Thursday, February 12, 2009
A standard issue email marketing package – part 2
By Mike Lake
In part 1 of this series, we discussed the benefits of implementing an email campaign: It’s a very cost-effective means of communicating with your market and of positioning yourself as a thought leader in your industry. All without pushing unwanted sales pitches on your audience. We suggested a few resources for getting underway and provided some guidance for your content. We left off with the thought that the topics of the email examples we recommended sounded very similar to Blog titles.
In fact, that is just one example of how email marketing can integrate so well with other forms of social media. After all, getting your content out to your email list is great, but getting that content out to the rest of the world is better, right? It brings people back to your site and hopefully builds your list and, therefore, the number of potential prospects for your product or service.
We’ve written a primer on getting started in blogging for your business, so feel free to read that post to get you started. The point here is that
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Wednesday, February 04, 2009
A standard issue email marketing package – part 1
By Mike Lake
I’ve been talking to several small businesses lately about how to cost-effectively promote their product or service. I find myself recommending the same course of action to them, one that very few do with any regularity or strategy. What I recommend to them is email marketing, and I explain how to do it effectively and cheap. Let me share with you some of the advice I’ve been recommending in order to help you get started effectively using email marketing.
First, why use email marketing? Because it is a very cost-effective way of communicating with your prospects and clients. The more often you communicate to these important people, and do so with life-benefiting information, the more likely they will see you as a trusted expert and your product as one they should consider. Notice I didn’t just say, “the more often you email them a sales pitch about your product…”, because people don’t want to be solicited. We want to be given value. That is the key to effective email marketing.
As your fist step, you need a list of people to email. Hopefully, you’ve been keeping a database of names and email addresses of customers and the people who inquire about your product or service. Your list is key. If you have no such list, begin now by compiling one. Start by…
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Thursday, January 22, 2009
Making the economy work for YOU
By Mike Lake
I received a call yesterday from a reporter of a business publication doing a story on the effects of our economic times. His first question of me was how the economy is effecting creatives. I think he was somewhat surprised by my answer, which was that the effects exist, but not to the extent the doomsayers are proclaiming. In fact, for many, I hear that business is genuinely good. Granted, I’m not hanging out with recently laid-off Bank of America employees or Madoff investors. I truly feel bad for those who are being hurt by circumstances outside of their control, but my comments reflect the freelance individuals, salespeople and small business owners I interact with on a daily basis.
The reporter with whom I spoke yesterday was intrigued, and welcomed my contrarian outlook on the economy. I told him that companies are still spending money on marketing, and the good ones always will. I told him the creative freelancers I know continue to fill their days with paying work. I told him that Redlake’s most recent three clients are in or related to the real estate business(!) and have hired us to create strategic marketing strategies. They’re planning.
Last night I heard for the gazillionth time a popular and self-serving Washington cliche, and for the first time, it made an impact on me. “We want to get the economy working again.” Well, the fact is that the US economy IS working and has been steadily for the past 225 years. There are plenty of places around the world to remind us what a non-working economy looks and feels like! But, this is not a political discussion-for that let’s hang out sometime. Rather, this is my assurance to you that while the economy is in a downturn, there are LOTS of people making great money and the same can be done by anyone reading this.
Here’s how:
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Monday, November 10, 2008
How do you do business on Facebook?
By Mike Lake
I recently saw a successful internet marketer explaining how he uses social media like YouTube, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, etc. for his business. He asked, “You want to know how much money I make using those tools?” As he said, “This is how much money I try to make with social networking…”, he drew a big fat zero on his white board.
Now, I think it’s fair to say that we’re all trying to figure out the best use of social media for commerce. There are plenty of national brands with their own Facebook account and Twitter page, but the jury is still out on how well that actually sells their product. Clearly, the gentleman I spoke of above has a contrarian view, but I think it’s worth mentioning because he said some things that I thought were instructive.
This internet marketer drew boxes on the board, each containing Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. and said, “I look at each of these as a party”. When you go to a party and introduce yourself to people, you don’t just start by…
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Sunday, October 12, 2008
The “B” word
By Mike Lake
It’s official. Every web site I write and design now comes with a blog. I tell my clients that for a variety of reasons, they need a blog. Then I get the look. It’s a combination of “A what?” and “I don’t have time.” and “I don’t know how to do that.” with the occasional “I don’t write.” Let me share with you some of the points I make that convince every one of them that writing a blog is essential to their business.
First, writing a blog positions you as a thought leader. Assuming you know how to promote it, your blog provides ideas that help people, and by doing so, demonstrates your knowledge in your particular specialty. (After reading this post for example, you might think I know something about the internet.) Again, however, you must…
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