Ever wonder what makes an email look great and work successfully? You probably have, we get this question a lot. To help answer that question we’re going to go through an email from head-to-toe and point out components that will give you a successful email.
Trang 1blog.verticalresponse.com http://blog.verticalresponse.com/
VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small
Business
September 19, 2012
How to Create a Successful Email from Head-to-Toe
Ever wonder what makes an email
look great and work successfully?
You probably have, we get this
question a lot To help answer that
question we’re going to go through
an email from head-to-toe and point
out components that will give you a
successful email
Let’s start at the top:
From Label – This should be your
company name, as most people will
recognize your company more
quickly than say, your personal name,
and since you have just a few
seconds to get someone to open
your email, you want quick
recognition
Subject Line - Once your reader understands who sent the email, the subject line is what will entice
them to open it Write something catchy or interesting, but also informative (easier said than done, right?) Check out our free Savvy Subject Line Writing for Success guide for help!
Background – Use an email background color or pattern that's easy on the eyes The colors in the
example below aren't too bright, dark or distracting Using black text (dark gray is good too) on a white background is the easiest to read
Social Sharing – Make it
easy on your recipients to
share your email socially
These buttons are built into our
system so they’re easy to add,
plus you can put them
anywhere in your email
Pre-header – We can’t talk
about this enough! Some
email programs (including
iPhones) pull the first line of
text in the email into the
Trang 2subject line Take
advantage of this feature to
get better open rates
Table of Contents – If you
have a longer email, include a
table of contents to show your
readers the great info found
further in your email
Links – Give your reader lots
of opportunities to get to your
website and do what you want
them to do Link your images, text, pre-header, buttons, etc Plus, link clicks are tracked, so this will give you more insight into your recipient’s interests
Industry News – Including
blog posts, third-party articles,
statistics, and industry news
that's relevant to your business
and recipients will keep your
email readers engaged Plus,
your readers will look at you as
a knowledgeable resource
-Just make sure to give
appropriate source credit
Keep in Touch – Include
several ways to get in touch with
your company, including a
direct email link If you have a
brick-and-mortar store, also
include business hours And,
with the holidays rapidly
approaching, it’s a good place
to list any special holiday hours
Forward to a Friend –
Including this link will allow your
readers to share your great
content with their friends or
colleagues And anyone who
receives an email forwarded
this way will have the option to
be added to your mailing list
-An easy and free way to keep
your list growing
Two things I would add to the already great email example above:
Call-to-Action Buttons – Buttons are more compelling to click than text links, and easier for mobile readers to touch Include a couple buttons in your emails and you could see your clickthrough rate go
up We have a free tool to help you create them too!
Trang 3Social Buttons – In addition to the social sharing buttons, include buttons that link to your company's
social accounts: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, wherever you have an account for your
business
Easy, right? Hopefully the answer is yes Most of these components can be added to your emails through your VerticalResponse account via the tool bar, in either the Wizard or Canvas editors Try them out in your next email and see if you get better engagement
Have you tried using any of these tips in your email? What were your results?
Posted by Jill Bastian
Jill Bastian is the Training and Education Manager at VerticalResponse Connect with her on Twitter
@Jillieb3.
September 18, 2012
Make Your Content Pop with Pictures
It’s a scientific fact that we
all love to look at photos!
Okay, so it’s not a fact, but
photos are a great way to
build engagement on your
Facebook page, Twitter
feed and even your blog
Why?
First and foremost, visuals
evoke emotion in the
viewer that is quick and
direct When you see a
photo, your brain kicks
into action and you have a
visceral reaction to it
Photos are usually easy to
understand They may be
funny, cute, sad or
interesting, but all you
need to do is look and let
your emotions do the rest In today's world, photos are also very easy to take Smartphones and
inexpensive cameras have enabled almost anyone and everyone to take a picture of nearly anything In fact, every 2 minutes we snap as many photos as the whole of humanity took in the 1800s
When it comes to social, you don’t have to look any further than the success of Pinterest and Instagram
to see how popular photos are Pinterest is now the 3rd largest social network in the US And startup darling Instagram was acquired by Facebook for a cool $1 billion in April 2012
So I think we have an understanding that photos are very popular But how can you leverage photos in the social efforts for your business? Here are some tips:
Use photo centric sites like Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram in your social media outreach Especially if you have visually appealing products and services such as food, clothing or anything beauty related
Trang 4Intermix photos relating to your business with general items such as scenic shots, local sports teams or animals
Interject humorous photos in the mix People love to like, comment and share funny photos This provides an opprtunity to expose your page or board to new people via the photos you are
sharing
Post at least one photo a day on your social sites People may think they'll bombard their followers, but realize the information streams on these sites moves pretty quickly So only posting once a week for instance will get you lost in the shuffle
At VerticalResponse, in our own social media marketing with Facebook, we've seen huge organic and viral traffic increases since we started to make photos an integral part of our social marketing efforts In fact, we had one photo post that received 396 Likes, 492 Shares and 44 Comments Not bad for a Facebook Page that only had a little more than 6,200 “Likers” to the page
Most of the photos we use
on Facebook are ones
that we take ourselves, or
that we share from our
Facebook feed On our
blog, we approach it
differently We purchase
about 98% of the photos,
including the one in this
post Why you ask?
Back in the good old days,
people didn’t really pay
attention to attribution or
copyright infringement
when it came to using
photos on their blog
They’d go to Google
Images, type in a keyword
or phrase that
complemented their post,
download the photo and
slap it up for the entire
world to see Big mistake
Copyright laws are there
to protect the author of the
image You’re not only
taking money from the
originator of the content, but you also run the risk of legal action
If you’re looking to use photos for commercial purposes, you may want to check out these options:
iStockphoto (This happens to be the site we use)
shutterstock
dreamstime
fotolia
Trang 5Bigstock
There are tons more out there and it’s always a good idea to mix it up with different commercial photo sites so you get a new look and feel from the photos offered
But, if you're looking to save a buck and put your own spin on your blog or social posts to Facebook and Twitter, use your smartphone or camera to take your own photos This could be as easy as taking
a photo of your blue plate special, or the new dress that came in You may be surprised by the
engagement/reaction you’ll get from a simple photo It's no coincidence there is a saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words."
Posted by Derek Overbey
Derek Overbey is the Senior Social Media Manager at VerticalResponse Connect with him on Twitter
at @doverbey
September 17, 2012
Google & Social: A Cautionary Tale
Google's recent acquisition of Wildfire was just the latest in a long series of big moves made by the search giant in their quest for prominence in the social sphere But it was the first significant one in a while that didn't involve launching a product of their own True, there have been social-oriented
acquisitions in the past (Blogger back in the day comes to mind), but lately Google's most memorable efforts to dabble into the social space came straight out of the labs over in Mountain View and,
unfortunately for them, didn't reach the heights they were undoubtedly hoping for
Let's take a look back at some of their efforts and learn some lessons of our own for launching a new product/service
1 Google Wave: Too Smart for its Own Good?
Back in 2009 when Google VP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra,
and his team first unveiled Google Wave at that year's I/O
conference, people believed they had just witnessed the
second coming of email Combining the latter with instant
messaging and layering a boatload of functionality on top of
the already impressive combo, Wave promised a radical shift
in the way we communicated on the web Expectations
couldn't have been higher, and everyone and their mother in
the tech/geek world (including yours truly) just couldn't wait to
get their golden ticket and grubby hands on the beta (limited
to 100,000 users only at first)
Initial feedback ranged from mixed to very positive (check out
Engadget's and Ars Technica's hands-on reviews at the time
for instance), with everyone agreeing that this was a tool with
a tremendous amount of potential But analysts also waved a
few red flags, cautioning people to keep their expectations
grounded as Wave needed to work out some kinks before being officially anointed the future of the
Internet, most notably that it lacked a clear purpose and viable real-life applications Unfortunately,
those hurdles proved too great, adoption never took off, even after removing the invite-only gate,
Trang 6and Google pulled the plug on Wave barely a year after introducing it
But come on, this was pretty cool:
2 Google Buzz: Parlez-vous Privacy?
As with Wave, Buzz was greeted with a fair amount of buzz (OK, that
was too easy) upon release Some were already dubbing it the
"Twitter killer" as Google was looking to leverage its considerable
Gmail user base by integrating the new product directly within their
email client This would allow users to post updates visible to anyone
in their Gmail contact list, directly from their Gmail page In addition to
the convenience of not having to change windows/tabs, Google
enabled auto-following between a user and all his/her Gmail contacts,
public and private sharing (which meant your posts would be indexed
and thus Googleable) and a customized recommendation system for
access to only the most relevant updates All in all, it seemed the
search giant had finally hit a social home run, and initial numbers
posted on the official Gmail blog seemed to confirm it Within 56 hours
Buzz already had over 9 million posts and comments, which represents more than 160,000 comments and posts per hour
Google however, neglected one vital aspect that would eventually bring about the demise of its
newborn product: privacy As soon as Buzz was announced, and even prior to launch, industry experts started pointing out the various breaches of user information that the company's decision to
automatically opt in its customer base, had caused Chief among these complaints and considered the biggest privacy flaw was the public disclosure of the names of all Gmail contacts on a given user's Google profile After being hit with various lawsuits and settling a few of them, as well as being
investigated by the FTC, Google decided to shut down its Buzz service a little over two years after its inception
3 Google+: Is This Thing On?
By launching its own social network, pitting itself in direct competition
with Facebook and its already built-in user base of 500 million-plus (at
time of launch), Google knew it was taking a big gamble So, when
they officially announced the launch of Google+, it was immediately
met with skepticism, fueled undoubtedly by the company's recent
history with failed social products Features such as Circles (a fancy
term for lists) or Hangouts (a glorified chat) didn't do much to help the
matter When asked whether he felt threatened on the Charlie Rose
show, Mark Zuckerberg said Google was just "trying to build their own
little version of Facebook" (even though he eventually got on it too)
Fast-forward to over a year later, and the jury is still out as to whether
Google+ is a success Some still believe in its potential, believing it's
only a matter of time before the social network truly takes off But when faced with the hard, cold truth,
we can only note that there just isn't much going on there right now People from within the company itself seem to have lost faith as well, as illustrated by Steve Yegge's infamous rant Instead of a list of raw numbers, here's a nice little infographic (courtesy of Umpf) to prove my point:
So as you can see, even one of the largest and most
innovative companies in the world has had its own
share of hiccups when launching new
Trang 7products/services Google prides itself in letting its teams run independently to pursue their own
projects, with the firm belief that it breeds innovation But we can see in the 3 cases mentioned above that some coordinated homework and research wouldn't have hurt The good news is the lessons learned are applicable to businesses of all sizes:
Make sure your product has legs: Wave
was considered a genius idea with the
potential to revolutionize the way we interacted online, but didn't live up to its lofty promise by
failing to explain exactly what it was for or to
promote its benefits clearly Buzz was a good idea to begin with, but its utter disregard
(blissful ignorance?) for privacy laws pretty much crippled it from the start So do some research on your target audience and gauge potential interest, and identify any
risks/opportunities that may arise during your product's lifecycle before moving forward with any development A beta is a great way to get
an initial read and make tweaks before
exposing your new product/service to the masses
Be wary of the state of the competitive market: Google+ hasn't offered enough
difference-making features to make it a viable alternative to Facebook yet If you are going after a market with firmly established leaders, identify some of the pain points that users are facing (using SWOT analysis, BCG or
McKinsey matrices ) and launch a product that serves unmet needs in order to carve out unique market share
And most importantly, make sure your product is ready for consumption: Wave
was available to only a limited number of people, in part due to the lack of technical resources to support heavier use By the time Google was ready to accommodate everyone, the hype was over, and even the most fervent supporters had lost interest At time of launch, your product/service needs to be robust
enough for your consumers to, well, consume and enjoy Beta testing is a great way to battle-proof it prior to general availability, but make sure to gather feedback from your testers and adjust accordingly in quick fashion
Have you had issues launching a product or service
of your own, and if so, what have you been able to
Trang 8take away from the experience? Share away in the
comments!
Posted by My Truong
My Truong is the Marketing Programs Manager at
VerticalResponse Connect with him on
Twitter @PtitMy.
September 14, 2012
Become a Rock Star on Social Media: 4 Ways
This article by VerticalResponse CEO and founder Janine Popick originally appeared on Inc.com.
At VerticalResponse, we truly believe that email and social media go together hand in hand Why? Because your messages need to be where your prospects and customers are reading them, no matter what channel they like to pay attention to And, if the stats are right, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn alone will reach over 1.5 billion consumers in 2012
So I came up with four little tidbits you can do with your email marketing campaign to get more friends, followers, fans and fervor:
1 Be Proactive
Send a "like me" or "recommend me" email campaign to drive people to your Facebook page Use a template like the one you see below (This is just one of more than 700 free email templates that
VerticalResponse offers.) It's important to have a presence on Facebook since it's the No 1 social media network that your customers and prospects are using on a daily basis
Give your followers and
fans a reason to "Like" you
by giving them a coupon or
special offer A few other
ideas to get people to visit
your page:
Ask a
question You'll
show up in the feeds
of anyone who
responds
Run a
contest We ran the
Next Teen Tycoon
video contest and had really amazing results You might want to use a third-party app like Wildfire Interactive to help you manage it
Post photos Research suggests that people comment on and like photos the most.
Post your blog content to your Facebook page You spend a lot of time creating the
content, so why not publish it in as many places as possible
2 Incentivize Your Twitter Followers
Trang 9Similarly, send a "follow me on Twitter" email campaign with one solo message: Get special deals if you follow us Using a template like this one here makes designing it a snap.
3 Button Up
In every email
campaign you send,
include "follow me"
buttons that link to
your social media
profiles It has become
as common as
including your phone
number, URL and
address Side note:
Include the buttons in
your customer service
emails that you send
out when a customer has a question.
4 Pin Your Emails
If you're on Pinterest (like we are !), post the hosted version link of your email to a board.
Choose the offer or article you want to show, and in the pin description make sure you use your keywords so that if someone is searching Pinterest for your products just like they'd search Google, they'll find your products or business.
Integrating your email marketing and your social media efforts is the smartest and easiest thing to do to maximize the time you spend setting up your marketing Do you have any ideas to share? Love to hear them!
Posted by Janine Popick
Janine Popick is the CEO and founder of VerticalResponse Connect with her on Twitter
at @janinepopick, and check out more of her Inc.com columns.
Posted in Email Marketing, Social Media | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
| |
|
|
|
|
September 12, 2012
How to Make Trade Show Planning Easy Breezy
I love making lists and enjoy crossing things off lists
even more! I create lists in both my personal and
Trang 10professional life So when it comes to planning
tradeshows (almost 30 a year for VerticalResponse),
needless to say, I have a lot of lists When attending a
trade show, which is an excellent opportunity for all
small businesses, there are two lists that everyone
should use: One for event deliverables and deadlines
and the second with assets that are needed for each
tradeshow Follow and create lists like these, and
your tradeshow planning will be easy breezy:
Deadlines & Deets
Event deadlines always vary and it’s important to
keep track For most tradeshows, there are a lot of things that need to be ordered in advance like furniture, electrical and internet access, as well as shipping arrivals You usually get “early bird”
discounts if you order before a certain date I don’t know about you, but I love discounts (another
pastime of mine), so keep an eye out for early bird dates and order everything, not only in advance, but also at a cheaper rate!
Here's an example of an exhibitor checklist from NYXPO, a tradeshow I’m currently coordinating Most tradeshows don’t provide checklists so you can always use samples like this to make your own:
The Goods
The second list you want to
create is pretty standard for all
tradeshows, and it’s all the
items you'll need to bring Below
is my mega-list of supplies I
know I need Keep this list
up-to-date and add things you may
have forgotten in the past Your
packing checklist should look a
little something like this:
Business cards
Your product (if it's
tangible)
Laptop/charger (for
demos of your
products/services)
Data sheets (brochures)
Data sheet stands
Extension cords
Fishbowl to collect
business cards
Email signup form