your business needs a website

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[dropcap style=”2″] Y [/dropcap]ou know your colleagues AND your competitors have done it. You’ve thought about doing it, but you weren’t sure how or if it would benefit your company. But now’s the time to finally secure an online presence for your business.

Here are just few a things a website will do for your business:

1. Broaden your potential customer base. You’re no longer limited to local people picking up a phone book or reading your ads in the newspaper. Anyone with internet access becomes a potential new customer.

2. Answer questions and explain the benefits of your business 24/7/365. Your potential customers don’t Read more

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The Importance Of Mobile Friendly Websites For Local Businesses

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[dropcap style=”2″] D [/dropcap]uring the last 3 to 5 years the importance of mobile websites for local business has grown substantially. Following the introduction of Apple’s iPhone the mobile web has started to become very much like the PC web and this is why businesses both big and small need to be adapt.

Previously when it came to businesses holding video conferences they would be limited to carry them out on a PC or laptop with large screens. But the video capabilities of mobiles such as the iPhone 4 have now made it more than possible to arrange and have meetings on the go.

So why is it that mobile websites have become such an important tool in order for any business to make their presences felt? Below we take a look at some of the reasons why.

Most people are constantly on the move and have become more reliant on using search engines such as Google to carry out numerous tasks including the likes of finding the number of a Read more

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