Saturday, April 14, 2007

10 Essential Marketing Tips

In my daily receipt of emails and newsletters I found this recent series an excellent lesson for beginning internet marketers. They are full of information so I'll post one lesson at a time.
The key behind these lessons is to build a subscriber following which will build your business exponentially.
Follow these techniques and you will be on your way to building a successful home based business.

Lesson #1
============================================================================
Essential Rules For Effective Email Marketing

If you want an email campaign to succeed, you don't want to offend anyone when sending your messages. Turn off a consumer with your email and you can be sure they'll tune out your message.
Don`t let this happen to you!
A message that earns respect makes sales. That's why the first lesson is email etiquette.
Train yourself to stick to the rules below when crafting your email messages.
RULE #1 - ALWAYS WRAP YOUR LINES AT 65 CHARACTERS OR LESS
Whenever you write an email, always format the lines so that they're 65 characters, or less, across. To do this, you may need to do a "hard return" by hitting"Enter" at the end of the line. Wondering why to limit your lines to just 65 characters? (Good question! It shows you`re thinking.) There are two reasons that "less is more":--
  • The first thing to remember is that looking at a computer screen for a long time causes EYE FATIGUE for many readers. The shorter span of characters across the screen makes reading easier and more appealing to the recipient of your email message.--

  • The other reason to go short instead of long is this:some email clients AUTOMATICALLY ENFORCE LINE-WRAPPING at 60-65 characters on received messages. If your email is wrapped at 70, the content will arrive all "chopped up." This makes it unattractive...and worse -- unappealing.--

  • Tip #1: Email clients such as OutlookExpress allow you to SET THE LINE-WRAP to any character-width you choose. That means you won`thave to hit Enter each time after typing 65 characters. Makes life easier!--

  • Tip #2 - You can type 65 asterisks ordashes in a Notepad file to create a template. Thenpaste your email below it to see if any lines extend toofar to the right.

RULE # 2 - BE CAREFUL USING ALL CAPS

How many times have you changed the TV channel to avoid listening to a screaming car salesperson? No one likes a screaming salesperson...and no one likes a"screaming" email message, either. Odds are, when someone has over-amped the volume of their message by using too many capital letters (not to mention too many exclamation points and other punctuation) -you`re going to be turned off.

On the Internet, email messages written in all caps are considered yelling. It`s okay to write some sentences and some words in all caps, but don`t go overboard. (Asyou can see in this message, I`ve tried to use capital letters to help break up sections of the content from time to time)--

  • Tip #1: Consumers buy from a source they trust. Emails in all caps are perceived as "shady" or uneducated, and have an appearance that damages the credibility of an offer.

RULE #3 - WATCH YOUR Ps & Qs (Spelling andGrammar)

Would you be influenced by an email selling you something that had noticeable spelling and grammar mistakes? Sureyou would...and the influence would be negative, not positive! When a consumer reads a sales message that's filled with errors, they think to themselves, "Good grief, this person doesn`t even take the time to get his emails right. His product is probably the same quality as his emails.

"When you're in business, YOUR IMAGE IS YOUR REPUTATION and your reputation is the reason people buy from you or the guy down the block. It's essential that you create an image of INTEGRITY, CREDIBILITY, and HONESTY in the mind of your prospects. Sending emails filled with errors doesn't hurt your professional image...it destroys it. (Ouch!)

Follows these three simple steps in email formatting and you are on your way to building a subscriber list that trusts you.

A person who trusts you is more apt to buy from you than one who doesn't trust you.

No comments: