Work Better, Not Harder

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

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

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...

Don't you love it when you try something new and it turns out super successful? How about something like getting 41 new subscribers in an hour? Yes, that is possible for small businesses - I watched it happen this morning. East Coast Scares , aka Carnival of Terror, is ramping up for Halloween 2018. This team has been hosting haunted houses in the Halifax area since 1994 and has a loyal fanbase. It makes sense that most of their fans are using Facebook - their Facebook page has almost 2000 likes! But for 24 years they've never had a way to communicate directly with their fans, to give them info about their schedule, location changes, and even ask for volunteers. Until now. Now Carnival of Terror can send messages directly to subscribed fans via Facebook Messenger. No MailChimp or iContact, no complicated subscription forms - just a simple chatbot. When they're ready to start scaring people in October, their fans will know when and where to find them. (And they...

Having a discussion with a friend recently about  Messenger chatbots for delivering newsletters , she was perturbed there would be no way to download a list of subscribers. My response was, "Why would you want to?" These contacts have only opted in to receive communication via Messenger. By downloading them, all you'd have is a spreadsheet. (Which is OK, if you like spreadsheets.) As a small business owner, how many times have you been chided to have a database, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) app, even a spreadsheet, with all of your contacts in one place ? Now, imagine the colossal task of putting all of your contacts into one place. I'm talking ALL of your contacts - email contacts, phone contacts, Twitter fans, LinkedIn contacts, Messenger subscribers, and so on. And what would you do with them when they're all nicely entered? I sure won't be adding my 4500 Twitter followers to my email list. (Can you imagine the response?!) Engage peop...

You work hard to attract new subscribers who find value in what you're offering. Someone makes a decision to sign up to your mailing list expecting to receive that great value and... they don't hear a thing from you. I'm not talking about businesses who have sign up forms yet never send a thing - that's a different blog post (and hopefully that's not you). Delivering your precious content to your fans has always been a challenge - what with spam filters, corporate gateways, and then trying to stand out in the inbox. What you may not have realized is that Google has become society's censor, whether you use it yourself or not. Google decides what gmail users see in their inbox , and what gets (sometimes arbitrarily) moved to the promotions folder - out of sight, out of mind. Even if you want to receive newsletters from your clients, or get this week's sales at the mall, Google may decide you don't. This is interfering with: satisfying your subsc...

Wouldn't you like to be getting a dozen new subscribers every day? I've been doing small business email marketing for a lot of years and have a pretty good idea of what will work and won't. I'm rarely surprised but this week has been the exception - building a list from zero to 68 in five days using social media almost exclusively (no paid advertising). This is even more surprising because the Facebook and Twitter accounts started at zero, too. Now I didn't do this on my own; in fact my part was quite small. I've got two partners, Anita of Twirp Communications and Tina of Lift Communication, and we're launching the Social Media Day Halifax 2018 marketing conference. Here are the success factors that have gained us this great momentum: Synergy : The social media networks that each of us have been building for our businesses and ourselves have paid off in spades when we all started promoting at once.  Messaging and Visual : Taking time to craft c...

An email newsletter is a well proven way to provide value to your customers and contacts. But the competition for space in people's inboxes is fierce. If you're going to invest time and money in email marketing, you'll need to step out strong. Your first message will set the stage for what your readers can expect in the future. Feel the pressure to get it right. The trouble is, you don't know what you don't know. While there are many things you'll learn from trial and error, there are a few critical things you need to do well from the start. Here's a checklist to help you gauge your readiness: 1. Have you clearly defined your goals ? If not, write them down now. Here's a list to help. 2. Do you know what your potential readers want ? What's of value to them? If not, get this straight before you go further. Here are some ways to think about that. 3. Are you ready to commit to a schedule ? Once you start sending a newsletter, an erratic sc...

NOTE! Don't jump directly to the list below. There's a caveat and it's an important one. While these are your reasons for emailing your list, you need to create value or point it out to readers. Frame all your messaging around the thought, "What's in it for my readers?" If you make it valuable to them, you'll feel the love in return. Here are 17 reasons to email your list, independent of your regular newsletter schedule: A new or improved product or service - highlight the benefits, not the features A demonstration of one way to use your product... and the fantastic results! A new article, video or audio file published online A customer success story - and how subscribers can enjoy the same success A customer question and your answer - useful information A cool tool you just tried  - how your contacts can benefit Comment on a common myth about your industry - why your subscribers need to know Announce a contest Request information (feed...

UPDATE Dec-9-18: LinkedIn no longer allows exporting of your contact's email addresses. "Can I add my LinkedIn contacts to my email list?" I get asked this a lot with regard to the Canadian Anti Spam Legislation (CASL). And my answer is exactly the same if you are planning to send only one individual LinkedIn contact a message - both fall under CASL. Can you? Yes, it's not hard to do - Google 'exporting LinkedIn contacts' for instructions. Should you? Like any other marketing activity, consider the implications. Review your LinkedIn list and remove people for whom your information isn't relevant. Know your target market and use common sense. Think about your target market's perceptions; many people do not know the legal definition of spam... but think they do. Is it legal? Implied consent applies when businesses sell to other businesses (B2B). The email you are sending must be relevant to the person's job at the organization they wo...

Building a contact list is a long slog , which is why most business owners don't have a good one. And why, when you have a good list, you need to appreciate every single entry in it. One of those contacts will bring your next big opportunity. Protect your contact list - don't ever sell it. And don't give your list away for free, either. Keep it all to yourself - it's a gold mine . People may know you've given away their contact info but, even if they don't, you've given away their attention - a most valuable thing, today and tomorrow. photo by Franck BLAIS / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

Your contact list should be the most valuable asset your small business has, like a privately owned gold mine . Once you have added someone to your contact list, you can create more chances to get them as a client or fan, sell them a product or service, and get a referral or testimonial. The possibilities open up. How many times have you stifled a good idea because you didn't have an interested audience waiting to hear from you? photo by Merlijn Hoek / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

There’s a reason that finding new clients is described as prospecting , and researching our contacts is called mining . It really can be long hours of hard work for little immediate return. In 1849, when Dr. Matthew Fleming Stephenson proclaimed, “There’s gold in them thar hills,” he wasn’t telling his friends to rush off to California. He was suggesting they stay and mine in their own neighbourhood. That’s a lesson for small business owners, too. Greener pastures aren’t always greener. Have you fully mined the possibilities within your current circle of contacts? Before you do any prospecting, you need a mine. It might be a spreadsheet, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool, a bulk email account, or some other ‘place’ where all your contacts (clients, vendors, colleagues, potential clients, referrers, press, and so on) are gathered together. If you don’t have that yet, start now – make it the next priority of your small business marketing strategy. Your contact lis...

Isn’t it exciting that your email marketing campaign is likely to be more successful because average open rates have trended significantly upward ? According to Inbox Marketer, their North American average open rate was 19.2% in 2011 and 25.9% in 2015, an increase of over 6%! The cream on the cake is that deliverability is also up. This sounds like great news for small businesses doing email marketing - my client base. But wait, there’s actually a scary side to all this industry success, especially for small businesses. Be careful about the latest trend that's improving those stats - list pruning . Statistics are quite different from people, and you do business with people. If you’re considering pruning your list, there are some things you need to know first in order to make an informed decision. The Math behind the Pruning Let’s say you start with 500 subscribers and your average open rate is 20%. If you get rid of 100 subscribers (who appear not to be opening your new...

Received this message on Facebook : What is your opinion about sending this kind of email below out? I am on the fence. (I've changed the name on their signature and company for privacy.) "Hi Natasha, We are doing a little organizing and noticed that it's been a while since you have opened any emails or shown any activity via the "XYZ" email subscription. No worries! We value your time! We just want to be sure we are bringing good vibes to the online community whilst not pestering anyone with unwanted emails. Are we bothering you? If you don't want to receive any future emails from us you can click here to unsubscribe from the mailing list. No prob. If you do want to receive these emails then you simply need to do nothing. Keep on keepin' on. Find What Feels Good. Love, A" Consider this: If the motivation for sending something to your list is personal, think twice.  Always give something of value - this email doesn't do that. Your emai...

Save yourself time, money and stress by avoiding these common mistakes. They can have a big impact on your success. #1. Having your sign-up in only one place The more places people see your sign-up form, the more subscribers you'll get. Make sure it's in multiple places on your website, including on a dedicated page. Have a call to action with a link to your sign-up page on your blog, your social media profiles, and in your email signature. Regularly promote your sign-up page via social media posts. #2. Putting too many calls to action on your sign-up page People get confused by too many options. Don't ask them to sign up for your list, buy your latest product, like your Facebook page, and check out your newest blog post... all at the same time. Explain exactly what you want them to do, how to do it, and what button to click next. Don't assume everyone recognizes a hyperlink - say "click here". #3. Not telling subscribers exactly wha...

The reason for adding a subscriber's name as a form field to your messages is to make a closer connection with them. So what happens when you get something like "Dear {Subscriber}" ? The exact opposite, right? Unless you're prepared to spend time maintaining your mailing list, I usually recommend not to use form fields to insert subscribers' names into emails. First you have to get the name. Asking for a subscriber's name on your sign-up form is possible, but also not a good practice because the more info you ask for at sign-up, the less likely people will be to sign up . You could, instead, use another tactic to get the name of your subscriber. This is an example that came at the top of an email from Swiss Chalet: The only thing wrong with this is it arrived 5 days after Mother's Day. Click to Tweet this Article

UPDATE Dec-9-18: LinkedIn no longer allows exporting of your contact's email addresses. Are you still confused about what ‘consent’ means under the Canadian Anti Spam Legislation (CASL)? There are mixed messages as to whether it’s OK to add your LinkedIn contacts to your mailing list. And there’s a reason for that – it’s only OK in certain circumstances. First, if you sell only to consumers, stop now. You need express consent, so the rest of this article doesn’t apply to you. Implied consent is relevant for businesses that sell to other businesses. There are three key requirements for implied consent: The contact’s email address has been ' published conspicuously ' and has no disclaimer that they do not accept commercial electronic messages. 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.) There is an unsubscribe mechanism so the recipie...

Recently the first fine was handed down from the CRTC for violations of the new Canadian Anti Spam Legislation (CASL). The abuse had two parts: having no unsubscribe function content not relevant to those receiving it Those two parts go hand-in-hand. If you have an unsubscribe function, subscribers can easily signal that the content isn't relevant.   ( Tweet This! ) And that's likely the only step they'll take. This is a relatively easy solution to a risky situation. Reputable bulk email service providers (ESPs) are not that costly to use. It also sends a message to your subscribers that you care about their opinions and are willing to pay for them. If you make unsubscribing easy , it will be a non-experience rather than a bad one  - for both you and the subscriber. photo by 28 Dreams / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article