2. Sixcia Devine
South Florida Regional Director Constant Contact
sdevine@constantcontact.com
Angela Estrada
Constant Contact ALE
Prediq Media
angela@prediqmedia.com
3. 3
Grow with Constant Contact
Get results fast, with affordable, easy-to-use
engagement marketing tools and free coaching.
Events
& Registrations
Offers
& Promotions
Newsletters
& Announcements
Feedback
& Surveys
9. 9
Campaigns & Newsletters
Different types of newsletters
Newsletters
Keep your audience in-
the-know Card or announcement
WOW!
Custom code email
101001
Business letter
Press release
11. 11
What you know that they don’t
What you have access to that they don’t
“Original” isn’t required… just be interesting
and relevant
Email
What do I write about?
14. 14
Email
A picture is worth...
Pictures get 47% more click-through activity than
content without images, but…
…don’t over-rely on images!
Be sure to use text labels in case images aren’t
displayed by the recipient’s mail program.
Don’t use images of your content.
Remember: your content is viewed on mobile
devices…
A picture is worth...
19. 19
Email
Winning the battle of
priorities
Tomorrow: Need 3 Hammers –
Can You Help?
Joe’s Pet Store
Newsletter
ALERT: Help your dog beat the heat!
Children’s Classes
Still time! Openings available for
children’s classes.
March Newsletter
20. 20
Email
When to send or post
Do not be romanced by a high open rate –
measure actions!
21. 21
67% don’t see images by default
Text links get more clicks than buttons
Place your logo left or center in email
Include company name in text
Email
Practical advice
22. 22
Key action must be above scroll line
Do not give too many choices
Make all images clickable (and with text
labels)
Email
Practical advice
(and on your mobile device)Test it on yourself!
24. 24
Email + Social
Then vs. now
Social media marketing for small businesses
source: Constant Contact Small Businesses Then & Now study
% of small businesses using social media marketing
10%
2008
25. 25
Email + Social
Then vs. now
Social media marketing for small businesses
source: Constant Contact Small Businesses Then & Now study
% of small businesses using social media marketing
87%
2013
26. Email + Social
It influences decisions
74%
Rely on
social
networks to
guide
purchase
decisions
source: Fedelta
55%
Share
purchases
on social
networks
source: Fedelta
68%
Learn more
about a
charity if they
see a friend
posting
about it
source: MDG Advertising
27. 27
Email + Social
Email & Social
You have to use both
Drive traffic back
to your list, email, etc...
Amplify your email
31. 31
Next Steps
Tools to expand your list
Text to Join™
from Constant Contact
TXT
Scan to Join™
from Constant Contact
32. Content calendar for all channels
S M T W T F S
1 2 Tips for Spring
• Newsletter
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
3 4 5
6 7 Motivation
Monday
• Facebook
• Pinterest
8 9 10 11 New Product
• Newsletter
• Facebook
• Twitter
12
13 14 Motivation
Monday
• Facebook
• Pinterest
15 16 Staff Pics
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Newsletter
17 18 19
20 21 Motivation
Monday
• Facebook
• Pinterest
22 23 24 Event Photos
• Facebook
• Twitter
25 26
27 28 Motivation
Monday
• Facebook
• Pinterest
29 Sale
• Newsletter
• Facebook
• Twitter
30 Newsletter
• Email
• Facebook
• Twitter
regular newsletter
blog post
theme days
multimedia
news/promotions
33. Sixcia Devine
South Florida Regional Director Constant Contact
sdevine@constantcontact.com
Angela Estrada
Constant Contact ALE
Prediq Media
angela@prediqmedia.com
Hinweis der Redaktion
Intro/Welcome/What we’re doing today
At the core of marketing is the idea that it’s intended to elicit a physical, measurable response…you don’t create and send newsletters, or post updates, or solicit feedback or plan events without some objective in mind, some goal in mind that your campaign is intended to achieve.
We often refer to the “call to action” as part of your communications…the request for someone to join your mailing list, to visit your store, to sign up for your annual fundraising gala…because at the end of the day that’s what marketing is all about. It’s about getting someone with whom you, your business or your organization has a relationship to take an action that will help your organization to succeed.
DN Note: this isn’t intended to educate about goals/objectives…we have other sessions for that.
We’re not going to talk about marketing principles, or goals and objectives today. No, today we’re here to talk about marketing campaigns: those collections of marketing activities that make up an effort intended to drive an action that leads to achieving a specific goal. Specifically we’ll be focusing on newsletters and announcements, and their close cousin, social engagement.
Simply put, these activities are primarily about communication, and about connecting with your readers. But that doesn’t mean that they aren’t also a great way to drive action. And today we’re going to talk about how you can deliver the most effective newsletters possible.
Introduce yourself and give them a clear understanding that you are there on behalf of Constant Contact.
This slide should give you a chance to quickly introduce the Constant Contact suite of products to your audience.Many will not know we have all of these, so it’s a great and short commercial.
Here’s what we’re going to do today…
[click to build] we’ll review what exactly a campaign is, and we’ll make sure we’re all on the same page in understanding what we mean when we say “newsletter.”
[click to build] next we’ll talk about Email and provide you with some tried-and-true tips for more effective email marketing.
[click to build] then we’ll make the connection between Email and Social media…because they really have become inseparable.
[click to build] we’ll then talk at length about social media, specifically what you should be thinking about if you’re starting to build your social media presence, including some insight into the “Big 5” networks and how to think about what to say on social media.
[click to build] finally, we’ll talk about some next steps you can take.
I also want to make a quick not about “for” and “non” profits, and industry verticals…I’m often asked how the things I’m talking about should be adjusted or changed for a nonprofit or a services (B2B firm) or someone in a different industry vertical. I hear “I’m not a brick-and-mortar business, so how does this apply to me. The good news is that the principles that will be discussed are largely universal…they can benefit a non-profit just as much as they can a for-profit, a B2B business can follow these just as readily as a B2C, that a restaurant can succeed with these ideas just as readily as a yoga studio, a church or a book store. Yes, you may have different considerations to make for your select audiences, but in large part what we’re teaching are best practices, and they’re best practices across the board.
I want to give you a simple definition, or a framework, for what marketing really is.
You already know, generally, what it is – but when I say the word marketing, I mean something very specific and it’s important that we are on the same page. My definition of marketing has three simple parts – you define an audience: a group of people that you want to target. You reach out to them with a message that is specific to that audience. And you seek to elicit a physical and measurable response. A click, a reply, a call, a purchase, a referral – these are all actions that represent a decision made by a human to react to your message.
Keep this in mind as we discuss marketing and marketing campaigns and the ways to deliver the most effective campaigns. You’re doing these things because you want people – your customers, your clients, your donors or supporters – to DO SOMETHING.
[click to next slide]
First, let’s talk about “campaigns” - -what does that word really mean?
Very simply there are two parts to a campaign…
First, you [click to build] push out some sort of content (and we’ll talk more about “what content” in a bit) to your followers, supporters, etc.
Second, you hope to [click to build] “pull” some sort of response from them – you want them to read, forward or share what you sent, show up, call, attend – you want them to take an action of some sort
Think about a campaign in terms of push/pull and more importantly do not think about it as just putting an offer out there and making the sale… in this new marketing world, it’s more like a conversation – which lendsitself to that advantage we talked about that you have over big business. As a small company, you can engage in a conversation that feels and in fact IS much less like a sales gimmick and more like nurturing a relationship.
If you’re doing it right, it will seem like that from both sides of that conversation.
Simply put, a newsletter is a communication you send (usually through email) to your customers, supporters, clients, volunteers sharing information and relevant insights that they want to read.
Simple!
[click to next slide]
[NOTE: these reflect the different types of newsletters available to customers in the Toolkit product flow…all of these should make sense except for perhaps the “Custom code email,” which could simple be presented as a form of communication where you go the extra step to customer colors, the template and the in-message presentation using custom HTML code instead of a stock template.]
There are lots of different types of communications, loosely referred to as newsletters, that you might send. These [click to build…all will build automatically] are just a few examples…from sending a quick update just to keep your audience informed, to a simple card or announcement, all the way to what we call a custom-code email…where you or a designer you work with create your own email in our platform using your own custom code.
[Speaker note: this isn’t a bad place to pause and ask what other types of communications the audience might lump in under the “newsletter” heading…and to note if/how there are differences along industry or vertical lines.]
[click to next slide]
So what do you write about in your newsletter?
This is one of the biggest hurdles that most people have to jump. Luckily, the answer can be very simple.
[click to build] First, and above all else, you write about what you know that they don’t know. You share your knowledge and raise your profile as an expert in your field.
Next [click to build] write about what you have access to that they don’t have access to – and you have more access than you might think. This can mean that you let them download a special report, give them backstage passes, early registration, reserved or special seating, an extra hour of your time when they pay for two… and give it away when you can. What you are trying to do is build what is called a resource relationship, Where when their need for what you do comes up, YOU are the person that comes to mind. Give it away – your knowledge and your access, when you can.[click to build] and you don’t have to be prolific, writing original material every time. You just need to be the hub or the point of access. So send links to other sources, know your stuff and they will see you as their resource
(If you have a longer session, this is a great time to ask people in the audience what they do for a livingand give them some ideas for content so that you get the room thinking in these terms)(Also if you have a longer session, you can give an example of a business that “gives away the farm” and drives business doing so)
[click to next slide]
(Ask if anyone in the class wants to get a long email from anyone else in the class. No one will raise their hand.)
No one has ever raised their hand. If you are a church, a chamber of commerce or a school, you probably have long emails and we are all okay with getting those. Our children and our businesses rely on you and we want to see activity – we are willing to get a long email from you. (right? Ask the crowd) …we don’t read them, but it’s okay that we see them.So take the pressure to create or write off of yourself. [click to build] Less is more. Always.
There is no rule that says your newsletter needs to have three articles, three pictures and three links. One thing is plenty. There is a Constant Contact customer whose newsletter is called One Thing – he did it to make it easy on himself and it works really well – people can absorb it and he’s not under the gun to come up with a bunch of content to fill it.[click to build] and don’t forget that over 50% are reading it on a mobile device…who is going to scroll through 14 articles?
{additional talking points if you have time]Your emails and their social media activities are NOT for telling people everything that they do. That is part of the hole people dig for themselves when they start writing their emails, they try to say everything. That is not what your emails and social media posts are for. That’s what your website is for. Your emails and your social media is about offering one thing at a time and tracking whether or not it moved the needle. Plain and simple.
Mobile stat from: research from:
email open by platform: https://litmus.com/blog/mobile-opens-hit-51-percent-android-claims-number-3-spot?utm_campaign=nov2013news&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
Here are some examples of what others are doing. These are examples from Constant Contact customerswith great looking campaigns with simple, easy to absorb content and obvious actions to take.(speaker, you can go one by one but it’s more likely that you’ll just click quickly through these …)
non-profit, sharing information about themselves that’s in the press
restaurant sharing their current specials
looks like a non-profit, sharing an event notice
B2B, showcasing the services they have
another event notice…
[click to next slide]
Build through eack point…these are key points and tips about image use
Source: 47% stat from the Curata “Curation Habits Report 2012” http://www.curata.com/resources/surveys/curation-habits-report-2012/?LDT=Survey&LD=Habits&LST=Email-Newsletter&LS=Where2Share_Newsletter_080713&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRokuKzMZKXonjHpfsX56%2BgsW6Kg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YIHTcF0aPyQAgobGp5I5FELSrTYVLZut60NUw%3D%3D
use images carefully
Images are a great way to convey a message, tell a story…create a connection. But if you don’t carefully consider how you’re going to use images, you may end up with some unintended consequences that lead, at best, to someone not reading your email. At worst they’ll unsubscribe from your list and you won’t be able to communicate with them at all. Here are some common challenges to consider:
[click to build] notice the red “X” here? That’s there because some mobile email clients may not display images by default…so be sure that you’re using what is called “Alt Text,” or text that appears if the image doesn’t, to at least let people know what’s there.
[click to build] in this example, there’s a great picture – the promotional poster used for a fundraiser, and when viewed on a desktop email client it may look great…but the problem is that on a mobile device, in order to see it, or the rest of the message, the reader will have to scroll the message. The image has pushed the call to action all the way to the bottom of the message, making it less likely that the reader will actually click through.
[click to build] finally, be aware of where or how an image may appear. You may need to resize images as you build your email (a lot of email marketing tools have simple, built in image-editing capabilities).
Before you send any message out to your customers or supporters, TEST THE EMAIL BY SENDING IT TO YOURSELF!! And then view it with your readers in mind…and make changes accordingly. A few extra minutes of testing can save a lot of headache later.
[click to next slide]
Images are great because they can help tell your story across multiple channels. Pictures have become more and more relevant in social and email marketing – so many of us are walking around with a camera in our pockets – this doesn’t have to mean high end production anymore.
If you have highly visual content or great photos of products or your events or whatever you are marketing, you will want to check out opportunities to share those images you have through different channels. Some of those channels include [click to build] Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Facebook – many consumers are beginning to shop and play on these channels so it may be worth a look to test whether or not what you are marketing would work well on these channels.
Keep in mind that we haven’t left email out here – email is becoming more and more of a “visual medium” as well (including video!).
One key here is - KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE – if you own a business that can show off product visually, you can do more with a headline and a photo than the most carefully crafted copy. And if you’re a consultant or service provider? Share your know how. Write a blog post about what you know how to do, pick an image that reinforces it, and pin it, post it, tweet it.
Constant Contact did a test with Facebook promotions of webinars and found that when they used an image rather than just s text, they saw a 127% lift in engagement with those posts. It’s worth a try.
We’ll talk a bit about social media later, but I want to say this now – if you are going to be using a picture in your newsletter and then again on social channels, BE SURE TO LINK THE PICTURE ON THE SOCIAL CHANNEL BACK TO WHEREVER YOU WANT THEM TO KEEP ENGAGING WITH YOU…like back to your web page (where you might include a sign-up for your newsletter).
We’ll talk briefly about social media a bit later…what I want you to keep in mind at this point, as we’ve been talking about content and what to write or images to think about, is that you should be thinking about those things with more than one delivery medium in mind.
That means that you can reuse and repurpose everything – one article can be used many times, on various channels. You might send a newsletter with 5 tips for cleaning out your closet…and each tip could be Tweeted, once a day for a week
You could show before and after pics in a press release about the benefits of your service, and then you could post those pictures on Pinterest.
If you’ve sent an announcement about something of interest to your readers via email, you can get some mileage with that announcement across your social channels as well.
When you’re up against the Now, Later or Never game, your subject line on an email – or the headline of your social media post, can make a big difference in the response. Here is a simple method for writing more powerful subject and headlines. It’s called the 2-2-2 principle. [click three times to show all three 2’s] Let’s walk through it quickly. [click to build] The first 2 is for the 2 seconds you typically have to compel them to pay attention.[click to build] The second 2 if for the first 2 words of your subject line or headline. That’s really all they read before making a decision. And not a decision about whether to read your message, but as to whether or not they will bother to read the rest of the subject line.
[click to build] The third 2is for “why does this email or message matter today” Today – that’s the third 2. If you can answer that question in your subject line or headline, as close to the first two words as possible, more people will stop and at least open your message.
So – how do you do it? How do you write one of these? Is anyone here on my email list? Do any of you get my class invitations? (some will raise their hands) …have you ever noticed that my subject lines sometimes begin with something like “12 seats left for tomorrow” Or “ten seats open tomorrow”? (insert your own tactic here if you don’t use this one) … first, let me tell you that it’s always true. And you should always be honest in your messages as well. But the reason I start with that is because it expresses very quickly why the message matters today. Seats are running out for an upcoming session.
Some of the emails I send you start with “some seats left”… ever notice those? That’s when I have a lot of seats left and I don’t want to lie to you, But I want it to be more compelling than saying “57 seats still open for tomorrow”… that’s not compelling. It’s important to point out that you don’t need to go to the “urgency well” all the time, meaning you don’t always have to put a time stamp on it or Say things like “today only” or “by close of business” or like that. It’s more about making it very clear to people that your message is relevant and timely in order to win that now, later or never battle.
Here are some examples of subject lines – {speaker, if you have time, go thru these but if you’re short on time, just tell them that you included this slide for them to refer to for help in building their own subject lines later. NOTE: the text inside the brackets IS NOT part of the subject line.}
List of customers, in order:
Boloco
Blue Penguin
Tee Fury
Fish and Bone
Jill Singer Graphics
So now you have the best day on which to send and the best time at which to send. Excellent!!
(And again, for those who are brand new to sending out newsletters, don't worry…for now you could start with simply testing different days and noting the response rate, then trying different times on that day…don’t worry about splitting your lists, comparing results, etc.)
For everyone, let me add a caution… [click to build] DO NOT BE ROMANCED BY A HIGH OPEN RATE – MEASURE ACTIONS!You can get a huge open rate but without actions, it’s not help to your business.
[these all build automatically after first click…speaker can choose to highlight one or two, or all, or different ones if wanted]
Source for 67%: Jeanne Jennings, Marketing Sherpa: “Preview Panes, Image Blocking and My Pitch to Have Microsoft Outlook Turn Images on by Default,” June 2010
This slide is a great one to refer back to after you’ve left the class today, almost like a checklist for your email marketing – it’s just some simple, practical advice for getting better response in your emails. I’ll go through them quickly.
Many people do not see pictures in their emails, and text links get more clicks than a beautiful button -- probably because of that 67% stat.
Make sure your logo is left or center, not right – because people often see email in small windows that eclipse the right side, and make sure your company name is in text near the top. If your name is only in a graphic of your logo, all those people with no pictures will not realize the message is from you at first glance.
The action you want people to take should be above the scroll line – most people do not scroll, and do not give too many choices, one or two at most. People do not have time to window shop and make decisions in your email. If you want them to take action, reduce the number of choices.
Make sure all of your pictures are clickable, this is easy to do with our tools and test your message on yourself, send it to yourself and if you can, test it on your cell phone or iPad too, just to know it looks good for everyone.
I’ve said it a few times already…be sure to test your newsletters on yourself. Tools like Constant Contact make it easy to send a test email to yourself or someone else so you can view it on a desktop, on your mobile phone…
[Speaker: you could pause here and ask the audience for other tried-and-true tips that they follow. If you hear something new or creative, share it with your fellow speakers and the folks building the content!]
[these all build automatically after first click…speaker can choose to highlight one or two, or all, or different ones if wanted]
Source for 67%: Jeanne Jennings, Marketing Sherpa: “Preview Panes, Image Blocking and My Pitch to Have Microsoft Outlook Turn Images on by Default,” June 2010
This slide is a great one to refer back to after you’ve left the class today, almost like a checklist for your email marketing – it’s just some simple, practical advice for getting better response in your emails. I’ll go through them quickly.
Many people do not see pictures in their emails, and text links get more clicks than a beautiful button -- probably because of that 67% stat.
Make sure your logo is left or center, not right – because people often see email in small windows that eclipse the right side, and make sure your company name is in text near the top. If your name is only in a graphic of your logo, all those people with no pictures will not realize the message is from you at first glance.
The action you want people to take should be above the scroll line – most people do not scroll, and do not give too many choices, one or two at most. People do not have time to window shop and make decisions in your email. If you want them to take action, reduce the number of choices.
Make sure all of your pictures are clickable, this is easy to do with our tools and test your message on yourself, send it to yourself and if you can, test it on your cell phone or iPad too, just to know it looks good for everyone.
I’ve said it a few times already…be sure to test your newsletters on yourself. Tools like Constant Contact make it easy to send a test email to yourself or someone else so you can view it on a desktop, on your mobile phone…
[Speaker: you could pause here and ask the audience for other tried-and-true tips that they follow. If you hear something new or creative, share it with your fellow speakers and the folks building the content!]
So, we’ve talked through a number of different ways you can think about making your newsletters, whatever the type and goal, more effective. And earlier we mentioned in a couple of different places that you should be thinking about how you might repurpose content or images for social media.
That’s because social media has become an important component of the marketing toolkit. We’re not going to go into depth about which social channels might be best for you, or the specifics of each channel or what to say on each channel.
I just want to spend a few minutes addressing the importance of social media as a marketing tool, and why it’s so important that you start to think about email and social media at the same time, as connected pieces of the same communications effort.
You may have wondered if you need to be focused on both social media and email marketing. Or you may have asked “Why is social media important for your business or nonprofit?”
The answer to the first question is, “yes!” you do need to do both. That’s because of the answer to the second – social media has impacted businesses and nonprofits in a big way. It’s how many new customers or clients or donors are finding organizations, and it’s how many organizations are staying top of mind for their current customers, clients or donors, as well as helping to make them loyal, repeat contributors.
Just how big has the shift to include social media in the marketing mix been? We’ve done some research…
Five years ago, in 2008, we asked small businesses what kinds of tools they were using for marketing. [click to next slide]
Only 10% were using social media marketing.
Compare that to just 5 years later, when [click to next slide]
that has gone up to 87%. Why? Because social media works. You’re small businesses – you don’t do things that don’t work.
That’s quite a statistic, and shows just how integral social media has become as a marketing tool for all organizations. But when we say “it works,” what do we mean? If small businesses, nonprofits, independent consultants and others don’t do things that don’t work, then what is it about social media that “works?”
[click to next slide]
It works because it influences decisions. It works because it has become a primary driver of behavior.
[click to build] It influences purchasing – 74% of shoppers rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions
[click to build] It influences word of mouth. Your customers tell their friends about you – 55% of people share information about their purchases on social media.
[click to build] It influences people’s connections to nonprofits – 68% of people will go online and learn more about the charities and causes that their friends support when their friends post about it on social media.
Purchasing stats: http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/social-commerce_b46141
68% take the time to learn more about a charity if they see a friend posting about it http://mashable.com/2012/12/12/non-profits-social-media-infographic/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29
Consider adding…
Those referrals are very important to your organization: 71% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product based on social media referrals. Every day, people are going online to review or recommend the businesses and nonprofits that they support, and people in their networks trust those referrals because they know the people who write them, or – if they don’t – they trust unbiased reviews from people just like them.
Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30239/71-More-Likely-to-Purchase-Based-on-Social-Media-Referrals-Infographic.aspx
That’s why it’s so important to shift your thinking
When you combine email with social media, [click to build] the combination will both increase the reach of your email campaigns that enjoy 97% deliverability (it’s actually a even higher with Constant Contact but on average that is a standard rate).
[click to build] Sharing your email on social media will get it in front of more people, with the potential to grow your list. And if you’re doing it right, keeping it short, making the action or response obvious and simple and providing access, information and real value then you will grow your business.
Let’s look at just a few businesses that have taken this to heart…
Sharing tools expand your reach… this is an example of Constant Contact’s simple share tool
Makes it easy to push your email campaigns, events, surveys and offers out on multiple channels with a few clicks.
[click to next slide]
Another way to share – a “Social Share bar” at the top of your emails will make it as easy for your readers to share your message with others, part of that referral engine we talked about earlier.
They also make it easy to follow you on the various social networks in a single click. Our emails include a social share bar at the top and we’ve made it very easy to add social icons with links anywhere in your campaign.
[click to next slide]
You’ll also find that there are a lot of apps out there that can help you build your lists.
Two of them are from Constant Contact, which allow you to collect email addresses and other information through a QR code “scan” or a text message.
NOTE: Canadian and UK presenters should hide this slide if the tools aren’t available
After this presentation you’re going to be thinking about what you want to write…and you may use some of the ideas you already wrote down. Part of the challenge is thinking about when to push all of this stuff out. We talked about how you can test to find the best day of the week and time of day to send your emails. What I’m talking about now is putting all of your planning into one calendar. This is just one example of what I mean – notice that it includes the regular newsletter you might send (on the 30th), a blog post (on the 2nd), and some more irregular or “just in time” announcements (11th and 29th). Also included here are some social media posts…we didn’t go into depth on social media planning today, but if you’re interested in learning more you can join me for _____________________
The real benefit of a calendar like this is in taking a look at the month ahead – there are some things you know are coming up. What kind of content would you create for that? Each day make a note of what’s happening and then list the channels you want to share it on. This will help you plan ahead and give you some things you can talk about and create multimedia for, and reach your audience through all of your regular channels.
If you combine this with the tips we’ve shared with you today, you’ll be well on your way to improving the effectiveness of your newsletters and announcements.
Introduce yourself and give them a clear understanding that you are there on behalf of Constant Contact.