Tag: email marketing

Tips to Build Your Email List

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

Sign Up Now for Our NewsletterEmail marketing is still going strong! It’s a very effective way to stay in touch with people who want your services or product. Since people chose to sign up to be on your list, you know these are people who want to hear from you.

If you have a solid social media presence, that’s a great place to start to build your list. Your fans and followers on social media have already shown an interest in you, your book, your business since they are following you. Take the initiative and invite them to sign up for your email list too. Here are a couple of ideas for messages you might send out on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn weekly asking your followers to sign up for your email list.

Sign up for our newsletter and receive your free report [title of report] [link where they can sign up for email list]

If you enjoy reading my blog, sign up for my email list for all the latest news & updates. [link where they can sign up for email list]

More tips to build your email list:

  • Your website should have a prominent invitation to sign up for your email list.
  • Offer a freebie for signing up for your list – a free report, tips sheet, or sample copy of a chapter from your book.
  • Add a signup box to your Facebook page. If you use Constant Contact or MailChimp, they have an easy way to integrate a sign up page with Facebook.
  • Include a signup link in your email signature.
  • Mention your newsletter in your book and invite readers to sign up at your website.

If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, you can do so here.

What other tips have you found useful in building an email list? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Free Resources for Your Virtual Assistant Business

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

free resourcesI’m always looking for new free resources for my business and clients to make work a bit easier and more efficient. I’ve also found that sharing free resources with others on all my social media networks encourages more interaction and engagement.

Here are just a few resources I wanted to share with you. Some do have paid options as well.

  • Evernote: Evernote apps and products make modern life manageable, by letting you easily collect and find everything that matters.
  • HootSuite: The leading social media dashboard to manage and measure your social networks.
  • Free Conference Call: Free conference calls are simple and easy to use, requiring only an e-mail address to receive an instant account.
  • Dropbox:  Put your stuff in Dropbox and get to it from your computers, phones, or tablets. Edit docs, automatically add photos, and show off videos from anywhere.
  • MailChimp:  More than 5 million people use MailChimp to design and send email marketing campaigns.
  • PDF995: Its easy-to-use interface helps you to create PDF files by simply selecting the “print” command from any application, creating documents which can be viewed on any computer with a PDF viewer.

Please share any helpful resources you know of in the comments section.

Planning Your Email Marketing

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

Planning your email marketingEmail marketing can be used in a variety of ways to communicate with clients and prospects:

  • Provide clients with information about the industry
  • Promote your products and services
  • Invite people to an event
  • Send out a monthly newsletter

When planning your email marketing strategies, you need to answer these basic questions:

  • What is the purpose of your communication and who do you send it to?
  • How often should I send out a communication?

The purpose of you communication could include:

  • Driving traffic to your website
  • Get clients to purchase a product
  • Get new “likes” for your Facebook fan page

Once you’ve defined your goal, you’ll know who you want to send your communication to.

The most challenging part of creating a newsletter is creating valuable content. You want your message to be education-focused. This will help build trust, loyalty and retention. Don’t just sell – provide value. The content should be interesting and relevant to your readers. Ask yourself, “How will this information benefit my readers?” 

Communicating more often is not necessarily better. It is more beneficial to send quality content in a quarterly newsletter than a monthly newsletter with so-so content.

If you’d really like to know what you readers want from you and how often they’d like to hear from you, ask them. Ask, “What topics would you like to see addressed in the newsletter? How often would you like to receive it? Weekly, monthly, quarterly?”

Take time to plan your email marketing so it’s most effective. Remember – it’s not how many people you send it to that measures your success. It’s how many people who actually read it and take an action such as:

  • Click through to your website
  • Call you for an appointment
  • Buy a product or service
  • Share your content via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Please share your most successful email planning tips. And get more great tips in our book and Action Guide.

 

Constant Contact Newsletter Service

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

Constant Contact is my first choice in newsletter services and email marketing programs. I’ve been using Constant Contact’s service since January 2008. I originally signed up for their free 60-day trial in order to become familiar with their tool so I could assist a client with their Constant Contact newsletter. After the 60-day trial I was hooked and signed up for their $15 per month version and have since upgraded.

My virtual assistant business Awesome Assistant received a 2009 Constant Contact All–Star Award for commitment to best practices in email marketing.

Constant Contact 2009 All Star Award
Constant Contact is affordable and easy to use, provides a wide variety of templates to choose from, and has great customer service. They are continually improving their product and adding new features. After attending a local free seminar hosted by Constant Contacts I became even more familiar with the product and how best to use it effectively in my marketing strategies.

They also have autoresponders, online survey features, event marketing, stock images, the ability to create several lists in your account and much more. If you’re looking for an affordable, easy to use newsletter service and email marketing tool, give it a free 60-day trial. Just click on “Try it Free for 60 Days” below and use my referral account. Once you become a paying customer, we both get a $30 credit – which is like you getting your first 2 months free!

Constant Contact

Free 60-Day Trial

5 Points to Review Before Sending Your Email Marketing Campaign

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

5 Points to Review Before Sending Your Email Marketing CampaignMany small businesses are sending out email marketing campaigns. How can you increase the chances of your email being opened and read? Here are five points to review before sending out your email.

  1. Your subject line needs to be eye-catching so your readers will want to open and read your email. The subject line should be clear and concise, about 8 to 10 words.
  2. Your brand and point need to be seen. In the recipient’s preview pane, they may only see the first few inches of your email. Make sure your brand and main point stand out in that area.
  3. Make it easy on the eyes. Keep your fonts and styles simple so it will grab your readers’ attention.
  4. Don’t overdo the images. Often your readers’ email won’t display images. Make sure the text in your email makes the point if the images don’t come through.
  5. Give it the personal touch. Make sure your email sounds like it’s a conversation with your clients. Personalize your greeting, make the tone warm, be sure the content is useful to your readers. They don’t want to feel they just got another ‘form letter’.

Need help writing articles for your newsletter, creating a template, uploading your contact list, or scheduling your newsletter? We can help! Contact us!