Work Better, Not Harder

It’s that time of year when our email boxes quickly fill up each day with special promotions – Black Friday will kick it all off. Depending on your type of business and target market, you may be (should be?) considering doing some extra promotional emails leading up to the holidays. This is something you need to plan now and start executing very soon. I'm not encouraging you to start blasting your subscribers with advertising. I am suggesting that a well-planned email campaign can be very effective at this time of year. To get you going, here are some ideas to work into your plan: If you sell gift certificates , you'll definitely want to promote them. Recommend who they will be suitable for. Insert Buy Now buttons directly into your newsletter with an immediate call to action. Do a holiday countdown with the number of shopping days left and something special for each day. Create special offers or promotions only for your email subscribers . This can also help to get new subscr...

Perhaps you're wondering, "What the heck am I going to write about this week?" Look no further than your Sent mailbox. Over the past month or so, I've answered a lot of questions by email. I bet you have, too. Have you considered that, if one person has a question, many others likely have that same question? Maybe you replied with a 'how-to' or an opinion or a bit of free advice. Maybe you supplied resources to help someone find their own answers. All of these gems can be turned into a blog post or a series of posts even. If you're uncertain about reorganizing and rewriting your emailed messages, you might try a writing template from my  Quick & Easy Content Creation Workbook . You'll be done in no time. Click to Tweet this Article

Whether you've been doing an email newsletter for a while or are just getting started, there are always ways to improve. Download our Newsletter Audit Checklist and use it to ensure both you and your readers get the most out of your email marketing efforts. If you discover you'd like help with your email marketing efforts, fill out the Newsletter Planning worksheet here and book a call. Click to Tweet this Article

It happened again today. I am blown away by how often I see this particular mistake. I received an email newsletter from a business I wasn't familiar with. That's OK but I wanted to go to their website to investigate more. And there was not one link in that newsletter that went to their website! Granted, there are times when you may not want to distract readers from another goal for your email. But a newsletter is definitely a place where you want to encourage click-throughs to your website. There's a very direct correlation between the amount of text, the number of links available to click, and your click-rate - the more links, the more clicks . There are many ways to insert links to your website into your small business newsletter. Here are a few suggestions. Insert links behind images. ☺ Always insert a link to your Home page behind every iteration of your logo. ☺ If your photo appears in your newsletter, link it to your About page. ☺ Behind product/ser...

Like many things, list building seems pretty straight-forward... until you start. You may expect it to be tedious work of copy/pasting and spreadsheets and looking things up online. Yes, it likely involves some of that but I get asked a lot of questions about who and how . Who can you add to your business email list?  If you sell to consumers , you will need to request express consent to add contacts to your list who have not done business with you. If you sell to business people , you can benefit from implied consent to build your initial list. There are three key requirements for implied consent: 1. The contact’s email address has been 'published conspicuously' and has no disclaimer that they do not accept commercial electronic messages. 2. The message you are sending is relevant to their job at the company they work for. (Example: You can email a university professor to sell her textbooks, but not clothes.) 3. There is an unsubscribe mechanism so the recipien...

We're all getting inundated with COVID emails - yes - but I'm glad the companies I do business with are paying attention and communicating their plans. I need to know that my web host and other service providers are taking action to be able to continue to operate. I am glad that local restaurants (Finbars, for example) have staff volunteers willing to help those in need. I'm comforted to know that we're all paying attention. During this time, most business owners are struggling with what to stop doing, what to start doing, and what to keep doing. Communication is more important now. Let's not stop but rather be mindful. Here are 3 reasons why business owners need to keep communicating: #1. To let your customers know you're running business-as-usual or... not. Many bricks-and-mortar businesses are closed, offering pick-up or delivery, or open for limited hours. Even people who work at home (like me) are susceptible to illness and need a back-up plan. ...

Tidbit is defined as "a small and particularly interesting item of gossip or information." (Just in case you're Canadian and were thinking about chocolate Timbits.) The most successful newsletters I've seen are full of tidbits. A tidbit is short, delightful and easily digested (just like a Timbit). It makes the reader feel like they've instantly learned something. Or it tweaks their curiosity to want to know more about something. Or maybe it makes them laugh and lightens their day. A newsletter full of tidbits also has a little something for everybody . A simple (and darn great) example of this is the newsletter I prep each month for the Nova Scotia SPCA - check out a recent newsletter issue here . Some pet owners only like dogs or only like cats - the newsletter as different articles about either or both. Some people are interested in pet health, others aren't. Some people want to read emotional success stories, others don't. Some shop at the SP...

This morning I deleted an email from a good friend and past client. I didn't realize it was from that wonderful lady because it didn't show up in my inbox from her name or her company's name. I only dug it out of my trash after deleting because the wording of the subject line seemed familiar. 42% of people check out the sender name when deciding whether to open an email. - source:  https://litmus.com/blog/6-shocking-myths-about-subject-lines My own newsletters, my blog posts and my weekly event list all go out from my own name - Linda Daley - and have for years. I absolutely know that if I suddenly changed the sender name on my emails, to say Daley Progress, my open rate would drop significantly. This is an experiment I don't need or want to try. Personal names often do better as far as email opens go but it can depend on how well you know your subscribers. More importantly, don't switch the sender name once you're well established. You want your su...

Isn't it amazing that it's now so easy to keep in touch with people we met years ago? Social media has allowed me to reconnect with old friends and work colleagues from long before social media existed. (Yes, I'm that old.) It has also allowed me to stay connected with people I've met along my small business journey. Many people have come and gone but I remember the ones I'm connected with because I "see" them sometimes on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn. But I don't see them all and I don't see all their posts. My life gets in the way and sometimes days or even weeks may go by with me paying little attention to social media. I bet this happens to you too. Then there are the people I remember well, those who come to mind when I stumble upon an opportunity that might suit them. Those people are actively staying in touch with me in a way I can't ignore - by email. And I open my emailbox every single day... many times. There is huge value...

"Yes, it's an old marketing trick to "accidentally" make a mistake in an email campaign so you can resend an email shortly thereafter to increase the number of times people see your message." This was the lead message in an email I received recently which included a correction to information which I had indeed received a couple of hours before. Making a deliberate mistake is a darn poor excuse to get into people's inboxes. Making ANY mistake doesn't reflect well on you, deliberate or not. Do your marketing well and you won't need to resort to tricks. And you won't need to fix mistakes. If a *real* mistake happens, here is my advice about how to deal with it . Let's avoid those made-up mistakes completely. Click to Tweet this Article

When I see the words "try this" along with the words "your email subscribers" in a headline, I get a little antsy. The email I received today included "sneaky-favorite email sequences" in the body text. Here's the thing, if you're delivering value to your readers on a regular basis, you don't need to do anything sneaky. If your readership is dropping off, start delivering more value. Keep giving the thing your readers signed up for... or give even more of it. Being sneaky may result in short term gains (i.e. your stats look better for a month) but it will tarnish your reputation and long term results. Being sneaky means you've run out of value to give and you're getting desperate. You're not there yet. You only have to keep discovering the value that your readers want . Do a little research ... get inspired . Click to Tweet this Article

What's a goal of business blogging that will never be a goal of email marketing? Search engine optimization (SEO), of course. For email, it's all about subject line optimization . (Is SLO a 'thing'?) Crafting a compelling email subject line can achieve better and more immediate results than writing a whole blog post that is well optimized for SEO. After 9 years, over 600 blog posts, and more than a thousand email newsletters, here is what I know to be true: email beats blogging hands down for tangible and measurable results... faster . Writing for your newsletter means writing for people , which is way more fun than writing for search engines , whether it's your blog or your whole website. You don't have to be concerned with tediously repeating keywords and phrases, for one thing. Sure, your email newsletter may include your blog posts. And it should... because your newsletter will get people reading and clicking through to your website much faster ...

Email bots are coming. Now, your reaction might be "Ugh!" but mine was, "Yay!" And that's part of the challenge. Here's another part: they are heaven-sent for spammers. Yes, that deserves an "Ugh!" What I'm excited about are all the possibilities for improving productivity in our daily routines . As a simple example, I'm currently running an email bot to help me memorize a list of items. It "uses a spaced repetition algorithm to bring some piece of information to (my) attention at the optimum interval for memorization." This coming battle between productivity and bad marketing practices will be epic. It will likely cause the reinvention of email communication. This new technology has such endless possibilities to improve our work (and our lives) but it's already being exploited by spammers. We won't be able to ignore its coming. Email bots can chop through firewalls and other security measures, improving deliver...

Starting an email newsletter isn't especially difficult if you have a propensity for apps and design. You could start tonight and send tomorrow if you really want to. BUT developing and implementing an email marketing strategy that will serve your business - and your readers - well for the long term requires thought, research and decision-making before touching an app. This month while preparing to teach a 10-week course on email marketing, I've been updating presentations first created 10 years ago. It's been eye-opening to realize how much has changed. Email remains one of the most effective ways to communicate with our target markets. The tools have become more user-friendly but the strategy part has become more complex. It's no longer as easy as it once was to get the attention of new contacts via email - there's a lot more competition in the inbox . Over the past month or so I've focused on email marketing strategy. Even if you're not getting st...

You've finally decided to start doing some email marketing for your small business. There are lots of things you know you need to consider and lots of things you don't know about yet. But you're game and, having finally made the decision, you hop online to do a little research. Because, of course, we can find all the answers to life's mysteries on Google. You'll quickly find this challenging for two reasons. There's both good advice and bad advice . Some of the advice online comes from people who are writing from experience but a lot doesn't. Some of it has simply been researched online and rehashed. I could go on and on about the myth of double opt-in . Even if you are learning from experienced marketers, there's always the caveat - 'it depends' . I find myself saying that often when teaching because - really - there is no magic bullet or secret formula. You need to know what it depends on . There are some email marketing best practi...

If you're a small business owner without an email list, at some point your future self is going to think, "Why didn't I start an email list sooner?" It takes years to build an engaged email audience. If you're successful (and of course, you want to be), at some point you'll have something exciting to tell all your customers and colleagues - past, present and future - and no easy way to do it. All the reasons to start email marketing can be boiled down to this: an email campaign gives you an audience  for your news and information. If you do it well, conversations (and "conversions") will result. Click to Tweet this Article

All the experts know that email is still king. If you're starting an enewsletter for your small business, figuring out what content you want to put in it might be one of your first challenges. Here's a quick rundown of a variety of different content sections you might include... but don't use them all at once! Articles by you, including blog posts Articles by others , or links to articles by others Quizzes, surveys How-to’s , tips and tricks, useful tools , resources FAQs - Did you know…? – fast facts, interesting tidbits Book reviews , other types of reviews Interviews Case studies, client showcase What’s new…? – of local/industry interest Testimonial(s) Product spotlights Staff/team spotlights Quotes Current and future promotions and sales Promotions for others (with caution) Events Content that might stay the same each issue (but don't ignore it): Website link Social media links Contact info and links Google map (link) Photo of you/staff/t...

We're all familiar with unsubscribing from unwanted emails. Some make it harder than others but, since anti-spam legislation has come into effect, there's been an improvement. Email readers are more aware of their right to unsubscribe and so marketers are getting better at giving that option . This creates the opportunity to gather feedback - to understand why people are unsubscribing . It might have to do with the frequency or that the person is simply no longer interested in the topic. Knowing why is useful to help shape future email strategy. As someone who's unsubscribing, I can quickly select a multiple-choice option and say bye-bye. Recently I ran into this example which threw me for a loop. "Wow!" What's your reaction? "How brazen," I thought. Then, as I was clicking 'other', I realized it's also brilliant. I mean, how many people are actually going to click 'I hate you!' and, if they do, do you care about their...

Small business owners often arrive at the desire to start an email newsletter from one of two different directions. The route has an impact on the strategy, tactics and tools you will use. A Vehicle Some have already been blogging and, for them, an email campaign is a vehicle to get their content in front of (more) people on a regular basis. It's a way to extend the reach of the content they are already creating. It gives regular readers a way to ensure they don't miss a post. Plus, adding additional content snippets can help advance marketing goals. The Destination For others, starting a newsletter is their first foray into content marketing - their newsletter will be a resource they want their target market to sign up for. It may be something that isn't available anywhere else. The value delivered is the final destination. Why does it matter? If the newsletter you're thinking of starting is a vehicle , you can cruise right past strategic planning . I...

The process of starting an email newsletter for your small business involves focusing on these aspects: strategy, tactics and tools. It makes sense to approach them in a logical order from high-level thinking through to detailed work. Strategy First This is where you consider that your newsletter strategy flows from your overall marketing strategy . These are the  goals typically related to email campaigns : Build relationships, community Grow your reputation, sphere of influence Be seen as an expert Share valuable info, products, services Increase your social media following Give value to your customers, prospects and colleagues on a regular basis From that list, identify 2-3 goals that relate directly back to your marketing strategy. These will guide your thinking and planning moving forward with your email campaign. Aside from goals, your newsletter strategy also needs to consider 'who' . Depending on the breadth of your target market, this ...