Recently, I’ve been hearing ads on the radio for a national company that provides email distribution software for small businesses. This company has made a name for itself by spending big bucks on traditional advertising promoting their online software to send email newsletters. Now I’ve heard their ads before, but this one stuck out in my mind, for one big reason.

The leading statement in the commercial says something along the lines of “Now we can help you harness the power of social media to really give life to your email newsletters.” Well this sounds pretty great, until you listen to the explanation of their “social media integration”.

The commercial goes on to explain that this breakthrough new technology allows you to “place a button directly in your emails that lets your users share your newsletter with all their friends on Facebook or Twitter.”

Really?

That doesn’t sound like social media integration to me. It sounds like copying and pasting the code from Facebook for their “Like” button into the body of an email. What they’re missing is that most people are comfortable enough with online services/software to achieve this on their own. Copying and pasting a snippet of code from page to another is a tangible skill that anyone should be able to quickly master. And just putting a “Share” button in your content is no guarantee that anyone will find your content worth sharing. What about the intangible aspects of integrating social media with email marketing? Those areas are much more valuable to your business and overall marketing success.

How much time do you spend crafting a compelling subject line for your email, to encourage more opens?

How long do you dedicate to writing intriguing content that will encourage your readers to share?

Are you spending just as much time developing relationships with your community on Facebook or Twitter, so that when you do send out a newsletter, you’ve become a trusted voice to them?

These are just a few questions to consider which, I would argue, are much more valuable to your business than a technology feature. New features and functionality are easy to put into commercials, because they can be condensed down into a bullet-point list. But most of the time the more abstract concepts, and the real expertise that comes along with understanding them, are infinitely more valuable to your business.

We’ll cover the concepts listed above in future blog posts. In the meantime, consider the strategies and methods you can employ to encourage better integration between your social media and email. You won’t hear them promoted in a commercial, because they’re much more valuable than a “Share” button!

1. Personable “to” and “from” field – Use your company or first name if applicable for the “from” field. Personalization is key. Be sure that your opt-in process asks for the right information. Using a first and last name as opposed to the company name in your e-mail’s “to” field is an important indicator that you value your prospects enough to devote the time to addressing them personally.
2. Relevant subject line – Why expect people to open your e-mail if your subject line either a) speaks to a very general audience or b) doesn’t specifically provide content expectations? Be targeted, be concise and be relevant. If the e-mail is about dog training, your subject line shouldn’t be promoting a new line of puppy grub.
3. Engaging headlines - Go compelling or plan on going home. Your headline should grab the reader, speaking to their specific needs and interests and providing a compelling reason to keep reading.
4. Get to them, early and often - Provide exclusive sales and promotions to loyal customers first. Sound crazy? If someone takes the time to sign up for your e-mails, showing obvious interest in the products and services you offer, why not reward them? Don’t be surprised if you build a few brand advocates in the process.
5. Keep it concise - Brevity is an art. Use bullets to break up long chunks of text and to present the benefits in hard-hitting fashion.
6. Trust and value first - Focus on relationships first, providing value to your audience that exceeds the cost of services and products you offer. Why? Trust is a precious commodity, increasingly so in the world of Web. Hard sell right off the bat, and risk losing that customer for good. Consider tips and tricks, and toss in a free promo or contest to break up the barrage of marketing information.
7. Establish frequency - Set clear expectations for content type and delivery. Break this rule and risk ruling your kingdom from Mt. Spammy. Further risk people forgetting about you if you promise to send an e-mail weekly or monthly and fail to follow through consistently. Plus, create a sense of urgency, expectation and potentially buzz without the heavy lifting.

Certainly rocket science need not apply, as it’s the consistency of your content efforts that will ultimately determine pass or fail when it comes to e-mail marketing performance. Follow these simple steps initially to gain traction and build trust, followed by regimented testing of new content offerings to segments of your e-mail list.

Fresh and capable of shifting depending on the demand of your audience = e-mail marketing win.

The real deal when it comes to writing effective e-mail subject lines is personalization, and the smart entrepreneurs, business owners and e-mail marketers are the one’s who take the time to write compelling, unique and personable content before ever scheduling or hitting the send button.

Subject lines are not excluded. Following best practice when writing e-mail subject lines is as simple as 1-2-3:

1. Keep it short – If you’re over 50 characters with spaces, you’re too long.
2. Keep it targeted – In addition to keeping your subject lines short and concise (think people and short attention spans), making sure your subject lines are highly targeted to the segment of your list will help increase open rates. If you’re a retailer sending a seasonal e-mail to women promoting great specials on your swimsuit line, make sure the subject line includes your store location and references the specific product (for ecommerce without a physical location, being specific still applies). Avoid words like “free” and “percent off” in your subject line to reduce spam risk, and save promotional content for the body of the e-mail (but keep it light, remember value first!).
3. Personalize – Change parts of your subject line regularly to avoid becoming stale. If you’re sending a weekly or monthly newsletter, consider adding a content teaser to keep it fresh.

Repeat – Keep it short, keep it targeted and keep it fresh, and you’ll be well on your way to delivering more value to your audience.

The tips provided actually would work equally as well for blogging, or even website copy… So be sure to check it out!

Have a look for yourself at the link below:

Writing E-mail Marketing Copy That Sells

Here’s a great (and easy way) to fix that:

Solicit testomonials

Asking people for a few sentences about how satisfied they are with you, or why they continue to do business with you is a great way to get people thinking (thus talking) about what makes your company so great.

“But I already solicit testimonials”

If you’re already soliciting testimonials, we’ll share a secret to solicit testimonials that will turn a happy customer into a raving fan:

Time your solicitation right.

Every customer has a moment where they couldn’t possibly be any happier with your product or service. Marketing-types call this the “moment of maximum satisfaction”. It may be the first time they used your cleaning product and mopping the kitchen took half as long as it used to. It may be that someone used your tax software and saved $1,000 this year over last year.

Whatever that moment is, you need to identify it, and then ask for a testimonial immediately. This has two benefits:

First, you’ll have some great marketing material to use on your website, blog, radio ads, or other mediums. Countless studies show that testimonials from real, live, actual people are some of the most effective marketing tools available.

Second, you’re literally having people come up with a sales-pitch for your company in their own words! Then, you’re having them put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and actually write it down! Your customers will be thinking long and hard about why you’re awesome, and then articulating it! From that moment on, they’ll have an “elevator speech” in the back of their mind.

Now imagine that a mom is talking to a friend, who is complaining about how long kitchen cleanup takes- or, an exasperated, overworked employee is complaining to a coworker about how much he owes in taxes this year. The mom and the coworker will have sales pitches ready to go when they are made aware that someone else needs your product or service.

It’s hard to imagine a more effective sales situation than this – and it’s as simple as paying attention to your customers and asking for a testimonial!

*Did we mention this method is FREE?!

At the same time they’re building their subscriber bases by thousands upon thousands, thus spreading negative perceptions about their brand like wildfire. All because of one mistaken assumption about the right way to do e-mail marketing.

Are your e-mails ruining your brand? Read on to find out…

How many e-mail newsletters do you subscribe to? 10? 20? More?

Now, how many of those do you consistently open and read? A generous guess would be maybe 20%. Why are you reading the ones you are, and ignoring the others?

While the reasons are varied, it’s safe to assume you like the content being provided to you within. Which brings me to my point…

These bad newsletters don’t have bad content, they just don’t have content at all. They are nothing more than an extended sales-pitch. Even the most diehard fan of a brand grows weary of being “sold to” week after week, after week.

Over-selling will destroy your brand faster than any other mistake you can make.

Great newsletters provide rich and valuable information to the intended audience. This week, when you receive your 20 or 30 e-mail newsletters, pay special attention to the ones you don’t read. Take a look at what you perceive they are doing wrong, and then do the opposite!

Start focusing on creating valuable content for your readers and you might be surprised at how many subscribers you gain in the process!