Email is great! Or IS it??Written by Anna-Marie Stewart
Isn`t power of email wonderful? It comes in all shapes and sizes, and it`s virtually instant. There`s plain text, there`s HTML, there`s even something called "rich media". Email can be used in many ways to market online. Frequent bursts of advertising, weekly newsletters, or even just a mail to your biz contacts when something great comes along.Unfortunately, where there`s power, there`s always a flip-side. In case of email, flip-side is abuse, also known as SPAM, that great big nasty word. Makes me shudder just to think of it these days. Is spam email considered marketing? It probably is, if you want to get all technical about it, but it`s most definitely not RESPONSIBLE email marketing. Although some marketers don`t seem to be able to see difference between permission marketing (where people have ASKED for mail) and email spam. Spam is actually a major threat to legitimate email marketers. People check their emails, see their inbox cluttered with all sorts of stuff they didn`t ask for and they yell SPAM!! Unfortunately, with so much stuff in their inbox on a daily basis, it can become really hard to recognise mails they`ve asked for, they may even forget they asked for it in first place, or they may just be sick and tired of receiving too many mails, and they yell spam about wrong mail. Everybody has their own definition of spam. As it currently stands, spam is in eye of beholder. Spam is usually unsolicited ads sent in bulk by people you don't know--although there are exceptions to this rule. Some spammers will argue that email spam is no different to traditional junk mail, but there is one undeniable difference... cost. The cost of sending junk mail through conventional means is very real, including postage costs paid by sender. The cost of sending email spam is very small, and most of costs are paid by people other than sender.
| | 5 Steps to Targeting Your Marketing MessageWritten by Lois Carter Fay, APR
In order to win at game of business, a company needs a good plan. This can be done in-house, with a marketing consultant, or with a marketing firm. Here are five steps to developing and implementing a good marketing message:1. Determine your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Before you can tell others who you are and what you do, you need to know about yourself. Gather your employees together and brainstorm a list of your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Write everything down that is said and wait to evaluate it until you have exhausted all of ideas. Next, review each item on list and decide if this is appropriate to be on list, or if it can be eliminated. It’s likely you will find several that can be combined so that you end up with a relatively short list of strengths and weaknesses. You can also develop a short survey and ask your customers and vendors what they think your strengths and weaknesses are. Their answers may surprise you! 2. Research your target market/customer. Next, analyze your sales from past three years. What products or services are most profitable for you? Who are your customers? What can you conclude about your customers? What is similar about them? Based on your profitability evaluation, should you be targeting a certain type of customer, or changing your current strategies? How do these customers make their buying decisions? How can you influence those decisions? Consider such things as: · Location · Size business (either sales dollars or number of employees) · Industries ypes of businesses · Type of ownership (sole proprietor, corporation, etc.) · Who are decision makers, influencers and gatekeepers? 3. Investigate your competitors. Who are your main competitors? When you lose a sale, why does this happen? Which competitor generally makes sale? What is better about your competitors’ products and services? Why do your prospects choose a competitor instead of you? What are annual sales figures for your competitors? What do they spend on their advertising and marketing efforts? (Your industry periodicals and associations can help you determine this.)
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