To be successful in business, you have always needed a marketing strategy. Your marketing strategy has always needed to promote your brand while protecting it at the same time. And the result of a truly successful marketing plan is a well recognized brand of a profitable business! Smaller businesses struggle daily to keep up with their marketing and branding. It’s easy to get focused on one particular method and forget about the rest. I am writing this blog today to stress that marketing strategies have not changed and as a business, you can’t survive on just one approach!

Full Moon Design Group's Luna Cycle

Print doesn’t substitute your networking activities and web doesn’t substitute your print materials and social media does NOT substitute for all of it! Instead, you will want to make sure that they are all working together, in unison, promoting your brand and communicating the same message.

There are five different marketing wheels and each one orbits around your brand. Each of the five, have their own moving parts. We will be expanding this blog into several posts in an effort to start the conversation of each of the wheels and the components it is made of.

It all starts with your Company Culture. Developing a strong company culture will ensure that your company’s mission is brought to the forefront and that you are getting the Word of Mouth marketing that you want.

Next, you have your Activities. These activities consist of Special Events that you hold as a company, Charities or Non-Profit organizations that you and your company support, local Chambers that you are a member of, Professional Associations that make sense for your company and employees, Sponsorships that promote your brand to the right audience and Tradeshows that will help you get in front of your audience.

Your printed materials will consist of creative Ads, Direct Mail, Stationary, Brochures/Flyers/Pushcards, Promotional products and Presentation Materials. When engaging in your Activities, it’s always helpful to have printed material to support your brand. What printed material you have at each activity should be relevant and impactful.

Moving to the digital world, you now need to have a website. Your website should be clean, inviting and engaging to your current clients and prospective ones. Features of your website that should not be overlooked include a Blog, Newsroom and Email sign up form for your newsletter. In your Blog, you’ll be the expert and offer advice, your Newsroom will keep people abreast of the “goings on” in your company, and your Email newsletter will be a place for special offerings and information.

Expanding into the digital world, we find Social Media and boy does it get complicated and overwhelming! Social Media is an all access pass to the world. It’s a free medium for you to engage strangers, communicate your thoughts & ideas, and invite people in to really “get to know you” as a business. Social Media is now the gateway to higher rankings from search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Ask. To keep it simple, we’ve grouped Social Media into several descriptive categories…and this just scratches the surface!

The most familiar outlet is the Lifestreams/Microblogs which include Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace. Within these Lifestreams, you will find Location Based applications like Gowalla, Foursquare, and Whrrl…great ways to promote your business and interact with the public. When blogging or offering useful white papers, Social Bookmarking is a great way to make sure people find you. Popular methods are Delicious or Stumbleupon. Moving on to more fun stuff, you’ll find the Media Sharing sites like YouTube, Ustream and Flickr. For businesses, it’s important to participate in Business and Niche Networking sites like LinkedIn, Ning & Spoke. And last, but not least, you have the Review based sites including Yelp, Google & Yahoo.

The sixth component of the Luna Cycle is Public Relations. Your public relations strategy should be coordinated with your marketing strategy and pushing the information out to the public. Full Moon Design Group has strategic PR partners in place that we work with frequently to ensure our clients get exposure in all aspects of their business, in as many places where their audience resides.

Here are some surprising stats:

• 90% of consumers online trust recommendations from people they know
• 70% trust opinions of unknown users!
• 61% of people rely on user reviews for product information or research before a buying decision is made.

Thanks to Bazaarvoice (http://www.bazaarvoice.com), you can find more great stats here: http://www.bazaarvoice.com/resources/stats

BUT, how do you get those reviews. Do you ask for them? Is it okay to talk about it with your clients? This is a question that we were asking ourselves. How do we get more reviews and is it appropriate to ask for them?

Here are our thoughts:

1.  Asking is okay! Here are some creative ways to ask. http://www.getelastic.com/asking-for-customer-reviews/

When we wanted some video testimonials on our website, we asked several of our customers if they would participate. When they said yes, we made sure they were comfortable with good munchies, some good drink and good company. Check out the results: http://www.fullmoondesigngroup.com/testimonials.html

2.  Direct customers where they need to go. Make it an easy task to review you and/or your products. If you want them to review you on Facebook – send them there. Same with Yelp or your own website.

3.  Make it timely. Don’t wait too long before asking for feedback. Amazon is a great example of this. They will submit a request for product review within a week of you receiving your shipment. That way it’s fresh on your mind.

4.  Thank them. Feedback is valuable information for you and your company. Whether good or bad, that conversation and engagement with a customer is priceless and you should thank them for that!

We recently produced a customer service card (http://ow.ly/d/4wL) for one of our customers, Arbor Auto Works (http://www.arborautoworks.com/) and we thought it was such a great idea, we are designing one for our clients!

So, if you own a business, what are the ways you have asked your customers for reviews and feedback?  And, what kind of results have you gotten?  Or, if you are not a business owner, have you ever written a review as a customer?  Tell us your stories.  We’re interested in learning more.

While we are on the subject, do you have an experience with Full Moon Design Group to share? We’d love your customer reviews:

Facebook: http://budurl.com/facebookrevs
Google: http://budurl.com/googlerevs
Yelp: http://budurl.com/yelprevs
City Search: http://budurl.com/citysearchrevs

Take a second and look around.  You are probably at your desk reading this blog post or you are reading this on your phone. My bet is you have a few promotional items around that you may not realize are there anymore, but for one reason or another you kept it nearby.  Me?  Just at my office, I have an acrylic cup from one of my favorite vacation spots, a cup from the World Championship Goat Cook-Off, a couple of coasters, one representing my Longhorns, koozies from numerous clients, a client’s calendar and too many pens to count! At home, I have so many chip clips that I am never hurting for one when in need! Do I use them all?  Yes!  That’s what makes them effective.  Even the notepad that I love so much I use it daily has the company’s logo on it.

Promotional items are often no different than the everyday items you buy, but often they are unique items you didn’t realize you needed (or wanted) until you got them. But what makes promotional items so special is that every time you see them, the company’s name and brand are further solidified in your mind.

Promotional items are walking billboards for your company.  They have a number of benefits, which we will get to momentarily, and they have an unlimited amount of uses.  They don’t even have to be given away for free to see a real return.

Take for example one of our favorite clients, Happy Hollow Frio River Outfitters. They order promotional items each year for the summer season. This year, they opted for a double wall tumblers one of the choice items. These awesome tumblers are perfect for their clientele who are enjoying a day or a weekend on the river.  The tumblers have lids that screw on for a secure fit, a straw for easy drinking that won’t fall out, and they are naturally insulated making these a perfect vessel for holding (and keeping in) cold beverages while tubing down the river.  In just three days of putting it on their shelves, they blew through almost 10% of their inventory equating to a 15% return on their investment.  And the best part is that each cup has their name and contact info on it.  So whoever sees these awesome cups, will remember the name and will want one as well.  Remember, promo items are walking billboards for your business!

When working with a client, we help them decide what items would most speak to their client. We want to make sure they get something that their clients need and build on their brand recognition as well.  A lot of companies sell their promotional items, but most promotional items don’t have to be products you resell.  They can be effective giveaways that reap higher returns in sales and have a high ROI.  We can help you decide if a giveaway or an item for sale is right for your company.  Promotional items can be a silent salesperson for your products or services.

Here are some important things to remember when deciding on your next promotional item.

1.  Like anything else in your marketing strategy, take the time to think about your audience, event (season, a trade show, a sales event, etc) and result you want to accomplish.  Is it brand recognition, sales, awareness?  Promotional items can be used by all types of organizations.  Your strategy will depend on your company’s goals, so be sure to set clear goals for what you want to accomplish.

2. The item you give away is a direct representation of your company.  Make it count. Be creative! There are thousands of items available.

3. Give people what they want.  Don’t give away pens at sporting event.  No one is going to be signing contracts, they are there to have fun. Find items that fit your niche.

4. Make sure your logo, your website, phone number, or some other way to contact you is included on the item. Even on the smallest products, people need to be able to reach you. People who receive promotional items recall the names of the companies that they received them from by about 25% more than those they read about in an ad.

5. If your budget is small, limit your giveaway, don’t skimp on quality.  You can supplement with light marketing material (brochures, postcards, etc.) and keep the promotional items for your target audience.  Another option is to seek out partnership opportunities to defray some of the costs.

6. Don’t buy more than you need and don’t buy items that can’t be used again.  Some items have a shelf life so be aware because you don’t want to be stuck with a bunch of items that you can’t use.

7. Use items as giveaways in contests and drawings. This is an excellent way to get people to sign up, it helps with limited budgets, and it increases the perceived value of the items being given away. Additionally, you can use it as an incentive for customers to buy more.  Bundle the giveaway with a sales unit.  Buy 2 and get x for free!

8. Rewards – Promotional items are an inexpensive and effective way to thank your best customers and reward  affiliates with whom you do business.

Full Moon Design Group can help you with your promotional strategy and help you find the perfect item to reach your target audience. Did you like those Tumblers?  Check out the info sheet for your business: Tumbler

As a side note, I want to send a special thanks to Jerry & Melissa for another fantastic Frio River Funcation!!

Frio River Fanatic,

Katie O.

Principal & Co-Founder Vicky Gouge who designed the postcard campaign was very please and excited. “I was surprised and honored that the campaign Sterling Custom Homes submitted was selected as the winner. The goal of Full Moon is to provide as much exposure as possible for our clients through professional design services.”

Sterling Custom Homes has been a client of Full Moon Design Group since 2004. Other client award recipients were Gayle Berkbigler (Realtor of the Year), and Eric Olsen (Best Remodeled Project $100,000-$150,000).

About Full Moon Design Group

Founded in 2004, Full Moon Design Group, Inc. is a fully custom graphic design firm specializing in the creation and production of competition-devouring marketing materials.  From logos to Websites, Full Moon Design Group creates and produces concepts that clearly state your message in a simple and concise manner.  Founders Katie Osborne and Vicky Gouge, and the rest of the Full Moon team, believes in maintaining a standard of quality with a steadfast commitment to customer service and satisfaction.

For more information about Full Moon Design Group, please visit them online at www.fullmoondesigngroup.com.

1. Regulations! Businesses must comply with the federal CAN-SPAM Act. Read this and remember it. Here are a few of the highlights.  Click on the link to read the full text.

a. Don’t use false or misleading header information.
b. Don’t use deceptive subject lines.
c. Identify the message as an ad.
d. Tell recipients where you’re located.
e. Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future email from you.
f. Honor opt-out requests promptly
g. Monitor what others are doing on your behalf.

2. Develop a quality mailing list. Businesses need a comprehensive and easily available list of all the e-mail recipients.  Whether that is from a subscriber page on their website, or through a list purchasing service, there are a ton of mailing lists available out there, but not all of them are worth obtaining (even some of the free ones).  Spend some time in generating the list, accumulating the relevant addresses and verifying those addresses. Don’t forget your past customers.  If they have been with you in the past, liked your product or service, chances of them being interested in what you have to say are pretty good. Don’t mail randomly.  Pre-screen your recipients, categorize them by specific demographic or target information and you will increase the effectiveness of your campaign.  The more time spent on refining your lists, the better your responses are likely to be.

3. Double Opt In & Sign Up confirmation

a. As an added safeguard against anti-spamming laws, always make your mailing lists double opt-in. This means that when a new user subscribes to your site or mailing list, they will be sent an email with a link that they must click on to confirm their subscription. This is very important because many people try to use a fake email account, someone else’s email address, or can accidentally enter an incorrect email address.  If the person uses someone else’s email address, this extra precaution removes the chance that the person who receives the message will report your email as spam.
b. In addition to the Double Opt In, every email you send should have a link that allows the receiver to unsubscribe.  This is also a requirement of the CAN-Spam Act, but we thought it warranted another note here.  Not providing this in your email is illegal and also an instant sign of spamming.
c. Contact Information is another requirement.  You should also clearly include your organization name, physical address or P.O. Box, phone number, and fax.  This should be done with or without those laws, as it also increases your credibility as a legitimate business.  It also allows for potential customers to make direct contact with you if they have any questions or want to know more about your products or services.

4. Personalization – Emails specifically addressed to the individual have a greater response rate than those that are generic and impersonal.  It is very easy to include a mail merge that personalizes the email or newsletter.

5. Formatting Content

a. Create a Powerful Subject Line – When your email reaches the recipient, you have about a half of a second to grab their attention.  Make sure the information in the headline accurately describes the information contained within the email, but also makes the reader want to read the content within.
b. Pyramid Your Content – Always include the most interesting content in the first paragraph of your email.  A lot of people have an email preview pane.  They won’t read the rest of the email if the first paragraph doesn’t catch their attention.
c. Keep it Simple – It will keep your readers reading, it will limit your spam filtering rate, and it just looks more professional.  Too many fonts, sizes, and colors trigger spam filters and look cluttered.  Too many images do the same thing.
d. Make sure you include a text-only version for those non-html emailers.  Though few and far between, we know that they are still out there.  And they are some of the hardest to reach.

6. Effective Distribution

a. Choose the right day of the week and the right time of day.  Emails sent on Tuesdays and Wednesdays tend to have higher open rates and click through rates as well as emails sent at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.  People are generally getting ready to go to lunch or leave for the day and may have a few minutes to spare because they don’t want to start new tasks before they leave.
b. With newsletters, consistency in timing helps establish trust, and it helps people to expect your newsletter.  It also increases your open rates and click through rates.  Plan newsletter to arrive on the same day of every week or two weeks, or month.  As long as it is consistent, people will respond.

7. Welcome New Subscribers – Set up an auto response email to new subscribers.  This has several benefits.  First, it makes the new subscriber feel like you are welcoming them to the “club”.  It also helps solidify their presence by recognizing them and establishing them.  This is also a great opportunity to engage them.  You can offer special incentives or discounts to products or services only available to new subscribers, only available for a specified period of time.  It can be a call to action.  And the more involved the subscriber is in the beginning, the more likely they will hang around.

8. Spam Filters: There is a reason why there are laws and there is a reason why there are spam filters.  Not everyone follows the rules and the smarter the spammers get, the smarter the filters have to be.  In turn, legitimate businesses have to use extra precautions when creating their emails so that they don’t get picked off by the filters even if the content is secure and the receiver has subscribed to the information.

a. Use contrasting colors for back ground and text.  If you use 2 colors within the same family of colors (think light blue text on a dark blue background or vice versa) – spam filters might think you are hiding text.
b. Using the right and wrong words: words like “free”, “sex”, “Viagra”, and anything with an “Exclamation!” are very heavy spam triggers.  You should avoid these types of words whenever and wherever possible.  Experienced writers will have a full list of these words and will know how to create an email that grabs your audience’s attention.
c. Images:  Don’t include too many images (1-2 per email is a good rule) and keep images small.

9. Test Your Email!

a. Test Your Links – make sure they go somewhere.  This is what you are trying to get people to do.  If they click on a link that doesn’t work it demeans your purpose and your credibility.
b. Test the whole email for spam filter pickup.  Signing up for multiple email accounts is easy and free.  You can set up a Gmail account, a Hotmail account, and a Yahoo! account.  You may also have a friend who works for a large corporation that have their own firewalls.  Test the email on a small scale before you send it to your entire email list.  If the email gets pushed to the junk mail folder or the spam folder or gets completely filtered and not delivered, then you will know that you have some clean up to do.
c. There are also tools out there that will help you determine if you have too many flags in your email.  One tool is spam assassin.  It is software that will send you a report and a list of why your email was considered spam.

10. Proof, Edit, Make Sure There Are NO Errors – once it is sent, there is no pulling it back.  Give it to a colleague, a friend, anyone that hasn’t already seen it through every revision and have them take a long, slow, look at it.  Even the slightest mistake will stand out.  This is a representation of your company.  Make the impression last.

So you can see there is a lot to know about email marketing before you hit the send button.  Full Moon Design Group can help you achieve your goals while avoiding costly errors.  We can ensure that your message goes out at the right time, to the right people, and with the best possible outcomes.  Building an effective email campaign isn’t easy, but we make the process easy for you.  We integrate it with your overall marketing campaign to gain maximum exposure for your business and your brand.  There is a right mix of elements and we can help you determine what the right mix is for you.  Give us a call. 512-428-9072

]]> http://www.fullmoondesigngroup.com/blog/uncategorized/pt-2-top-10-guidelines-for-making-your-email-marketing-campaign-a-success/feed 0 http://www.fullmoondesigngroup.com/blog/marketing/to-%e2%80%9ce%e2%80%9d-mail-or-not-to-%e2%80%9ce%e2%80%9d-mail-%e2%80%93-is-this-really-a-question-email-marketing-part-1 http://www.fullmoondesigngroup.com/blog/marketing/to-%e2%80%9ce%e2%80%9d-mail-or-not-to-%e2%80%9ce%e2%80%9d-mail-%e2%80%93-is-this-really-a-question-email-marketing-part-1#comments Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:57:48 +0000 Katie Osborne http://www.fullmoondesigngroup.com/blog/?p=450 Did you know that most people spend more time reading email than browsing the Internet?  We are an email-centric society.  It is one of the primary ways we conduct business, share ideas, and communicate. It is both powerful and inexpensive; two things that most businesses need.    Used wisely, a few of the benefits to businesses are that it can boost direct sales, raise brand awareness, increase communication with target audiences, enhance credibility, promote other areas of the business, and increase referrals.  Through email marketing businesses can engage in conversations and use it as a platform for testing new marketing ideas.

Email marketing is fast.  It reaches customers almost immediately and responses typically occur within a matter of seconds to a matter of days.  No long term waiting for measuring the success of the campaign.

Business can also tailor different messages to a variety of audiences and through the results of each campaign they can better understand what works and what doesn’t.  Tracking the success is easy and businesses can discover areas of improvement and refine their messaging as they grow.

While email marketing is cost effective, it is far from easy.  If not done properly or used inappropriately, the effects can backfire in both a loss of customers and being placed on black lists as well as having financial repercussions with fines from anti-spamming laws.  You usually have only one chance to make the right impression.  Once your target “unsubscribes” or lists you as a spammer, you will be gone from their in-box forever.

The fact that the cost per contact is incredibly inexpensive makes email marketing extremely appealing to businesses, but also to those annoying spammers as well.  The activity from spammers that don’t follow the rules make it much more difficult for the legitimate marketers out there to reach their target audiences.  But even with its limitations, email marketing is still more effective than its Internet marketing counterpart and is an effective tool in reaching target audiences.

But to be effective, email marketing involves time to develop.  Professionals are usually hired to write and create the emails.  There are a lot of rules and regulations that professional marketers can help businesses through.  Hiring a professional is well worth your time and money, especially considering the cost effectiveness of email marketing.  When developing these campaigns, experience should outweigh the cost.  Don’t use inexperienced writers or designers, because in the end, their mistakes could cost you more than the difference in the price.  You have to remember, is losing customers due to a bad email campaign worth the cost?  Is the cost of legal fees for not following the rules worth the discounted rates you receive by amateurs that are still learning the ropes?  No.  This is one of those areas where, if you go it alone, good luck – You will need it.  If you hire a professional (that’s us!), your return will be obvious in the end.

And if you do take on this task, remember this:  The time and effort it takes you to develop the campaign yourself has a cost of its own.  While you are working on this, you are not working on your core business and you are using your customers as guinea pigs to your learning curve;  we can do it faster and in the long run, less expensive than you can do this yourself.

In the next post, we will discuss those rules and regulations.  Then you can decide if it is a task on which you are willing to gamble your business.  In the mean time, if you have questions or want to learn more, feel free to give us a call: Full Moon Design Group 512-428-9072