Five Tips to Increase Email Click-Through Rates

Here are five things you can do with your message to generate more clicks in your emails.

 

 1. Restate your key benefits
 

Hopefully, you've made your point in the body of your email and provided the key reasons recipients should take action. Usually, those reasons are the key benefits of responding to the call to action. For example:

• No Reservation Fees
• Park 7 Days and get One Day Free
• Complimentary Shuttle, Water, Coffee, etc

2. Make another promise or introduce a surprise benefit

If you're following basic copywriting guidelines, your message is focused on a single powerful idea (called, appropriately, the "Big Idea").  Let's say you've made a promise and talked about the key benefits, but, unfortunately, email recipients have read all the way to your signature and haven't clicked the link. Try offering another promise or a surprise benefit in your post script to jolt them from their stupor and move them into action.

• LIKE US on Facebook to receive special offer

3. Provide more credibility

Perhaps your email recipients aren't clicking because they don't believe you or what you're saying. Maybe you're pitching too soon in the sales cycle; maybe your offer doesn't offset their doubts at this point; or maybe your email address is not believable (i.e. joepark@aol.com). You must demonstrate a credible image to offer more proof or credibility ... hopefully pushing readers over the edge.

4. Communicate urgency

You can communicate urgency in many ways, and most of them aren't believable. I'm sure you've been to a landing page that shows the number 500 crossed out with the phrase "only 19 remaining!" next to it. Return to that site a year later, and you'll see the same numbers. Some sense of urgency! Urgency works only when it's real. You can't say you've got a limited supply of e-books, for example. Even the most naive shopper would see through that ploy. You can, however, use urgency when a timeline or limitation exists.

5. Restate or expand on your guarantee

If you've got a good guarantee, by all means, flaunt it in your message.  For example:

• Book Online on our Website for the lowest rate....Guaranteed!
• Best Price Guarantee found at www.takecareofmycar.com!
• No Reservation Fees!

 

Key Components to your Long Term Internet Strategy

If you are reading this post for the first time, I highly recommend reading it over and over again until you do something about it.  Or what?  Well, for starters, you will lose market share and watch your profits shrink.

If you want to make your business fly, there’s no good excuse for not having a small business internet marketing strategy.   A common bad excuse is, I don’t know how to grow our organization with more customers, clients, or sales using the internet.  Working with SMC, this excuse is no longer valid. 

Please review these bullets and then review the four points below to support these key components:

Don't Be Penny Wise & Pound Foolish

• MODERN, STRUCTURED WEBSITE with Mobile Application and Flexibile for Landing Pages
• SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
• PAY PER CLICK (PPC)
• VIDEO SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (VSEO)
• EMAIL MARKETING
• SOCIAL NETWORKING
• REAL TIME CENTRALIZED RESERVATIONS SYSTEM (CRS)
• CHANNEL MARKETING PROGRAM 

1. To save time and money

A well-planned internet marketing strategy will assure that you’re allocating your time and your small business’ resources optimally by eliminating excessive trial and error, misuses of marketing budgets, and sporadic efforts. Sadly, most small business entrepreneurs aren’t aware of the tremendous impact that an online marketing strategy can have on their business’ bottom line.

2. To gain a competitive advantage

The online marketing your competition isn’t doing is your competitive advantage – but only if you seize the opportunity. If you’re following a solid small business internet marketing strategy, you’re putting yourself in a position to gain a competitive advantage over your competition. Why? Because you’ll be making consistent improvements to your tactics in the areas in which your competition is most likely lacking.  NOTE: Spend plenty of time planning and outlining your small business’ internet marketing strategy prior to investing in pay-per-click PPC campaigns and other online advertising; following a plan will assure that you have the foundation necessary to fully capitalize on online advertising.

3. To yield consistent results

A systematic approach to internet marketing yields systematic results. Consistency is key to unlocking online marketing success; a solid strategy will lay the foundation to make it happen. Religiously following a strategy (while making adjustments as necessary) assures that you’ll keep up with your online marketing efforts; that, in turn, will yield long-term results.

4. To build a foundation for long-term internet marketing success

Online marketing is evolving at a rapid pace; staying on top of the latest and greatest trends can feel daunting. The need for online basics, however, aren’t changing: a website, search engine optimization (SEO), social media presence, email marketing, and great content are all must-haves. A solid internet marketing strategy will provide you with the basic core elements that your business needs for long-term online marketing success – a foundation to build upon.

Implementing a successful online marketing strategy is a learning process; the sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll be on your way to seeing the results in your business.  And the sooner you get started, the faster you will find your company branded in the market place.

SMC is ready to help you with your online strategy.  It starts with a plan!  To begin, go to www.smcsoftware.com and click on internet marketing.

Email Marketing Advice and Sample

Make sure your marketing emails practice the K.I.S.S. method: Keep It Simple and Smart!

Whatever the offer is in your email campaign, it is good practice to keep your message direct, short and action-driven.  It is a known fact that people are more visual than they are readers in today's society.  Don’t blast your list offers everyday or every week because they’ll drop off your list faster than you can blink an eye. Treat them like you would a friend, by sending relevant information mixed in with soft pitches to buy your service on a monthly basis.

Marketing emails must have a familiar preview and subject line!

Most people decide if an email is interesting by previewing the subject line without opening the email.  Use the subject line to summarize the email content. The subject line should tell the email content, not sell the email content. Keep your subject line to 50 characters or less. Avoid writing your subject text with capital letters. Avoid using flashy promotional texts or exclamation marks.

To increase the success rate of your marketing emails, make sure your sender name is visible, trustworthy and easily recognized.  This is important:   Do not send marketing emails from generic-looking email addresses, like joesparking@aol.com or gotparking@gmail.com.  Send your marketing emails from an email address that triggers the feeling "I know who sent this email".   Knowing and trusting the sender is the primary reason for opening an email.

 

5 Social Media Musts for Corporate 2012

Social media is fun and games ... but it isn't all fun and games. There's also a lot of serious business to be had, especially for modern marketers who mean business. What should you be doing to make the most of your social media marketing program? Here's a short list of five must-dos for social media success in 2012:  Have a strategy. Create a plan. Stop trying to be everything to everyone and develop a strategy that will help you achieve your objectives. Then, follow best practices for creating goal-oriented tactical plans. Get creative with your content. Social media requires a lot of engaging content if you want to stand out. So, stop being boring and start resonating with your audiences by creating content with personality. Know what you'll do in a crisis. A crisis played out on social media spreads far—and fast. Now's the time to create the necessary plans and polices, and empower your staff to act quickly when a crisis develops. Measure. Measure. And measure again. (Did we say measure?) Start by setting SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-bound) goals for audience attention, attitude, and action. Make Available a Real-time Purchasing System.  Once a relationship is established in the online community, your fans will gain your trust and want to buy your product or service.  Don't make it difficult for them! Without a plan to reach out, it will be most difficult to win fans over.

Social Media Video

Not long ago - the year was 2000 - we heard many people and companies make "non-belief" comments about the internet like many do today with social media.  Kind of funny when you think about it.

Social media has captured the attention and awe of the marketing world with the promise of increased customer engagement and lower marketing costs. Yet behind the buzz lies the question of how to measure its success. With no standard means of measurement, it is difficult to decipher the value of different platforms and determine the true ROI of social media marketing. To make sense of the situation, SMC wants to share an eye-opening video based on recent findings and figures. Watch this short video on the facts, factors, methods and metrics that businesses need to know in understanding the real return of social media.

Advice from the Social Media Experts

Social Media marketers share their secrets to social success:

• Start with the Right Strategy - "Align with the goals of your department. That's a good starting place. In most cases your department strategy should also align to a larger corporate strategy. We don't want a communication strategy that is at odds with our service strategy." (Shannon Paul, Blue Cross Blue Shield)
• Know Your Objectives - "Tie your social media activities to existing objectives, such as increasing online sales, driving web traffic or boosting attendance at your next webinar or offline event. Set a reasonable target, see what happens and use it as a benchmark for future campaigns." (David B. Thomas, Radian6)
• Deliver Relevant Content - "Deliver the right content, at the right time, in the right channel to the right customer (or partner). Relevant content happens as a result of listening, thought leadership, Google insights, and community sentiment." (Michael Brito, Edelman Digital)
• Develop Meaningful Relationships - "Use social media as a platform for developing relationships. Show your thought leadership by answering questions on LinkedIn — it could lead to new contacts and leads." (Shashi Bellamkonda, Network Solutions)
• Integrate into Your Marketing Mix - "Don't leave opportunities on the table; explore how you can extend your marketing effort by integrating social elements into your PR, events and customer support activities." (Jane Price, Marketing Consultant)

• Measure What Matters - "Distill social media measurement down to core metrics that your company is already measuring that have history behind them. When you show what social media is or isn't delivering there is a conversation that can take place." (Nichole Kelly, Full Frontal ROI)

• "And let's not forget to a bullet point that sits in a category of its own: Call-To-Action.  People, in general, want to be sold.  So, a simple call-to-action button or link must be provided for those who wish to buy.  K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple and Smart!"  (Mike Harley, SMC)

 

Creative Marketing Concept

Channel Partners, what are they?   How do we find them? 

Simplified Answers:  Corporations, Associations, Large Travel Agencies, Chambers and anyone else who could send business your way.  The sign below shows one way.  Of course, there always the glass bowl on the counter approach.

Real Conversation:  In speaking with the owner of VIP Park & Ride serving Jacksonville International Airport and Jaxport (cruise terminal), a conversation brewed up this week over channel partners and how VIP wanted to use smartLUIS to own their market.  After some going back and forth, April 15th came up as a day everyone knows, and loves.  So, why not take advantage of a negative and turn it into a positive?

Good Job Luis Sr and Jr.  And good luck.  We look forward to hearing the results of your efforts.