Successful email marketing campaigns have two outcomes:

1. Email marketing gets people to buy your product or service.

2. Email marketing develops relationships.

However, in order to achieve both of those there are some basic rules to observe when you’re creating your email marketing campaigns.

Rule 1: Know your target audience. What do they want? How can you help them? Write what they want to know.

Rule 2: Get your subject line right – it must be strong enough for people to want to open it, so not cheesy, not salesy – but definitely intriguing or compelling.

Rule 3: Make sure you’re using a good system that gets the salutation right; don’t use my full name – if you can’t organise for it to say ‘Dear Joe’, then leave the salutation out altogether.

Rule 4: A single email doesn’t work, a good email marketing campaign has a series of at least three and up to five or six. However, each email should stand alone, you don’t know whether they’ve read the one before so any references to former emails can simply irritate and get this one deleted too.

Rule 5: Each email marketing series should focus on one product/service. Don’t try to present more than one subject or you’ll confuse your reader – if they read only one they’ll get the message; if they read more than one you’ll reinforce the message.

Rule 6: Use stories and examples to gain reader engagement and support them with data and statistics. Always end with a call to action – tell them what to do next e.g. ‘Visit our website’; ‘Call us now on …’. Make sure the means to take action are right where you’re asking so link to website, phone number spelled out.

Rule 7: Make sure you’re using a clean list – with permission – or you’ll be ruining your reputation.

Good luck with your next email marketing campaign!
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Advertising costs money – so why is it that so many people waste their money by creating ads that are ineffective, boring, and don’t have any focus? Before agreeing to advertise, whether it’s in a publication, online or in the broadcast media, think carefully about what you want the ad to do for you. If you don’t have focus, neither will your ad!

Here is a selection of tips that will help you to sharpen your focus:

1. Every ad needs an attention grabbing statement whether written or broadcast. It’s the ‘headline’ that tells people it’s worth exploring further.

2. What do you want people to do when they’ve read or listened to your ad? What do they need to know to want to do it? Don’t put unnecessary information in – make sure that every word and picture earns its space.

3. How influential is your brand? If you’re not a nationally known name, it might not need to be very big. If you have a well-known brand it may influence people to read more or even to buy, if you’re not known, your brand won’t help you and takes up valuable (and expensive) space.

4. It may seem ridiculous to say this, but don’t forget to include a means of contacting you and your web address. It’s surprising how many people forget to add a phone/email contact. The web address on its own just means people have to work harder than necessary to get in touch; they may not bother.

5. People will sometimes want to check you out so, if you want people to be impressed when they visit your website, make sure that the image is consistent with what is in the ad. Also make sure that the site is sticky and engages people when they get there. It’s no good investing all that money in an ad when people get to your website and don’t understand what you’re trying to tell them – or can’t see anything useful. They’ll just leave.

6. If you’ve got pictures in your ad, put them to the right and the copy to the left. We read from left to right and generally scan pictures from top to bottom, so pictures that have a message on their right often prevent people from reading it, they just scan down and carry on underneath the picture. Getting the layout right improves your chances of the ad being read.

7. When including testimonials ONLY use the power statement, not the whole thing. The power statement is the bit that tells people what the customer got that made a difference, the information about how nice and friendly your team were doesn’t work anywhere near as well.
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The hot shot ad agency types will tell you it’s about something gimmicky, shocking or what’s hot today. They’re only partly right. There are many reasons people ‘get it’ – and plenty of obstacles that stop them getting it! Here are 7 tips that will help your copy to be read:

1. I don’t want to know what you do, I want to know what I get so write about what’s in it for ME (your reader).

2. If you give me lots to read I might not bother, keep paragraphs and sentences short and to the point.

3. When you start writing you MUST know why people buy you and tell your readers that’s what they get.

4. Most people don’t read online, they scan, so put easy-to-read devices like bullets and subheads to help them get your message – and whilst people tend to read more from paper, it’s a good way to draw their attention to the key points.

5. What do people REALLY want to know? Not lots of detail. Tell them what they want, not what you want to say.

6. What do you want people to do when they’ve read your message? Don’t forget a call to action.

7. Don’t make people work hard; tell them what to do and make it easy for them to do (i.e. make the words a link) or put the phone number right there (don’t expect them to search around for it).

There are many more reasons people stop reading – but just getting these right will make a real difference.

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There are a number of things that are important about creating a website – and the order in which they’re addressed is equally important.

My recommendation is to get one person to project manage your site – ideally someone who really understands what all the elements do and how they work together. However, if you’re determined to do it yourself here’s my recipe for a website that works:

If everything is in place – hit the ‘go’ button!

A word of warning – this is not the end of the story. Websites need constant updates, checking to ensure no links become broken, fresh information, new content – that’s how they get on the search engine rankings, so a good content management system is a smart move.
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English is one of the richest languages in the world – the multitude of words with nuances of meaning is awesome. It’s astonishing that it’s become an international language, simply because there’s so much vocabulary to learn – and let’s not get started on the irregularities in English grammar!

Talking to a client we got on the subject of ‘understanding’. I think that the word ‘understand’ means that the person gets the message correctly and clearly. He says they may understand something, but not understand it correctly.

This all ties into the issues of whether the accurate understanding of your message is the responsibility of the receiver, or the responsibility of the sender (that’s you).

When you say something to someone else, it’s hard to say ‘did you understand that?’ without sounding as though you’re also saying ‘I think you’re a bit thick, so I’m checking up on you.’

Of course, even so, they will probably say ‘yes’ in any case. This might mean:

Professional speakers are taught to repeat their points three times – just to make sure we all get it. It’s a good rule of thumb to follow.

So, now you’ve read all this, did you understand what I thought I’d said, which was …

Be clear, be concise and, if in doubt that you’ve been understood, say it again in different words!
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Having just broken my arm – and it’s my right one (yes, I’m right-handed), I’m discovering how many things we do on autopilot. We learn habits that are hard wired into our subconscious and help us to operate with the minimum of fuss.

Are all these good habits? Not necessarily, we learn to do lots of things that are not the best way, just the easiest, because that’s how we’ve always done it. Having to look at how you do something is a great opportunity to review, revise and create a more streamlined or efficient way of doing things.

I’ve already realised that I have things in my kitchen that I don’t use and are actually in the way. Moving them out has created more work space and easier access to the things I do use.

What’s this got to do with websites and web copy?

How many of you have a website that you haven’t changed for ages? Have you actually read your site recently – is it still fresh and up to date, or does some of it need cleaning up? Does some of the information need putting away and a new page putting in its place. Or do you need a change of structure to allow people easier access to the areas they really want to get at?

If you had to start from scratch would your site have the same information as it has currently? I bet it wouldn’t!

Start reviewing and bring your site up to date – oh yes, you’ll find the search engines will start to notice you exist if you start changing things regularly too!
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This isn’t about web copy – but it is about readability and it uses some of the same ‘rules’.

There are many different varieties of flyer; there’s the letter/A4 sized sheet, the A5 (half letter size), the trifold, the DL (compliments slip size); the postcard – and many others. Today I’m going to talk about content – and tomorrow about where the content needs to go.

Finally, when you’ve assembled those pieces of information – don’t be tempted to fill space with additional information! Stop right there!

Read the next blog to find out how to assemble the various types of flyer so the key information is in the right places.
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I watched most of this series of the Apprentice – and I like Sir Alan Sugar’s irascible approach; it’s definitely good TV. I always wonder about the candidates though, they seem to be lacking in one area – and one that I think is critical – customer service.

Yes, they go for the sales – but at the expense of good quality and an interest in the long term customer relationship. I was surprised that cutting corners, serving up sub-standard food, chocolate that tasted bad and selling cheap and cheerful, but quality-free, items seemed to be the order of the day throughout.

If I wrote websites that way, I would never get a referral or recommendation – and certainly no testimonials.

Sales is a process of communication and relationship management – a quick sale is a one-off. People won’t buy again if they think you’ve flogged them sub-standard goods.

The statistics have proven again and again that it costs far less to keep an existing customer than it does to find a new one – so the profit margins in one-off sales will need to be high to compensate for all that effort.

I know it’s a TV programme and it IS a one-off – but if I’d been on the receiving end of that approach I would have been less than happy.

I’d rather keep the customers I’ve got and let them bring me their associates, suppliers and their customers because they know they get good quality and good service, than keep finding new customers again and again.
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Your website is part of your marketing – as is your business card, flyers, email signature, proposals – in fact, anything you give to people outside your business in either paper or electronic form. Have you got all your material consistently developed to market you?

What’s your key message? Is it on everything? Does it tell people what you deliver for them?

There are lots of ways to market – and I’ve just added another to my portfolio. I’ve got involved with someone else’s marketing – joint ventures really are a win-win situation! When someone else says you’re good, it’s much more powerful than saying it yourself.

Hannah McNamara has written a book, Marketing for Coaches (which actually has some really good stuff that can be applied by anyone, no matter what business they’re in). She’s practising what she preaches and has developed an amazing bonus package to promote her book by getting lots of people to join her in a joint venture.

She gets a fantastic package for her readers worth £1,730/$2,600 – and her joint venture partners get exposure to potential new clients.

If you’d like to see what the package contains you can find out on Hannah’s website – and if you want that fantastic value it will cost you less than £15 for the book (but only from Hannah, not from anywhere else).

What joint ventures could you create that will market you as well as Hannah has done?

P.S. My bonus contribution is access to a free teleclass on 28th May, which you can sign up for at a cost of $27 (around £16) – so it makes sense to buy the book and get a lot more for your money!
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