Online Marketing for Local Business
Posts tagged e-marketing
Maximize Your Web Content
013 years
by jhaynes
in Uncategorized
We’ve made the case several times that a challenging economy is probably the worst time to slash your online marketing efforts.
And for those following this sound advice, it also makes sense to optimize every piece of web content that you produce and publish, both from a sales conversion and SEO standpoint.
Though it may seem like common sense, many authors forget to figure out what they’re trying to say before they start writing, and thus waste resources creating content that doesn’t achieve its potential or goals. Here are some tips to maximize your web writing:
Tip #1 – Create an Outline
Outlines are useful tools for giving your article or webpage structure, but if you’re not a big fan of outlining, at least answer the following questions before you start writing:
Who am I writing for? What’s my ideal audience?
What do I want my readers to learn from this article?
How will I explain/prove my point?
Tip #2 – Be Informative
Readers seek informative content, so provide the “give” in your article body and leave the “take” for your Resource Box or website. The quality of your information should make a good impression by providing value to the reader, not leaving them wanting more. Resist the temptation to sell in your articles.
Tip #3 – Share Your Experience…
You’re an expert in your field or niche, your readers are not. Don’t worry about making your writing sound smart, just think of some questions your readers will have and then answer them. Use article templates to help you structure the information in your article and generate new ideas.
Tip #4 – …But Not All At Once
You have a lot of knowledge, so you’re understandably excited to share it. But be careful not to overwhelm your readers. Break up large topics into smaller components, in separate articles. This gives you more articles to write and won’t scare readers with extremely long articles.
Tip #5 – Consider Hiring a Ghostwriter
Weigh your options. Is your business better served if you outsource the article writing (or blogging, newsletter or web content writing) and focus on other aspects of your business instead? Return on Investment is all about taking your available resources and using them in the most effective way. This is especially true during tough economic times, when the reduced overhead of freelance partners has the biggest financial impact.
It doesn’t matter how big your business is, or if you’re from New York, Boston and Washington DC to Los Angeles, San Fransisco and Vancouver, Hat Trick Associates can help you build your web content online. (If you happen to be from one of these cities, the fact that I included your hometown might be a reason you found this page, for example!) Contact us to learn more about how your website content / text can help your customers find you, too.
Great Web Content Writing
013 years
by jhaynes
in Uncategorized
At one time or another, every successful writer asks themselves (or should) “What makes great email copy?”
We online marketing communication writers need to be ever mindful of the content we develop, its impact on those who read it (whether intentional or not), and how to make it better.
The fact is that marketers are human just like anyone else. And this means that even the best of us can forget the key tenet of marketing: understand your audience. This simple yet inevitable fact sometimes causes us to write content that may achieve our business objectives (of our own companies!), but may not be relevant to our audience.
The truth is, content matters, a great deal in fact. As more and more email fills the Inboxes of our target audience, we need to continually make our email marketing messages stand out even more. That means understanding our audience – their needs, wants, motivations, interests, etc. And, perhaps more importantly, we need to put our audience ahead of our own priorities at all times. Which also means never falling too much in love with your own writing, but in whatever is most meaningful to recipients.
The Three S’s are recommended when developing email marketing content. They are:
1. Subject – make the subject line (very!) appealing to the recipient so they’ll open the email, the most critical component of ANY piece.
2. Sender – make it a mystery that the email is coming from someone your audience knows or cares about, never make them guess.
3. Significance – make the email content relevant, and significant, to the recipients. If you were a recipient, how much would YOU care?
There are also 4 criteria that every web writer should keep in mind for creating relevant content. Make sure the writing is:
- Branded
- Urgent
- Brief
- Enticing
And focused on your audience, of course. Don’t allow your own preferences and opinions to affect what you write. It’s a constant struggle with our human urge to see our own needs met first, but content should matter more to our audience than it does to us, right?
How are you making content more relevant to your audience?
Think Email Marketing is Dead? Think Again.
14 years
by jhaynes
in Uncategorized
From the Yahoo Finance story by Hat Trick Associates today:
With the advent of social media, mobile marketing and a host of other new, “sexier” communication channels, one might assume stodgy email marketing has gone the way of the Dodo bird or horse and buggy. But if anything the reverse is true.
“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain
With all the hype surrounding social media and mobile marketing, it would be easy to assume that email is yesterday’s news, with little chance of keeping up with the other marketing methods now available.
But according to the numbers this assumption is incorrect. Email usage has remained remarkably steady, even in the face of new competition. Research shows that email is still the preferred method for receiving commercial messages of 74% of adults. This perhaps surprising statistic can help explain the continued proliferation of e-zines and other email marketing today.
It’s no longer true that the largest firms are the most likely to utilize email. As smaller companies outgrow their sole-proprietor beginnings, they increasing look for new ways to expand their business to support higher headcounts and overhead. Business surveys revealed that almost half of small businesses were using email marketing in 2010; an additional 36% reported plans to begin this year.
The dollars spend annually show this high participation rate. On average email promotion accounts for about 15-22% of total marketing budgets. These billions spent every year has certainly attracted attention, with many new email distribution and copywriting firms found online today.
This gives today’s marketer many options to choose from, ranging from self-serve programs to ones that completely managed by an outside vendor. Choices are often dictated by the level of expertise and resources available internally.
It is projected that the number of worldwide email accounts will grow from over 2.9 billion in 2010 to over 3.8 billion by 2014. And with similar response rates but higher ROI potential than direct print marketing, due to much lower costs, the future looks bright for the continued relevance of email marketing. Coupled with growth expectations, it’s clear that e-marketing is here to stay.