December 11, 2009 by Nicole Reyhle
Filed under All Posts, Boutiques, Marketing, Websites

Permission email marketing is the the ultimate retention marketing tool for both brick-and-mortar and online retailers. It’s targeted, dynamic, interactive and cost effective. In fact, there are even tools available that let you do your own email marketing virtually for free.

Email marketing can be very affordable, but what you can’t afford is to do it wrong. Some say that bad marketing is better than no marketing, but I disagree. The window of opportunity for building an email relationship with you customers is small and very competitive. Therefore, it’s important to do email marketing right. After all, it only takes your customer one click to ”unsubscribe” to your relationship.
So how can you ensure a long and healthy online relationship with your customer base? Avoid these mistakes and follow these expert tips.

Mistake #1: Not Getting Permission

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is failing to get permission to send someone an email. Email is the only form of communication that requires the marketer to establish that their target actually wants to receive their message by law (the Can-Spam act). Many email marketers simply send customers and prospects emails without explicitly asking for or confirming their permission. While the recipients aren’t likley to sue you for violation of Can-Spam, it’s simply bad business etiquette and negatively brands you as a marketer. More importantly – you’ve missed the opportunity to do things right! There is only one correct way to get an email address – ask for it. And what might be defined as permission from your customer or prospect should be interpreted as privilege to you, the marketer.

Mistake #2: Not Immediately Reinforcing Your Relationship

Once you’ve established permission, start the relationship in a timely, relevant matter. Seth Godin, the guru of permission marketing, states that all email marketing must be targeted, relevant and anticipated. This seems to be overlooked by many email marketers right from the beginning. It’s amazing to me how many first emails I get from businesses weeks or months after I opt-in. Not only are these senders risking that I won’t recall giving them my permission, and label them as spam, they are missing an opportunity to making a great first impression by reinforcing their brand and benefits with a “welcome” email sent to me right after I sign up.

Mistake #3: Not Ensuring That Your Emails Are Delivered

There are hundreds of Email Service Providers (ESPs) that can be accessed online to do email marketing. They have two basic functions. One is to provide online software tools to create emails, manage lists, and track results, and the other is to deliver emails to the subscribers on your lists. And while there is a range of prices for these services, there is an even bigger range in what these tools offer the user, especially when it comes to deliverability of emails.

The biggest mistake that marketers make when selecting who to buy their email technology tools from is to assume that all the emails they send will be delivered. Regardless of how well you’ve established permission with your subscribers, the likelihood that your emails will be labelled as spam remains high, unless you’ve partnered with a high-end ESP that specializes in deliverability. Simply put; you get what you pay for.
Using one of the popular, inexpensive ESPs to keep your costs down increases the possibility that your emails won’t get delivered and you’ll probably never know about it. And if, and when, you determine your emails aren’t getting delivered it’s unlikely that they’re available to help you navigate through the complicated maze of ISP (Internet Service Provider) and spam filtering.

Furthermore, when it comes to creating your emails, it’s very important that you understand how to use the tools the ESPs provide. This is probably where most amateur email marketers stumble. Many amateurs don’t understand image suppression and how to correctly format emails so they can be viewed in the hundreds of different combinations of devices and software that we use to view email.

Mistake #4: Not Making Sure That Your Emails Can Be Seen & Read

Simply creating a beautiful graphic and sending out the image can be a big problem if you subscriber uses image suppression. (And just because you might have figured how to get the images in your inbox to show up, it doesn’t mean your subscriber has figured it out, or wants to.) Almost every form of email client (software to view emails) utilizes image suppression and email marketers who don’t design for it are limiting their effectiveness.

Beyond image suppression, the email creator must also have some knowledge of HTML since different email clients vary on how they render HTML in emails. For example, if you look at an email using AOL and then look at the same email using the Outlook 2007 software downloaded on your computer, the chances are that they will look quite different. Added to the complexity is the endless variety of mobile device software that render emails differently.

While some online ESPs provide inexpensiveve, state-of–the-art technology to build emails, using them effectively is another matter. Just like using the latest, greatest clubs doesn’t make you a great golfer,there is no technical tool or solution that can guarantee that your email will render correctly for all the different software and hardware combinations that your subscribers use to display their emails. That is something that is learned through experience by email design specialists, and even we have to constantly be updating our knowledge as the technology changes.

Mistake# 5: No Marketing Savvy

Assuming that email marketers do build their lists correctly, build technically correct emails and get them delivered to their subscribers’ in-boxes, the mistake that I see most often is simply lack of marketing savvy. So what is marketing savvy?

The Right Way

When we design a strategy for a client we look to do three things well:

Correct Frequency: First, create a regular dialog with subscribers by sending the right message to the right customer at the right time. Over sending can wear out your welcome in the inbox. Sending too infrequently can make them forget about you. Tracking tools can be very helpful in determining the correct sending frequency. In addition, you need to segment the list based on subscriber data which will help you to determine which subscribers to send to so that emails are more relevant.

Contain a Call to Action: Second, a call to action is essential in all marketing, especially email. Too many times I get emails that are nothing more that a billboard and give me nothing to do. In addition, building a “click-though” to an offer or more information can be measured for effectiveness with tracking tools and be used to identify leads or motivate subscribers.

“Wow” Effect: Thirdly, emails should be used to build your brand. The first impression of an email is what matters the most. If you don’t deliver some “wow” the instant that a subscriber gets your message, it’s unlikely that he will open your email – much less read it.

The one distinct advantage small independent retailers have over their larger competition is the unique and personalized relationship they have built with customers. Email is the perfect opportunity to enhance this relationship and creatively re-enforce your brand. Most consumers get a lot of emails each day, but, the problem is that many of these emails look unprofessional and that can only tarnish the brand of the sender. The challenge is to make your email the one that stands out and that won’t happen if your email is boring and impersonal.

Summary: To be a successful email marketer retailers must:

• Correctly establish their email relationship with prospects and customers
• Create and design creative and effective emails
• Make sure their emails are delivered through the maze of filtering
• Make sure their emails are viewed correctly by hundreds of different software programs and devices
• Include a call to action
• Have their R.O.M.I. (return on marketing investment) maximized

Contributor John Fell, President, E-Mail Logic, completed the above article. This story was originally published by Blacks Consulting at BlacksRetail.com. Blacks Consulting is dedicated to helping independent retailers grow their businesses through expert inventory management and business consulting.

Tags: email marketing, Marketing

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

September 3, 2009 by Nicole Reyhle
Filed under All Posts, Marketing

1 Comment

What is Affiliate Marketing, and does it have a place in your marketing mix?

Affiliate marketing is an online marketing/advertising/sales channel in which advertisers (online merchants that sell products or services) pay publishers (independent parties that promote the products or services of an advertiser via the internet… sometimes called “Affiliates”) only for results. The publisher is not compensated unless the referred visitor completes a qualifying transaction (purchase or lead submission, for example), making affiliate marketing a low-risk option for expanding market presence and driving sales or lead collection.

This “pay-for-performance” model is, in essence, the modern version of the “finders’-fee”, where individuals who introduce new clients to a business are compensated. The difference in the case of affiliate marketing is that advertisers only pay their publishers when the new client introduction results in a sale or a lead, making it a low-risk, high reward marketing vehicle for both parties.

There are many different ways in which publishers promote products and services. Here are a few examples:

Coupon Sites
PPC Companies
Loyalty Sites
Mall Sites
Blogs and Niche Sites

Should Affiliate Marketing have a place in your marketing mix?

The answer depends on a number of factors. An Affiliate Marketing program is likely to be successful if these key conditions can be met:

1. Successful, experienced program management is available internally or via outsourcing

2. The product portfolio presents a combination of volume and price that will justify the expense of an affiliate program

3. The product can be purchased via a trackable means. Tracking technology is evolving rapidly and includes support for text links, banner ads, and telephone calls (a recent mainstream development), among others

When eMerchants meet the above criteria, there are verdant supporters of the effectiveness of Affiliate Marketing programs. According to Mike Abolafia, e-Commerce Director at Taylor Gifts, “Affiliate marketing should be a main component of the online marketing strategy for any online business selling goods or services. With a fixed cost it has the least risk and can generally allow you more room to spend on other channels.”

Affiliate marketing is a relationship based marketing channel with a steep learning curve and a variety of options for implementation. Solutions range from full-service Outsourced Program Management (firms that do this are called OPMs) to completely in-house hosted and managed solutions. Selecting the right solution for your company can be challenging due to considerable false or questionable information circulating on the internet. However, online merchants that fail to exploit this marketing channel run the risk of losing business to competitors that build strong affiliate program.

While there is no cookie cutter answer to whether an online merchant should invest in an Affiliate Marketing program, the above criteria give a fairly clear indication. With thoughtful selection of an Affiliate Marketing solution merchants have a low risk means to protect their existing online sales, and extend their market reach dramatically.

Contributor Jeff Cress helps eMerchants implement Affiliate Marketing programs with an eye towards maximizing ROI. Jeff can be reached at jeff.cress@mgecom.com, 919.439.0013, or via twitter at @AffiliateMgt.

Tags: Affliate Marketing, email marketing, Marketing

Ways To Market Your Independent Retail Business

February 17, 2009 by Nicole Reyhle
Filed under All Posts, Boutiques, Designers, Marketing, Publicity

2 Comments

Unlike sales, marketing can’t be measured quantitatively. Because of this, independent retail and wholesale business owners often ignore the impact marketing can have on their businesses. The reality is, however, that customers won’t buy from you, not to mention even know you exist, unless you successfully market yourself. In today’s world, this takes more than just attending local of Chamber of Commerce meetings and telling friends to tell their friends about your store or product. It takes time. It takes strategy. It takes effort.

Below is a list of some ways to consider marketing your business. Make sure to evaluate how each of these marketing steps will benefit your individual business, but be careful not to overlook any simply because you are unfamiliar with it or find it easier to do something else. To be successful at marketing you will sometimes need to step out of your comfort zone. In addition, make sure to find a balance of marketing strategies in an effort to find the right marketing mix for your business.

Advertising – If you have the finances to pay for exposure of your store or product, then advertising should be considered as part of your marketing mix. Consider where you advertise, though, and who the audience is that will most likely see your ad. Make sure it’s the same audience that may want to shop your store or buy your product.

Website – If you don’t have one, get one. Plain and simple, having an online presence is essential in marketing your services. Customers today use the internet to research their purchases as well as plan their shopping destinations. Even if you don’t plan to sell online, you should still have a website that outlines what your business offers. Consider including photos, testimonials, directions, how to purchase details, press details, and any other information that may be relevant.

Trade Shows – Either as an attendee or an exhibitor, trade shows are a great way to market your business. They provide insight regarding both customers and competition, as well as offer a great excuse to make friends in your industry since they are very interactive. The cost of trade shows will vary so make sure to research all your options and determine which shows are best for you business. The largest retail based trade show is MAGIC, which takes place in Las Vegas twice a year and offers apparel, footwear, and accessories for men and women. You can also attend regional trade shows, as well it is a good idea to attend both national and regional shows if possible.

Internet Media – Gaining customers through an online presence is more influential than ever before. Sites such as Twitter, Facebook, My Space, and Linked In are great online spots to gain awareness for your business. You need to understand each of these sites in order for them to work for you, though, so take the time to research how each of them can impact your specific business. Some involve more time than others, such as Twitter which is very interactive, while others, such as Linked In, can be effective by simply having a profile created. That said, updating each of these sites with news about your business, such as sales or newly arrived product, is the only way to continually create a buzz about your business. I often suggest to my clients that interns or part time associates can help dedicate time to these sites if they don’t want to – this is better than being dismissed entirely. If you use the these sites effectively will increase your website presence and ultimately your sales.

To help get you started, below is a link to PC Mag’s website that outlines how Twitter works for beginners. I personally use Twitter and find that this gives me the most professional return of any of the internet media sites, however each business and each site will work differently for everyone.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2341095,00.asp

Blogs - Whether you have a blog or comment on blogs, make sure to be a part of blogs! Blogging is quickly becoming one of the top ways for businesses to showcase their value. It takes time to dedicate yourself to building a blog that readers will want to read again and again, so before you dive into this make sure it’s right for you. If blogging isn’t your thing, consider commenting on other people’s blogs. When commenting on blogs, make sure to reference your business, which will ultimately link people back to your site.

Networking – Whether you live in an urban city or a suburban neighborhood or a small town, networking is key to putting your business on your local map. Make sure you are a part of your local Chamber of Commerce as well as other networking groups. There are groups for small business owners, women business owners, specific to your trade, and more. Research what is available in your area and get involved. Once you are a part of the group, let your voice be heard and participate. Don’t just show up for the meetings but actually be a part of the meetings and events. This is how people will respond to you and ultimately your business.

There are many ways to market small businesses, however these are some basic and easy to obtain strategies that can help launch your business to make a name for itself. If you have other ideas that have been successful for you, we’ love to hear from you! Please consider leaving a comment on our blog. Thank you!

Tags: advertising, blogs, Boutiques, Communication, Designers, email marketing, Marketing, media, Publicity, social media, trade shows, Websites

Overdosing on Email Campaigns

January 14, 2009 by Nicole Reyhle
Filed under All Posts, Marketing

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Are you obsessed with sending out mass emails to your customer list or subscriber list? If you are, you aren’t alone. If you aren’t, thank you.

Using email as a tool for marketing is a great way to communicate with your customer base. Commonly referred to as email blasts, which are emails sent to a large group of people, customers and subscribers of websites and businesses today are often bombarded with an overload of emails. Email blasts are being sent from every direction to consumers today – for advertising, customer feedback, events, special announcements, and more. Small business owners tend to love email blasts because it is a cheap yet often effective way to communicate what is going on with their business. However, too many retailers and wholesalers are abusing this luxury by overdosing their use of email blasts.

Here are a few things to consider next time you plan to send an email marketing campaign out to your email list.

1. Why are you sending out an email?
2. what is the purpose of the message in the email?
3. When was the last time you sent out an email blast?
4. When do you plan to send out an email blast again?
5. Is the email you plan to create going to excite your audience? How?

These five simple questions can help keep you in check with why your email blast is worth sending out or not. By answering these questions, you are able to really evaluate how you are using emails to communicate with your audience. Remember to always consider when the last time and the next time you think you will send an email out because if you are doing it too often, your audience may not take your emails very seriously. Just ask yourself the last time you deleted an email without opening it because you knew there was nothing of value in it for you. Or was there? Unfortunately, if you overdose on your email privleges, your audience may not take your emails seriously and begin deleting them without ever reading them.

It’s impossible for me to tell you exactly how often is too much or too little for you to use emails as part of your marketing strategy, however I would definitely recommend no more than once a week and ideally no more than twice a month. These details should ultimately be a reflection of what is going on with your business at any particular time, though. It’s always a good idea to get customer feedback on any marketing approach, so in your next email blast you may want to ask your audience how often they’d like to get emails from you. This is a great opportunity to gain other insightful information, as well, such as what products they love or hated in 2009, what is motivating them to shop, and more.

Please note that email blasts can often be used for blogs, which allow the subsribers to know there is an updated post. When you receive an email that lets you know there is an updated post, there is a quick and simple purpose to this email that seperates this from the email blasts I was referring to above. Email campaigns are used to highlight details that are not part of your normal outreach. For bloggers, normal outreach would be emails notifying your subscribers of new posts. So if this is something you do, your subscribers should be comfortable with the amount of emails they get as a direct connection to the blogs you are posting.

Remember that each business is unique in itself, therefore your email marketing strategies must be unique, as well. Use the ideas mentioned above as support in your own marketing initiatives to help make your individual retail or wholesale business as successful as it can be.

Tags: advertising, Customer Service, email marketing, Marketing, Publicity, retail, Websites