SEO/Marketing

Most businesses play 'follow the leader' when it comes to their marketing - i.e. "let's see what others are doing and what looks good and follow that approach". This is never a good strategy. It is far better to first understand the tool and how it works, then to marry that with your extensive knowledge of your clients. In this way your marketing will always be more powerful and successful.

Emails as a marketing tool is not well understood. It is relatively new to most businesses and even seasoned marketing professionals need to up-skill themselves to learn how to get the best from it.

A common mistake is treating emails as an electronic version of a printed letter.

While there are some distinct similarities:

• the need for personalization (i.e. Dear First Name Last Name, etc. - not Dear sir/madam, etc.)
• good use of direct mail writing techniques:
  • first line should have no more than eleven words, must contain a direct client benefit, be client directed (e.g. you/your) and a call to action (e.g. today) - for example, "Get a free widget for your home today."
  • the first paragraph should be an explanation and expansion of the first line and lead the reader to wanting to read more.
  • etc.
• both can do more than just deliver a sales message - they can educate the reader about a products benefits

There are also some glaring differences:

• They need to be short and to the point - people will spend much more time reading a printed letter than they will reading an email.
• They can be very graphical - i.e. have pictures that illustrate the point of the email and attract the reader's attention.
• They must cut-through-the-clutter of all the other emails the reader is getting pumped into their in-box.
• They are designed to make you follow a link back to a website - where the readers attention can be more effectively captured.

There are two types of emails:

• Time Specific
  Information that is of a timely nature - i.e. information that has an expiry date (e.g. a dated special offer) or is only relevant for a short length of time (e.g. current news).
   
• Non-time Specific
  Information that is more educational than news-worthy - i.e. can be sent out anytime to a client and will still be relevant.

When writing a newsletter, you can included both types and/or have newsletters that have only one or the other type in it. The key is understanding that non-time specific emails can be set-up as automated emails that can be sent out to clients at anytime in the future automatically - regardless of the timing of the email shot. Time specific emails almost always require a manual action (read: yours or your staffs time) to initiate the email shot.

One of the most powerful marketing tools you can have is to create a series of informative emails that educate your clients about the benefits of choosing your business or products and that keep your brand top-of-mind to ensure you don't miss out on any future sales opportunities.

The Woogloo email marketing system enables you to create and send out both automated non-time specific emails and manually sent time specific emails with fully automated data merged personalization.

If you want to learn more about email marketing or our Email Marketing plug-in please contact your Reseller or Woogloo for more information and a full demonstration.