January 17, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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So you started an email marketing campaign and then…nothing. You’re not sure what you’re doing wrong, but it’s definitely not working. First, make sure none of the following apply to you:
It’s not even noon, and I’ve already received about 20 emails – and that’s without taking my work account into consideration. For many people, that number may even seem low. The point is this: people send and receive a whole lot of email. Only a very small percentage of that constant wave of emails should be from you. Be helpful, not annoying.
This should go without saying but…seriously, don’t ever do this. Not only are you practicing poor Internet etiquette, but you’re probably also being filtered into everyone’s spam folders.
People handed over their email addresses to you with the idea that they would get something positive out of the transaction, too. Make sure your content is relevant, helpful, interesting, and even funny (if that’s your thing).
You don’t even want to know how many emails I’ve gotten in the past two weeks with the subject line “New Year, New [blank]“. I have not opened any of them. The subject line of your email is your one chance to grab attention. You want to sound more like a newspaper headline and less like an advertisement.
What do you want people to do in response to your email? Do you want them to click on a link? Use the coupon you sent them? Download a whitepaper? Tell your audience what you’d like them to do – and make sure you don’t bury it at the very bottom of the message.
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“But Marketing Zen!” you say, “None of that applies to me, especially because I would never market anything with caps lock. What now?”
Never fear, dear reader. We have some suggestions for you.
Many email clients automatically block images unless the user has specifically allowed them. For this reason, you’re going to want to make sure your message is readable both with and without images. Make sure descriptive text is set up in a useful way, using keywords from your marketing copy, and don’t rely on images to deliver your most important information.
An easy way to engage your readers is to ask an open-ended question in your email, then direct them to reply via your Facebook account or Twitter mention – even an email reply, if you’re up for it. To take it one step further, you could even specifically ask them for feedback about your email campaign.
Most popular computer email clients have a default message window size of about 400×600. To complicate matters further, the viewable space on an iPhone screen is about 320×350. If you want your messaging to easily fit inside these dimensions, you may have to reconsider your design.
Have you found success with your email marketing program? Let us know your tips!
January 17, 2012 - Posted by Shama
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Striking a balance between strong branding and effective social-media marketing can be a delicate proposal. Portfolio.com’s marketing expert Shama Kabani simplifies the task with some old-fashioned human interaction.
Editor’s note: The marriage of technology and communication has been a boon to savvy entrepreneurs, but it’s also a huge challenge for those who aren’t sure how to navigate social networks. To help, Dallas-based entrepreneur and tech expert Shama Kabani is answering your questions. Email her at shama@marketingzen.com, or check out more of her advice at her online marketing company or on video.
Dear Shama,
I am now in the second decade of my business, and I feel like I need to refresh my brand. Instead of having a company name like Molly’s IT Group, I should change it to Hire Me For IT Services and use this same tag for my Twitter, Facebook, and website. It tells people what I do and sets the tempo. Can you provide guidance on how effective this new branding will be in social media and overall business marketing?
—Madeline, Washington, DC
To read more about Ask Shama: Branding and Social Media – What’s the Right Combination?, check out the article on Portfolio.com.
January 13, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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From a quick glance at YouTube, you might think that the only way to make your content go viral is to replace your old marketing strategy with a gaggle of adorable kittens. But before you head down to the animal shelter to cast your next video, we think you should read our list of tips for viral content marketing.
“Going viral” simply means that your content has been shared on a massive scale. Videos are often associated with going viral. For example, you may be one of the 71 million people who’s seen this Free Hugs video since it was uploaded in 2006.
As shown in the Free Hugs video, people are more likely to share content that has made them feel some sort of emotional reaction. Other reasons people are likely to share content include:
It’s funny. Sometimes you need to take a break from the daily grind with a laugh. Think about it – there’s a reason The Simpsons has been on the air since 1989.
It’s useful. It’s nice to help other people, but sharing useful content can also help people seem a little more savvy or in-the-know.
It’s controversial. When something makes your jaw drop, what’s the first thing you usually do? Well, first you pick your jaw back up off the floor, but then you tell other people about it to watch their reactions.
Bonus: It features cute kids or animals.
Of course! Since we go above and beyond here at Marketing Zen, I’ll even give you two examples of online marketing campaigns gone viral.
1. Blendtec
Blendtec sells blenders. Blendtec also puts unusual objects in their blenders, videotapes the results, and posts these videos to YouTube in a series called “Will It Blend?”. They’ve blended a garden rake, some glow sticks, Justin Bieber (not the actual person), and even an iPad. These videos have racked up a total of almost 200 million views. Why? In an absurd way, the video campaign is pretty funny. There’s also the inherent curiosity involved when you see that a grown man is sticking a pool noodle into a blender.
2. Old Spice
How do you revamp a 72-year-old brand? Easy: hire a funny and good-looking spokesman, shoot a well-received Super Bowl commercial, and then spin that off into a social media campaign that results in your shirtless spokesman recording 183 personalized videos in three days (including one where he proposes to someone’s girlfriend for them). The result was millions upon millions of views and an almost 3000% increase in Twitter followers. How? One tactic employed by the team behind the campaign was to dive further into web communities than just Facebook and Twitter – for example, they took questions from both Digg and Reddit.
Have a compelling title. The first thing part of your content that people will see, whether it’s a video, story, or infographic, is the title. Your wording needs to immediately spark interest.
Make sharing easy. The less work people have to do to share your post, the more likely they are to pass it along. Ensure that sharing buttons are prominently placed.
Don’t be long-winded. If you’re making a video, cut yourself off at the two-minute mark. Viewership drops off dramatically after that point. For articles, you want to write enough to be informative, but not so much that the reader feels like they’re staring at a wall of text. Break it up with photos and formatting.
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