Marketing

By Steve Robinson
Director of National Organizations, Constant Contact

Before you hit the send button on your next email marketing campaign, here’s something to think about – the average person received 91 consumer emails each day in 2015 and that number is expected to climb to 117 per day by the year 2019.¹ These days, just getting a customer to open an email can be a feat unto itself. But not if you follow these insider tips.

Getting Noticed

How does a customer choose which email to open, open first, or not at all? The first thing they look at is the sender’s name and the subject line. If they don’t know you, it makes it that much harder to inspire them to open your message.

To encourage people to open your marketing emails, take these three critical
steps. First, ask your customers for permission to add them to your contact list. Since email marketing is permission-based, meaning you should have a green light from customers before reaching out, this clears the hurdle of them knowing the sender when the message appears in their inbox.

Second, your email address should be under the name that customers know. This is most likely going to be the name of your business, such as “Patsy’s Pastries,” though in some instances it might be your name, as in “Patsy Smith.” Just be sure to use the name the customer recognizes.  (more…)

By Nick Fuller

This is your cue

Engaging with potential and current customers creates a lasting impression. By being open and transparent with your business’s patrons, you will earn their trust. They want to have interactions that help them understand who is behind the business. And one of the more effective and emerging ways to do that is live streaming.

In a recent Brandlive survey, 39 percent of respondents said live streaming will be “important” in their marketing mix. Another 20 percent said it will be “very important.” No matter how small your business, it might be worth your while to explore the possibilities a video marketing trend that’s gaining serious momentum. (more…)

By Steve Robinson
Director of National Organizations, Constant Contact

Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you not to put your hand on the hot stove? Or when you mistakenly went along with the crowd and your parents said, “If all the other kids were jumping off a bridge, would you do it, too?” What if I told you that email marketing is a lot like the hot stove? And just because lots of small business owners send email to customers without their permission, it doesn’t mean you should, too.

Sure, it’s exciting to see your email list grow. It feels like your efforts are paying off and that you’re actually making some headway. But if you add customers without their permission, you might be undoing all of that hard work. Why? There are lots of reasons why it can be bad for your business, and we’ll dig into those, but let’s first consider things from the customer’s point of view.

Picture this: It’s the first thing in the morning. Your customer grabs their phone or flips open their laptop and a hundred or so emails start to download. The steady flow of messages to their inbox goes on all day and your customer’s well-trained brain can’t help but gravitate to a certain email based on interest and priority. If they’re not expecting your email, they’re likely to ignore it. Or worse, they’ll delete it, block you, or report it as spam.  (more…)

By Stacey Hartman

When you’re running a blog, you get that content is king. And with that amazing content, you’ll understandably want to get your hard work out there. How to go about that without breaking the bank, though, can be scary. That, and trying to stand out in the current marketing environment can be extremely overwhelming, especially when everyone seems to be doing the same things to market their blogs.

Stand out from the crowd with these five alternative (and sometimes overlooked) angles on promoting your blog.

1. Join a blog community

Blogging communities (sometimes known as blogging directories) are a place for bloggers to connect over common themes, share content, and build relationships. You’re also able to share your content on a platform that can aggregate common content themes. (more…)