The Great Email Debate -- Rich Media V. TextWritten by Doug Hudiburg
If there is one thing that gets marketing geeks all sweaty and excited, it's something new that promises to help us get attention of our target market.It's little wonder that marketers are excited about possibility of using rich media email (HTML and Flash are most common) as a way to jazz up emails and make them more interesting. Being able to use rich media email as a marketing tool allows marketers to do things they never could do in past. Retailers, for instance, can send an email with a picture of a close-out product and a quick "buy me" button, a strategy that has been proven effective for increasing sales. With Flash technology, you can even send a full multimedia presentation via email, perfect digital salesperson. If you look to leaders in opt-in list marketing, however, you will find that 99% of them still use plain text email as their media of choice. People with huge opt-in lists such as Cory Rudl, Ken Envoy, Terry Dean, and Marlon Sanders, all use text formatted email messages. There are a number of reasons why they refuse to change to HTML, but most important is that it creates results.
| | Entrepreneurial Traits that Drive SalesWritten by Sharron Senter
Frequently overlooked and hidden deep within our marketing tool box is ultimate marketing vehicle for your business – you! Many small business owners are so busy figuring out how to increase sales and revenue they forget to grow themselves as business owners. If you aren’t evolving yourself, aren’t you being counterproductive to your business development? Marketing our businesses isn’t just about what ads to buy or what networking event to go to next; it’s about us as people, as entrepreneurs. The following marketing traits are often overlooked by entrepreneurs but are pivotal to your long-term success. What’s more, they cost very little yet earn a savvy entrepreneur a lot. Show Your Personality Customers want to know who you are. That’s great that you offer fastest tax services in town, or your gift baskets can be custom-made and delivered anywhere in 24 hours. But who are you? Your customers and prospects want to know. Especially if you’re facilitating business on Internet, building trust is key to making a prospect feel comfortable buying from you. One of most effective ways to build trust is to express your personality. How can you express personality? Even conservative introverts can develop indirect methods of exhibiting their personalities. Here are some examples --If you own a store, at entrance, try displaying a professional portrait of you and your family and your personal story describing how your business began. If you’re an attorney, try displaying a small 8.5” X 11” picture frame on your desk that describes your background, your personal interests and hobbies. If this is too personal for you, try displaying a few photos on your office wall, including photo of you rowing in college or one that depicts your fabulous smile playing soccer with your six-year-old. If you’re not smiling-type, a human interest photo showing you in a common setting will help put your prospect at ease. Ultimately this person will see photo of you and your son above your shoulder and think, “He’s a dad too. He knows what I’m going through.” When you allow your customers and prospects a “peek” at who you really are, they’ll begin to feel more comfortable and able to express their needs, an incredible competitive edge. You’ll see a notable increase in sales as customers identify more with you. Use Your Fear One of my greatest fears is having to return to workforce. I’ve been self-employed for almost three years. However, I didn’t just one day decide to start a business. Although I’d always dreamed of working for myself, dread of failure held me back. It wasn’t until company I worked for was purchased by another and I was laid off that I decided to launch my business. I use this same fear to push me to succeed. As you know, fear can freeze an entrepreneur right in her tracks. I’ve seen it time and time again. Fear can consume us, keep us from making any marketing decisions at all. Rather than wrestle with your fear, acknowledge it, let it push you to where you need to go. Use it to make marketing decisions, rather than no decisions at all. It’s better to have several failed marketing programs then none at all.
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