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Here's my newsletter - where's yours!?
This is the 71st time I’ve published this newsletter; started back in August 2011, it is the number one way I communicate with my client base.
Every week I interact with at least one client as a result and it is often the newsletter that initiates a referral (i.e. someone forwards it on to a friend.)
Consistency & analytics
Over the last year I have seen the opening rate grow from 40% to 60%; I know that this is driven by consistency, but I also use the free mailchimp stats to see which topics and titles are resonating with the list, so I know what to focus on.
Email beats everything else
I love to talk about social media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora etc, and how they can be used to grow your business, but at the end of the day – the #1 tool for driving revenue will be your email list.
Growing your list
The best way to grow your list is to offer your visitors something of value, something that they are happy to exchange their email address for. It could be anything: a downloadable white paper, an information pack, a coupon, a service, but it must have value to your customer base.
It doesn’t have to be a download
If you want to see an example of someone doing it right, check out TaxMama.com. By offering something of value (free tax advice) in exchange for an email address (free membership) the Taxmama list is growing rapidly.
What will work for your business?
Every business has something to offer their customers; what’s yours?
If you’d like to get together and work out what that is for your business and have it implemented on your website, reply to this email and book a session.
It’s not about Twitter – it’s about LinkedIn – WTF!?
So, hot on last week’s letter on how Twitter’s finally becoming a viable marketing channel, the Wall Street Journal runs an article stating that “…LinkedIn Works, Twitter Doesn’t.”
WTF!?
I love stories like this - full of charts and figures and illuminated by the personal experience of some random business. This time it’s a health food delivery service in LA where the owner states that Twitter ranks 117th in driving traffic to his website, adding “On Twitter, you can’t engage in a meaningful way.”
Err, you’re doing it wrong
Twitter is a cultural phenomenon and it is growing; most businesses don’t know how to unlock its potential which opens a huge opportunity for those who do.
The big marketing story from the Super Bowl was the Oreo tweet – if you’re not familiar with the story read this quick write up on Cnet – you think Nabisco sees Twitter as a waste of time?
Real time
Where Twitter comes into its own is in real time – when you’re interacting with people and dealing with things that are happening right now. As more people join the network and behaviors such as “second screening” become more prevalent, Twitter is going to become more important.
Here’s the catch
The problem is that whoever is managing the account becomes the de facto voice of the business; the words they use, the pictures they post, how they interact with people etc. There are countless stories of companies getting this wrong as the intern goes on a rampage (my personal favorite here.)
Why you as a small business have an advantage
If, as with most small businesses, you are CEO, marketing, finance and creative directors all rolled into one – then like the Nabisco team, and unlike some of your bigger competitors, you do have the ability to react immediately to what is happening in the world and in doing so, make your marketing more relevant and effective.
How to do it?
As I said last week social media marketing isn’t rocket science but it does need to be strategic and reflect your stated goals. If you’d like to get up and running and get a jump start on your competition, reply to this email and book a session.
Hooray – Twitter is finally becoming useful for you!
Yes I know a few of you are sighing heavily and muttering evil epithets under your breath, but whether you like it or not, Twitter is becoming more important for your business.
If you’re going to be involved in this whole digital marketingthing – you’d better start getting on board.
Fastest growing social network
Twitter made a lot of changes last year and the results have been pretty impressive – it’s growing faster than any other network, more than twice as fast as LinkedIn, Pinterest and Tumblr.
21% of the global internet population now use Twitter on a monthly basis!
No one cares about your lunch
The big takeaway for business owners is the rise of what is called “Active Passive” users; these are people (around 51% of all users) who don’t actually tweet but use the service as a discovery tool.
The two fastest growing activities on Twitter are “Watching full-length TV or films” and “Buying a product or service.” People are not actually doing this on Twitter – they’re finding the link to that activity on Twitter.
It’s almost as if Twitter is the Internet’s digital signpost - pointing everybody to information and services held on other networks.
What’s going on?
Smart phone penetration is exploding and Twitter is perhaps the perfect mobile app – short, sharp and to the point. The older generation are finally getting on board – the over 55’s are the fastest growing demographic with the active user base growing 116% in the last 6 months; the 45s to 54s are also accelerating at a healthy 81%.
These users have a lot more dough than your average 25 year old!
So, what should you do?
Every business is different and every owner has their unique strengths – just “getting on” Twitter probably isn't going to make that much of a difference. Twitter should be part of an integrated digital marketing strategy – you do have one of those don’t you?
None of this is rocket science – sure there are things you’ll need to learn and tools to become familiar with, but mostly it’s about understanding the big picture and working out how you can use your limited time and resources to get the best bang for your buck.
If you’d like to get rolling, reply to this email and book a session.
Fun time with Facebook!
Mothers of Jews who like Bacon
Today’s newsletter is more of a heads up to those of you who are active on Facebook or who have kids that use the network. A new search tool called graph search is about to launch out of beta and if you haven’t checked your privacy settings (or those of your kids, you might want to do that!)
Mothers of Catholics from Italy who like Durex
Unlike Google, where you might search for “Restaurants in Hollywood,” on Facebook, you’ll soon be able to search for “Restaurants in Hollywood that my friends like.” This in itself isn’t terribly radical, but it’s when you consider how people have been using Facebook over the years that it gets interesting.
Islamic men interested in men who live in Tehran
Facebook’s ubiquitous buttons enable you to “Like” almost anything: football teams, businesses, foods, behaviors, hell even philosophies are up for grabs. Most people don’t even remember that they’ve liked something so it can come as shock when they turn up on a search such as
Spouses of married people who like Ashley Madison
All of today’s sub headings are actual searches, click on them and see what it looks like; pretty scary huh!?
Single women who live nearby and who are interested in men and like GETTING DRUNK!
Right now Graph search is in Beta but it should be rolled out in the next few weeks which gives you a little time to get your privacy settings straight. Here’s an up to date article from Lifehacker that will walk you through what you need to do to ensure you don’t turn up in some bizarre search that could embarrass you, your family or your business.
http://lifehacker.com/5813990/the-always-up+to+date-guide-to-managing-your-facebook-privacy
And as ever, if you've got questions on any of this or need a hand, reply to this email and book a session
A cunning use of testimonials to grow your business
The overview
The whole point of writing great content is to wow the reader so that they interact with it in some way: link to it, share it, tell someone about it, etc.
The greater the interaction, the more importance the piece has within Google’s algorithm and up you go in the search rankings.
While shares are becoming more important, links are still the backbone of the internet and you should be actively working to build as many links back to your website as possible.
The testimonial
The best way to get a link back to your website from someone else is to have delivered such amazing service that they feel compelled to write about you – but the second easiest way is to write it yourself.
The concept of the reverse testimonial isn’t exactly new but it sure is effective. Think over the last year of all the products and services you have used, bought, interacted with; are any of them with local business owners, local business owners who have a website?
Writing a testimonial for their business is a win for them – the fact that it contains a link back to your site – well – that’s a win for you!
Do it right
The testimonial shouldn’t be an essay – it should be short and sweet and hit the following points:
- Be specific - mention the product or sales person by name
- If applicable, good customer service that resulted from a problem
- Length of time you have been a customer, if valuable
- How knowledgeable the service was
- How fast the service was
Hans Richter, Owner of Valley Sausages, Best German Sausages in Los Angeles
Cunning!
Watch the FTC
You should of course be running testimonials on your own site (don’t forget to ask for them,) but just be aware of recent FTC legislation. In order to crack down on the fabulous claims of the weight loss industry (amongst others) you can no longer get away with just adding “results not typical,” you need to actually state what is typical. This shouldn’t be a problem for most of you but if you want to find out more, you can read the FTC regs here.
If you’d like to get rolling with testimonials on your site or get a kick start on how to get on other sites, reply to this email and book a session.