Work Better, Not Harder

The answer is... Guns N’ Roses. In his book “It’s So Easy (And Other Lies)", bassist Duff McKagan revealed that email marketing was a key component of building the band’s fan base: “As soon as Guns began to play regularly in LA, we started up a phone and mailing list. We obsessively made sure people who came to shows signed up – well, actually, what we did was send stripper friends out into the audience and have them convince people to sign up.” There are 2 important takeaways from this story. #1. You can build your list anywhere and anytime. Not just on your website, not just at your cash register. Where else can you get subscribers who really want what you’re offering ? #2. You need a compelling call to action . This is where you offer value to your target market . This could be a giveaway or the promise of great content to come. Perhaps you won't use strippers to compel subscriptions, but if you're a veterinarian cute kitties might work. photo by F de...

You already know about the identification requirements that need to be in the footer of commercial electronic messages (CEMs) to be compliant with CASL : name, mailing address, plus either phone # or email address. Do you know that this information must also be near, or "easily accessible" from, your sign-up form if you want to gain express consent? Take a moment and check your website to see if this contact information is there. Perhaps you have a contact page with this info on it, or have it in your page footer - that's good. You might also put it on your redirect page if you have one. (That's your web page where a new subscriber ends up after clicking 'sign up'.) Also note: "An individual must take action to opt-in to a stated purpose ." Is there a description of what people are signing up for? (It's also a good time to test your form by signing up to make sure it works.) While you're there looking, think about how you can mak...

While enjoying coffee with a client last week, we talked about the challenges of selling training programs strictly by email advertising. Doing some quick mental math, we figured we'd need a list of 100,000 minimum to have any small chance of success. Building a large list is no easy task and to do it fast would require buying or renting email lists, or scraping email addresses off the web. I'm not very comfortable with either of these list building tactics, however, "quantity" email marketing is extremely successful for a lot of organizations. Take note: big list campaigns require a big budget - not just at the start, but continuously. On the other hand, you can accomplish a lot with a small list - quality instead of quantity. A different strategy , this is all about information (or content) marketing - giving something of value to your target market . It requires having a good reputation to be successful AND it also helps build your reputation . If yo...

For the first time in 4 years, I've been working to build a list of prospective clients. Mary Jane Copps, aka The Phone Lady , asked me to describe my target market for her. That was easy to do when we were sitting in Starbucks enjoying lattes. I have a pretty clear picture of my ideal client – I’m fortunate to have several of them already. Translating that description into a prospecting list has turned out to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. First, I decided to take my own advice and check out who’s been reading my newsletter. Because my own newsletter isn’t about what I do though, it isn't easy to identify readers who might be interested in starting a newsletter just by looking at who’s opening it. On to LinkedIn... After a little grunting and groaning about the search process, I was able to make some progress, but not as much or as easy as I had imagined. There are 2 lessons I've re-learned through this venture: It’s easy to give out and read advice a...

Wondering why you might need a content strategy ? To stay current, sharp, and develop opinions To build your reputation by demonstrating your expertise To inform about your products and services To get found when people are looking for the services and products you provide To have consistent messaging everywhere that people may run into your brand and where they expect to find your brand To provide direction to your team, such as your social media manager or email marketing campaign manager To have a reason to connect with potential clients Click to Tweet this Article

Your newsletter has just gone out and your inbox is filling up with out-of-office auto-responder messages. Are you deleting them unopened? They might be worth a closer look. Other than vacation notices, you might also find that some of your contacts have changed their email addresses due to new jobs or other reasons. You’ll want to search them in your list and replace their email address. (If you delete them and add them as a new contact, you’ll lose the electronic trail of your contact history.) The Phone Lady told me a nice story about reconnecting with someone as a result of following up on a change notice. The lesson is that you can use this as an opportunity to reach out and touch someone that you haven’t talked to in a while. photo by rich115 / Flickr Click to Tweet this Article

You're receiving emails that you consider to be spam and it's frustrating. As small business owners, we're prone to getting on mailing lists. Consider that spam is in the eye of the beholder: what is spam to one person, is not to someone else. In Canada, we now have a legal definition of spam which may not match your own perceptions . As business owners that engage in email marketing, I feel we have to be a bit lenient and open to the efforts of others like us. After all, we know the effort that goes into creating an effective campaign. Before you start reporting fellow business owners as spammers, make sure you know if the email really is spam by the legal definition. In most cases, I encourage you to simply use the unsubscribe mechanism to get off lists . If there isn't one, that's a sign it's spam. And then there is real spam - we all know what that looks like. Clicking an unsubscribe link might be risky. So here's what you do instead: click the ...

I get it... this anti-spam stuff is onerous and complicated. So you might be thinking that you’ll send your current subscribers a consent request just to be safe. It can’t really hurt anything, can it? Safe, not sorry, right? This is a situation where safety has a significant price tag. Here is an example to show how your current email marketing efforts will be impacted. Let’s say you have a list of 1000 subscribers . (Keep in mind that you may already have express consent from some of them.) We’ll be generous and say you get an average open rate of 25% (industry average is 20%). That means that 250 people open your newsletter, but not always the same 250 people. Out of those 250 who open your email, how many do you think will opt-in? Statistics (and my experience) show that it will be about 30% - in this case, 75 people . With one swift move you've reduced your mailing list from 1000 to 75. Will you continue to publish a newsletter for 75 people? And what about...

It's a word that didn't exist a few years ago... and maybe still doesn't? For those of you still on the fence about whether to ask your current mailing list to re-opt-in before July 1st, here is some information copied exactly from the Government of Canada website: Under section 66, consent to send commercial electronic messages (CEMs) is implied for a period of 36 months beginning July 1, 2014, where there is an existing business or non-business relationship that includes the communication of CEMs. Note however, that this three-year period of implied consent will end if the recipient indicates that they no longer consent to receiving CEMs. During the transitional period, the definitions of existing business and non-business relationships are not subject to the limitation periods that would otherwise be applicable under section 10 of CASL. Businesses and people may take advantage of this transitional period to seek express consent for the continued sending of CEMs. You...

Getting someone to your sign-up form is one thing. Getting them to actually subscribe is quite another. To make that happen, here's what I recommend: Have a sign-up form on its own page , or at least immediately visible on the web page (aka landing page) where you send people to subscribe. ( read more about this ) Avoid other calls to action that may distract your potential subscriber. ( read more about this ) Clearly describe what’s in it for your subscriber and how often they’ll get it. ( see our sign-up as an example ) Provide examples via links to past issues in your archive. ( our archive ) Include a brief disclaimer that you won't sell or share contact info. Ask only for an email address unless you have a pressing need for more information. The more you ask for, the less likely someone will be to sign up. With the new Canadian anti-spam legislation (CASL) , building our mailing lists via 'express' consent will become increasingly critical to e...

If the new Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) has you upside down in confusion, you're not alone. The part of CASL that seems to be the most confusing for business people is how it affects their current mailing list . The answer is not especially straightforward because the regulations spell out the law... and then there are supporting documents which help to explain what the law means and how to be compliant. By their nature, those supporting documents provide interpretations, and those interpretations will become more explicit as the law is brought into effect. As such, the following is my informed opinion and best advice. (Consider this my disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer.) To ask your current subscribers to re-opt-in... or not How many emails have you already received asking you to re-opt-in to a mailing list that you have already subscribed to? Kind of pain, isn't it? How many have you re-subscribed to? I bet not all of them. Even before you understand the detail...

There’s a bit of a kerfuffle lately about the new Canadian anti-spam regulations (CASL) . Organizations are busy pushing out emails asking us to re-opt-in to their mailing lists before July 1st. Are you wondering what it’s all about? Or are you ignoring it, hoping it will never impact you? As a small business owner, you should know the basics because, unless you plan to stop doing emails, text messages, and social media posts, your business communication is regulated by the new law. It’s not just about these enewsletters. First, only commercial electronic messages (CEMs) fall under the regulations. Your message is a CEM if it encourages participation in a business transaction or activity, regardless of whether there is an expectation of profit . Many emails, texts, and social media posts sent on behalf of your business are going to be CEMs. Now you know that you need to know. Read my blog post CASL Basics for Small Business for a quick overview. You can find lots of information ...

If you own a business and are using email, text messaging or social networks to promote products and services, you should know a bit about Canada's new anti-spam law (CASL), which comes into effect on July 1, 2014. The regulations, impact summary, bulletins and other resources are detailed and lengthy. I've been asked about this a lot over the past few weeks so I'm starting here with the very basics. First, determine if your electronic message is commercial in nature. The law applies to commercial electronic messages (CEMs) only. A CEM is defined as encouraging participation in a business transaction or activity, regardless of whether there is an expectation of profit. Many messages sent in the process of doing business would be considered CEMs. Here’s what you’ll need to do for those CEMs, starting July 1st: Get the consent of your recipients. The legislation requires obtaining "express" or "implied" consent. Express consent means that a pers...

Unlike some of the other marketing initiatives we undertake, email marketing can have very specific measurable results . Consider... The marketing consultant who locked down a $5000 contract as a direct result of a call to action in her newsletter The speaker who was asked to write a column for a national magazine in response to his newsletter The advisor who launched a speaking career when a speakers bureau responded to her newsletter The trainer who filled a workshop The entrepreneurs who filled a conference The therapist, the nail technician, the coach and the spa that each booked many appointments The wine store, the shoe store and the health store that sold more products The author who sold more books The many sold out events! Certainly the ROI of some email marketing campaigns can’t be measured as specifically as this. And there are lots of smaller benefits which accrue over time. If you're wondering how an enewsletter might benefit your business, contact m...

These questions about email marketing should never be answered, “It doesn't matter.” When is the best time to send my newsletter? Do I need a sign-up form ? Where do I put my sign-up form? How often should I send my newsletter? Should I use a free bulk email application ? How do I get email addresses for my list? Where can I get images to use in my newsletter? How do I look at my statistics ? How long should my newsletter be? What about social media posting? These are just a few of the things you'll need to know and decisions you'll have to make when you start your own enewsletter. The answers to these questions can have a significant impact on the success of your campaign . Don't let anyone tell you differently. Click to Tweet this Article