Did you know email marketing has one of the highest returns on investment in online marketing?
Well from next Monday (13th July), Toddle.com is running a free four week email marketing course to show you how to get the best from it. Four emails over four weeks covering all the basics.

You can sign up here.

Image cc David Erickson

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Spoiltchild has been busy working with RTE over the last few months to develop a new platform to showcase documentaries online. We are very pleased to announce the launch of the new Doc on One website showcasing over 200 documentaries from the RTE archives. You can download, search by category, review and listen to documentary podcasts. Users can even send suggestions for future documentaries to the RTE team. If like me, you are interested in a wide variety of subjects; events, history and culture, log on and enjoy 40 minutes of pure listening pleasure. Documentary lovers bookmark this site now! http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/index.html

You can follow Doc on One updates on Twitter and Facebook. Stay tuned as there will be over 400 documentaries added to the site by the end of the month. So plenty of entertainment and education for everyone.

The Doc on One team is passionate about their work and bringing documentaries to larger audiences via the web. Spoiltchild is happy to be part of the team that facilitated such a worthwhile endeavour. We are very proud of the site in helping to create a buzz and promote such a fantastic artform. We wish continued success to the Doc on One team.

Thanks to Damien and all those on Twitter who reviewed Doc on One and gave it the thumbs up.

Mary

Alan

We have just confirmed the location for our next two Email Marketing courses. Here is the ad that is going out to promote it.
Cheers
Mary

Email Marketing: Small Outlay! High Return! Get Results Now!

Following fantastic reviews from our previous courses, we are happy to announce an evening with Bafta nominated designer and founder of Spoiltchild.com, Toddle.com and FineTuna.com; Alan O’Rourke.

When: June 25th 6.30 – 8.30pm
Where: D Hotel Drogheda

Learn how to:

• Make this highly effective marketing tool work for you
• Use the technology you already have
• Find and grow a subscribers list
• A stepped approach to successful email campaigns
• Layout your Newsletters for maximum effect
• Simple writing techniques
• Measure and adjust your campaigns
• Integrating other types of marketing
• Working within the law

Book now to ensure your place.
Call Mary at 041 9830152 or email mary@spoiltchild.com
€95 per person.
All welcome.

Next course date: July 9th D Hotel, Drogheda, 6.30 – 8.30 pm.

Image thanks to foundphotoslj

How time flies, FineTuna is a year old. Odd things often happen around birthdays; I think they call it synchronicity, with a lovely review on Site Point today and a push from the Tuesday Push tomorrow.

We had one goal for FineTuna, to become the TinyURL of design feedback. Simple, fast and disposable after you have your point accross.

Our little app started out as an entry to a competition form Web 2 Ireland. Have a look at our initial presentation here.
http://www.web2ireland.org/2007/10/10/winner-of-the-web2expo-berlin-tickets/

We got such a positive response that we decided to build it and so a concept became a reality. And we never imagined just how many people would love it. The statistics are truly amazing. Over 25,000 images have been uploaded, shared and reviewed with more than 9 gigs uploaded.

It is really interesting to see how the initial concept for the website changed from how we thought it would work, to what we have a year on. The upload functionality with the Firefox extension really helped its usability. We also decreased the number of buttons from 5 to 4 making things simpler all round.

FineTuna unleashed a truck load of reviews and mentions including TechCrunch, CSS Mania, cnet, and many others during the past year. We are very proud of the coverage FineTuna has received and thank everyone for using, promoting and pushing our efforts.

Mary

Due to the success of our email marketing workshops in Drogheda, Donegal and Trim over the past few months, we are delighted to announce a few more. We will be in Navan, Drogheda and Dublin so hopefully you can attend a course near you.

Dates for the next series of workshops are:
June 25th
July 9th
July 30th
August 3rd
August 20th
September 3rd
September 30th.

Locations to be confirmed next week.

All courses are two hours, 6.30 – 8.30 pm and the fee is €95 per person. Give us a shout and let us know what date is best for you.

A big thanks to all who attended Meath Tourism Evening Lecture Series in Trim Castle Hotel organised by Meath Tourism last week. It was lovely to meet such a wide and diverse range of people working in the tourist industry in the region. As always I learned lots and received great feedback for my talk ‘Email Marketing made easy’ which is always gratefully appreciated.

Thanks to JaredChapman for the fantastic illustration.

The preparations are complete and we have a location. Thanks for all your suggestions. Our first meeting is in the D Hotel, Drogheda, on Friday 29th of May, 9.30 am.

Open Coffee Clubs are informal gatherings for business people and entrepreneurs to talk about projects, exchange ideas, and to network. Begun in London and Dublin on 1st of March 2007 there are now over eighty clubs in towns and cities worldwide.

Lots of parking space is available in Scotch Hall shopping centre on the Dublin Road. We have just created a Twitter account so please follow us @occdrogheda. So come along have a chat and some good coffee. Bring your business cards and we will provide the welcome. Looking forward to meeting you all.

Mary

I have been talking to Denise Fay for a while now about organising an Open Coffee in Drogheda. We finally got the ball rolling today and put a shout out for possible venues to hold the first meet up. So far Bru and the D Hotel have been mentioned, both great locations. Suggestions much appreciated and of course all are welcome. I must say I am really excited as there are lots of fantastic, motivated people around these parts who I can’t wait to meet and share ideas with. I will post up date and location as soon as we have all the details together. Looking forward to seeing you in Drogheda soon.

- Mary

It’s Tuesday Push day and time to catch up on fine initiatives from great Irish companies. RevaHealth is in the spotlight today and for good reason. If you want to find a doctor, a dentist or medical or cosmetic services in your area or abroad, RevaHealth will find and compare them for you in seconds. Easy to navigate, pleasing design, lots of good advice and the ability to review your chosen professional practice, RevaHealth.com hits all the right notes. Since your health is your wealth this website will provide you with a healthy body and a health pocket, not bad for a two second investment of your time. We have been fortunate to work with Caelen and the guys in the past and a more committed bunch you can’t find anywhere. Continued success to one and all.

The new address is:
The Mews,
Bettystown Cross,
Bettystown,
Co Meath,
Ireland

And we will have a new number for you shortly.

See you on the other side.

Over on SME Links Ireland group on LinkedIn Bob Tallent asked a great question, following an article in the Irish Times yesterday. http://tinyurl.com/dglla5 Are we in Ireland more pessimistic than other countries?

As you can imagine the discussion thus far has been great. So where has this pessimism and negativity come from? One respondent to the discussion Paul Lanigan believes it’s a leftover form our colonial past. I would have to agree with him.

For my part, I believe that there is a generation of people who operate with a deeply ingrained pattern of very destructive behaviour. They love nothing more than dragging down their neighbour. In saying that, I realise that there is a large body of Post Colonial theory that interrogates this, Edward Said being one. Not being appreciated in your own country/place is one of the hangovers of a colonialist society, constantly looking for validation from the coloniser long after that relationship has changed. And by looking for validation runs down the capabilities and aptitudes of their fellow country folk.

I think the other important lesson here is confidence, an emerging nation finding their own voice and having the confidence to be proud of their achievements and abilities. I am glad to see that the begrudgery and cynicism so often equated with Irish people is beginning to evaporate. If the lessons of BizCamp Dublin and Limerick are anything to go by, we have managed to break the cycle and raise a generation of confident young people and entrepreneurs who are ready and willing to take on the world and better yet help their neighbour, colleagues and friends. The past ten years have rewarded us with the confidence to get things done, to work together and with the knowledge that we can be hugely successful. Hopefully the doom and gloom merchants will follow the achievers and leave the slagging matches to the football field from now on.

Image thanks to WxMom (cc)

A few months ago I undertook a survey of email marketing trends among Arts Organisations in Ireland. Thirty organisations were surveyed, taking in a cross section of National Cultural Institutions, Galleries, Arts Centers, Theatres, and organisations that work in Literature, Youth Arts, Music, Architecture, as well as Festivals and Local Authority Arts Departments.

Like small businesses, many Arts organisations have a small team with limited resources. Arts staff organise exhibitions, concerts, events, festivals and activities throughout the year and in doing so require effective ways to engage with the public. With Art budgets slashed last year and the outlook uncertain for 2009, the need for a cost and time effective solution to promote and market these events is crucial. Email marketing certainly provides the answers to these two problems. At its simplest, it really is just a short communication between two people, using the technology you already have.

Here is what I asked:
Q.1 Do you use email marketing (newsletters)?
Q.2 How often?
Q.3 How do you find your subscribers to email?
Q.4 Are you making the best use of email marketing?

The results were fascinating. A 1/3 response rate was achieved overall. All respondents are currently utilising email marketing. 60% communicate monthly, 10% weekly and 30% for each event. 70% felt that they could use this tool more effectively with more time and more knowledge. One respondent had added an RSS feed to their newsletter to automate news delivery. All grow their subscriber list by sign ups at events, promotions or via their websites.

Overall, this survey demonstrates that arts organisations are actively engaging with email marketing but many struggle to find the time to do so. Another factor is continuing to engage with the reader. This calls for further education to designin marketing strategies that continually connect with the subscriber. Consistently writing engaging, relevant information will bring readers back time and again and even better tell their friends.

My sincere thanks to all who participated.

Image thanks to liz_com1981 (cc)

BEN is a new site from the team here showcasing beautiful email newsletter designs. Updated regularly it features email marketing from around the world. Great for when you are looking for a bit of inspiration.