Wrap-Up the Year with Cost-Effective Holiday Gifts

While we are in the midst of Chanukah and Christmas is mere 11 shopping days away, time to purchase gifts for your favorite clients is running out! And, although many consumer surveys report a tightening of the purse strings this holiday season, there are creative and cost-effective ways to spread holiday cheer and say “Thanks!”

Skip the Traditional Holiday Card for an Egreeting
Is your company known for crafty holiday cards? If so, you know that the cost of producing them can really add up once you consider photography, costumes, printing and postage along with the man hours put in to create a clever message. Cut the cost by creating an egreeting. Not only will you save on printing and postage, but you will do your small part in being more eco-friendly this holiday season. Besides, aren’t enough trees cut down for Christmas? At ProMoter our holiday cards were always a hit with our clients and served as a yearly touch point with past clients reminding them of just how good we are at what we do. However, like many small businesses facing a down economy, we recognized the production cost of these greetings was superfluous and avoidable by crafting an egreeting. And, I must say, this year’s egreeting is just as clever and effective as our previous, traditional holiday cards.

In Lieu of Gifts, Offer Discounts on Services
Many businesses like to treat their clients to a personalized gift during the holidays to show their appreciation for continued business; however, for many, funds just aren’t available at year’s end to shower clients with gifts. Instead give clients the gift of discounted services in 2010. Many of us foresee an improving economy and growth in the year ahead. By offering discounted services, you are creating an opportunity for a continued relationship in the new year when cash flow has improved.

Start thinking outside the box when it comes to corporate gift giving and wrap up the year with a bang! Need help designing an egreeting? Contact ProMoter Inc. at promoter@promoterinc.com for quick turnaround with a lasting impression!

Drive results with email marketing; Don’t drive away customers!

Email marketing can be the easiest, most cost efficient way to reach large segments of your target market and leave quality impressions about new product and/or service offerings, company announcements or special deals. However, it is important to follow some basic guidelines when communicating with your audience in mass. Merritt Colaizzi with SmartBlog on Social Media outlines some tips to get the most out of your email marketing.

• Keep it short. Your message should fit in one preview pane. If your viewer has to scroll down or across to view the rest of the message, you will likely lose their attention and, thus, business.
• Have only one “ask.” Don’t confuse your audience with too many messages. Target your email marketing message to one “ask.” For example, “Sign up for our newsletter,” “Click here for instant discounts,” “Learn more about product A.”
• Offer several “calls to action.” This shouldn’t be confused with an “ask.” A “call to action” is a line explaining to the viewer how they can respond to your message. It is important that you give them several opportunities to act. And, be sure not to bury your “call to action” at the bottom of the email. Sprinkle them throughout the email for full effect!
• Include graphic elements. It is important to make your email message visually pleasing. Viewers get lost with too many words. Tailor your message so you can tell your story with a good mix of images and text.

Looking to initiate an effective email campaign but don't know where to start? ProMoter Inc. can help! Contact us at (502)562-1969 or promoter@promoterinc.com

Has Direct Mail Lost Its Edge to Email?

Direct mail seems passé in today’s email driven marketing world. Why spend diminishing marketing budgets on design fees, printing and postage costs when you can zip an email campaign off in minutes? Be wary of the desire to concentrate your marketing campaigns online. While email and other forms of social media have made it easier and more cost efficient to connect with your consumer, direct mail may be your best bet to reach your consumer with a fresh, trusted message.

According to a nationwide survey commissioned by Promo magazine, young professionals (18-to 34-years-old) prefer mail nearly two-to-one. The reason? Privacy. This group’s over exposure to email and the Internet has likely fostered a discriminating view toward online solicitations – chiefly via emails, which are often perceived as a nuisance and deleted.

Furthermore, according to the Marketing Design Group, direct mail is often more effective at enticing the deeper consideration required to convince your consumers that this investment will pay off. If you are launching a new product, soliciting your services or requesting any other big time or money decision from your consumer, direct mail is the way to go.

With increasing postage costs and mailing restrictions, be sensible as to when a direct mail marketing piece is needed. Making a company announcement or offering a discount on services? Stick with an email. However, if you are asking your consumer to spend big dollars on your services or to buy a new product, direct mail is the preferred marketing tactic. Although new technologies and social mediums are creating a whole new dialogue in marketing, direct mail has not lost its influence with the consumer.

Are you looking to create a cost effective yet efficient integrated marketing campaign? ProMoter Inc. can help develop valuable direct mail pieces as well as attractive emails. Contact us at 502-562-1969 or visit us online at www.ProMoterInc.com.

Social Media Monitoring with Google

Overwhelmed with the variety of services, blogs and sites available via the wondrous World Wide Web? Feel like you don’t have time to participate in social media? Are you clueless to the ongoing online conversation about your industry, business or client? Well, it is time to rethink your position on social media and the importance of Web monitoring. Monitoring your company’s Web presence along with site activity is a basic tenet for marketing in a social media age. And, it couldn’t be easier!

Google provides users with two valuable (and free) resources to effectively test the waters of social media monitoring without having to dive in head first – Google Alerts and Google Analytics.

Google Alerts (www.google.com/alerts) will send you emails with links to Web pages (including blogs) that mention your company name. Set up is easy and you are able to control the frequency of the alerts along with the number and variety of keywords to which you are alerted. Feel free to expand upon your company name and include your products, competitors or generic industry-related terms.

Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics) generates detailed statistics about the visitors to your Web site. The service is aimed at marketers so it is easy to use and interpret. Google analytics can track visitors from all referrers including search engines, display ads, pay-per-click, email marketing, etc. The statistics provided are very detailed and customizable.

Other, more advanced, social media monitoring services are available. Check out this article for a “Quick and Dirty” guide to setting up social media monitoring. (www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2009/02/18/a-quick-n-dirty-guide-to-setting-up-social-media-monitoring/)

Be sure to contact ProMoter Inc. for your Web-related marketing needs including Web design and email marketing campaigns. Give us a call at 502-562-1969 or visit us online at www.promoterinc.com.

E-Newsletters are a Great Way to Build Contacts

Marketing in today’s economy is all about gathering contacts and building relationships with those connections. Not to worry, there are more ways to making connections than going to 7 a.m. networking events or happy hour socials. E-newsletter campaigns are a great way to build and maintain your email lists. If done well and consistently, you may acquire new business and establish customer loyalty.

Neil Anuskiewicz and SmartBiz.com have outlined six strategies your small business should utilize in order to build and maintain your email list through e-newsletters.

1. Make your e-newsletter sign-up forms easy to find. If you made the effort to create an e-newsletter and to install sign-up buttons on your Web site, be sure they are not hidden. If a unique visitor comes to your site and bounces off without realizing you had an e-newsletter, then you have missed out on a valuable prospect for your product or service. Be sure to put your sign-up buttons in prominent places and on as many pages as you find appropriate.

2. Build trust, have a privacy policy. In a spam age, people are hesitant to dole out their email addresses. Make sure you have a clearly stated privacy policy positioned in a noticeable area on the e-newsletter. By taking this extra step, you are building trust with your clientele.

3. Provide incentives to subscribers. Hopefully the prospect of receiving valuable information through your e-newsletter will be enough to entice visitors to subscribe. But, if in the off chance it isn’t, try offering special discounts that are exclusive to e-newsletter subscribers.

4. Ask for the right amount of information. Essentially, you have created an e-newsletter to garner contact information from current and prospective clients. That being said, you need more information than a simple email address in order to build a relationship with that contact. However, if you make the form too long, people are likely to bounce off of your page. Stick with the basics – name, company, phone number and email address.

5. Use the Forward to a Friend feature of your ESP. Most Email Service Providers (EPS) have a forward to a friend feature. If your subscribers like your content or know of someone who would benefit from the information, most will forward to a friend yielding you more subscribers and contacts. To make it easier to the receiver of a forwarded email to subscribe to the list, you might want to put a link to the subscription form in the email.

6. Share your Knowledge. Sharing your industry knowledge in articles, blog posts, etc. can drive more traffic to your website and get more email list subscribers. By creating the image that you are an expert in your field, people will be more likely to subscribe to your e-newsletter.

Gathering email addresses for email campaigns like e-newsletters is only the first step. Next, you will need to build a relationship with those contacts. Creative and consistent e-newsletters is one means of establishing that relationship. However, don’t feel shy about personally contacting new subscribers. You may be surprised in the potential behind those contacts!

For more on this article, be sure to check out http://www.smartbiz.com/article/articleview/2510/2/53/.

Want to create an e-newsletter for your business and start building your email lists? ProMoter Inc. can help. Contact us at 502-562-1969 or promoter@promoterinc.com.