Monday: Had a meeting with my business coach. It’s always good to step back and take a look at your business and how it’s working. My life changes whenever there is a change to my family’s life e.g. a change of school, an increase in workload, trips away etc. so I have to have strategies for managing my business around that, and I find coaching very useful.

Tuesday: Worked on a couple of projects for The Rosevine. Each month, I create a newsletter which is sent to their email database, but they also have a database of guests who have stayed or enquired. We’ve created a lovely postcard to mail to those guests, promoting a Christmas and New Year break. My job was to review the database, write the copy and brief the design agency, liaising with the printing and mailing company to make sure that everything was provided in the right format. We’re also working on the website in order to improve its effectiveness, both in terms of search engines finding it, and users being able to find the information they need. This involved reviewing the existing website, analysing what’s needed and creating a brief for the design and SEO agency.

I have been working with another client in the catering industry for a year now, so in the afternoon I prepared a proposal for renewing that contract.

Wednesday: Spent the morning working on a new product launch for another client, a point of sale software company. Having devised a marketing and communications plan which incorporated advertising and PR in the trade press, leaflet drops and a new website landing page, I had to create the copy for the advert for approval. Once this has been approved, I will brief the design agency and they will produce the advert which will then be used as the basis for the website page which will be my next task: to create the text, source the images and liaise with the website developer. Then, I will need to book the ad into the trade press and speak to the journalist about doing an interview with one of the product users.

In the evening, I attended a wine-tasting dinner on HMS Belfast for my catering industry client. The event was one of 4 networking events that they run each year for people that work in commercial catering. My job is to take notes, interview key people, take photos and publicise the evening within the trade press.

Thursday: Spent the morning writing up the press release from Wednesday evening, pulling together some of the best images and getting quotes from relevant people to include within the release.

In the afternoon, I prepared for a training session at the weekend. It’s an annual event, run by a coalition of breast cancer advocates in Milan. It includes women from all over Europe who come for a 2 day conference to learn all about the latest advances in science. On the second day, they have a training session that covers dealing with the media, assertiveness techniques and presentation skills.  4 of us travel over for the day and simultaneously deliver the communications training. It’s full on, but very rewarding as they all go away brimming with new ideas and confidence.

Friday: Finance morning. One of my least favourite activities, but I’m trying to get my accounting system a bit more organised, and am transferring everything over to Kashflow. It’s a really easy-to-use system for raising and sending invoices, but all the incoming finances need to be input manually and I’m playing catch-up.

Monday: Here I am, writing my newsletter (feeling slightly jaded from my Milan trip). Once I’ve written the articles and chosen pictures from a photo library I’ll get them loaded onto my website, so that they can be linked from the email newsletter. Technology is a great enabler for communicating regularly with people. Between newsletters, facebook, twitter and LinkedIn, I feel connected to lots of people, even if I don’t actually see anyone face to face all day.

The marketing rule of 7 means that your prospective customer has to have 7 exposures to your company before they will be ready to buy. Although the number 7 can’t be a scientifically proven fact, it is still a good rule of thumb.

Many lists are for single use only which means that you buy a licence to use them once. They will have ‘mystery shopper’ addresses hidden within them to ensure that you will get found out if you try and use them again.

Plus, if you’re going to send a physical mailing or promotion to this mailing list you will need to add on the cost of postage and the cost of printing your literature to the initial cost.

All of a sudden it’s looking quite expensive.

If you’re talking about an email list that’s a whole new ball game.

A good open rate for a business email is around 20 to 30% – and that’s to people who you’ve worked hard to build up a relationship with.  How much notice do you pay to unsolicited emails in your inbox?

So how CAN you reach a wider audience?

One solution is to find a complementary business to yours who is willing to give you some space in their newsletter, or add an insert into their next mailing.  In return you can offer them a similar opportunity. Perhaps you could offer an exclusive deal for each other’s customers to further grab their attention. By partnering with someone with a similar target audience to you, you can both benefit. (Think Waitrose and Boden … or Sainsburys and Jamie Oliver)

If you are going to try a ‘cold’ list, make sure you capture the details of those who show an interest. Include a clear call to action. Give them an incentive to stay in touch with you – ask them to sign up for extra benefits, or to register to receive a free report.

The most valuable resource you have is your own contact list. Whatever you do, don’t underestimate the power of your existing contacts, however small the list may seem to begin with. Look for opportunities to build your list, and over time, if you nurture it, it will grow.

• Communicate with your list regularly
• Collect contact details at exhibitions and trade fairs
• Ask people you meet if they would like to join your mailing list
• Include a sign-up form on your website
• Use social media to encourage people to sign up
• Ask people to refer a colleague or a friend

So how do you tell them about what you’re up to without simply shouting at them and hoping they’ll listen?

What do they want?

The answer is to think about what your customers want. What is it about your new website that will somehow improve their lives?
Will it provide them with useful and valuable information that they can use?
Or will it make it easier and more convenient for them to buy things that they need?
How will your news be of benefit to them?
Is there anything you can tell them in the newsletter that they can use straight away – an idea, a suggestion, a helpful guide?

Why does it matter?

The way we communicate has fundamentally changed. We are bombarded with news and information coming at us via mobile communications, smart phones, TV stations. I’m writing this article on a train and am surrounded by people looking at screens. There are even TV screens on the seat-backs (like an airline). So we tune out anything that is not interesting and directly relevant to us. A quick glance and we hit the delete button.

However, people do still need products and services – we just need to make sure we’re talking to people about what interests them, not what we “need” to tell them.

However, every now and again, I catch up on the various newsletters that come in, and last time I checked I found a newsletter from these printers, promoting the idea of “twitter cards” – little business cards that feature your twitter username and say “you’re now face to face with (username)”

I thought this was a cute idea, so posted a link to the article on twitter. Evidently several other people also thought it was a good idea as they re-tweeted the post to their followers. And who knows if their followers forwarded it again! So what can we learn from this?

If the printer looked at their email newsletter statistics a week after they sent the email, they would have assumed that I was one of the people who had not opened their newsletter.

However, 2 months later not only did I open the email, but I forwarded the information to a new audience of 1,200 people (based on 4 people, each with an average of 300 followers).

The lesson from this tale is that you never know how far your marketing messages will reach – or how they will get there. So make sure your communications are easy to understand out of context and include a call to action and contact details.

By the way, if you’re interested the printer is Goodprint and the link to the twitter cards is http://www.goodprint.co.uk/style-l-twitter+cards-businesscards.php

See, yet another promotion to another couple of hundred people!

Photo: Federico Stevanin / freedigitalphotos.net

• Use a template – this helps maintain consistency and your readers will start to recognise your brand
• Make sure the first half of your email gets the right message across, and draws people in
• Use a grid format – don’t be afraid of white space, and let your words have room to breathe
• Don’t use lots of typefaces, bold text, underlines and colours – it’s confusing to the eye. Keep it simple and just use one or two styles (e.g. one for headlines, one for text)
• Use images carefully – many email clients automatically block images. Make sure your email works without them, just in case they don’t download when your email is received
• Write for the web – keep it short and to the point. Cut out any unnecessary words
• Direct people to your website to read more – this way you can keep the email succinct, and you can use pictures on your website if they are crucial e.g. product images

Image credit:  

The answer is permission. Once you have someone’s permission to contact them, you can email with confidence.  However, for your own sake (and theirs) use this opportunity wisely and send only interesting and relevant information… otherwise, you will soon see your mailing list dwindling.

How can you get permission?

There are several ways you can do this:

> They completed a form and indicated they wanted to be emailed (for example, a a survey or a competition – however you can only contact them if it was explained to them that they would be contacted by email AND they ticked a box indicating they would like to be contacted)
> They agreed to receive emails via your web site (for example, through a newsletter subscribe form)
> They gave you their business card (If someone gives you their business card and you have explained to them that you will be in touch by email, you can contact them. If they dropped their business card in a box at a trade show, there must be a sign indicating they will be contacted by email)
> They bought something off you in the last 2 years (By making a purchase from you they have provided their permission implicitly. You can email them but it’s polite to ask anyway)

What doesn’t count as permission?

< You obtained the email addresses from a third party (e.g. buying a list, or using someone else’s customer list)
< You found/took the addresses from the Internet.
< You haven’t emailed that address for more than 2 years. Even if you got their permission legitimately, they won’t remember giving it to you.

In summary

x  Do not Import all your contacts
x  Do not buy huge lists
x  Build up your own quality list
x  Ensure the sign-up is simple, for example name and email only

For genuine businesses, this means we can inadvertently get caught in spam filters, meaning that our messages never reach their intended recipients. Avoid the following, all of which can increase the likelihood of being caught in the content-based spam filters:

1. Spam-like words – Free, guarantee, earn ££££, etc.
   
2. Too much… punctuation!!! AND WHAT ABOUT capital letters???- Only use the punctuation you need. Using all capital letters MAKES IT LOOK AS IF YOU’RE SHOUTING and makes your email look like spam.
   
3. Excessive use of “click here” – Use words to describe what they will see, rather than saying “click here” too often. E.g. “for more information, look at our help page” rather than “for more information click here”
   
4. Too many symbols ££££££ – Another favourite of spammers, especially lots of currency signs. Keep your text in written form where possible.
   
5. No “From:” address – Firstly, this is rude, and secondly it looks like spam and will increase the likelihood of your email being filtered. Make sure all the fields are complete and correct.