How to Effectively use E-MAIL as Marketing!

You’ve done it, your first sale. Now what! Should you move on to your next sale. How would big companies handle this achievement? Now that you’ve made that first sale, what do we do now, go out for drinks, Wrong! First thing is first, your first transaction is doesn’t stop at collecting money and completing your services. The customer “cycle” per say has just started. Depending on what you’re selling you can always call and NAG for presales or upselling your product with warranties or services. To be honest I hate sales men like that. Repeat customers are the best customers, but to keep those customers you need to focus in on them. Don’t lose sight to your customers reactions and what they want to hear and why they should be hearing. Don’t always believe the hype that the customer is always right, maybe but not always well informed. Let’s move. The best customers are your satisfied customers. These are the ones that will create leads for you. Now that you’ve completed your sale, you may want to write two forms of emails. One for towards your customers that have purchased from you, and one towards your potential new leads. Look at it like this the ones that bought from you and have had positive experience from your services are always more likely to purchase again. I’m assuming that in the background of your database you have some wiz kid yourself (as small business person) are keeping notes for all those people who have purchased from you, by keeping their email and contact information, and the ones that just come and visit your website or storefront. Hey offer them a % discount to get that extra info. So the reason why I’m writing this post, is to let you know how to find leads from Email.

1 - It’s always nice to see a Thank you email with coupon! Every customer has a choice; let me say this every business has a choice to make, once the sale is complete. We completing the sale is just the beginning. Once that sale is complete to have a repeat customer, you’ll have to offer something more. I mean a repeat customer should definitely get SOMETHING. He did purchase I mean throw a bone or a discount  everyone loves a discount. In the email confirmation of the order, send out a thank you email as well. Let them know when the delivery date is expected. Once the delivery is made don’t finish communications there. Look at these big companies, they always offer some kind of discount for the second purchase, and if you haven’t noticed already, they constantly send out emails about their upcoming promotions. So in addition to the order details and email opt-in confirmation, include a clear call-to-action in these emails to encourage customers to stay engaged with your company in ways other than via email. It could be an exclusive offer to an industry-specific item, an promotion of your social media profiles to help expand your reach, or a recommendation for a complementary product or service your customer might like. The better targeted your content, the better chance that customer sticks around. Whatever you choose, keep in mind that a welcome and a confirmation email should thank the customer for their opt-in or purchase and offer additional ways to add value, not push for another hard sale.

2 - Service Email – Did you do good or bad? The sales is made it’s been about a week or sooner, and now is what makes you the money or can break you. Send out an email, to ask about their experience with your company. Be straightforward. Ask basic questions, was your delivery made on time, was there anything that our description of the product didn’t include or should of included. Was the product poorly made, ect.. Ask them did we do what we say. If you’ve given your customer either poor service or a sub-par product – don’t expect a 5 star email. You may of made your money in the quick turnaround but lost that customer forever. Before you take that route, let your email leverage your quality of service and also your companies good intentions. Email marketing goes both ways, and it can be a very powerful tool/free tool for you. But keep on thing in mind, that timing is everything. If you write, an email a month later don’t expect anything, and if they do remember you it’s not because you were outstanding. I can’t stress this enough timing is everything. Too early and the product hasn’t been tested with customer, too late and you’ve missed the boat. This is where You have to decide when to get in touch. Depending on what you’ve solved, if its digital give them a few days. (You be the judge on what a few days are), and if it’s physical give them a week or basic rule I use 10 days from delivery accepted. This should be more than enough time for them to of used the product. This is how I see it the more happier your customers are the more likely it is for them to spend again from you. This “ain’t” rocket science. You feel good, they(customer) feels good the transaction goes through without a hitch. Once through customer will feel more comfortable buying from your company. The more open you are about your item, and more communication you have with the customer, the more the customer will feel that he has the company support behind him. It’s very important the customer understand once the money is receive the transaction isn’t completed on our end we are more than happy to go the extra mile.

3 - KEEP IN TOUCH So you’ve sold that great product to the customer, that USB or that great gadget of the future. You’d be surprised that by giving/providing reviews of the product or giving them that PDF file will go far. You might think why bother, but keep in mind that with these great Think about this, Your initial email of educational just a review of the product that customer bought, may turn that neutral customer into a fan of your website or even a fan of your knowledge. If you have customers that on the curve, just think with your educational material or your insight information, might just turn those customer to potential YOUR customers. I can’t tell you what to write, but here is an example of what I would say, if they’re buying a product that is known for something bad name it, don’t hide it I know it’s a no-no in the industry but think about it, the more honest you are with your reviews the more likely it is your customer will be a solid lead.

4 - Should you upsell or your products? What is up selling well it’s like, do you want supersize your drink with that? Get it. Well when you offer your customers the ability to get the next best thing with a reasonable price range many of them will jump. It’s been shown that with these jumps, you can increase your profit margins by 30% depending on how much up scaling you do Selling to your existing customers an add on or providing your customers to an complementary product pays off. It’s shown that these freebeies actually benefit your business in the LONG RUN. I know its hard when you’re a small to medium business in survival mode but believe your benefits outway your initial costs. I’ may of jumped the ramp here I’ll try to tie this into how emailing works. In your emails try to initiate a coupon or try to upgrade the sale, or try to cross sell. What I mean by cross sale is with the cheese burger, offer the coke to wash it down wash it down with. These large firms like Amazon, a large majority of their revenue is from emailing their existing customer coupons or offering services above the situation called for. That’s called Marketing 101. Coming back to email marketing, know your audience, sell the product to your relevant audience. Here is a little home work you’ll have to do. Keep tabs on what your existing customers purchased, send out emails about the product they purchased, send out reviews and ask for reviews from them. This is a two way sword, you’ll get some good reviews and some bad. But to be an honest advisor you’ll have to post all. I know this is not what you want to hear but listen to the negative more than the positive. Don’t lose focus of the picture, most emails are sent maybe just maybe one of them will bite, and that’s better than zero.

5 - Exclusive Deals to current customers. Remember that one customer that purchased from you. Well don’t forget that ONE customer. Hey reward them, give them exclusives deals Did you forget that the reason why people join those email subcritons. Well to get on those great rewards. The customers that are your customers are special. They should be treated with respect and given that golden ticket. Free promotions, free exclusive coupsons, never hurts and these things create repeat customers. If you want create some kind of point system more you buy the more you get off, same way as if they bring new customers. • How about sending out special content/coupon before its released to on your website. • First look at items or services offered, and ask your customers if there is something they’d like to see. (That says you listen and VALUE there opinion)

8 Great Ideas for Free Marketing

1 - How to get your business noticed in the media

Whether it's the local newspaper, a national trade or retail magazine, a radio slot or TV appearance - offer yourself as an expert in your field, available to comment at any time or provide material for their writers or producers. This sounds ambitious but you can do it. Sometimes the best way is to promote your business by paid advertising, it has its advantages.

2 - Referrals are you best bet!

Whether you’re offering a discount for future work, or for your existing customers, everyone loves a discount. Why not provide your existing customers bonuses (in your company money J) by  every referral that comes in give them 10% or whatever amount suitable. Come one guys 90% is better than zero. If the work you’re providing is great, and I can make “money” why not, I’ll throw my friends to you who are looking for the services you offer.

3 - Something for Free……What!

Freebies cost, but what they cost in money, they make up in free marketing, If your business can, offer free samples, or creating a coupon offer on Google. Try it, it does work. 

4 - Let your community know what you SELL or provide!

There are many good business groups and associations, you start at, see if you can talk about your product or your services, let’s see where that goes. Just by getting involved in your own community or religious outlet, your business will gain exposure. You’d be surprised how powerful the local minister/rabbi/father is. During these meetings pass out business cards, don’t be shy, this is all about your business. I know people think this is old fashioned or not needed but hey, I say it’s needed more than ever. Your targeted audience might be few in the community but the ones that find your product or your services interesting will keep your calling card. Do your homework, though--make sure you are confident enough to stand in front of people to make the presentation, and make sure that your talk is interesting, inspiring and at times lighthearted. (Comes from experience but you can do it!)

5 - Make your website work for you

If you haven't had your site optimized (SEO), that's something you should look at. This might be biggest nugget, and sometimes the most beneficial. Hey when people search for our business we want to be Number 1 or it not Number 1 then at least on the first page. SEO services will enable us to pick the right words, and help us gain a better understanding how these SEO engines work. Keep in mind this service will cost you, and this is something you will need someone professional to handle this. You can do it yourself, but I recommend you get a professional to look at it, and then see what you need and don’t need.  Just on side note you can promote your own business on social network sites like Google Plus, Facebook, and Twitter. Try these and work your way around.

6 - Special Offers Pricing!

In a recession strategy, before you start slashing away, look at your competition see if you can work within their pricing structure. Sometimes slashing will turn people away from your business. Offer price guarantees, work guarantee look at what you can offer. Not much to say here because you are your own boss on what to offer discounts. Keep my philosophy one penny is better than zero. If it makes you money why not, sell it. 

7 - Payment Plans

If you offer services, and you think you can offer payment options do it. Sometimes people don’t go for that big nugget is because of price. Let’s say you’ve given the discount, you’ve given the price guarantee, now how do you real in the customer. Well many customers aren’t able to pay upfront. Give those customers if you can the ability to make payments. Hey I know easy said than done but bending backwards is a lot better than closing shop. Make a payment schedule with your customers. Think big and big things will happen think small nothing will happen.

8 - Satisfaction Guaranteed

Your best advertisement is satisfied customers. These are the customers that are going to talk positive about you, and your services. These are the ones that will win you over new customers. Have your customers write a letter of satisfaction about you on the internet. Why not, it’ll be great marketing for free, and people can actually see positive responses about your business.   Above everything else though, treat your customers with the utmost respect and gratitude. They are the reason you have a business at all, and in a recession that key business principle really is worth its weight in gold.

Tools that’ll help you pick Keyword Tools for Your Website

We all know that research is the backbone of any idea, but did you know that some GREAT research with a SEO can land you the most effective website out there. The best way or the most effective way to be on top of any search engine is to have the right words, scratch that, the right KEY words. Key word? These the words that META crawlers go out to find. The more you have the more beneficial it’ll be for your website. These key words keep changing. In this blog I’ll discuss some easy way to find these great tools for free, and pay. I mostly use the free ones because I am a start up company. I try to keep my budget to zero as much as possible. The first one is my favorite. Its called Google Adwords:

Google AdWords Keyword Tool One of the most effective keyword research tool, is the Google Adwords tool. I don’t care if you’ve got a degree from some snobby college, if you don’t know what you’re looking for or what key words should be used. Let’s just say you’re website could be giving away free gold, and if you’re not being search on, then you’re website and your ideas is invisible. The way it works is you’ll put a word or a phrase and see how many times that word has been searched on. It’ll give you an idea of which words to use on your website.

Keyword Spy - I actually like this tool, with this tool, you can check your competitors’ AdWords , learn more about their organic and PPC spending and “home” into, their winning keyword and ad copy combinations. A great ray of diverse search options are available to you. You can try it out with the free demo, and you may very well find that it’s worthwhile to pay the monthly fee to keep using it.

HitTail I believe in freebee but if you have to pay, then for $9.95 a month, you can receive real-time statistics about the keywords you’re using on your website. Actually, this is a great way to come up with promising new keywords for your SEO campaign. To date, the site has analyzed more than 1.2 billion keywords. If you’re unsure about whether it’s worth it, you can use the free version to see what it’s all about. Think of it as a way to get inside prospective customers’ heads.

Wordtracker It’s important to fill your site with Google-friendly content. This robust tool makes that a lot easier to do. Wordtracker includes a first-rate keyword suggestion tool. You can use it to search for specific keywords and to find out how many searches are being performed for them per month. You’ll also be presented with a list of keyword variations. Additional tools like a link-building tool and a competition analysis tool are also available. You can check it out with a seven-day free trial. The full version costs $299 per year.

KeywordStrategy One of the nice things about this tool is that several monthly plans are available. You can easily find one that suits your needs and your budget. It includes many useful keyword research functions, and it even allows you to import lists of keywords. This tool was clearly designed by people who do this type of research all the time. You can blacklist unwanted keywords, tag keywords to organize them more effectively and filter them according to many different criteria. In addition to that, you can track your ranking for thousands of keywords quickly.

serpIQ The primary goal of this tool is to allow you to take over your desired niche. You work towards that goal in a number of ways. A comprehensive analysis of the competition can be conducted quickly.
Bright, easy-to-read graphs make it easy to see where you stand and to check how your competition is faring. Different plans are available, and each one includes a different maximum number of analyses per day. This tool also allows you to generate PDF reports that can be used to fine-tune your SEO strategy. 

iSpionage Executing an effective PPC campaign can be tricky. Without doing the right research, yours could be doomed to failure. Keyword analysis plays a vital role, and iSpionage is perfect for anyone who is doing keyword research for their PPC campaigns. You can monitor the competition’s paid search campaigns as well, which makes it easier to find gaps where you can slide in and be more competitive. Some stand-out features include social mention data and SEO keyword monitoring. Monthly plans are available, or you can pay for six months at a time and save a lot of money.

Seed Keywords This one really stands out because it takes a whole different approach to keyword analysis. Instead of generating reports based on searches and other data, this tool puts you in the driver’s seat. You send a search scenario to a handful of people. They are then asked to provide the types of terms that they would use to solve the problem. With that information, you can get inside people’s heads and get a better handle on the types of keywords they’d use. It’s worth it to give Seed Keywords a try because it’s totally free.

Keyword Eye Are you the type of person who prefers visual representations of data as opposed to row after row of numbers? If so, Keyword Eye may be right for you. This tool uses keyword clouds and other visual representations of important search engine data to help you fine-tune your SEO campaign. It’s also a great way to brainstorm new keywords for your campaign. A variety of reporting options is available. You can even generate reports that can be used by copywriters for inspiration. You can try it for free right on the main website.

Wordze One of the top selling points of this keyword tool is that it incorporates many different tools and reports. You can access these tools from a single, easy-to-use interface. The AdWords tools lets you study up about how your competitors are using keywords in their campaigns. You can generate reports about search trends to come up with new directions for your campaign. There is also a meta search tool that lets you dig even deeper. Although a free version isn’t available, a risk-free trial is. With all of these tools in one place, your campaign is sure to flourish.

Keyword Competitor This tool is a little bit different, it’ll give you an idea of how your competition is being ranked. Think about it if you know that, you can change or update your site to use the same words. Hey give it a try it might just work. Remember with all these tools, you won’t become number 1 or 2 overnight. Just keep in mind, at the end of day it’s the number of hits. With a few clicks of the mouse button, you can discover the landing pages and paid keyword ads that your competitors are using. You can even find out what’s working and what isn't. With that information, you can fine-tune your existing efforts or start a whole new campaign. A 30-day free trial is available, and plans range in price from $29 a month to $499 a month. 

SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty Tool The one drawback to this tool is that you need to have an SEOmoz PRO account. If you do though, this tool works incredibly well. In fact, it became so popular that the site had to restrict its use to members only. One of the best things about the keyword difficulty tool is its simplicity. Just plug in the keyword of your choice and get a wide array of information. You can find out the search volume for a keyword on Google AdWords and get all kinds of additional information. The tool is free to PRO members.

Looking at all these tools, just keep on thing in mind. Use what works for you.

What a takes to be Designer!

Now that you have your desktop or laptop that can run code in multiple languages. You’ve got the best programs that money can buy. You’ve got it all baby! But wait, now its time to create, the project just came in, your first customer. The customer wants an apple. Here you are in front of that 10K computer, hoping that ideas will flow out. I guess what the question here is, are you born with the skill to design or is it something you learn. Believe me the answer is not so black and white. Also just a side note, this article has not right answer. 

Here’s my two cents. Designers are a dime a dozen, but the good ones are rare as diamonds. I believe that talent is in you. Just like a piece of marble your experience and positive atmosphere makes you, YOU. Many people fall in to the trap of marketing, marketing and designing do go hand in hand but they are two separate professions. To be productive in either role, you need to feed off each other.

You’ll notice, and I won’t name names, but many designers with their own talent “borrow” ideas from the original designers. There’s nothing wrong with that and if you do that more power to you. Keep in mind that you change the idea so much that it reflects your style. Everything you do within the designing world should reflect you, and your project. Don’t be a cookie cutter, I mean don’t be that guy.

To be a successful designer, let me rephrase that, to be a successful designer, it doesn’t matter if you’re born with it or you learn it through practice, one thing is sure you make yourself successful. I guess the debate, boils down to this, the core of every successful designer lies an innate vision and drive to produce successful creative designs, coupled with a foundation knowledge on how to make your design flow. A successful designer needs to bring innovation to the field, but also to learn from others’ their failures and from their successes. Take their knowledge and build on that. This widely-known quote from Ira Glass, “What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me — is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap; for the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work… It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Do you have additional examples of how design is more talent-based or skill-based, or do you agree that design falls into this gray area? I’d love your feedback! Email me.