It seems as though every new marketing article or blog post these days is focusing on social media or mobile media. But email marketing is still one of the most efficient ways to connect with customers and prospects.

So, how do you get consumers to actually open your email and read the valuable contents inside? Mashable and AdAge broke down a list of smart and effective email marketing tactics. Here’s a baker’s dozen you should consider implementing into your campaign.

1. Combine with social platforms: Brands are seeing success when using Twitter and Facebook to gain email subscribers. Send your followers tweets with a shortened URL that allows them to easily click and opt-in to your email mailing list. By creating easy email subscription sign-ups on your Facebook page you have the opportunity to attract more subscribers.

2. Know who you’re talking to: Companies often make the mistake of sending universal email blasts to their entire mailing listing with zero regard to who they’re actually talking to.  Segment your database and design personalized emails that the specific viewer will actually want to read. One way is to screen your subscribers when they first sign up. Ask them what they want to get out of these emails and find out who they are as a consumer. This way, you’re sending them content they actually want to and will read.

3. Let them know who’s talking to them: According to AdAge, 70% of consumers say the “from” line drives their decision to either open or ignore the email and 30% say it’s the subject line. These two touch points give you an opportunity to brand your email and let consumers know who’s talking to them.

4. Give them an incentive: Everyone loves getting a little something special in the mail. Send your subscribers a free gift on their birthday or a 20% off coupon for Father’s Day. Give them a reason to open up the email and they’ll be wanting to come back for more.

5. Extend the offer across social platforms: Extend this incentive across social media platforms by giving viewers the ability to share their news on Facebook and Twitter. By making consumers an advocate for your brand, their friends and followers will be interested in signing up, too. 

6. Create mobile-friendly emails: According to ComScore mobile email usage increased 36% in 2010.  By creating mobile-friendly emails, your on-the-go viewers have the opportunity to read and click-through while on the train or waiting at the doctor’s office.

7. Where to put your most important message: When designing mobile-friendly emails, the key is to make sure the first line in the email is your most important message. Why? The first line is what shows up as the preview on smartphones. It’s about putting your best foot forward.

8. Expand your email list with SMS text: Give consumers an easy way to opt-in to your email database with a simple text. You can do so by letting consumers know all they have to do is text their email address to you SMS short code to subscribe.

9. Make announcements: Consumers are more likely to open up an email with announcement of news. Letting them know a sale ends soon, a new product alert or limited time offers gets them to open up the email and act fast.

10. Frequency and Relevance: AdAge reports that these are the two key elements to keep in mind when using email as a marketing tactic. Don’t bombard your subscribers with a flood of emails, but don’t neglect them either. Provide them with relevant content. If they just bought a product at your store, send them a survey to learn about their experience.

11. Current event tie-ins: Mashable states that viewers respond well to emails related to current events and pop culture. Find creative and fun ways to tie in what’s going on in the area with your brand.

12. Test your tactics: Test subject lines, offers and messages to see what works and what tanks. By testing your tactics you have the ability to know what grabs readers attention and gets them to interact with your email.

13. Listen to feedback: Make it easy for your consumers to leave comments and give feedback so you can give them more of what they want. Email is and always should be a form of two-way communication, so give them the opportunity to respond.

Posted by Rebecca Wilson, Marketing Analyst for the 60 Second Marketer.

Every so often, we like to remind our readers of the best ways they can get the most from our site. After all, the 60 Second Marketer is more than just a web magazine — it’s a community of marketing professionals from around the globe who comment, contribute and conspire with one another on the best ways to get the most bang from their marketing dollar.

So, with that in mind, here are the top seven ways to get the most from the 60 Second Marketer:

1. Comment on our blog: We respond to virtually every comment that’s made on our blog. So if you have a comment about one of our posts, we’ll follow-up on your comment by providing you additional information and insights. Give it a try. Seriously. We really do follow-up.
2. Follow us on Twitter: If you’re interested in staying up-to-date on all the latest trends in marketing, you can follow me at 60SecondTweets. I’ll keep you posted on all the latest articles and information all day long. And occasionally, we’ll even say something witty and funny. But only if we’re in a witty or funny mood.
3. Have the 60 Second Marketer blog delivered to your in-box every morning: Are you interested in learning about the newest tools, tips and techniques in marketing? Then have the 60 Second Marketer blog sent to your in-box each morning. Just fill out the box to the right of this blog post and walla! It’ll be delivered just about every morning, like magic.
4. Sign up for our free weekly eNewsletter: Each week, we send out a whole slew of “How To” articles designed to help you instantly improve your marketing program. If you want tips on social media, email marketing, blogging, direct response marketing or just about any other topic, then sign up for our weekly eNewsletter.
5. Visit our QuickTips page: It includes a long list of tips that you can put to use instantly to get the most bang from your marketing dollar.
6. Check out our Free Tools page: Our Free Tools page has 18 different free tools or information portals where you can download additional content or tools designed to help you grow your sales and revenue.
7. Download a free chapter from my book: Are you serious about social media? Then you’ll want to download the free chapter I’m offering from “How to Make Money with Social Media.” It’s packed with good information.

Of course, all this assumes you’ve taken a deep dive into our free Articles and our free Videos, right? If you haven’t jumped into the fray on those pages, you should start there because they’re packed with great tools and tips on ways you can improve your marketing.

So there you have it. Seven ways to get the most from the 60 Second Marketer. Plus a few bonus tips.

Posted by Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer, the online magazine for BKV Digital and Direct Response.

From BKV Interactive

Email marketing campaigns is a power horse of marketing techniques. Cheap, fast, and relatively time-efficient, email campaigns reach just the right audience at just the right time. But they need to be managed to be victorious.

BKV Interactive has a new white paper. Click 10 Easy Ways to Improve the Effectiveness of Your Next Email Campaign to download the whole paper, and get a preview of two of our favorites below.

1. Ensure that your email addresses are opted-in – This will save you a lot of trouble. Why?

• This improve your numbers such as click-through and open rates.
• It will also keep you from getting the false impression that you have built a sufficient email list.
• You want to be communicating with customers who wanted to receive your communications. It is up to you, the email marketer, to improve that relationship from there.

1. Automate from the beginning of your campaign – Daily chores will take up an increasing amount of your time as your email campaign grows. You want to be prepared for your campaign’s success and growth, so invest some money in your campaign up front by automating it. You will have more time to grow other parts of your business or test new ideas and products.

Have any other email campaign tips? Let us hear from you.

We found a fun, cool website that provides some compelling A/B test results on website designs. Ann Holland’s WhichTestWon.com does simple website results testing. Visitors have the opportunity to choose which website design they think did better in test results, and then to read which page actually won in real life. Some test results are a little more scientific than others, but they still give some ideas for improving your websites.

Here are a few of their findings:

1. Click Here works better than hyperlinked words. They found that using calls to action such as “To visit our website, click here” was 72.5% more effective than “Visit our Website.”

2. Putting the add-to-cart option on the left side of the page increased purchases.   Simply by moving the add-to-cart button from the traditional right side of the screen increased sales by 16.7%. There was no definitive explanation for why this was so, but it worked.

3. Multi-page forms generally work better than single page forms.   Results from an application form page found that users were more likely to fill out more, shorter pages versus one longer page. It was pointed out, however, that audience preferences vary on different e-commerce sites.

If you are trying to improve your website’s design, this website is a good source to get you thinking.

One year, three adventurers, 206 countries and a whole lot of happiness – that’s the gist of Coke’s new social media initiative.

As part of Expedition 206, a team of three young people will visit more than 200 countries where Coke is sold.

The Mission: to discover what makes people happy and to share that joy with the rest of the world.  The journey will bring Coke’s “Open Happiness” campaign to life as the travelers meet people from different cultures and share their stories online.

The  Guides: After an extensive search, Coca-Cola selected nine finalists. Fans around the world will make the ultimate decision by voting at http://www.expedition206.com/ through Nov. 6. Anyone can vote once per day throughout the three-week voting period. The winning team will be announced Nov. 16 at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta.

The Adventure: The Expedition 206 journey will begin in Madrid on Jan. 1, 2010 and culminate at the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta on Dec. 31, 2010. The expedition will make stops in cities big and small, visiting everyday people and marquee global events, such as the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Canada, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China.

New Media: The unique social media experiment will play out online at http://www.expedition206.com/, as well as on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr. As with other Coke social media initiatives, fans will drive the experience. In addition to selecting the travelers and following the journey, visitors to the Expedition 206 website and other online destinations can vote on where the team goes, what they do and who they visit in each country.

A Tradition of Happiness: “Coca-Cola has been inviting people around the globe to enjoy the simple things in life for more than 120 years, and that spirit of positivity and optimism is at the heart of Expedition 206,” said Cristina Bondolowski, Senior Global Brand Director at Coke.

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Here are some tips that you can use from Coke’s social media marketing strategy:

1. Pick an emotion that matches your product, and leverage it in your social media campaign. The marketing team at the Coca-Cola Company had lost its way for many years in the late 1990s and early 21st century. But they have their marketing mojo back and are leveraging it with their “Happiness” campaign. You can do the same thing Coca-Cola does — that is, pick an emotion that matches your brand essence and promote it vigorously via social media.

2. Match your marketing vehicle to your target market. Millennials love social media. They’re also a primary target market for Coca-Cola. When you match the two together, you have a winning combination. The same holds true for the other end of the spectrum — if your target market is age 55+, you’ll want to run something like a direct mail campaign rather than a social media campaign. By matching your marketing vehicle to your target market, you’ll have a better ROI.

3. Get your consumers involved. A brand isn’t defined by positioning anymore. It’s defined by how people engage with your product or service. The Coca-Cola Company gets that and, as such, allows consumers to vote on the team, track their progress and engage with them in other ways, too. When you’re thinking about your brand, be sure to get your customers and prospects involved. The more involved they are with the campaign, the more successful your program will be.

4. Think really big. Really big. You don’t have to be Coca-Cola to leverage the world wide web. Anybody can do it, and that includes you. So be sure to think big and to think global — it’ll help you grow your market share and your revenue. Better still, you’ll be able to tell your CEO that “We’re using the same marketing tactics that the Coca-Cola Company does!”

Visit http://www.expedition206.com/ to learn more and vote for your favorite team.

Imagine this. The potential customer has found your website. They’re looking, they’re focusing, they’re reaching for their mouse… but where will they click?

Of course, we want them to click on a link within our site, and not bounce away from the site. Then we  want to see them click our call to action.

What are some ways you can improve the chances that a customer will stay on our website?

1. Improve readability. Add white space, or change fonts (see 7 Secrets for Choosing the Right Font for Your Webpage). Get rid of clutter. Readers are more likely to stay on a site where it’s easier to see the information.

2. Write great headlines. Attracting readers is a big part of the game. But don’t write outrageous headlines that don’t match the content. Readers will learn to distrust your site and will go away.

3. Include customer testimonials. These compel the reader to trust your claims, increasing the chance they’ll look around on your site.

4. Have videos on the site. A picture’s worth a thousand lines of HTML, as they say.

5. Have a blog where employees contribute. Prospects are more likely to trust the people behind the company versus the “company.” Adding the opinion of real people, even customers, can be of more interest to the readers.

6. Make your call to action obvious on your landing page. Be sure to include the solutions that you are providing also. The place to click needs to be obvious.

7. Put most important information above the fold. Users need to see the crux of your message without having to scroll.

8. Make it easy to find information. You’ve been on those sites where it’s just difficult to find what you’re looking for.  If it’s easier for the reader to go back to the original search and try another company, they will.

9. Provide access to tools your customers need. Assessment tools, links to useful sites, or calculation tools will keep users coming back, even if they aren’t buying today.

10. Have a prominent Search Box. Users need to have an easy way to find just what they are looking for.

Look at your site from a consumer’s point of view. What would drive you away? Try some of these tips and watch your bounce rate decrease.

Without customers, you’re not going to survive. And if you are always getting new customers, but not keeping the old, you’re not going to survive with any sort of success. Here are a few short ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

First, you need to get customers:

1) Buddy up with another business. Send out your brochures or emails and include the other business. Have them do the same. Leverage both lists that way.

2) Keep your ads brief. Call them underwear ads if you like. Short and sweet, and they get attention. Brief ads are much more likely to be read.

3) Sponsor a seminar. Charging gives the impression there’s value to the seminar. Be sure it’s an informative session, and not just a sales pitch. No one wants to pay to go to a sales pitch.

4) Attend, and speak at, industry conferences. This is a great way to get attention for your business. Have lots of business cards and informative brochures handy for distribution.

Now that you have them, keep them:

5) Offer a discount to customers immediately after they purchase. A second email, a postcard with a coupon, or a handwritten note offering thanks will increase your customer’s interest if they feel like they’re getting special discounts.

6) Keep current customers current. Use mailings or e-Newsletters to keep your business in your existing customers’ minds. They can keep up with what’s up with your business.

7) Keep customers interested. Change your promotions and campaigns once in a while. Too much of the same gets boring for both your customers and you.

Remember that once a customer buys from you, they are more likely to do so again. It’s well worth it to make the effort to keep ‘em once you’ve got ‘em.

By Ann Pruitt

No matter what your business, you need to sell your products and services. Dentists, car salespeople, advertisers, and retailers alike rely on getting the right customers to buy. That’s obvious. What’s not so obvious is the way to go about getting the customer to commit to your product.

For example, as a marketer interested in selling your marketing services, you might assess the potential customer like this: They know you are a good marketer… but they also know there are other, cheaper marketers out there. You know you have a better product, and you know they would benefit greatly. What you need is a way to convince the customer that your company is the way to go. Or better yet – have them convince themselves.

The SPIN Selling model has been around since the late-80’s, and provides a way to do just that. It is a sales technique that focuses on asking just the right questions, and driving the potential customer to come to their own conclusion: They can’t go on without you.

Here are the major components of the SPIN Selling model. For more detail, you’ll want to get the book.

S: Situation Questions

Find out about the buyer’s current situation with questions like:

-How many employees do you have?

-How long have you been using your current system?

-What turnaround time are you getting now on your orders?

Only ask a few of these, especially of upper level buyers who don’t want to squander their time. If you can find out the information elsewhere ahead of time, you should, to avoid wasting everyone’s time. The point is to understand the wider context of their business.

P: Problem Questions

Ask about the buyer’s problems, difficulties, and dissatisfactions that you could solve with your product.

-How satisfied are you with your current campaigns?

-What’s keeping your customers from returning?

-What concerns do you have with the firm you are currently working with?

Ask about their problems a lot, early on in the conversation. Think of your product as a way to solve their problems, instead of it as possessing a bunch of characteristics. That will help you ask the right questions to draw out the problems that you know your business could solve. Avoid telling them benefits of your product. Let them suffer a little more.

I:  Implication Questions

Ask the buyer about the effects or consequences of their problems, difficulties, and dissatisfactions.

-What effects does having a slow turnaround time on orders have on your competitive position?

-How are your current campaigns keeping you from promoting the image you want?

-How is your current partnership costing you money?

These are the most powerful, and most difficult, questions for helping your potential customer see how their pain is affecting their business. It helps them see how they are wrong when they tell you your solution isn’t worth the effort and cost. They’ll be begging for a solution.

N:  Need-payoff

Ask the buyer about the value or usefulness of the proposed solution.

-How would a faster order turnaround time help your company make more money?

-If we designed a good campaign, how much money would that save you?

-Why is it important to your company to have a “youthful” image?

These questions should end up with the buyer explaining to you about the value of your product. This provides a greater impact since they are discovering your value, while also making you sound less pushy.

Use the SPIN model as a broad sequence of questions, rather than a rigid formula, and you should be selling so much it’ll make your head SPIN!

By Ann Pruitt

We have a dilemma here at 60 Second Marketer. I don’t really know what to call my job. Jamie Turner, the boss guy, is appropriately called “Chief Content Officer.” I, however, don’t really have a title.

As marketers, we all know that the packaging is a good part of the battle. We all also know that a title is important for the resume – not to mention as a way to describe to other people what you do at your job all day (and night, sometimes). So how do you package a job that entails writing content for a couple of websites, along with other responsibilities?

Up until now, I’ve held the title “Associate,” mostly, I think, for its general generality. But it just doesn’t seem to capture the essence of what I do, not to mention that it sounds, well, junior. (I have enough years behind me that “junior” is a poor descriptor, thank-you-very-much.) We considered “Chief Training Officer,” but that sounded a little overblown to me, and didn’t include the writing that I do.

Blogging and related chores are a relatively new profession. There doesn’t yet seem to be a consensus on what to call the job. Perhaps that’s because there are so many iterations of it. I did a quick search, and yielded these for consideration:

Blogger

Content Curator

Content Developer

Content Management Product Manager

Online Content Writer

Social Content Manager

Web Content Administrator

Web Content Writer

Yet none of these seem to fit. I’m more than a Content Writer (or a Copy Writer), but less than a Chief Content Officer. I make my own decisions and have my own responsibilities, but go to Jamie when I need guidance. I sorta like Content Developer, but I’m not sure.

So I’m turning it over to you, our experienced marketing community. What title can you suggest for my job? Here’s what I do; I need a title that describes it and that I can add to my resume with pride. Now, do what you do and package me for market!

• Research and write blogs and articles for two websites
• Develop and deliver online training seminars
• Develop and write eNewsletters
• Manage contributing authors
• Research competitors
• “Other responsibilities as assigned”

Thanks,

Ann W. Pruitt

Associate, The 60 Second Marketer

Email is where it's @.

What are your objectives in your email marketing campaign? What formats are most effective to communicate these objectives? How often should you send the emails?

Constant Contact, an email marketing solutions company, and the company we at 60 Second Online University use for our weekly eNewsletter, offers a way to match the formats you choose based on the objectives of your email campaign. Here are:

• three typical formats
• the informational objectives that work well in those formats
• a suggested frequency for sending those emails.

1)      Newsletter Format: Use this format when your objectives include:

1. Enhance awareness
2. Increase interaction
3. Educate recipients

Send a Newsletter monthly or quarterly.

2)      Promotional Format: This format works best when your objectives are to:

1. Motivate purchases
2. Generate traffic to a storefront
3. Generate traffic to a website

You’ll want to send promotional emails bi-weekly or monthly.

3)      Announcement Format: These press releases or new product offerings are effective with objectives such as:

1. Increase event attendance
2. Increase donations/contributions
3. Improve public relations

Since these are usually event-based, send an event invitation with multiple communications allowing for recipients to first “save the date”, then sign up, then get a reminder. Announcements, of course, would only need a single communication.

Constant Contact reminds us – track your responses to be sure what you think is effective really is effective. If the campaign isn’t getting the results you expected, check your format, check you objectives, check your timing, and see if you can tweak.