Are You Sending Customers to Your Landing Page or to Your Home Page?

photo by derektabq

So you've got your email marketing campaign running. If you're really working hard to drive traffic then you may also have a PPC marketing campaign running as well. This is great! You've just laid down the tracks for an email blast of traffic to arrive at your website.

But where do those tracks lead? What will they find when the get there?

It seems simple. You're sending them to your website of course. The majority of email marketing campaigns are sending their clicks to "MyBussines.com", which seems like a good idea but may not actually be the best place to send them. You've spent all this time segmenting your email list, but then you don't segment your traffic! Why not?

You could be segmenting your traffic to different landing pages. If you're like most businesses, you offer more than one product or service. When your client clicks on a specific offer on your email campaign, they're saying "Yes, I want to learn more about this product or buy it right now".

Now what do you do then? Are you responding with "Let me take you to the front door of my store" or are you saying "Let me take you right to the aisle in my store where you will find exactly what you're looking for". BIG DIFFERENCE!

Can you guess which clickthrough is has a better chance of turning into a sale? That's right, the customer who was taken directly to what he was looking for is more likely to buy. It seems simple, and it is, yet so many marketers get this wrong.

When you send them to the home page of your site, you're probably giving them a whole bunch of options to choose from, a series of doors they have to walk through to get what they're looking for. If you want to make the sale, you have to make it as EASY as possible for your visitor to take the intended action.

Maybe the action isn't to buy, maybe you just want an email signup, maybe your want their contact info so you can do a follow up call. Whatever it is you want them to do, send them right to it! Remove all barriers to the desired action. Don't just count on the fact that they'll find it themselves. Don't make them search for it. Don't think that if you just drop them off on the main page, maybe they'll buy something else too. If you lead them to what they want and fulfill they need they want right now, they WILL come back on their own and buy more, or you'll get a chance to do a follow up later. For right now, GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT!

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For more information on email marketing or landing page design, please contact Orange Email Marketing for a free consultation.

Cross Promote With Your Email Newsletter

photo by Patrick Boury

An email newsletter is a great way to cross promote the other products and services your company offers.

Your email newsletter is for the soft sell; to establish and build your customer relationships, to showcase your authority in the marketplace. Your email list of newsletter subscribers are all people who have signed up to learn more about your company and to receive news. All you have to do is give them what they want.

The newsletter is the perfect place to introduce a new product or service to you readers. It doesn't even have to be a new product; you can write about an old product simply by speaking about a new feature, a redesign, a case study, a client success story and countless other ways. This helps you cross promote an older product to a newer customer without having it come off like you're trying hard to make the sale.

Writing up a client success story is a great way to cross promote your services to other clients. It acts as not only a testimonial but also demonstrates how others could also make money or improve ROI by using your service. That's what everybody wants to know anyway, "How will it benefit me?". Just demonstrate how it has benefited others.

Your satisfied customers won't mind giving you permission to write about them if you can offer them a benefit in the deal. If they're really happy customers, sometimes they'll just appreciate helping you out by being a case study. If it takes a little extra, usually the free publicity from knowing their business name will be blasted out to the thousands of monthly readers of your newsletter is incentive enough. Perhaps you could offer a discount on their next order to sweeten the deal. It shouldn't be hard to find a solution that can benefit both your customer and your business at the same time.

To learn how you can use OrangeFire Email Marketing Software to manage your email newsletter campaigns, please contact Orange Email Marketing.

Use Email Newsletters for the "Soft Sell"

photo by Paulo Brabo























A Newsletter is Not for the Hard Sell

If you are looking at your email newsletter as another chance to sell, then you should "dial down the sales pitch" because people have different expectations from newsletters. Your typical email marketing campaign is an appropriate place for your promotions, offers and trying to make a sale.

With the newsletter though, you should be approaching differently, and if you do, you'll see better results AND make the sale. It's a NEWS-letter, not a sales letter.

This should be a place for the "soft cell". Consider it like meeting a person at a cocktail party and they ask you about what you do. They seem interested so you tell them about your business. You have a friendly exchange, tell him a funny or interesting story and you give them your business card before parting.

There will be a chance to do a follow up another time, for now you just want to make a good impression and leave your potential future customer thinking "He was a nice guy. He seemed to really know what he was talking about. I should give him a call and see what he can do for my business."

You don't want to abuse your email list with too many offers, and you don't want to abuse your newsletter subscriber with the hard sell. The newsletter is a way to communicate messages and information without being "overly promotional". You don't need to. By showing them your knowledge, giving them useful free information and maybe even being a little fun and irreverent, you ARE promoting your business.

To learn how you can use OrangeFire Email Marketing Software to manage your email newsletter campaigns, please contact Orange Email Marketing.

Email Newsletters Build Customer Relationships

photo by Wonderlane

If you are not already utilizing email newsletters for your business, you should be. Email newsletters are a great way to build a relationship with your customers. It's a cost effective way to expand your email marketing campaign without appearing like you're trying to do a "hard sell" to your email list subscribers.

Email Newsletters have a higher open rate than your typical email marketing campaign. This is because your email list rental expect something more interesting than a promotional pitch when they get your newsletter. They expect to hear news, stories, tips and other interesting content.

It's a chance to remind them why they signed up for your list and why they wanted to learn more about your company. It's a chance to showcase why you're an industry leader. It's a chance to sell yourself as a leader, as an authority, as a trusted source of information.

Email newsletters are a chance to build a bond with your customers or potential clients. You can build trust and authority. You can get them to WANT to contact you, and to approach you when they're ready to buy or enter the buying process.

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To learn how you can use OrangeFire Email Marketing Software to manage your email newsletter campaigns, please contact Orange Email Marketing.

Most Popular Days for Email Marketing Campaigns

I spent a lot of time on email subject lines but I haven't much examined what days and times to send your email messages. I'm often asked "What are the best days to send email marketing messages?". We'll go into detail on that shortly but first lets start by looking at what the largest email marketers are doing for some insight.

chart by eMarketer.com

The most popular day to send email marketing campaigns are Monday and Tuesday. Thursday and Friday are not too far behind. Wednesday is the least popular business day to contact your email list and the weekend sees half as much volume as the first two days of the week.

Weekends are the least popular days to send email marketing campaigns due to the fact that many people won't be checking their email at work and that a large portion of email marketing is business to business.

I'm not saying that these are the best days to send your emails but it's good to see what the competition is doing. We'll examine the issue more in the future. And don't forget that besides sending your email on the right days, you can increase your opens by offering your list more options and keeping your marketing emails relevant.

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Contact Us today for information on email marketing solutions, email list rental, pricing, demo or to learn more.

Make Your Email Marketing Go Viral

photo by Stuart Richards

Did you realize that it's possible for your email marketing campaigns to go viral? This means that after you send out your promotion to your email list, the recipients decide to forward that email along to friends on their own email list.

When this happens, you can have thousands of people who aren't even on your list see your email message. It also improves the chance of converting these people into new customers or possibly get them to opt-in to your list. This is because the message or offer has already received a "thumbs up" from one of their friends. The recipient is way more likely to open the email once it's received a seal of approval from someone they trust.

It can grow the scale of your marketing campaign exponentially. And it can grow at no added cost for you. Each of those email forwards isn't costing you a thing.

It's not just about forwarding emails anymore though, your message can go viral in other ways. It can get bookmarked in Delicious, it can get blogged about, it can be reposted on Facebook. There's multiple channels for that viral offer to spread itself on the web.

Why would people share your offer though? Because it's that GOOD. Because it's EXCITING. Because your offer stands out so high above other email marketing messages that people legitimately want to tell their friends. They feel that the people they know on their email lists could benefit from this. They also feel that your trustworthy.

Are your offers this good? Are they worth sharing? Are you trustworthy?

If not, then make a plan for your next campaign so they will be.

For a free email marketing consultation, Contact Orange Email Marketing.

Make Money During Recession with Email Marketing

photo by Noah Coffey

How about a big pile of money? YES! I don't want to sound greedy or materialistic (I'm not) but money is a good thing. It provides security to you and your family. And right now a lot of people are feeling really insecure and bad about it.

That's understandable. But as I wrote about yesterday, let's stop being negative and make money instead.

To make money you need to stop being scared and instead take ACTION. You need to set a goal, make a plan and then take action to make it happen.

You are interested in email marketing. That's why you're here. That's great, because there is money to be made in email marketing. I work with clients who are making money through their email marketing campaigns every day, right now, in the middle of a recession.

Companies are spending even more money on email marketing during the recession. Email marketing is targeted, it's affordable, it's trackable and it shows a measurable return on investment, which is why companies are increasing email marketing budgets.

There's money to be made out there. I have a client who works in the travel industry selling discount park sleep fly packages, which are travel specials that give you long term airport parking, a hotel room for the night and a shuttle bus to the airport for less than the price of just parking your car at the airport alone.

Instead of rushing to the airport in the morning, you simply spend the night in a hotel right next to the airport, park your car in the hotel's secure long term parking lot and then take the free shuttle bus to the airport. No stress, no rush and you save money. Can't beat that. He serves major US airports with Chicago O'Hare park and fly, Boston Logan park and fly, Newark park and fly and many more. He's even adding new destinations because of demand and just signed up Laguardia park and fly hotels up for his service.

The point is, he's making MONEY. Actually, he's making MORE money. In January 2009 he set RECORD sales for his business! That's the travel business; you know, one of those "discretionary" expenses that people supposedly cut back on during tough times.

But that's not the case, at least not for him. He's not hunkering down afraid or scaling back plans. He's expanding his business. He's spending more money on search engine marketing, not less. Just like the businesses that thrived during the great depression, instead of scaling back on marketing like his competition, he's taking advantage of their budget cuts to put his business in front of more people. He actually has less competition than he did six months ago!

And he's making record profits in the middle of a recession! Take that, naysayers!

While your competition goes into panic mode, you could be expanding your market. People are still buying products and services. The STRONG businesses with great products, great service and well thought out business plans are going to survive just fine.

Use email marketing to boost your website traffic. Build relationships with existing customers. Build trust with new customers. Make more money even during a recession!

For a free email marketing consultation and full service email marketing - Contact Orange Email Marketing.

Stop the Negativity and Make Money Instead.

photo by Derrek Farr

Right now a lot of people are feeling very insecure.

That's understandable. These are uncertain times. There's nothing but negativity, negativity, and more negativity about the economy in the news.

But do you know what? The news is ALWAYS about negativity. Sometimes it's about the war, sometimes it's about natural disasters, sometimes it's about a murder in a safe neighborhood much like the one you live in, and sometimes it's about the economy. But the news is ALWAYS about negativity.

I actually stopped watching the nightly news years ago because it never failed to make me feel bad. Then I got caught up watching it again over the last year because of the US presidential election. And I kept watching it after the election was over because I was in the habit. I wanted to stay up on the latest stories - like the economy.

Where did that get me? DEPRESSED. Feeling negative, just like the news wants me too. Tragedy and negativity sells on the TV news, and I DON'T WANT IT ANYMORE. I'm done with it. Enough is enough.

The newspapers are no better. Do you know why the newspapers are so negative? Because they are all FAILING BUSINESSES. They're caught up in the negative mindset. They report it and they live it. Layoffs, falling revenue and pay cuts, that's what the people who work at newspapers deal with. The Chicago Tribune, the NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, they're all on the verge of bankruptcy? It's NOT A COINCIDENCE that this negativity and uncertainty is reflected in their news.

If you thought you were about to lose your job and your job was to write, what kind of stories do you think you would write? Negative ones! Job losses! Financial melt down! Companies going bankrupt!

This negative attitude just feeds on itself. You've of course heard the expression "You are what you eat". It doesn't stop there though. You are what you READ. You are what you expose yourself to. You are what you think. Negativity just builds more negativity.

Just put a stop to it! Stop watching the news and stop reading the newspaper. Stop voluntarily putting negative thoughts into your head.

Do you want to be a victim or do you want to take charge? Do you want to focus on fear or potential? Take control of what you put in your head. Take control of your thoughts. Take control of the direction of your life.

Do I sound like Dr Phil or something? Sorry but I'm being real here. You've probably seen that show. Some person with a messed up life who makes terrible decisions goes on the show. It's easy for Dr Phil to see what the problem is. It's easy for everyone in the audience to see what's wrong. Everybody watching TV at home is yelling at this idiot.

And they're all right. The person on show needs to take control of their life. They need to stop making decisions that are clearly bad. They need to take responsibility for their actions.

Most of us are the same way. I'm taking charge. I'm done with negativity. I'm going to make money. There's lots of money to be made still out there. Even with job losses, there are literally BILLIONS of dollars spent every single day. Fortunes were made during the great depression. New companies formed and they THRIVED while everyone else was caught up in "how bad things are".

Do you choose to live in Fear or choose to live in Hope?

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At Orange Email Marketing, we're seeing increased sales and leads for three consecutive months, even with recession fears. I have a client in the travel industry - Yes, travel, where everyone is supposed to be cutting back, who just made RECORD profits for his business. Not surprisingly, he's real happy. There is money to be made.

Contact Us today for information on email marketing solutions, email list rental, pricing, demo or to learn more.

Sometimes Boring Subject Lines Work

photo by Tal Bright

I spend a lot of time obsessing about email subject lines. That's an easy thing to do when you're constantly working on email marketing campaigns.

The email subject line is so important. It's as big as a factor as the email marketing message, copywriting, offer and followup. It's the difference between a click and a delete.

You know that you should keep your subject line short and clear. Let's look at a few subject lines that have worked well for me:

• Orange Email Marketing Newsletter
• An Invitation from Orange Email Marketing.
• Upcoming Events at Orange Email Marketing

Those subject lines are kind of boring, huh? The thing is though, they worked. They were clear about what the subject of the email was. It was clear who sent them. They weren't vary sales-y.

Here's a few subject lines that didn't yield good results:

• Orange Email Marketing Holiday Sales Event
• Need More Advertising Value From Your Marketing Partner?
• Now Offering Orange Email Marketing Services

They didn't seem all that bad at the time. Results proved otherwise though. They were probably "too sales-y", too "special offer-y". Anything that appears to cross the line of the "hard sell" doesn't always work. People on your email list get a lot special offers in their inbox, it's hard to convince them to click yours.

It could also be a problem with segmentation. Did someone sign up for a newsletter list but then end up on your special offer list?

Wait, do you even have more then one list? If not you need to offer options for better targeting. Create a separate list for those special offers and you will see your click through rate increase, even with your sales-y subject lines when you know that what you list expects to see.

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For a free email marketing consultation and full service email marketing - Contact Orange Email Marketing.

Offer Email Marketing Options for Better Targeting

photo by David Johnson

Are you offering prospects on your email marketing list options on what they would like to receive?

As email marketing has evolved, so have the expectations of the email recipients. In the beginning there was always a "one size fits all" mentality to email marketing. You offer a signup form on your site, people sign up. They receive emails regarding products and maybe a newsletter.

But nowadays your business will receive better results by creating multiple opt in email lists. This allows you to better segment your lists into different groups and where they may be in the buying process. You have one list for existing customers. One list for potential customers. You have a list for your email newsletter and a different list for specific products.

By segmenting your list into several lists, you can provide better, more relevant information to the recipients. Your company may offer several services or products but they might only be interested in one. Another person may want your monthly newsletter but not be interested in the weekly special offers.

That's fine. Give them what they want. Let them have control over how many emails they will receive each month. Keep them happy instead of sending them info they're not interested in and risking them deciding to unsubscribe from your list. You can always offer them the option to signup for another list later on.

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Visit Orange Email Marketing for more information on email marketing campaigns, to view our email marketing software prices, email software demo or signup today.

Checklist of Email Marketing Data

photo by Ed Siasoco

Time for another checklist to improve the results of your email marketing campaigns. So far we did a simple email quality control checklist and a email relevancy checklist.

Now lets look at the email marketing data that you have already. You have your email marketing list. You likely already have data collected from marketing campaigns utilizing this list.

What can you ask yourself about this data to better leverage it for future campaigns?

• Which campaigns have performed best?
• Why did it perform best? Was it your list? Was it your offer? Was it your subject line?
• How can you use this information to test results for future improvement?
• Could you better segment your list by gender, zip code, age, repeat and new customers or other factors?
• How could you follow up to your list based on the actions different recipients took? Could the next message be changed for those who clicked, those who purchased and those who didn't?
• How will you measure the success of your next campaign?
• What is your plan of action after your current campaign?

The questions you ask yourself about the data and results you receive after each marketing campaign will help determine the success of your future campaigns. When your results aren't what you hope for, some people just want to move on to another offer or a different list.

Don't keep doing the same thing every time, always study your results and look to see what you can do better.

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For information on full service email marketing, please contact Orange Email Marketing for a free consultation.

Keep Your Email Messages Relevant

photo by shoothead

Previously I gave you a simple checklist for your email campaigns to make sure your messages work correctly. That covers very simple way to insure your email list recipients receive and error free professional looking message. Now lets do another list to make sure your messages are relevant.

The people who receive your email marketing messages are going to much happier if they receive something they actually WANT. No surprise there but people still mess this one up. Just recycling a campaign you've already used in print or direct mailing isn't going to cut it. These questions will require more work then spell checking and copying and pasting.

Questions to ask to make sure your email message is relevant:

• What is your business goal for the campaign?
• How will your email marketing campaign compliment your other marketing efforts?
• What aspects of your previous campaigns was successful?
• What aspects of previous campaigns were not successful?
• Can you summarize the value of your message to customers in one sentence?
• Is there a clear Call To Action?
• How will you measure this campaigns success?
• What will you do after the campaign is over to build on your success?

Ask yourself and your team these questions in order to keep your campaigns relevant. Know your goals, know how to measure success and work your campaign into your overall marketing strategy. Consider what came before and what you will do in the future and you will ensure the best results.

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Contact Orange Email Marketing for information on pricing for email marketing campaigns.

A Simple Email Marketing Checklist

photo by diskychick

So your email marketing campaign is ready to go? Got a great subject line? Defined your objectives? Spent time creating a well targeted opt in email list?

Wait one minute!

Don't send out your message just yet. It's worth your extra time to make sure your message is ready to go. A simple mistake, a typo, could derail your whole campaign.

Here's an Email Checklist That You'll be Really Angry if You Don't Follow:

• Spell Check! It's built into your programs for a reason. A typo looks unprofessional and could even change the meaning of your message.
• Check EVERY single link in your message. One bad link can destroy it's effectiveness.
  
• Get someone else to proofread it. It's hard to see your own mistakes sometimes, especially if you've been staring at the same message for a long time.
• Check the Landing Page. Your email may be perfect, but what if the form on your hot new landing page isn't?
• Create Alt Tags for all images. If the images are turned off in the users email, you can still transmit crucial information with the Alt Tags.

That may not seem like much but you'll be sorry if you don't do these things. You can destroy a campaign really quick with a stupid mistake if you don't check things over carefully. You would be surprised how often I see broken links on email messages. Take it from me, you don't want that to happen!