If you’re doing bad marketing, you shouldn’t do marketing at all.

You know who I’m talking about. You’ve seen those low budget commercials, crappy websites, unprofessional blogs, horrible emails…the list goes on. And do you buy from those companies? No.

So how do you know if you’re doing bad marketing?

• You aren’t getting sales as a result of your efforts
• You wrote the copy and you are not a writer by any stretch of the imagination
• You’ve done no research into good copywriting, setting up a blog, email campaigns, etc.
• You don’t ask or get feedback on your marketing
• You hate doing it
• People unsubscribe from your email list faster than you can send out emails

I know you want to save money. I appreciate that. But you might be wasting more time and money in trying to go it alone than you would hiring a competent professional. Marketing consultants, like yours truly, often charge per project or a monthly marketing fee, so you only pay for the marketing you need. And they get it done in a fraction of the time it takes you.

So decide what your time is worth, and determine whether you truly think your marketing results are optimal. Then give me a call.

That’s why I’m about to give you some email marketing tips that will probably get me kicked out of the club. Oh well, I’m not really much of a joiner anyway. I think there are just certain things any business owner should know about email marketing, so here goes.

1. Email marketing is not hard. I know it seems complicated, but with email marketing software like Constant Contact, creating professional emails is really easy.

2. You don’t need to know HTML. Again, programs like Constant Contact make it easy for dummies to create gorgeous templates (I mean, I make them, so come on, they can’t be that hard). I actually don’t like it when a client wants to complicate it and makes me use HTML. Me ‘n HTML don’t get along so well.

3. The best days to send emails are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Why? Because on Mondays people are bombarded with email and are likely to delete yours. On Fridays everyone wants to play hooky, so they don’t want to read your stinkin’ email.

4. Emails don’t have to be blatant sales pitches. I actually like the people I email, so I like to send useful articles about marketing to them. Things that they will find helpful, but also things that will remind them how super smart I am when it comes to marketing.

5. There is a way to target your list. I HATE untargeted email lists. I don’t buy lists. But if you start slow, you can ensure you send your emails to people who actually kind of care. And might buy from you.

6. Not every email is spam. You can get good results from email marketing (as long as you’re not slimy about it). Email is a great way to inform people about your product if done correctly.

7. You can track your results. Email programs like (ahem) Constant Contact (I’m sorry. I just really like them and haven’t found anything better) let you see how many people opened an email, how many clicked on a link and how many unsubscribed. You can try different days, times and subject lines to see which get the best results.

8. Email marketing isn’t dead. I brought this debate up before but still stick to my guns. Email is a great way to reach a wider audience.

9. Email marketing can save you thousands of dollars. Compared to other forms of internet advertising, email is cheap. So save your money on the ad in the Wall Street Journal and consider emailing a targeted list of future customers.

What are your email marketing tips? Share them and I’ll repost all of them onto this post!

We all love the little tschotschkes we get at conventions. But think for a minute: which did you keep and which did you throw away? Chances are you got a lot of cheap pens, which you didn’t need. But I’ll bet you got a few items that you told others about simply because they were either:

A) useful
B) innovative

I’ll share a few I’ve gotten recently.

I spun the wheel at a GEICO booth recently and won a set of speakers for my MP3 player. While that might not sound all that exciting, they were made of paper, like a Chinese take-out box. Very unique (and useful).

My husband worked at Yahoo! until very recently. They do something interesting. Usually a company reserves the expensive promotional toys for potential business, but Yahoo! gives them to employees. That makes them feel worthwhile and lets them share in the excitement of the brand. They have dozens of great examples, but this one is an old-school Slinky:

And then finally last Christmas I sent these egg-shaped clocks to my contacts and clients. They’re fun and useful.

My point? Don’t be cheap and stick to traditional pens or notepads. Think creatively. There are so many products out there, there’s virtually no limit to what you can do. Save the more costly items for potential customers but don’t give away something people will throw away.
-Susan

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Even I, lover of all things marketing, get overwhelmed with so many options out there. Press releases. Blogs. Social Networking. Podcasts. SEO. Email marketing.

Not all of it is for everyone. Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends wrote a great post on American Express’ OPEN Forum about targeting in on your best results when it comes to marketing.

Check it out. And think about where you’re wasting more time than you are generating results.

-Susan

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Anita Campbell of Small Business Trends has released her free ebook, 101 Marketing Secrets. This ebook is chock-full of great tips on social media, selling, relationship marketing and more. Look for tips from the top marketers and bloggers in the industry, including Seth Godin, Brian Clark of Copyblogger and…lil’ ole me!

Get your free copy now!
-Susan

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Used to be everyone was struggling to keep up with competitors just by having a website. Now if you don’t have a blog you’re behind. Forget for a moment that you’re not web-savvy, if that’s true, and look at the benefits of blogs over websites. I’ll borrow from Suzanne’s list and add my own.

-Blogs are easier to update. Sites like WordPress make it simple to upload posts instantly, so as soon as you think of a topic, you can write it and post it within minutes. With websites, you likely have to call your IT or web design guy to get anything changed.

-Blogs help you identify your market. Because you’ll blog on many different topics within your niche (for me, I cover press releases, marketing online and blogging for business and can easily track which are the most popular topics) you can see what gets the most hits. Once you know that, play up to it or offer services or products on that topic.

-Blogs get noticed more frequently than websites. Spiders that crawl for search engines like ever-changing content, and since that’s a characteristic of a blog, you’ll be up, running and noticed sooner than your website will.

All this being said, a blog shouldn’t take the place of your website. The two can work together in perfect harmony. Link to your blog from your website and vice versa. Refer to your company website in your blog posts. Whatever you do, just don’t underestimate the potential a blog has for getting you new business.

-Susan

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Offering a free ebook does several things:
1. Shows off your expertise
2. Generates interest in what you do
3. Converts readers into future customers

Next Friday I’ll be interviewing Jan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, who has perfected the art of the free ebook. She also makes her living selling ebooks, so look for some great tips from her.

Here are some of my other favorite free ebooks :

-Chris Brogan recently gave away an ebook on social media and social networks. In the ebook, he provided just enough information to educate readers, without giving away all his secrets. He told me his purpose in giving away his ebook was to brand himself, and to build his newsletter list. (ALWAYS ask for an email address when giving anything away).

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the great advice I got from StomperNet. It was great advice, but it left me wanting more. And as you can see from their website, they also promote their events with free videos. It’s smart and easy to do.

Do you have a free ebook? If so, please share it with us.

-Susan

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The post says press releases for online distribution should be shorter. You, as a reader of online material, can appreciate articles and news releases that are short and to the point. No need to ramble. Do we need a new format altogether?

And then this post talks about how PRWeb, a distribution service I happen to use, is cracking down on releases it deems not acceptable. The release in question had more of a salesy approach that PRWeb didn’t approve of.

But it brings up the question: what is acceptable for a press release? We are rapidly moving away from the old standards of PR and media, so how can we continue to base our rules on the old school methods? Shouldn’t PRWeb be more flexible in what it accepts? Can we redefine what a press release is?

These are interesting questions, and ones that should provoke thought and conversation. What do you have to say?

-Susan

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Speaking of getting off track, how’s your marketing plan? It’s just February, but are you still being diligent about reaching your marketing goals?

Let me guess, you’ve been swamped. You’ve been out of town. Your dog ate your marketing plan.

Whatever the excuse, it’s time to get back on track before your excuses spin out of control. Here are some tips to get you focused.

Put your plan on your desk. If you get your plan out in plain site, you’re more likely to review it. Tack it to your wall. Print it on pink paper. Just don’t forget about it.

Review it regularly. I make a task in outlook at the end of every quarter to review my marketing plan. That way I can’t forget. Things change, so you need to make sure your plan keeps up with what’s going on in your business.

Don’t make big decisions without referring to the plan. It’s tempting to take marketing opportunities as they come, but if they’re part of a bigger picture, they’ll be more effective. If you’re like me, you get calls for marketing and advertising opportunities weekly. Just kindly tell the rep calling you that you will consider it for next quarter, but your plans for this quarter are locked in. This will keep you from making impulse decisions when they tell you you only have a few days to take advantage of this amazing price.

Make your budget match your plan. If you’ve identified budgets for different areas of your marketing (networking, advertising, research), set it up in your accounting program so you can keep tabs on where your spending is going. If you’re not spending enough in one category, you might want to step up your efforts. Likewise, if you’ve already blown half your annual budget on advertising, it’s time to pull in the reins.

I want to hear from you! Are you on track with your marketing plan, or have you already strayed? Let the Marketing Eggspert keep you accountable!

-Susan

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Emails sent to your contacts should be informative and useful – not blatant advertisements. Readers appreciate resources that help them, and they keep that in mind when they need your services or products.

How many emails should I send each month? The answer to this will vary with who you’re talking to. Given my experience as a sender (and as a receiver), I recommend two times per month:

o 1 newsletter: include 1-2 informative articles, 1-2 news blurbs on your company (interviews, press
releases, podcasts), and a limited time offer, such as a coupon or special offer.
o 1 promotion email: pick a product or service to highlight and send out email 2 weeks after the newsletter.

What’s the best day to send my emails? It’s pretty commonly accepted across the board that the best times to send emails are Tuesdays through Thursdays, in the afternoon. On Mondays, people are flooded with email and catch-up work, so they’re more likely to delete your email. On Friday, people play hooky and don’t feel like working. In the mornings, people have more email, but by the afternoons midweek, they’ve caught up and have more time to read your email.

How often should I send emails about a promotion? People won’t respond the first time you send out an email about a promotion or event. I believe the magic number is 3. Not too much, not to little.

Who do I send my emails to? You’re surrounded by good email candidates every day. The obvious answer is your customers. But also people who you meet at networking events. You likely have a pile of business cards on your desk right now who would make good email subscribers. Also, you can add what’s called a widget to your website where people can sign up to get your emails and special offers. Just remember: anyone you sign up should be a good candidate for your emails! Make sure it’s relevant to them.

Where can I find a good email program? For your money, I recommend Constant Contact. It’s simple to use and has tons of great templates you can use for press releases, newsletters and promotions. They even offer a 60 day free trial, which is plenty of time to get used to how it works. The pricing starts at $15 per month (for 500 or fewer contacts).

If you’re still overwhelmed with email marketing, contact Egg Marketing to help you run a campaign that will get you new customers and increased sales!

-Susan

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Now he’s got an ebook out on Viral Marketing called The New Rules of Viral Marketing: How word-of-mouse spreads your ideas for free. Once again, David, great stuff. It took me a minute to get the “word-of-mouse” concept because I live in Orlando where everything references our mousy friend who lives at Disney!

David provides great examples and links of viral marketing at work. It’s a must-read, as all his works are. So download it now and enjoy!

PS. Just a little sidenote about viral marketing. Did you know you were part of it at Christmas time? That is, if you were one of the 26 million people who created an elf using OfficeMax’s Elf Yourself e-card. (It was funny the first time, mom) You know the one–the silly little elves with your picture on top dancing to a stay-in-your-head tune. It spread like wildfire. And did you feel like you were being advertised to? Probably not. But I bet OfficeMax is at the top of your list for office supplies now!

-Susan

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Day 1.
Signed up for HubPage account. Created first hub, Why Your Business Should Be Blogging. This was an extremely successful blog post and article I’d written elsewhere, so I expected a strong flow of traffic to the article. Within 1 hour, Hub score went from 46 to 51. My personal score is 9 (out of 100 I think).

Day 2.
In the first day, my Hub score went up to 72, and 12 people read the article. Not too bad. Not too much activity on this article throughout the day.

I added a second hub on Getting the Most Out of Your Marketing. It posted at a score of 48.

Day 3.
Didn’t post a new hub today. First hub is still at 72, with 15 readers. The second went up to 64, with 5 readers. Kinda slow, but I don’t really know what to expect.

Day 5.
Posted a hub in a new category as an experiment: Everything I Know About My Business I Learned From My 3-Year-Old. We’ll see how the traffic varies. I’ve had a total of 15 views on my 2 previous hubs (and one fan…hope it’s not my mom). My overall score is 83. No change in the scores for the first two hubs. I think I earned $.45 from Google AdSense on the Hub pages.

Summary
Over the week, 25 people viewed my articles.

While the platform for HubPages is unique and fairly easy to use, I didn’t have any clicks to my website or blog. Sure, a week isn’t very long to judge, and maybe it takes longer. Certainly the ability to earn money through your Google AdSense, Amazon Affiliate and eBay accounts is attractive. If you have the time to dedicate to seriously creating a presence on HubPages, you should. Otherwise I’d say it’s not a great article marketing tool (at least for me).

Do you have experiences with HubPages you’d like to share with us?

-Susan

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Do you want to take your business to the next level, but you’re unsure how?
Are you a small business owner without a big marketing budget?
Does the thought of a marketing plan send your head spinning?

Let Susan Payton, the Marketing Eggspert, help.

She’s the marketing coach you need to get a boost in the right direction! The owner of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, Susan can help you:

* determine your target market
* figure out how to reach them
* develop a marketing plan that fits your needs and budget
* identify marketing tools you can afford!

New Year’s Special:
3 1-hour coaching sessions via telephone
Custom coaching to fit your company’s needs
Unlimited emails throughout coaching period and three months after
Just $300
Free bonus: a copy of Susan’s ebook, DIY Press Releases