7 Esentials of Email Marketing

For those of you who are doing email marketing, and there are many of you out there,you belong to either of the two categories. You either use basics of email marketing : login, put together a newsletter and hit send.
Or if you're smarter, you take time to leverage the POWER of email marketing for their businesses.

If you want to boost your revenue, it's time to take things to the second level, by following these easy 7 steps that make sense!

LESSON ONE: Segment Your Customers
(Do little boys (in general) like Barbie dolls for Christmas?)
Since your customers are quite diverse, sending one email newsletter to everyone is not the best way to reach them. Instead, carefully review your customers and then segment emails by a variety of criteria, including geography, zip code, product, by company, how someone has responded to email in the past, etc.

LESSON TWO: Measure Email Metrics
(If the audience doesn't laugh, is the comedian funny?)
After sending out newsletters, carefully measure the analytics of each email campaign by strategically to see how successful the campaigns are.

LESSON THREE: Consistency of Branding
(Ever wonder why every McDonald's all over the country and much of the world looks the same and serves the same basic food?)
While it's easy to send out emails that look one way one week and another way weeks later, it's best to have consistent branding so your customers (or whoever the recipients are) recognize your newsletter and it gives you a more professional look and feel overall.

LESSON FOUR: The copy you use is important
(Why do newspapers have copy editors?)
While you own your company, and are quite smart, you most likely are not a specialist in the "written word". You probably don't know how to most effectively write in a way that best causes the reader to do the action you want them to do.

LESSON FIVE: Email drives social media and web traffic
(Is the Super Bowl for the sport or for the commercials?)
Your business might be different, but the goal is going to be similar. You are sending an email to get the recipient to take some action. Social media is "cool" but you can use email marketing as a powerful tool to drive your audience to your social media feeds or whatever you would like them to do.
Although Twitter is great, especially for those of us, sitting at a desk all day and typing, many business owners are too busy on the phone, meeting with clients, nurturing their staff and doing 'real work' to read a Tweet. Email marketing is perfect for these busy business owners.

LESSON SIX: Online Marketing Gives You More Money
I'm sure that many of you who advertise use direct mail, Yellow Pages and other traditional means of marketing. While these methods have their place and can be useful in some cases, email marketing and overall online marketing will give you a MUCH bigger return on your investment.

LESSON SEVEN: How Frequently Should You Email?
(Do you call a new date every day?)
One of the biggest tips we learned was that you don't want to send your newsletter TOO MUCH, to be annoying but not TOO LITTLE so your customers forget about you. Above all, know your customers and know what's best for them.

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The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

According to the father-daughter team of Al and Laura Ries, a brand name is a name (a Proper Noun in fact) in the mind of the consumer that conveys a single proposition about a particular product or service. The power in a brand name lies in its ability to positively influence purchasing behavior. In an increasingly cluttered information society, a powerful brand image can act as a guidepost for the consumer in making a purchase decision. 

This book is the definitive text on branding. It provides you with pairing anecdotes about some of the best brands in the world, like Rolex, Volvo, Starbucks and Heineken. This book tackles one of the most challenging marketing problems today which is branding on the Web. By reading this book you will learn not only how to build a brand, but how to keep it alive.

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Marketing Your Business from the Loo

Ya that's right, this post is about Washroom Marketing.

As the name suggests, it’s advertising in the washroom, literally. Something like putting the advertisement and pamphlet about a product in the loo. This is a place our eyes can never miss.
9 out of 10 times its gender specific, and when you are in the loo, you might as well read it. Most of us have taken newspapers to the loo, which infact is filled with ads. There have been questions about the privacy issues in the washroom, but I can’t figure out how privacy comes into picture here. There is no camera there in the washroom, unless and until the advertisement is hiding a cam under it. I don’t think just placing something for you to read there doesn’t lead to invasion of privacy.

Admedia's Gowen stresses that the advertising has to be appropriate for the venue, not the immediate context of the washroom itself. He cites the Lucozade campaign, and recent work with T-Mobile that targeted washrooms in clubs and bars. "The washroom panels aimed to target young adults when they were out socializing and in a venue when they were likely to be with their friends and texting.

"We would never say that washrooms would not be right for a brand. I don't think there's anything special about them—people don't see them as an inappropriate environment."

If you are one of the few for whom privacy is important, then prepare for disappointment. According to IBAA's Turner, the market is picking up. "Washroom advertising is hardly new, but it is emerging as an important player. We are finally getting the national buys that the medium deserves."

So public toilets will no longer be such a safe haven. But a trip there might be more fun.

Moreover it’s a sure shot method of reaching the customer. He/she will read it without any disturbance. And ya for everyone’s information there are companies too for washroom marketing like Positive Media of UK, IN YOUR FACE media corp.Cintas Corp. and many more.

When it comes to marketing it really does pay to think outside the box. I'm telling you, the marketing communication world is getting weirder by the day…

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New take on an Old Phrase

The Optimist says, "The glass is half full."

The Pessimist says, "The glass is half empty."

The Marketing Consultant says,
"Your glass needs re-sizing."

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The Samsung 3D Television Release

I was reading my daily newspaper columns and I happen to come across an advertisement about Samsung's 3-d television. The idea of sitting at home and watching the brilliant effects of a movie like AVATAR coming to life was intriguing!!!

So what is it that big business units like Samsung do to get people talking? Give an ad in the newspaper??

Well, just a single ad would get people's attention for a day, probably a week. Big Corporate houses need a better medium to sustain the interest, a first ad creates and "A press release" is one of their favorites. When I talk about "A press release" it’s not just about posting an ad in a daily or handing out pamphlets. It’s a good mix of all kinds of media used together to let people know about the latest offering.

Imagine that all your local newspapers, radio stations and TV newscasts ran whatever you wanted. The entire audience you targeted gets your message and pays complete attention to it. OK. Now, what are all those people supposed to DO?

With Marketing, the answer to this question is simple. The underlying idea is to persuade people to buy the nike's and the reebok's.

Big firms need to constantly change the media source from newspapers to blogs to television and come out with the right mix of what works for them and attracts the most customers.

As they say, “Change is the only constant”

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Management Lessons from 'Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year'

Recent bollywood movie, “Rocket Singh,” staring Ranbir Kapoor, may or may not be hit among the movie buffs but it surely has a message or two to take away which can benefit entrepreneurs, especially in India. Not everything is practical but things which are can really make a difference.

Work closely with the best in the industry to understand business and quickly do a SWOT analysis .It helps.

• Rocket Singh is ready to make Mishraji (peon) a partner for his skills and aspirations and not for his qualification.

Lesson 1 # Recruit for talent and aspiration and not for fancy degrees and communication skills. Talented people will remain committed to the company and work efficiently.

• He welcomes his immediate boss with long side locks as his partner for his experience. Also fighting with him, would have made the situation worse.

Lesson 2 # Don’t under estimate experience just because you have a brilliant idea and have got some quick success. Instead of fighting with competent people, make them your associates.

• He warns his technical associate (porn king in movie) to behave well with the receptionist.

Lesson 3 # Make your work environment safe and respectful for everyone from day 1.

• He refuses to change his vendor when a big order comes as he is the person who helped him in startup and trusted him.

Lesson 4 # Building trust is the most difficult part of business. If you are able to develop it, nourish it. Do not grow alone. Let your partners and vendors also grow with you.

• He gives guarantee of service 24X7 and is even ready to sell his scooter if things go wrong.

Lesson 5 # Serve your customers as per their need and not as per your convenience. Put your 100% to your business. Put your heart.

• He sells off his dream to save his partners when things go wrong.

Lesson 6 # Always be ready to take risk and guard your partners. A true leader always stands by his associates and is not afraid of failures.

But most importantly: “ Risk toh Spiderman ko bhi lena padta hai, main toh phir bhi Salesman hoon ”

(Even Spiderman has to take risk, I am just a Salesman)

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Direct Marketing vs Mass Marketing

IT can be argued that much consumer dissatisfaction with marketing strategies arises from an inability to aim advertising at onlythe likely buyers of a given product.

The marketing process affects three different groups of consumers. First, there is the "Segment" i.e. people who need the commodity in question. Second, the "Target" i.e people in the market segment with "the best fit", characteristics for a specific product. Lots of people want to buy shirts, but only a few qualify as buyers of expensive designer shirts. Third is the "audience" all people who are actually exposed to marketing without regard to whether they need the product or not.

The three afore mentioned groups are rarely identical. The only exception being cases where customers for a particular industrial product may be few and easily identifiable. Such customers all share a particular need and in these cases "Direct Marketing" is like to be economically justifiable. Direct Selling/Marketing caters to only the limited target audience.

Most consumer goods markets are significantly different. Typically there are many rather than few potential customers. Each represents a relatively small percentage of potential sales.

Unfortunately, there are few media that allow the marketer to direct a marketing program exclusively to the "Target". Inevitably, people get exposed to a great deal of marketing for products in which they have no interest and so they get annoyed.

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