Is Email Still Effective

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Smart marketing Ideas

Every time we develop a campaign that includes an email campaign, clients ask the on-going questions: Is eMail still effective?

Yes, it is.

A recent study from MediaPost shows us that internet users share a lot of the information they receive.

You’re probably thinking, jokes, right? Ok, that is a big part of the sharingof content. To be more specific, humorous jokes and cartoons represents 88% of internet users share this passion.

Now lets get to business stuff. For example, business and any personal finance information people receive and think it has value, that’s 24% of the interent users. So that’s not bad when you compare it to direct mailers, or other shared information.

About 43% of the people claimed to share "marketing-related" messages.

Let’s take this a step further to see the benefits to using email marketing as a business tool.

41% of the people will share with 1 to 3 other people, while 34% with 4 to 6 people. Only 13% will share with more than 7 people.

It is like word-of-mouth marketing. Rememebr when I told you that Blogging is like word-of-mouth? Sop make sure you keep an email campaign in your mix of marketing tools.

But be careful not to spam people, get permission first. It will keep your image and branding at the top when you get permission.

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Publicity Can Be Good or Bad

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Make the right decisions

People tend to think that all publicity is great. Well, let’s think this through.

If you align yourself with as controversial subject, or company, or person, then you too will inherit that image.

Here’s a good example. In today’s paper, Cindy Sheehan was posing with Venezuela’s president while she continued to show her protest against president Bush’s war program.

I’m not here to judge her, only pointing out, like Dan Janal did in his blog this morning, that this association puts a major risk on her being compared to Jane Fonda during the Viet Nam war. Is this the type of pr you want for your company? If not, then re-think who you team up with and who your company associates with.

Let me go another step further.

Building a positive brand takes positive association. Begin to build a branding program with "co-op". This term means to align your company with a tie in that will garner you good pr and with a positive brand recognition.

Examples are when United Airlines decided to serve Starbucks coffee in-flight, it gained a lot of good pr and approval by the passengers. You also see this in automobiles that use branded names for their stereo systems to let consumers know they are a quality auto manufacturer. It’s the co-op and association that elevates your brand, or in Cindy’s case, lowers her position.

Build branding faster and in a positive pace by aligning yourself with companies that already have customer acceptance. Have a plan that includes co-op, but don’t just do this as a one shot deal. Have a plan that might include other co-ops throughout the year. Then one day someone will knock on your company door asking to co-op with you. It’s good PR.

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Getting Direct Mail Read

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Marketing Tip

Like most everyone, I get a lot of direct mailers, and other junk mail. So why do you open those hard selling envelops? Because of the "billboard" message.

Good direct marketing copywriters have the talent to place the right words on the outside of an envelope to build your interest and open the mail. Curiosity? Possibly that too. The fact is they got you!

Well-known writers like Ted Nicholas who wrote a book called: "Magic Words That Bring You Riches", explains how to use the power of words, both written and spoken. He has discovered how to write great copy to get people to respond.

Another excellent writer is Gary Halbert. His expertise is in writing letters, and has some great examples of what to put (words) on the outside of envelopes. But is it the power of the letter (inside) that makes you want to buy. This is where Gary can help you learn how to convert boring copy into selling copy.

My reason for telling you about this "Marketing Tip" is to not have you buy these writers books, or attend seminars, but to understand that it takes powerful words written by talented people to get your message out.

This holds true for PUBLICITY. A successful Direct Mail piece is like a good PR campaign. To get reporters to notice your company, you need to have the right words written in press releases, or a cover letter that is sent to the targeted media.

Publicity is Everywhere. So look around and see how the next pr campaign you develop, or have assigned to your pr firm, can get the attention of your targeted audience. Be creative, without sacrificing your image. You might find the response to be very positive.

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Foundations Financial Chooses Carson

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We recently presented a complete marketing and publicity program to   Foundations Financial and the client approved the campaign.

Our company will be doing all of the marketing and publicity for them. This will include their new web site, sales and collateral material, complete branding which will include the publicity in California and South Carolina markets. And yes, we will have a blog site dedicated to helping people find the best investment program that will build their wealth.

Foundations Financial is a unique company that has been helping people build wealth from the ground up. They specialize in creating wealth for families and individuals through real estate and other property investments, among other investments programs.

The company is only three years old and has become a recognized force in the asset protection industry.

We look forward to making great things happen for our client.

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Publicity Sells Things Too

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Blogging is publicity

Ever wonder how people find out about web sites or stores that specialize in unique items, or sell unusual things?

I’m sure you already know the answer. It’s word-of-mouth that is now called blogging.

Blogging is another form of telling people about things they might not have heard about. It is PUBLICITY at another level.

To prove my point, I read a blog from Dan Janal that talked about a site that competes with eBay but not head-on. Unlike other companies that didn’t succeed, as Dan mentioned, this unique site specializes in technology stuff. Mostly electronics. They prefer to call themselves the Scientific Marketplace. The site is called LabX.

Not the easiest name, but short enough to remember for the most part.

I checked it out, and yes, a lot of things are listed, as well as you can post your own items to sell.

This bit of information is again to remind us all that publicity comes in all forms and is everywhere. You just need to identify how you want to get the message out. And blogging has definitely helped this site as it has for many others.

Blogging is definitely getting into the main stream of business. It has become a business tool. Look into the benefits of a good business blog site to see how it can help your company grow.

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Link Popularity

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Is it still worth it?

 The answer is a simple YES. Why, because as search engines continue to review sites in order to position them in a ranking order, the link popularity is still being used.

But wait; don’t think that this won’t change. It means that search engines are more sophisticated than they were just a couple of years ago.

That is the consensus of those in the Search Engine Roundtable discussion.

What makes link popularity really work is more than just setting links to pages. There is a science to it. First, you don’t want to link to a bunch of sites that are not related to your industry. Meaning, if you are a financial company, you should not create links with a moving company or a retail store.

Your relevant links need to be evaluated often. You don’t want to have any dead or broken links. Otherwise this will also cause poor ranking to your site.

There are several link popularity sites that are free which allow you to check your link popularity. Here are a couple of them. http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com/,  and http://www.addme.com/popularity.htm. Many others exist, but you can begin with these searches.

Caution: Don’t get too caught up by hiring a company to find hundreds of links for your site. Do your homework. Research to see if this is what you need, or who can best meet your requirements.

Still thinking you need good links? Then consider a blog site in addition to your existing web site. The results will be very rewarding.

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How To Build A Brand

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Branding can be for any company

Is branding only for the major companies  (Fortune 100) that we all recognize such as Coke, Microsoft, Starbucks, Nike, and others?

No, it is for any size company. But what it takes to create a brand is a solid program design to be enforced by all executives and employees of a company.

It needs to start from the top of the command post, the CEO, or COO and the Presidents of companies.

If you are really serious about creating a branding for your company work with a professional company to guide you in the right direction. Our company, Carson and Company, has been working with major clients to help build and establish their brands. Another blog article  The DNA of Branding lead me to a person that supports my beliefs.

To further illustrate my point about any size company, large or small can establish a branding image, I recommend you read a book by Patrick Hanlon titled: Primal Need. In the book he describes the reasons why people buy the products they do and why we choose such products. he is also the founder and CEO of Thinktopia.

Basically, it all comes to "preference". Mr. Hanlon believes that preference creates sales. I would agree, because if you have a preference of one product over another, the choice you just made was the branding it has established.

Other factors are also important according to Mr. Hanlon. He addresses in his book that primal branding creates a belief system that surrounds your brand; this makes you go beyond functionally, features and benefits. He says it’s like a pattern or a language.

Make branding a priortiy in your business. And don’t be affraid to make sublte changes, it’s how you grow a brand.

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Publicity Numbers Lessons

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Publicity errors

Ever wonder if the numbers that reporters publish about a sports figure, or political issue are accurate? Probably not. That’s because we pay money for magazines, newspapers so we can get information that answers our questions.

Well, it’s not always that simple. It seems that reporters, publishers are jut not as accurate as we would like to think.

I came across an article that talks about this issue. It seems a person named Richard Holden, who was a longtime editor at the Wall Street Journal, started collecting poorly presented numbers that showed the figures did not clearly represent the facts.

For example, in Carl Bialik’s article that I read, mentioned an article of a baseball manager was seeking his 1,000th career victory. Mr. Bialik went on saying that the reporter didn’t specify how many he’d amassed so far.

If you get a chance read the entire article by Mr. Bialik. He provides several examples that you can "play along" to see if you spot the errors.

What does this have to do with PR? Good question.

It means we tend to sometimes act too quickly to get that important message out to the media that we don’t stop and make sure our "information" is accurate.

Poor or weak information won’t get a reporters attention. And making numbers sound better than they are could get your publicity campaign the type of recognition than you do not want.

II strongly recommend you hire a professional PR firm. It doesn’t mean they are all mighty and cannot make mistakes, but it means another set of eyes and ears outside of your company might challenge your information for accuracy. And that can be the value when paying for outside talent.

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How To Save Money On Advertising

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Effective Publicity programs

Clients are always looking for better ways to reach their target audience. And let’s not forget, at a lesser cost.

For example, we (as consumers) are constantly being sold to. Usually with direct mailers. That’s because advertisers believe by using direct mail they are reaching the specific audience and can tell them how great their product is. Many times, you receive an incentive if you react quickly to their program.

But stop and think for a minute. Direct mail is good, but it is also very costly. Postage is always increasing, as is the printing of postcards, letters, etc.

What is the alternate solution? Mix your ad program with a Publicity Campaign. Think of it, trying to reach 100,000 or 500,000 potential customers with a direct mailer is expensive. But you can reach these same people, and a lot more with a well planned publicity campaign. And that published article is more credible than a self-promo mailer.

A Publicity Campaign should include several elements. A press kit, a series of releases, an article for submission, and above all, a blog site.

Yes, today the RSS technology is making excellent inroads to the media, and your customer base. Whether you are selling B2B, or directly to consumers, a blog site should be part of your media mix.

When planned and executed properly, a publicity campaign can out perform a controlled media ad campaign. Plus you will be reaping the positive rewards from the media much longer than the dollars you paid for that magazine or broadcast ad.

Now is the time to get smarter and leaner, get a publicity campaign together. At worst it can only improve your image!

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Publicity in all places

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Your Mission Message

I was wondering this afternoon if any companies have taken publicity to another level.

Well I think I found one.

I saw Dan Janals‘ blog that spoke about the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas using publicity at, and what I call, the next level pr.

He mentioned that when he purchased water from the hotel (Wynn’s own brand) it tasted so good that he complimented the worker on its fresh smooth taste. The worker’s reply was "does it make you want to gamble?’

According to Dan, he thought "now that’s a mission statement!" He also realized all of the workers and the different sections of the hotel (registration, restaurant) all gave you the feeling of wanting to be there. That in turn will get people who enjoy the gaming part want to stay longer.

Then as he entered the elevator, he noticed all the buttons had names of the floors, like spa, casino, rather than First Floor, etc. This is another way of re-enforcing their mission statement…which is all connected to their BRANDING.

You will notice more and more that building a brand has become essential in building a successful business.

Make sure you include with your publicity a branding program. It’s the smart way to do business.
 

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