Scottsdale AZ, May 25, 2010 - FireDrum Internet Marketing, a leading provider of email marketing software and solutions for various size organizations, has launched social media marketing services to help clients integrate social media into their email and online campaigns to stay relevant to consumers. The alignment of the social media marketing and opt-in email capabilities are critical to business owners so they have the ability to effectively connect with consumers, expand brand awareness and add social metrics to their email dashboards in order to ingrain social marketing into their email marketing strategies.
“Our social media services will create new opportunities by coupling our permission based email marketing with our social media services. Social media marketing and opt-in email marketing perpetuates email list growth, extends campaign reach and harnesses social insights to energize information-targeting campaigns.” said Mike Toll, Chief Operating Officer of FireDrum Internet Marketing. ”FireDrum’s 3.0 email software platform is at the core of our social media marketing offering and is a powerful feedback mechanism to mine social conversations, generate qualified leads and increase email return on investment” added Toll, “We are also able to further define ourselves from our competitors by offering the social media services developed around the opt-in email marketing core.”
For more information about FireDrum’s social media marketing services, opt-in email marketing services or internet marketing services please visit www.firedrum.com.
About FireDrum Internet Marketing
With FireDrum 3.0 email marketing platform, customers can quickly and easily create professional looking emails and monitor email campaign results. FireDrum 3.0 web-based software is the leading permission-based email marketing service for small to large sized businesses, non-profits and private organizations.
FireDrum Internet Marketing is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Visit FireDrum at www.firedrum.com. FireDrum Internet Marketing, with headquarters at 7898 E. Acoma Dr., Ste. 210, Scottsdale AZ 85260, can be reached at 480-699-1524, www.firedrum.com or info@firedrum.com.
Has email marketing disappointed you? Have you felt cheated that the results you desired were not there?
Take a small bit of advice…
Do not give up!!
Like any good marketing program things take time and effort to gel and garner results. Building upon a good routine and plan is essential.
The First Step
Create highly relevant marketing messages which assign complementary products. Get creative and apply this idea to any product or service you are offering.
Connect with your Customer - Make Things Relevant
Email marketing represents an enormous opportunity to connect with customers, but remember to make things relevant.
For example, if you email your customers a special on running shows, offer them relevant content - a link to buy other running apparel from your store.
Ensure Strong Customer Response
Marketers, this is you, must also include any teams or other individuals early in the creative process to ensure that the email audience responds to these “cross-sold” products.
Google Buzz the latest addition to the search giant’s cadre of products promises to be an awesome entry into the sphere of sharing. I mean anytime you can release a new product with a 150 Million plus user base that is definitely going FTW.
I am excited for the Buzz for a lot of reasons… Prominent Opponent to Facebook, Exciting Mobile Application opportunities (although not yet supported by Blackberry), Integration with yet fully explored and undefined Google Wave, existing Gmail integration, the list goes on…
To email marketing and social media optimization. It is too cool to anticipate how sharing links, posts, pictures and the like will integrate into some pretty amazing marketing possibilities. Of course with all of this sharing an engaged and trusted brand is going to get the most benefit out of the anticipated hybrid of Gmail, Wave, and now Buzz, but the opportunities are endless.
I have a lot of thoughts and anticipation around Buzz and will be sharing more in this space as I play with it more.
Check out my Google Profile here, and where you can hook up with me on Google Buzz
Groan and moan all you want, but face the facts – the holidays are approaching faster than a bullet train and sleigh bells are already ringing in your inbox. The holidays are the chance to add a little sparkle and fluff to your email marketing campaigns and promotions – which many marketers take advantage of. (Hint: I do usually write with so many cheesy phrases).
The economy may be down, but that doesn’t mean your marketing should be – You’ve heard us say it before: Email Marketing is one of the most cost-effective methods of advertising and currently the only growing forms of advertising. October sound too early for Santa to pay you a visit? The majority of businesses begin their holiday pushes in mid October to early November.
Non-profit organizations can use this time to petition for support for their annual holiday fundraisers, elicit donations and find other ways to encourage support. Emails like “What Do You Get for the Person that has Everything? Donate in their name today” etc. is a great example of how email marketing can become a stocking stuffer or make a great gift.
Lets review some tips and refresh a few of the basics
Holiday Marketing Tips and Practices
Compelling subject line: A slew of retailers, restaurants, organizations and others will storm our inboxes with offers, promotions and propaganda this holiday season. The trick is to be able to stand out amongst all your competitors when the pressure increases. The first thing a recipient receives when they look in your box is the subject line. Put this on your holiday list.
Address their needs - Needs vs. Wants -Don’t forget the basic principles of Giving them what they want - after all it is the holiday season
Be HONEST - Tell it like it is.
Holiday Marketing Pitfalls to Avoid:
Believe it or not, you can still screw up a holiday sale promotion – and many retail marketers do. Botched promotions can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed sales. After all look at the Jay Leno show and one of their most popular segments. Advertising that is wrong.
Here are a few mistakes to avoid like scrooge:
Over frequency: Many marketers increase the frequency of their promotions during the holiday season, but there are those that go overboard and overwhelm us with emails daily.
Pumpkins, cornucopia, turkeys, pilgrims, reindeer, Christmas trees, Santa – get ready for a visual overload of holiday propaganda. It’s daunting, it’s overwhelming – it’s the holiday season and its here whether you like it or not.
This morning I was listening to the Diane Rehm show after leaving an appointment. Her guest was John (Jack) Potter, U.S. Postmaster General.
Mr. Potter had the unfortunate task of defending to Diane and her listeners why the U.S. Postal Service was still relevant and how to fix the acute financial crisis that was affecting it.
While there is a very real financial crisis effecting the health of the postal service, it was a very in depth and extremely informative interview.
There was one interesting perception of Postmaster General Potter’s that really stayed with me.
Stayed with me so much I actually had to tweet about it.
Now I am not a big twitter-er when I am out and about. I primarily use it when I am behind the computer screen, to share stories and internet marketing thoughts.
But once again this really stuck with me. A Postmaster General who views the postal service as an advertising medium. Same as TV, radio, magazines, etc…
General Potter shared with us that 90% of all money spent with USPS is on business advertising. WOW.
So that got me thinking to the next logical step (at least for me). What is the return on that investment for those business that advertise through the post?
1%?
7%?
I am willing to bet it is not much higher that 12% and even still, how do you measure that return?
Email Marketing.
C’mon, its so simple! Direct Mail and Email Marketing, just like peanut butter and jelly. Well, kinda…
First things first you need to follow the same old direct mail song and dance. Which is:
Buy a direct mailing list
Create a campaign
Draft a compelling call to action
AH HA! Stop right there. When designing the compelling call to action, give them MANY actions to take. First of all you want them as a customer. So a direct sale would help solidify that hard ROI.
Secondly they call you. Maybe they are not ready to buy from you, but me hopes you are gathering their personal information to marketing back to them. Preferably an email address. (Email Marketing opportunity #1!)
Third, and most importantly, give them a landing page (www.yourcompany.com/directmail) that can help drive targeted traffic and truly give you a handle on how effective your direct mail campaign is. Go even further with that call to action and give them a special discount, deal, or offer when they sign up for your newsletter on that page. (Opportunity #2!)
Watch that marketing effectiveness skyrocket.
And now not only can you feel good about yourself for increasing your companies’ sales, just think of how good you will feel when the U.S. Postal Service DOES NOT ask for a bail out, because revenues have spiked!
Search engine optimization is a practice that is constantly growing and evolving. With the release of Microsoft Bing and soon to be released Google Caffeine, we’re seeing a few of the rules and methods changing, but one thing is still certain – fresh, relevant content remains king. How can you keep your site fresh without having to constantly tweak and change the content on your site? This can easily be accomplished by implementing a blog on your website.
A blog is not just a communication tool, or an outlet to talk about your company’s business, niche, or chatting about your latest company picnic – it’s a way to increase your organic search rankings, that’s right, blogging is a powerful SEO tool when used correctly.
A critical mistake many companies make is hosting their blogs someplace else. While the blog can still hold great information, and maybe even rank well on its own, it provides virtually no help to your main website. Great blog posts attract traffic, links, and comments – all of which can help your organic search rankings. If your blog is hosted elsewhere, the hosting platform or URL will reap the benefits, while hosting on your main site makes sure that valuable link “juice” is directed to the right place.
Have a clear goal in mind when you start your company blog, know your audience, write consistent insightful posts, update frequently and optimize for the search engines.
Don’t be afraid to have personality in your writing, but make sure you stay within the guidelines your business has outlined. Having multiple authors on your blog is a way to keep your readers interested. If your blog is too serious and dry, you’ll lose visitors to sheer boredom.
A helpful and enriching thing to do is to invite guest bloggers to post on your blog. Find an expert within your niche and ask if they would be willing to write a post for you. You would be surprised at how eager they can be - it increases their exposure, your exposure and will bring traffic and can drive valuable links to your site.
In addition to having guest blogs on your site, you should offer to guest blog on other sites. Finding blogs in your niche, taking the time to comment on relevant posts builds invaluable relationships which lead to potential links. A good natural link from another site in your niche is key in optimization. Google values these links and the more of them you have – the more you look like an authority in your field.
Another question that is often scrutinized is whether or not you should open up your blog for comments. The general consensus on this is yes…eventually. Close comments on your blog until you have a few posts and start seeing an increase in traffic, then open them up. Comments can be a valuable way for you to interact with your clients, hear what you are doing right, what could be done better and what your perspectives are interested in hearing about. However, if you have very few comments it can be detrimental to your blogs appearance of authority.
Link smart: Occasionally deep link your posts to other relevant pages or posts on your site - don’t forget to use keyword centric anchor tags and set any links to open in a new window - you don’t want your readers leaving your site. Don’t be afraid to link to other sites and relevant articles. Writing a post that naturally includes links to relevant sites can be a useful relationship building tool – and hey, they just might return the favor.
Blogs also allow you to get a little more creative - they can be a home for viral link bait (that may not be appropriate or direct to your company’s vision)…not sure what link bait is? You’ve seen it, you’ve most likely linked to it. Create funny top ten lists, funny videos, or creative photo sets that will attract links back to your site.
Social Media should also be incorporated into your blogging efforts: Social Media sites are key for promoting the content on your blog and creating a more dynamic, interactive forum for your business. By adding social sharing tools to your blog – you can increase your exposure and allow your readers to share your blog with their friends and followers.
Be rewarded for consistent, natural and continuous growth – don’t take shortcuts and stay away from shady, black hat tactics – because at some point, you’re most likely to be penalized and your rankings will drop.
Let’s Get Technical:
A blog isn’t that different from other web pages on your site when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it. Here are some important technical aspects to consider when optimizing your blog.
Location, Location, Location: When deciding where on your site to place your blog consider you may see businesses who use a separate sub domain - www.blog.yoursite.com however the recommended format by Google is to set up your blog as a separate folder on your site - www.yoursite.com/blog.
Permalink/URL structure: Set up your blogs URL structure to include category or blog posts. Instead of yoursite.com/blog/p?133 you can set up permalinks to rewrite the URL to yoursite.com/blog/email-marketing-tips. Be sure to use dashes for spaces in your URLs.
Optimizing Title Tags: Optimizing your posts title tags is of utmost importance. Many times the title of your actual post is not optimal for Google – take out a few words and naturally integrating a keyword or two into your title tag.
Meta Descriptions: Optimize your meta descriptions for each blog post – most search engines will read 150-160 characters, so make the most of it.
Don’t forget about your images: Just like on any page of your site, your images should have alt tags so the search engines have something to read. Alt tags should be relevant to the actual image and again this is a place where you can naturally incorporate a keyword – I said naturally, do not keyword stuff.
Header Formatting: Just like any page on your site your posts should have one H1 and should use H2’s and H’3s for subtitles. The H1 is your post title.
RSS Feeds: Make sure you set up an RSS feed to your blog.
Sitemap: Create a blog sitemap.
I could go on about navigation, canonical URL’s, blog analytics …etc. but will spare you for now – Just remember this:
If you blog consistently, optimize your posts and participate in your niche’s blogosphere you will see the rewards in your search rankings, site conversions and client communications. So what are you waiting for?
If you would like to get started with a company blog, or need help optimizing a current blog please contact us for a free analysis and proposal.
Yea you read that headline correctly. Yours truly has spent last week and this upcoming week visiting family and doing some business development. As you can imagine Dubai is an amazing place. To bring everybody up to speed, Dubai is located in the United Arab Emirates and sits on the Persian Gulf. Dubai is a wonderful city, with world class hotels, abundant culture and caring people. I have been posting some pictures on my twitter feed that you can check out as well. I am going to post a few more updates about my trip, but I wanted to quickly talk about how great this internet thingy is.
Ah, I am just joking but I have been able to work all week in the states, while being able to reach out to new companies here in the UAE. Mostly what I have been learning is companies need Internet Marketing help. I have been able to provide many great solutions, and the one I have found the most interest in is our Enterprise Solutions.
I have been able to use my laptop to tie in back to my desktop in the states. I have also been extensively using Skype to make calls. I have also found Google Video while I have been out traveling and that is an awesome service.
Well, I am getting ready to go ice skating in the most giant mall I have ever seen. Ice skating in the desert! It doesn’t top snow skiing at Ski Dubai, but maybe some other time…
Yes, I know this topic has been hashed out numerous times, but I still see email newsletters coming in with subject lines that will send them straight to the spam folder and my finger straight to the delete key. So let’s recap a little.
You’ve hit send on an aesthetic, poignant email campaign and it’s reached your recipients inboxes…but are they opening it? If your unique open rates are less than stellar it may be time to analyze what you may be doing wrong.
Let’s face it…it’s the middle of 2009 and email is the fastest growing communication tool. Users have to spend more time weeding through email after email than ever before. So the real question is - How do you stand out amongst the crowd and gain that sought after unique open?
Here are some factors to consider before launching your next campaign:
Permission-based: Can your users easily remember the where, why and when of opting in to receive your newsletter? If it’s not clear to them they will most likely mark you as SPAM.
Is it clear who the sender is? Don’t switch up your “From” name - stay consistent to avoid confusion with your recipients.
Experiment with your subject lines: One of the biggest factors of whether a recipient will open your email is an enticing subject line. Here are a few tips to keep in mind while writing your next subject line:
Don’t use acronyms
Don’t bore them - use interesting attention grabbing headlines
Include a subject line that reveals a bit of what your newsletter is about.
Avoid words like “free” “help” “percent off” and “reminder” - they scream SPAM!
First and last name in subject line don’t necessarily help, but localization does - including a city name in your post (if relevant) can increase your open rates - “Cool Spots to Relax in Phoenix” (I’d open that!)
Try and keep your subject line to 50 characters or less - A subject line which is too long will discourage your recipients from opening it.
Finally make sure your key points are in the top third of your email - many recipients use a preview function to decide whether or not your newsletter is worth reading. If all the juicy details are at the bottom of your email you’ve probably lost a few relevant unique opens.
To summarize: sometimes the little things can make the biggest differences. Constant tweeking and tuning your strategies for your online efforts is a must for acheiving the best possible ROI for your business.
