Newsletters: Just Do It
March 11, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
I have worked with SO MANY clients that are just distraught over their “Newsletter Situation”… which frankly means their LACK of a newsletter.
It doesn’t matter what it is; a newsletter, postcard, fun picture or a sample of your work, sending anything out to your address book on a semi-regular basis is good for business. Let’s be clear: I am NOT advocating sending out a digest of boring crap that you think is important. I am NOT cheering for the rights of the cheezy sales guy sending me a 3-page long “regular priced 199 but for you it’s 99 (if you order in the next 10 minutes)”. I am ABSOLUTELY NOT endorsing the emailing of a daily quote that will be the first thing I curse at every morning….
What I am always encouraging of is the sharing of your brand and your personality in a way that betters the lives of those around you. If you are a online video company send me one of your coolest videos (if you have cool videos… if you don’t then just make one that’s funny) every month. If you’re a celeb photographer send me something no one else has seen yet. Are you getting the drift yet?
The trick to a great newsletter/eblast/marketing thing is
1. Be consistent with your personality. Read more
Email Marketing: When to Send
January 21, 2009 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
For years I’ve been a big fan of sending emails out on Tuesday or Wednesday, around 10 am. I picked up the habit after reading a DMA article suggesting this strategy. This morning I discovered an article by eMarketer re-affirming this belief, though they suggest mondays are good days too, which I disagree with entirely. My experience is that Mondays are a poor day to send eblasts, as the audience is busy with work and in “dump inbox” mode – thinning out the junkmail so they have just the work before them.
It’s worth noting also that eMarketer found a correlation with shorter email subject lines and an increase in the read rate – take away from this that your subject line can be more important than the content. What good is fantastic content if your audience never reads it because the subject line is so NOT interesting?
Cheers,
Rebekah
Spam-Stupid: CYA for Eblasts
October 11, 2008 by Rebekah King · Leave a Comment
Lately I’ve been getting more and more emails from people I meet at networking events that take my email address and add it to their mailing list. Next thing you know, I’m getting emails from people I don’t know on a fairly regular basis.
While I’m glad that such a large number of these small business owners have caught up with the marketing benefits of newsletters, I’m dissapointed to say that many of these same folks have missed one very important element: the unsubscribe link.
Sure, you’ve worked so hard to build your mailing list, and you hate to lose readership (I don’t blame you) – but in addition to holding our mailboxes hostage, you are also violating CAN-SPAM law.
ANYONE that sends out email information; be it daily news, inspiring quotes, event invitations, or newsletters needs to read over the CAN-SPAM in it’s current incarnation here. You don’t have to use a service (even though it can be a HUGE CYA for all legal issues), just put a little note telling people to reply with unsubscribe in the subject line if they wish to no longer receive your emails. DON’T PULL A FAST ONE: you must keep track of the unsubscriber and not send them emails next time. Read more
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