Work Better, Not Harder

Most of us would agree that feedback is generally a desirable thing and necessary for continuous improvement. Yet there seems to be a whole area of performance that gets ignored due to little or no feedback: internet marketing. If you are ignoring your feedback (in the form of statistics), you’re missing two important things: Without a baseline to measure ongoing performance against, how will you know if you’re getting better or worse? Without feedback about your performance and information about people’s interests, how will you know what to do to improve? Below are some suggestions to help you get the feedback you need. They can all be applied to an enewsletter campaign but certainly have broader applications. Tracking codes Online bulk email applications will have this built in. You can also use services like Bit.ly and other URL shorteners. Within the application you will be able to view overall statistics and trends. Plus you’ll get more useful things, like how m...

I am not my own ideal client. Certainly I fit within the target market I have so clearly defined. Being a small business owner, I can identify with all of my ideal clients - we share many of the same needs and desires. But there is a distinction: I don’t need the services that I offer. Because I have skills and expertise that my clients lack, I also have different preferences and perspectives. Sometimes it’s easy to forget this... too easy. When making decisions or coming up with new ideas, I clearly wear the shoes of my ideal client, but not quite. So when I think, “I wouldn’t like that” or “that wouldn’t work for me”, I’m really limiting my options based on false assumptions. False assumptions can lead to painful lessons and lost opportunities. I’m trying to be more careful about the assumptions I make and the results I predict. I’ve written this across the top of the whiteboard in my office: “I’m NOT my ideal client!” It’s a constant reminder to consider options fully and not ...

Here are some of my favourite online tools all wrapped up in one place: Colours and other shiny things: Color Scheme Designer - Play around to find a scheme you like or enter an html# and it'll give you complementary matches. This is one of my most used online apps! COLOURlovers - Very useful for determining colour schemes and for seamless backgrounds. Flickr - If there is anything visual about what you do, you should be using Flickr, another social media tool and a whole other community. Wordle - A fun little online 'toy' for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide. Prezi - A very different kind of presentation software. It's not likely I'll ever use Powerpoint again. Research and productivity: Google Insights for Search - Compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties. Google Alerts - An easy way to monitor your online reputation and a whole bunch of other things. Anothe...

We all use calls to action but we often don’t think of them that way. Writing an email to a friend asking for feedback, emailing to arrange a coffee date, sending a follow up note – these all contain calls to action whether obvious or implied. A call to action should be crafted to suit the situation but here are 3 characteristics of any effective call to action : SIMPLE Uncomplicated and straightforward is what you’re aiming for. Convey the essence with just a few words. Don’t use jargon and don’t mislead or try to trick your reader into action. NATURAL Minimize the options. It may seem like a good idea to give options but, in fact, it causes indecision. If possible, have only one choice and make it the natural next step with little thought required. EASY A simple 1-2-3 process is easy. A 1-step process is even easier. In some situations you may need another call to action to get through steps 2 and 3. Keep to baby steps and few of them. None of these factors will be effective without...

If what you have to share, show or write about isn’t great, don’t put it out there. That was one takeaway from Scott Stratten. I had a double dose of him a couple of weeks ago - read his book, UnMarketing , and attended his webinar. (Highly recommend!) I have to agree with Scott, but can’t let it rest there. It’s too easy to let that become an excuse for not showing up at all. We can plan to have 'great' to share. I feel strongly that keeping to a consistent 'content creation' routine has big benefits. A newsletter in particular becomes successful by establishing expectations over time - about the content, look and delivery. There is benefit in working hard to establish those expectations. A regular delivery schedule is an easy expectation to master. This holds true for other forms of content sharing as well. Slip once and it’s easier to slip again. Having a routine and deadlines keeps us focused. It’s easy to indefinitely put aside those things that don’t ha...

You can promote your enewsletter by using a call-to-action sending people to: your sign-up page your last issue your archive Here are 10 places you can and should promote your newsletter: Website Email signature Blog Business card Online profiles - Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Social media posts At point-of-sale - paper sample of newsletter, card with link to sign-up Feedback forms Workshop hand-outs Brochures PS: Make sure your newsletter has a subscribe link in each issue. Click to Tweet this Article

Do you really need any more information than what you’re already getting? Do your readers? How do you compete with ALL that content that’s readily available? You give them something they can’t get anywhere else! A list is easy - here’s one way to think about it: Static resources : original writing, photos, videos, slide shows, presentations, and more Live resources : webinars, teleseminars, lunch and learns, other events, and more The execution is maybe not so easy. Developing original content requires energy and inspiration. Plan your content in advance - even if only in your head. Take advantage of inspiration when it comes because it often won’t at midnight when facing a deadline. So, what if you can’t write, sing or dance? (That I strongly doubt, but let’s pretend.) Does it mean you have nothing to share? Not by a long shot. Think context. It may not be original content pieces - it might be the way you arrange them, the context in which you present the...

"Sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date with us." "Sign up to get company news and other info." Does that make you want to invite yet another email into your inbox? I think not. what NOT to do I did a search on Twitter for #enewsletter . One thing stood out: companies luring people to sign up with the promise of company news. Now, there aren't many instances where I'd be interested in hearing about new employees and new client projects and new branch offices. Here are those instances: you are my friend, you are my client, or you are my supplier. And if you are any of those, it won't be long before I'm telling you what you're doing wrong. If I don't know you, your company news won't interest me or anyone else who doesn't know you. You need to lure me with something useful or interesting first. (And it seems especially lame when those posts are lined up all in a row in Hootsuite.) I'm not saying not t...

“What is the one best thing that you want a reader to do?” That's one question I ask new clients. Research has shown that offering too many choices creates indecision. To be effective, a call-to-action must motivate your reader to, well, take action. It's not as easy as you might think to decide what that should be. After all, there are LOTS of options. It comes down to really 4 types of choices. You want your reader to click on something, send you an email, pick up the phone and call you, or come to a physical location. (Let me know if you think of others that don't fit these choices.) It makes sense to create a list of what action(s) you want your readers to take, ranked from most to least important. Keep it short! Use that list when you design your website and newsletter. Your list may change from issue to issue or it may stay static for a number of months. Just don't forget that there's a purpose behind your newsletter and what that...

Start thinking about your next newsletter issue as soon as your last one has gone out. Set up a place to gather your content ideas - an 'idea catcher'. I use a folder on my Windows desktop. If you're not always sitting at your computer when inspiration hits, there are other more flexible tools: Evernote , Dropbox ,  Google Docs , and many more. (Along with everything else, Evernote even allows you to capture all your tweets, which are usually a good source for content ideas.) Load up your idea catcher. When you have an inspired idea about something you want to include in your next issue, plop it in. This works really well if you regularly include popular quotes, blog posts, book recommendations, and other resources. As soon as you come across ones you want to use, 'catch' them. By the time your issue date rolls around, it won’t seem like such a chore to assemble your newsletter. The bonus of this approach is that you have less stress trying to rememb...

Add social media to your email marketing strategy for a broader reach. It may not be obvious which strategies will work best for you but, if you take the time to work through these questions, you will be closer to figuring it out. If I ask my readers to like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter, do I have a suitable presence? What are readers expecting? Is my newsletter content worthy of sharing? Even if I make it easy to share , will readers want to share it? Why? If my content is  share-worthy, what benefit do I get? How can I measure it? What kind of content will give value to readers, encourage sharing, and give benefit to me through sharing? What is my primary call to action ? Asking readers to share… or something else? Do sharing tools draw attention away from other important calls to action? Am I simply switching people from one channel to another , if I use email to encourage people to follow me on Twitter, read my blog...

Which is more important: efficiency or customer service? Stop and think about it because the answer isn’t as obvious as you might think at first. I spent a good portion of my adult life working in the industrial sector managing logistics people and processes. One of my primary functions was to manage a balance between the ‘ideal’ goals of peak operational efficiency and exceptional customer service. Too often, one had to be achieved at the expense of the other. Many times, tough trade-offs were made. Now as a small business owner I find myself facing some of these same issues. As I strive for operational efficiency, I have to be ever mindful of the impact of my initiatives on my clients. As I’ve been building my business, I’ve been carefully constructing a clear set of expectations with each client and colleague about such things as how we work together, our expectations of each other, and what happens when things go wrong. I’ve created a comfortable status quo – and that’s not a...

Many of the people connecting with you online are arriving at one of your redirect pages at some point. A redirect page is the 'thank you for signing up' page you send them to when they sign up for your newsletter, or the event registration page you send them to when they sign up for your events. Often, these pages contain minimal, basic information. A thank you message in the case of the newsletter or confirmation of event details (location, time, date, etc) in the case of event registration. But why stop there? For one moment, you have managed to connect with that person. You have them at your website and they have already let you know they are interested in what you are doing by signing up for your newsletter or registering for your event. Why not think about what value you can offer them while they are there? How can you expand on that connection? With both your target market and your marketing strategy in mind, take a fresh look at your redirect pages and con...

We often talk about the importance of making it easy to unsubscribe. I thought I would share with you my recent experience demonstrating the frustration that can occur when it is not. I decided to unsubscribe from Air Canada's onAir newsletter several issues ago. When my issue arrived, I clicked to unsubscribe and landed on a 'No Update' error page. No big deal, the internet can be glitchy, I would just do it the next issue. This went on for 4 or 5 issues at which point, I started to feel like they were sending me to the error page on purpose. I was getting a little hot under the collar. Last week, on a bad day for me, the current issue arrived and I landed on the same error page. I then went back to the newsletter and clicked the "contact us" link which took me to a form on their website called 'Let Us Know'. It was a lengthy form and the first section was my contact information in which I had to fill out my address, email, phone number and ...

“Write when you’re inspired,” I always suggest. But sometimes deadlines loom, we need content, and inspiration is nowhere to be found. Here is a checklist you can use to come up with quick content when you’re out of bright ideas: Fix a problem. You solve problems for your customers all the time. What are they interested in or anxious about? This won’t require much prep because these will be the same problems you solve every day - the stuff you know like the back of your hand. Answer a question , provide advice , or share a resource . Express an opinion. If you're good at what you do, you will have lots of opinions. Share your opinion about someone else's article or on a hot topic under debate in your industry. Tell a story. Telling a funny, strange or engaging anecdote is a great way to deepen relationships. The topic doesn’t have to be strongly related to your subject matter but it does need to resonate with your readers. You can share a success story,...