I recently played around with a number of third party newsletter and auto-responder providers, trying to pick the best one to go with!

While most offer a similar service for similar prices, two stood out for vastly different reasons.

One I will identify, simply because they did a great job of convincing me that they had the goods.

They sent several follow up emails on how to use the system, as well as some great pointers on email marketing generally.

That company was Aweber.

By the time I signed up, I was familiar with the system, and I’ve continued to get training emails since.

The other provider sent a couple of emails at the start of their free trial.

Then nothing for about 23 days.

Five days before the end of the trial, I received an email stating how much they had enjoyed working with me, and how much they would like to see me become a ‘premium partner’.

The truth is, that I had hardly been back there at all.

I didn’t like their set up, and their training was almost non existent.

Though I received an email from them daily for the final five days of the trial, I saw nothing that would make me want to spend my time or money with them.

What I objected to was the false sincerity of how much they enjoyed working with me, which was pretty much a lie, simply because they hadn’t done so.

A Better Way

While different people have different ideas about what email marketing is and isn’t, because of the amount of email whizzing around cyberspace we need to be careful how we operate.

The clowns who constantly send me emails about cialis, viagra, adderal, vicodin and the rest certainly don’t rate as legitimate email marketers.

(Thanks for caring about my health folks, but I rarely ever even see your emails, let alone read them.)

This is for legitimate email marketers who go to the trouble of using permission marketing, having a double opt in and easy unsubscribe system.

Use headlines that will attract my attention.

For instance, Clayton Makepeace got me yesterday with his ‘Dead Puppies For Sale’ headline.

I read part of his article and then clicked through to his website to read the rest.

Keep It Interesting

I receive hundreds of emails daily, many courtesy of the viagra/cialis crowd, others from clients, family, friends and newsletters that I have subscribed to.

If an email gets my interest with the headline and first paragraph, you’ve got me.

Otherwise I trash it, or, maybe come back and read it later.

And if I work like that I’d be guessing that most other people do too!

Be Honest and Sincere

But for heaven’s sake don’t over do the sincerity bit!

I still shake my head at the email I received from that supposed email marketing professional.

While I am sure that the writer meant well, I grew up in a rural area, and lived on the land for a bit.

I know what bs looks and smells like, and avoid stepping in it when I see it.

So if I see bs in YOUR email, I’ll treat it the same way!

Tough Times Produce Tough People!

And if tough times produce tough people, then it goes that tough markets produce tough businesses!

If you’re in any sort of business, you must be a marketer, first and foremost.

You may be a butcher, baker, candle stick maker, or even an internet professional, but the fact remains that you need to market your services.

Many make the mistake in tough times of cutting their costs to the point where they don’t advertise or market their business as much as they should, or even not at all, and then simply blame market conditions when turnover falls again!

Working like this simply hands more business to competitors who are in the market place, actively promoting their products.

The Smarter, Tougher Marketer!

2009 was a hard year for a number of businesses, and it was a year where marketing needed to be tough, and creative!

A new client of mine in the hospitality industry was doing it especially tough, and was looking at closing their doors!

Rather than just advertising their existing services, we came up with a new strategy that involved my walking the surrounding area and asking other businesses, and workers in those businesses, what they needed from a business of that type.

Sitting down with the principals of the business and going over the results of my simple survey resulted in some new products, and a slightly changed direction.

Next, we tailored a plan that involved targeted advertising in local newspapers, and on radio.

To round the whole thing off we conducted a letter box drop to homes in the surrounding areas.

Other Actions We Took

We also worked our way through areas of the business that were leaking money, and were able to save hundreds of dollars each week by plugging the holes and cutting expenditure.

The worst thing that any business person can do in hard times is to stop advertising!

If you’re a grocer, people still need to eat!

If you’re a mechanic, people still need their car maintained!

Whatever business you’re in, if your customers aren’t getting your message, or can’t find you in the noise of the market place, they will soon go elsewhere!

What To Do Then?

Well, you could run around in a mad panic and scream out that the sky is falling, or, you could sit down quietly and work out a new marketing strategy for your business!

What is your target market?

Do you know what your market actually wants?

Are your products everyday items, or are they discretionary items?

These, and other questions that you may ask yourself may sound tough, but they do need to be asked.

Once you consider where your business, and customers are at, it may be that you can achieve more for your marketing dollar, and be a lot more effective!

Book A Free Consultation!

To find out how I can help market your business, and to book your free 30 minute, online consultation, contact me here!

But you do need to hurry, as places are filling fast!

There is no obligation to buy the services offered by my team or myself, but we do have limited time, and are offering this free service to help regular visitors to this website with their marketing!

Did I say no more Follow Friday posts?

Well, maybe one more! I was driving home from Sydney today and thought about which one Twitter application could help people to enrich their experience and came up with Mr Tweet!

Mr Tweet provides an easy way to check out people who you may be considering following on Twitter.

When you check out a users profile while logged into Mr Tweet, you see the number of posts that they make each day, the percentage of links that they post, and their level of engagement (conversation).

Follow Mr Tweet on Twitter (after signing up) here!

You can also recommend people for your friends to follow by using the Mr Tweet service!

ShandelB provides great writing tips on her website.

Shandel is a proofreader, and if you’re concerned how your grammar and spelling looks to visitors, (and you should be), her site is well worth a visit.

In one of our recent ‘Chats Across The Pond’, Tege and I had a great laugh comparing pronunciation and spelling differences.

Shandel covers this issue on her website, and provides some great tips.

Shai Coggins describes herself as a “Creative Geek Living at Its Finest”.

A professional blogger, and great networker, I now Shai from a couple of different networking platforms, and can highly recommend her.

LibertyGrrrl is a professional networker both on line, and in her local business community.

She’s the guest speaker at a networking event that I am hosting in Camperdown on Tuesday, October 27.

She’s the real deal, and highly recommended!

If you’d more details about the event, simply fill in the form below!

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Follow Me On Twitter!

Now that everyone in the world seems to have discovered discovered the value of using social media for business, I wonder if anyone has realized that they could be doing more harm than good for their image (brand)?

Armed with the good news that social media is where the next marketing frontier is located, many businesses are diving in boots and all, not knowing that there are snags there that could affect their business.

Many don’t bother to check the Terms of Service of different sites, assuming that Facebook and say, Twitter must be the same, right?

As I’ve said before, the key word in social networking is social!

That means that the majority of people are there to hang out with friends!

While it may be pretty cool (for some) to follow high profile folks like Britney Spears or Ellen DeGeneres, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they want to get sales messages all day from businesses.

Your offer may or may not be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but if you turn your followers away with to many updates and links, you’re only hurting your self!

Tege and I are putting together a social media course to show small business how to use these sites effectively, without harming their image.

Like to know more? Contact us here!