What should I use email marketing for?

Most of us are familiar with the “get your money today” offers from Nigeria in our inbox every morning. These of course are spam and are illegitimate. This is not the purpose of a well designed, well executed email marketing campaign. In a real campaign, your readers have already shown an interest in what you have to offer and are usually happy to hear from you on a regular basis. These people want to know what you can do for them. So – the purpose of your new email marketing campaign will be to tell them exactly that.

Here are The 5 Best Ways to Use Email Marketing:

1. Warm-up to something new – one of the best uses for email marketing is to let the people on your list know that something new is coming, and to build anticipation. Whether a new product or service; whether new directions in your business approach or a new opportunity for them, your readers will become eager to learn more as you tease them over a few weeks or months in advance of your introduction.

2. Keep in touch – Keeping in touch with your list is a critical step in keeping your audience receptive to new information and new opportunities; that is, new chances to buy from you. If you let the relationship become stale, they’ll soon begin to think the only time you get in touch is when you want them to spend money. This can damage your brand and ruin their loyalty to you. An occasional “Hey there,” from you can have powerful long-term benefits.

3. Product launch – Of course, one of the most important uses of a coordinated email marketing campaign is the launch of a new product (or service). Since you have a built-in audience that is receptive to your message, and since you’ve also kept in touch and warmed them up for an announcement, an email campaign to announce the introduction – and ask them to buy from you – has a great chance of being a huge success.

4. Promote your book or webinar – Just as the launch of a new product or service can be advanced with email marketing, so too can a new book or webinar benefit from exposure to your regular audience. Again, build to the moment, then hit them hard, and watch the sales or sign-ups go crazy.

5. New offers or changes to your business – Special deals, items on sale, a new direction for your business – or a new opportunity for those on your list; such as an affiliate program, a new network marketing opportunity, or a new MLM campaign, for example. These are all prime candidates for a well planned, well executed email campaign.

A legitimate email marketing campaign is a powerful tool you can use to grow your business, build your mailing list through referrals, and increase sales. By mailing only to those who’ve given you their permission, you will not end up in the junk file but will; instead, begin to build long-lasting online relationships with people who need – and want – the things you have to offer.

Need help developing your email marketing campaigns? As your dedicated internet marketing service specialist, we’re here to help.

As a cutting-edge Internet marketer, you know that videos, audios, and podcasts can present information in an engaging, entertaining manner, and you’ve decided to make a commitment to incorporate rich media into your marketing plan and your products. Right now. No more waiting. You’re taking the bull by the horns.

Website and blog visitors love these presentation formats because they can obtain information quickly instead of wading through lengthy text-based posts and articles. Because they are more engaging than text, podcasts, audios, and videos also help visitors retain more of the information you present. In order to keep them listening and watching, though, you have to make sure that your presentations contain quality audio sound.

Your audience members do not expect the same professional audio quality that they would expect from high-budget movie and television productions; however, if your voice cannot be heard clearly or your presentations are laden with background noise, viewers and listeners will quickly look elsewhere for the content they want.

The same is true for your audio and video products that you sell. There’s a higher level of expectation from someone who just handed over their hard earned cash to buy your media product. If you take a little extra time and effort to ensure a superior recording, everybody wins.

The time to think about your audio recording quality is before recording, not in post-production editing. Plan and Prepare first, THEN Record.

These five tips can help you improve audio to keep your audience members paying attention:

Tip #1

Avoid depending on your video camera or webcam’s microphone for audio. These devices are acceptable for video chats; however, they cannot produce the level of audio quality that your audio members expect from a professional podcast or video. Instead, use a quality external microphone when presenting content.

There are several options when it comes to choosing a microphone. You can purchase a simple desktop microphone for about $20 at an electronics store. This type of microphone is appropriate if you plan to sit at your desk while recording your video or podcast.

A lapel microphone might be a better choice, particularly if you want to produce video presentations. These models clip to your shirt or jacket and are barely visible. If you are on a budget, you can pick up a corded lapel microphone for about $30 – as long as you do not plan to move around during the presentation, you can simply conceal the cord beneath your shirt. If you will be moving around or writing on a whiteboard, though, you might opt for a cordless version, which typically costs $200 or more.

Budget tip: This little guy from Audio-Technica is a favorite among those needing to have great sound recording on a shoestring budget.

Tip #2

Hang acoustic foam from walls that will not be visible in the finished video. This is particularly important if you are recording in a small room such as a home office. Acoustic foam can reduce or eliminate noise from nearby rooms, and can also significantly reduce echoes that can bleed into your video or podcast audio. There are several available styles, including pyramid, wedge, and grid foam. Also, acoustic foam is available in 1-inch, 2-inch, and 3-inch thicknesses. As you might expect, thicker foam offers more effective sound control than thinner foam.

Wedge and grid foam styles are typically more expensive than pyramid styles. You can purchase 1-inch pyramid foam squares for less than $1 per square foot.

Budget tip: While some audio snobs pros might balk at the idea, you might want to try other budget-friendly options. I’ve read that some people use Egg Crate Bed Pads, carpet padding, or really thick blankets to some success. Many moons ago I remember reading that a popular podcaster would record his podcast audio sitting in his closet and covered with a blanket.

Tip #3

If you are recording in a home office, turn off your home’s heating and cooling system just before you begin recording your video or podcast. Noise from air vents can show up in your audio and can be very difficult to remove with editing software. At the very least, cover vents in your recording room with a heavy blanket during recording sessions to decrease the level of noise produced by your furnace or air conditioner. And don’t forget about the little fan you might have blowing on you. It’ll sound like a freight train when you play it back for review.

Tip #4

Run an audio test before you start recording your presentation. Record about 30 to 60 seconds of audio while reading a portion of your presentation script. Play back the recording and listen for any background noise, echoes, or other distractions that might reduce the quality of your audio. This can save you time later because you can identify and fix audio problems early instead of discovering them after you have recorded your entire podcast or video.

Keep in mind that, while audio editing software can reduce some types of noise, such as echoes and ambient noise, you shouldn’t rely on software exclusively. Applying noise filters after recording will not likely make your audio crystal clear. It can also reduce the volume of your voice, which can make it difficult for viewers and listeners to hear you.

Tip #5

This one is for folks that are using a headset with a built-in mic. The mics sit very close to your face. Position the mic to just in front of the tip of your nose. This keeps it out of your own “blast zone” (aka, the wind coming out of your nose and out of your mouth). It might seem a little high to you, but if you’ve ever listened to a recording where you can hear the person breathing like they’ve just run a marathon, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s distracting to the listener, but completely avoidable by adjusting the position of your mic. I’ve also seen people accomplish this successfully by placing the mic closer to the chin area. Just do a “wind check” before recording anything. Put your hand where you plan to put your mic, and then blow. If you feel the wind, adjust. Then do a test recording to make sure your voice is being picked up enough. If not, adjust again.

Taking the time to improve the quality of your audio will result in professional videos and podcasts that will keep your audience members coming back for more. Professional audio presentation increases your perceived authority, which can help establish you as an expert in your niche. This, of course, can put you far above your competitors in the eyes of your audience.

Find out more about my media editing services here. Let us join you on this new adventure! You record, and we’ll do the rest.

Oh brilliant genius! Yeah … I’m talking to YOU. You are rockin’ your content. And I’m so proud of you. But let’s talk about getting more bang for your buck. As an Internet Marketing Virtual Assistant, I have been preaching content marketing for a long time now. I’m hoping the ideas in this post will give you some encouragement to make it an important part of your business marketing.

How would you like to post a really cool video to your site or – even better – create your own channel and post your videos to YouTube? Or, maybe you could make a fantastic slideshow and post it to a high traffic site like SlideShare? Maybe you even want to build your reputation as an expert in your field by posting a series of expert articles to an article site like EzineArticles? Doesn’t having all of that content out there sound exciting? It just makes sense to put yourself into the many places that people go to find content.

“But,” you ask, “How am I to create all of that new content when I barely have time to get properly dressed in the morning?”

Repurpose old content into new forms

I’m so glad you asked that question, because the answer is simpler than you think. Simply take your old content and “repurpose” it into new forms; forms that allow you to generate fresh interest without the hassle of finding new stuff to blog about. Simply by finding new forms of expression for content you’ve already created, taking it to video, audio, and slideshows for example, you can really boost the impact of your content, while not forcing yourself to come up with a bunch of fresh ideas.

• Video repurposing – simply read a favorite blog post into a video camera and, voila, you’ve created a video post! Since video is one of the most powerful marketing tools available, and because of its incredible popularity, video repurposing may be the most cost-effective means of using existing content. Plus, the audience is huge, with YouTube alone having billions of viewers every day. Other wonderful places to post your videos include the popular social media sites.
• Audio repurposing – create a series of audio presentations from a popular series of blog posts you’ve already written. Post these directly to your website, or use them as a freebie to help build your list. If it’s an ongoing series, consider turning it into a podcast that can be published to places like iTunes, which offers fantastic visibility opportunities.
• Slideshow repurposing – by re-formatting and importing your text into PowerPoint, you’ve created a powerful slideshow presentation for your audience. And if you format the Word document properly, it’s a snap to create a presentation from it by inserting slides from a Word outline. Tip: H1 tags in Word become the title of a new slide, so wherever you want a new slide to start in PowerPoint make sure you’ve given the text an H1 tag in Word first. If you spend the time to create a visually interesting presentation with plenty of graphics, it’s an easy transition to take it to the next level with a video and voiceover. You can save yourself a lot of time if you think with the video as the end product, even if step one is the presentation only. As Slideshare is now owned by LinkedIn, you can expect some great integration features between the two to be coming along soon.
• eBook repurposing – where you again use a series of existing posts and, with some new formatting, create a brand new eBook to be used as a freebie – or to sell! There’s nothing quite like “author” status to boost your credibility on a subject.
• Article marketing repurposing – by removing internal and external links from your longer expert blog posts, you can create a series of article for the article publishing sites that will build your reputation as an expert in your niche.

One of my favorite sayings is, “Don’t Re-create. Repurpose and Reuse.” When you choose alternative methods of expression for existing content you can broaden your audience without the massive time-suck that creating new content can cause. If you are outsourcing your content writing to a ghostwriter or copywriter, you can save money by simply reusing the content you’ve already paid for in new and exciting ways. You can increase the power of the information you’ve worked so hard to offer your audience with new, more impactful presentation methods.

The benefits or content repurposing

When you repurpose content, you are able to …

• Spread your Existing Content over Diverse Media, showing you how One Piece of Content can become Many!
• Transform your Content into one Big Happy Family that Works Together to Create Influence.
• Re-Purpose Text -to- Blog Posts -to- Social Media posts -to- Articles -to- EBooks -to- Reports -to- List Building.
• Broaden your audience and bring more traffic to your website/blogsite.
• Keep your content fresh and interesting to the search engines, again improving traffic flow.
• Save time, energy, and money by reusing content you have already created.

The benefits of using repurposed content are many, and manifest. As the saying goes, “Everything old is new again.” So it goes for repurposing your content; creating new energy and new interest without having to burn old brain cells. Content repurposing is a strong element in any content marketing plan.

Need help with driving your repurposing projects? We’re here to help you, so just give us a call at 303-857-5228. We will help you extend your reach to a wider audience.

YEP, that’s exactly what we’re talking about here; not another fly-by-night, seat-of-the pants, so-called marketing plan, but comprehensive, effective marketing strategies that lead you to the strategic implementation of a plan for success. We’re talking about a fully integrated system of strategic decisions and tactical implementation; actions you can take that will build an audience, generate traffic, promote conversions, and increase both revenue and profits. So, what are you waiting for?

What is a Marketing Strategy?

Let’s begin by defining our terms – before you begin to think we’ve gone off on some silly tangent:

“Strategic / Strategy – A high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. It is a pattern in a stream of decisions, and is about shaping the future. A Marketing Strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its resources on the optimal opportunities with the goals of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.” ~ from Wikipedia

“Ok,” you say, “but I’m not the 101^st Airborne Division, what does all of that mean for me and my online marketing plan?” What it means is, if you want to be successful, you need to make a plan to be successful. You need to develop a comprehensive approach to marketing your book, product, or service with full participation and a commitment to creating compelling content at your website, on the social network and in video, and with a pro-active email campaign. All content in every venue will relate to the other venues, and content creation will be consistent and compelling. You will provide value for your visitors at every turn, and you will ask them to respond; with a call-to-action that will benefit both you and your prospective client.

That’s all … Pretty simple, huh?

What are the most effective Marketing Strategies?

Now we get down to the fun stuff, the real nitty-gritty of making it happen; of outlining the strategic approach to your online marketing plan. The goal here is to create a sequence of strategic initiatives to build online and offline brand awareness, presenting your book, product, or service to the most profitable markets by developing and building relationships through Cross Channel Marketing. There are so many valuable tools and newly opened avenues available in today’s online marketing environment, that a comprehensive marketing strategy is required to tap into all of them and make your marketing plan a success.

CROSS-CHANNEL MARKETING = WEB + SOCIAL + EMAIL + MOBILE

• Create a compelling marketing website with expert blog
• Create regular blog posts with valuable information for your readers
• Automated push to the social network: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
• Mobile-friendly website and social networking
• Article marketing to build an expert reputation
• Monthly eNewsletter with incentive content
• Free eBook for lead capture and list building
• Periodic contests and/or giveaways promoted on-site and on the social network
• Create videos, webinars, and teleseminars
• Offer public speaking presentations
• Capitalize on every opportunity to generate revenue

“This ain’t your grandma’s web experience.”

We can no longer simply “put it out there” and “hope for the best.” For real online marketing success in the highly competitive marketplace that our contemporary web has become, a strategic approach to online marketing is a requirement for a plan to be successful. Whether you are an author with a new book, an entrepreneur with an exciting new product, or a service provider with a new approach to customer satisfaction, broad-based and effective marketing strategies are requisite in today’s online environment.

Strategic Internet Marketing Packages

To get a clearer idea of how a packaged marketing strategy is planned, take a look at what I’ve developed as an entire series of strategic Internet Marketing packages. The two starter packages below are the most popular.

The Basic Marketing Only Package - Good for Launches & Short Marketing Blitzes

This is for marketing only and ideal for launches and other simple marketing promotions taking place over up 6 weeks.
Written based on your provided answers from a questionnaire we send you, approx 1-3 weeks delivery time.
Includes: <>Social Media and Autoresponder email sequence
Optional Add-ons below:
<>Pay-per-click advertising setup, Promotional Graphics and Infographics creation, Social Media Contest Setup and Management.

Build-it-Yourself Internet Marketing Strategic Initiative Starter Package (non-video)

Package Starts With:
<> Lead Magnet freebie offer, and cover image - refine and polish your provided raw content into a final format
<> Set up offer in your list/autoresponder for delivery, create opt-in form and place onto your self-hosted WordPress site (or provide html for placement onto your non-Wordpress site.)
Then Add Any of These Using The Dropdowns Below:
<> Autoresponder email nurturing sequence for 4 months (4 emails) or 8 months (8 emails) - written and set up in list service: $200 - $400
<> HTML newsletter template creation with header image, and set up in your newsletter service - $350
<> Social Media setup/optimization, and primary graphics - 5 accounts: Facebook Business Page, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google Plus. - $495

When you have an online business and website to keep optimized, you’ll need an ongoing fresh supply of content.  But, rather than just uploading content for content’s sake, choose to add content that says something worth saying; content that draws readers in and makes them want to stay tuned. Teach them something. Share something of value.

Maybe the focus of your business is narrow. Perhaps your customers come to you for something very specific and finding new things to write about becomes challenging. No matter your subject, there are always new ways to tackle it. In today’s changing society, there’s always something new that can be added to put a spin on an old topic. Turning to outside writers may be the ideal way to gain the fresh perspective you need.

While it may feel redundant to continually tell your audience what you do, what you think, and what you sell, this is the way business marketing is done these days.

Updating all your platforms with fresh content is imperative. While it can be time-consuming, and at times frustrating if you’re not much of a writer, there are alternate ways to get the job done. You can purchase fresh content from a freelance writer or web content agency to use.

Your audience will stay tuned if they know there is more valuable information coming down the pipeline from you. Create more opportunities for the conversation to continue by updating your content regularly and linking it to all your platforms.

Why is Content Updating Important?

You’re going to need updated content if you’re to have anything to put on your blog and link to your Twitter feed, Facebook and LinkedIn pages.

Your audience wants to be updated and inspired. They want to make new discoveries that will improve their jobs or lifestyles. They want to know your business is still active and want to hear about what you’re working on. They’re eager to hear about the new things you’ve tried or read and want to recommend.

If you are the go-to expert in a certain field, your clients will look to you to do the homework they have no time to do themselves.  By adding ongoing good content to your platforms, over time they’ll learn to trust your expertise.

Why Fresh Content is the Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Of course, you aren’t going to spend significant time and money on inputting creative content without benefiting in some way. Ultimately, you want to make sales, broaden your platform, and build your reputation. This is why it’s important you provide information your audience will want to share, talk about, and will walk away with something of value.  Good content should make readers bookmark your pages, add you to their RSS Feeds, sign up for your newsletters, hire you, or buy your products.  You’ll want to lead people to a particular destination, and with purpose. Perhaps it’s to your compelling offer with an opt-in to some valuable content where you are helping them, or it’s to your amazing product or service that convinces them they cannot live without it.

New fresh content will also help optimize your website so it will appear higher in search engine rankings. Search engines aren’t the only ones using web crawlers to identify important content, though. Anyone searching for information in an organized manner will use a crawler for their own reasons.  Adding fresh content increases the chance you’ll be found.

Making an Ongoing Commitment

The most painful thing I see happening all the time is how people who mean to create content, just never do. Or they start, then stop within a few months…or less. I think their expectation of what they should be seeing as a result, and what the results actually are, are completely different. It’s not a matter of how long you should be creating fresh content. It’s a matter of planning it out for long stretches, not giving yourself a period of time where you don’t at least have some idea of what you can create every month.

What’s even better is that the effort you put into creating content, or having content created, can be re-purposed into a multitude of additional pieces. Videos, ebooks, images, webinars, social posts, presentations, and pdfs can all be part of well-planned web content with a long-term and measurable impact.

If you approach content creation as a sustained development strategy, not just something you do for an event campaign, that’s how you’re going to get the greatest reward.

If you find that you’re a start-n-stopper, don’t be so hard on yourself. There’s never a time when you should be saying “because I cannot seem to stay on track with getting content created, perhaps content marketing is not for me.” There is no right or wrong way to tackle it. A surprising misconception that many people have is the time it takes them to write a value-packed piece of content. They feel it shouldn’t possibly take 3-4 hours to write something, and that they should leave it to the “pros”. In all honesty, it takes most of us that long (or longer) to create value content.  Most people who create content are not blessed with the gift of easy writing. It takes work and it takes time. The main point is that you embrace content creation and keep plugging away.

No Writing Skills? No Time to Write? When Buying Content Makes Sense.

You can spend your own time writing, hire in-house staff to write for you, or you can purchase content from freelance writers or web content agencies.  If you purchase pieces for full rights, you can then tweak them and add your own name and links.  Buying from other authors doesn’t make you any less of an expert, it just means the craft of writing isn’t what you’ve chosen to focus your time on.

Surprising Ways Fresh Content is More Refreshing than New Socks

Today’s audience are readers, spending more time reading online than reading newspapers or books, or watching television.  More people look online for solutions. Inquisitive people are voracious web surfers always on the hunt to uncover new trends and make discoveries, so you need to be there for them to discover!

There are many ways to cross-promote your business and link your content so that it is found in a number of places.  A would-be client might discover your link on Twitter or LinkedIn, through a friend’s Facebook feed, in the description on a YouTube video, an image on Pinterest, in the description on a Slideshare presentation, and so on. Your audience is EVERYWHERE, so you’ll want to be found EVERYWHERE! The more quality material you have online, the more likely it is you’ll establish a presence and begin building your platform.

The Internet is today’s water cooler where people gather to make friends, discuss trends, and make discoveries. It’s important to be part of the discussion if you want to effectively do business today. 

Don’t underestimate the power of adding good quality web content to your blog or website on an ongoing basis in order to get your message out and reel the buyers in.

As a matter of fact, let me get you started. Go buy a calendar, grab a pencil, and find a quiet and comfortable place to contemplate. Then answer the following and begin to fill in your calendar:

1. What is it you want to accomplish with your message over the next 3 to 12 months. Do you have a big picture journey you want to take your audience on?
2. Describe your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). What is it that makes you and your message/product different and special. What do you offer that your competition does not?
3. What’s going on in your business over the next 3 to 12 months? Are you planning webinars? A live event? A product launch? Are you publishing a book or ebook?
4. List any business anniversaries, milestones that will be reached, or other accomplishments.
5. What’s happening in your industry over the next 3 to 12 months?
6. Come up with a theme or category for each month. Grouping your content this way allows you to be thorough, it allows you to create a story or a series of episodes, and is a great way to get your own mind focused on a single topic at a time. If you find that your thoughts are all over the place because you have so much to share, this is a wonderful way to bring it together for you.

Before you know it, you’ll be well on your way to developing months worth of content ideas that will work their magic for you for a long time.

And Remember, it’s Never Too Late to Get Started

If you find that you are unmotivated, uninspired, or just plain drawing a blank, a Content Editorial Calendar can give your creativity the jumpstart it needs. Creating a 12-month calendar is ideal, but even 3 months will move you in the direction of being more productive, and with purpose.

Create 12-Month Editorial Calendar

If you're stumped when you sit down to write for your business, this is exactly what you need to get un-stuck. Together, we will work with you to develop your blog post, article, social media, email, newsletter, and video content plan for the next 12 months based on your industry and business goals, and upcoming events you've got planned.

Create 3-Month Editorial Calendar

Same as the 12-month Editorial Calendar, except it's for 3 months.

Create 6-Month Editorial Calendar

Same as the 12-month Editorial Calendar, except it's for 6 months.