Best Practices in Marketing

Transcription

1 Best Practices in Marketing April 2008 Presented by: Stu Carty Regional Development Director Constant Contact Inc. phone: Today s Agenda 3 Steps to Successful Marketing Step 1: Import/Build Good (permission based) Lists Step 2: Build/Send your Campaign Step 3: Evaluate Results / Refine the Process 2

2 What Are We Trying to Achieve? delivering professional communications to an interested audience containing information they find relevant, timely, and valuable conforming to all current Best Practices and anti-spam laws 3 What can Marketing do for Your Business? Boost Repeat Business "Our revenue from return customers has increased about 30% since we began sending out our 'New Arrivals' campaign, and we've found that a number of customers who have never purchased from us before, will buy after we send out an campaign." Bijoux Mart International Create & Increase Awareness "Within a few weeks of using Constant Contact our number of subscribers grew more than 15 percent; it's tripled in less than two years. And we recently won a national award from our professional Episcopal Communicators group." Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta Drive Revenue & Profit "We started small, asking the contacts I had in Microsoft Outlook if we could add them to the list. Also, everyone in the firm asked their friends and colleagues if they wanted to be added, and many did. Our newsletter has played a critical role in our revenue growth. Communiqué Public Relations 4

3 Why Does Good Work? Because people open from people/businesses they know & trust 5 Permission What is It? 3 basic types of permission Explicit: Opt in from your website or storefront Join our mailing list Single vs. Double Opt-in Implicit: Requests for information, existing customer relationship 6 NO permission There is a direct correlation between SPAM complaints and permission: SPAM complaints will increase as permission becomes less explicit SPAM complaints will increase as your contact list gets old (> 6 months) SPAM complaints will increase if you too often or not often enough (frequency)

4 Spam Complaints 7 CAN-SPAM Compliance US Federal Requirements real (clearly identified) Sender Address real, working Reply To address clearly defined content (reason to contact recipient) real, working unsubscribe link clearly identified Corporate Address you can find more information at 8

5 Outlook vs. professional Service 9 Blocking & Filtering 2008 What happens when an message is sent out? Step 1: the outgoing message is filtered by YOUR OWN internet service provider (ISP). Step 2: the incoming message is filtered by your recipients ISP. Welcome to the world of FILTERS 19.2% (1 out of 5) commercial s do not reach their intended recipients aol msn yahoo att But which 1 out of 5? Individual / Personal Spam Filters / Challenge Response Systems Server-based Spam Filters / Anti-Virus software 10 Blacklists / Blocklists Whitelists Sender Authentication Feedback Loops Step 3: the incoming message is filtered and displayed/rendered/interpreted by your recipients INBOX software.

6 Why Use an Service? They send out your messages one at a time (increase deliverability) They have professional account managers which maintain daily relationships with key address providers (AOL, Earthlink, Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc ) They protect your domain name and reputation. They conform to industry Best Practices and Anti-Spam laws They help make your communications look professional (easy to read and act upon) They capture feedback data and statistics (open rates, bounce rates, unsubscribes, click-thrus, etc ) 11 Building Your Contact List Service or Sales Calls Events and Meetings Signature In-store Guest Book Website Signup Customer & Prospect Database 12

7 Gathering Your Contact s Interests Add your own logo and message to subscribers. Use data collected to send your customers only what they want Learn about your customers interests Collect names to personalize s Determine your own interest categories and other data required. 13 Build/Send your Campaigns Newsletters Frequency: monthly / quarterly Lots of educational content (typically non-promotional) 14 Promotions Frequency: bi-weekly / monthly Focus on promotion / limited content 2, 4, 6 product promotions, coupons Announcements Frequency: event-driven Promotional or educational with targeted message Invitations, new products, special events

8 Frequency & Delivery How often to send Create a master schedule Include frequency in online sign-up Monthly Newsletter Coordinate timing for maximum impact Newsletters (monthly / quarterly) Announcements / Event Invitations (as needed) When to send When is your audience most likely to read it? Day of week (Tuesday & Wednesday) Time of day (10am to 3pm) Test, test, test 15 Maximum impact with minimum intrusion Simplicity is GOOD permission reminder clear From Line good Subject Line relevant, timely content multiple links for more info $$ promotion (as appropriate) good use of white space for easy readability good use of graphics (watch out for graphic filters) 16

9 Another Good Example professional appearance nice formatting of information good use of white space good use/balance of graphics good use of links to additional information 17 Evaluate Your Results Your Service should capture campaign statistics address bounces SPAM reports Unsubscribes / Opt-Outs Open rates Click-thru rates Forwards 18

10 Summary A winning Marketing Strategy includes: Setting objectives Collecting contact information Determining message format Creating a delivery schedule Planning time for management and production Building professional communications Analyzing results Continuously refining your strategy! 19 Resources What Can You Do to Get Started or be More Successful? Blog / User Community View Customer Examples Attend Live / Regional Workshops Attend Live / Pre-Recorded web-based Workshops Engage Constant Contact professional services or the expertise of local Business Partners Constant Contact Technical Support =

11 Workshop Feedback Form Enter to win a free book! Tell Us a bit more about yourself Free 60-day trial? Free QuickStart program? Please provide Comments and Feedback on this Workshop 21 Speaking Engagements Constant Contact offers FREE Marketing training workshops/seminars to groups of 15+ people Associations, User Groups, NPOs Groups with multi-company audiences We Need Your Help! Do you know of any good Training or Meeting Room venues in the San Francisco Bay Area? 22