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E-mail Newsletters That Customers Actually Read

ArcherTC — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:10:57 +0000

I recently received an e-mail that had me riveted from start to finish. It contained a true story about two men aboard US Airways flight 1549—the one that crash-landed into the Hudson River. Both passengers had regularly backed up their critical computer data. One did this by transferring info from his hard drive to a second computer, but he had taken both laptops on the plane. The other passenger had used an online backup service called Mozy (owned by EMC). I read their stories in the monthly Mozy newsletter, which I chose to receive when I signed up for Mozy myself. It’s full of fun, interesting, and valuable stories and tips.

During a recent interview, Dave Robinson, Mozy’s vice-president of marketing, explained how any business owner can make an e-mail newsletter more compelling. I also spoke with Janine Popick, chief executive of VerticalResponse, an e-mail and direct marketing provider for small businesses. Here’s their advice on how to get customers to read your e-mail newsletters. Read more of this article at E-mail Newsletters That Customers Actually Read – BusinessWeek, published 4 May 2009.

Flickr photo credit: kin-ichi

101 Tips for Getting Started with Email Marketing

ArcherTC — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:30:14 +0000

Sometimes it seems like EVERY business in America is using an email marketing service – but there are tons of small businesses (more than half – see below) who either do not use one or need to drastically refresh their email marketing activities – beyond just the occasional random email they shoot out to their lists.

Campaigner has just launched a new series of “101 Tips for Getting Started with Email Marketing” to help companies create and execute an effective email marketing strategy. You can sign up to receive a few tips each week via email, or read them as they are posted on Campaigner’s website at http://www.campaigner.com/lp/101tips.aspx

The tips will focus on a different theme each quarter of 2009, starting with Building a Strong Email Marketing Foundation. Here are the first five…more at 101 Tips for Getting Started with Email Marketing – SmallBizTechnology.com, published 29 March 2009.

Flickr photo credit: Esparta

A crash course on postal and e-mail list testing

ArcherTC — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:30:34 +0000

Give a pop quiz to most direct marketers on postal list testing and you’ll find an incredibly knowledgeable group of professionals. Give a similar quiz to the same group on e-mail list testing, and the score may be entirely different.

Just like the proverbial apples and oranges, postal lists and e-mail lists are just not the same when it comes to testing.

Individual knowledge about the nuances of each type of file is essential to a successful outcome. While it’s impossible to cover everything that separates these two direct marketing list tactics, here are some vital tips to make smart list choices for the fourth quarter and beyond. …more at A Crash Course on Postal and E-mail List Testing – Directmag.com, published 24 Nov 2008.

Flickr photo credit: k.tommy

No better time for e-mail marketing

ArcherTC — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:26:03 +0000

What do the best franchise owners know about online marketing that you need to know, too?

With the new year comes new challenges. As business owners and operators, consumers, and citizens, we know that the climate has changed radically in the last year. However, as I indicated recently in my column–there’s no need to panic. I talked then about cultivating stronger customer relationships, and provided tips on how to do so. My advice applied to anyone working to establish and build a successful entrepreneurial venture, whether it be an independent restaurant, a consulting firm, a successful franchise or some other type of business. For all of us who are business leaders, everything begins and ends with customers. I’d like to dig a little deeper into how a customer-oriented culture impacts franchises–a market that has its own opportunities and challenges. …more at No Better Time for E-Mail Marketing – Franchise Challenges – Entrepreneur.com.

Flickr photo credit: m-c

Should VerticalResponse be the default mass emailing tool for nonprofits?

ArcherTC — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:03:02 +0000

The realm of blast emailing tools has been a pretty complicated one. Prices were complicated, features varied, and you really had to think through what you wanted in order to be able to effectively compare.

But with the announcement that VerticalResponse now offers 501(c)(3) nonprofits up to 10,000 emails per month for free, does that change? I think it might. VerticalResponse has been on our list of recommended tools for awhile – it’s well designed, feature-rich, has strong deliverability, and integrates well with other tools (especially Salesforce). Even without nonprofit discounts, it’s a very interesting option. At 10,000 emails for free, well, that might make it the obvious choice for most smaller nonprofits. …more from Idealware. Flickr image credit: m-c