Top Ten Tips to Improve Your Marketing

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1 simple tips to improve your marketing

2 marketing can be a cost-effective way to increase sales by building relationships, generating leads and continuing conversations with your existing clients. To help your message stand out in the inboxes of your clients and prospects, follow these ten tips to optimize your marketing efforts. Start with tip one!

3 Tip one: Frontload your call-to-action Since 53 percent of total opens occur on a mobile phone or tablet, it s important your messages appeal to today s on-the-go audience. 1 To help your audience quickly digest your message, use the first one or two lines of your to tell them what you want them to do. Placing the call-to-action near the top of an prevents readers from missing it. Tip two: Minimize text and images You can make your s easy to read by cutting down lengthy paragraphs and breaking text into concise sentences or bullets. If you re using images in your , only use one or two. This will help you avoid sending an that s one large image. In fact, many servers block images. If your image contains important text, your message may go unread.

4 Tip three: Use prominent links Links in the text of your encourage readers to visit your website pages to complete an action. You can emphasize your links with larger text, bolding and strong wording that directs readers to take an action. Example: Click here to register for my seminar. When using multiple links, be sure to provide space between them so your audience doesn t have issues clicking them on their mobile devices. Tip four: Add click-to-call links Smartphone users want to dial a phone number directly from an . To put users a click away from calling your business, add a click-to-call link to all the phone numbers in your text or signature line. Click-to-call!

5 Tip five: Make your message shareable You can encourage recipients to share content like an enewsletter on their social networks by adding social share buttons to your templates. These buttons allow your readers to instantly share your content with their peers on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Tip six: Craft a short and compelling subject line The subject line of your is the first thing your audience will see in their inbox. To capture your reader s attention, write a brief subject line that is relevant to your message and includes your call-to-action. Example: Receive 10 tips to prepare for retirement. Effective subject lines can offer to teach something, ask a question, announce something new or offer a solution to a problem.

6 Tip seven: Personalize your message You can use what you know about your clients and prospects to show more relevant content to them in s. In fact, personalized messages can deliver six times higher transaction rates than non-personalized s.2 Using personalization tools, you can prefill data in your text with your recipient s name, location and even dynamic content that changes based on your clients interests and current needs. For example, using dynamic content, you can send a single that contains a retirement preparation checklist or tips for living in retirement based on your recipient s age range. Tip eight: Remain CAN-SPAM compliant The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial , establishes requirements for commercial messages and gives recipients the right to stop unwanted . If you fail to abide by these rules, your s can be flagged as spam and become subject to penalties of up to $16,000 per . For an overview of these rules, see CAN SPAM guidelines for businesses on the next page.

7 CAN SPAM guidelines for businesses Follow these guidelines to stay compliant with your sends: 1. Keep your headers accurate. The From and Reply-To headers in your s should identify the actual person or business who sent the Don t use a misleading subject line. The subject line of your should reflect the content found in your message. 3. Identify your message as an ad. If your is advertising a product or service, you ll need to disclose in the fine print that your is an advertisement. 4. Provide a valid physical address. You should display a street address or registered mailbox for your company in your Make it easy to opt-out. At the bottom of your , you should provide a clear and obvious way for users to opt-out of your s. 6. Handle opt-out requests promptly. Once a user has unsubscribed from your list, you must honor their request within ten business days. 7. Monitor what others are sending on your behalf. Even if you use an outside vendor for marketing, it remains your legal responsibility to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. For more details on complying with the CAN-SPAM Act, visit

8 Tip nine: Send yourself a test Before sending an , send a test version to yourself. Use this test to review your for spelling errors and to ensure your hyperlinks work. You should also verify that your is viewable on mobile devices, tablets and desktop platforms. You can also set up a test account through major providers like Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and Outlook to view how your looks when opened on these platforms. Tip ten: Clean up your list Remove any addresses that come back as undeliverable, non-existent or returned due to a full inbox from your list. Continuing to send a high percentage of s to undeliverable addresses can cause providers to flag your sends as spam.

9 Need help implementing these best practices into your business? Brokers International s Automate My Appointments program can provide you with ready-made templates and automated campaigns that drive clients and prospects to action with little effort. To learn more about how Automate Appointments can make your next send hassle free, please call or visit Q Benchmark Report. Experian. Web. 13 Oct Experian Marketing Services Market Study. Experian. Web. 29 Oct For financial professional use only - not for use with the general public Brokers International, Ltd. All rights reserved