Online Marketing for Local Business
Posts tagged E-Newsletters and Email Marketing
25 Great Questions For Entrepreneurs
15 years
by admin
in Uncategorized
Some more great entrepreneurial advice from David Garland, of The Rise To The Top show here in St. Louis. These are questions you need to be asking yourself as you contemplate or begin your own business, some good stuff here.
1. Can I remove myself from this business or will I always be a part of it?
2. Can I work “non normal hours” including nights and weekends if necessary?
3. Do I have 6 months extra cash reserves?
4. Do I have a list of trusted professionals (lawyer, accountant, etc.) or do I need a referral?
5. Can I take criticism?
6. Who are my mentors and go-to people when I need help?
7. How will my business make money and what are the alternative revenue streams? (*Seems obvious of course but many have made this mistake, have you?)
8. Do I work better alone or in groups?
9. What things do I LOVE to do on a daily basis?
10. What things do I HATE to do on a daily basis?
11. Who is doing the books and keeping finance in order?
12. How far in advance am I planning? 6 hours? 6 days? 6 years?
13. How much time will my business require of ME?
14. Do I plan on on selling your business?
15. What is your web strategy?
16. Am I also marketing my business, product or service or soliciting help?
17. Do I have a plan for hiring your first employee?
18. How am I going to generate buzz for your business?
19. Where is the start up capital coming from?
20. Will I be investing my own money?
21. Am I prepared to deal with the emotional toll of the ups and downs of businesses?
22. Where am I getting answers to my entrepreneurial questions?
23. Who are my favorite entrepreneurs and why were they successful?
24. Why is my business unique?
25. WHY am I starting my own business?
Some Fun Statistics About Email
15 years
by admin
in Uncategorized
By now you’ve certainly read or heard about the incredible statistics that surround social networks. Social networks and blogs are the 4th most popular online activities, and 67% of global users visit member communities daily, and 10% of all time spent on the internet is on social media sites. Another interesting fact is that 80% of companies use, (or are planning to use), LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees this year and into 2010.
Impressive stats for sure. But what about social networking’s older brother, the venerable email? What are some fun statistics that you can throw around at your next cocktail party? Well, how about:
If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined.
247 billion emails are sent each day. That’s one email every 0.00000035 seconds.
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, some 20 million emails entered cyberspace.
Every second, the world’s email users produce messages equivalent in size to over 16,000 copies of the Complete Works of Shakespeare (assuming a 30KB average email size).
13.4 billion: the number of direct marketing dollars forecast to go on email in the US in 2009.
$583 billion: the return from that investment if you use standard figures on email marketing ROI. That’s four times the market value of Microsoft.
181: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to buy one share in Microsoft.
83,689,738,832,367: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to pay the US National Debt.
Great Email Marketing Subject Lines
15 years
by admin
in Uncategorized
At Hat Trick Associates, we’re always being asked things like, “What is the best day to send email?”, “What are the real email marketing secrets?” and “What are great subject lines?”. I decided to focus this post on that last one, and offer some really great and proven-to-work subject lines that you can test out for your email marketing campaigns.
First of all, I’m assuming at this point that your recipients will recognize you from your “From Label”. I’ve written why your From Label is very important in your email marketing campaigns. If they are familiar with who the email is coming from, you’ll have better luck getting your email opened with a catchy subject line.
As a retailer your email marketing campaigns are probably all about selling. If you sell your own products or products from other manufacturers, you’ll be trying to announce new products, new seasons or discounts and sales. You’ll want your recipients to act fast, so you may want to try expiration dates in your subject line. We even see businesses using hours in the day in their expiration time periods.
You’ll see that some of these subject lines are a bit vague like “An Exclusive Offer for You”, however sometimes that might get more opens than if you talk about a specific product. That’s something that we often test for clients to determine what specific subject lines have the most impact.
Here are some sample offers:
Enjoy this Special Offer at Our New Location
25-40% off – Email-Only Offer – Today Only
Invitation-Only 2 Hour Event Starts 11:30 AM CT
Ends Today! 20% Off Friends & Family
Top 10 under $10
Free shipping – offer ends in 3 days
Free product with purchase of [product name]
[New Product] has arrived. Order now before we run out.
Earn double points for [insert product or action].
Last Chance: Get up to $25 now
Save 10% on your next order
Service Notice: Exciting new changes at [your company]
An Exclusive Offer for You
[Your company] October Specials
Last minute deals, special offers, and new [product name]
Act Now to renew your [subscription name]
Online only: 25% off friends and family
[Product name] Promotion week. Save 25%
Extended for a day! Get Free shipping through Friday
Limited Supply: Limit 2 [product name] per customer
Ho-ho-ho: The [your company] holiday catalog is here!
Ends Today: Take 20% off your entire order
Your choice of amazing items $50 + under
Great gifts for [Dad, Mom, etc]
Best Sellers for every [girl, boy, man, woman, dog, etc.]
Everything you need when the temperatures [rise, fall]
Free Shipping–Limited Time Offer
Catchy & Creative
We’ve got you covered from head to toe (clothing retailer)
Celebrity Favorites (selling accessories that Hollywood is wearing)
Did you remember to get a gift? It’s ok, we did. (retailer wanting to get people to register for gift reminders)
10 Gift Ideas for your little ones (retailer listing top 10 suggestions for kids)
Take your pick: Our 9 Favorite Dresses (retailer suggesting by popularity)
Coolest modern desk on the job…for $149 (retailer including price in the subject line)
Score Great Savings on Game-Time Gear: HDTVs, Furniture & More (retailer selling TV’s with a sports slant)
Party Like it’s 1999 Aged Cabernet Special (wine retailer)
In our store: Last minute Mother’s Day combo ready to go (retailer getting the last minute shoppers with a catch “combo to go”.)
Adorn Your Home Now & Through the Holidays (Home decor retailer)
Mind-Blowing Grenache (wine retailer)
Bring this email to a Gap store and win! (retailer trying to get store traffic)