Monday, 29 August 2011

10 Benefits of Business to Business Email Marketing

If there is any single tool that we should be enthusiastically embracing as marketers, it is business to business email marketing.

There is simply no way to match the value that business to business email marketing provides for communicating with prospects and customers.

The amazing thing is most of us are not actively engaged in any form of email marketing yet. At best, we send an occasional email blast to our customer base to introduce a new product or announce an event.

Many of us have NEVER sent a single promotional email to a list of prospects or customers. So if you are among the few who have, reach right back and give yourself a hearty slap on the back.

I have my theories about why most of us do not use business to business email marketing to its greatest advantage, which I will not go into here, but I suspect it is heavily related to the following barriers:

1) We must frequently rely on IT and/or our Web team to provide the enabling infrastructure and we are low on their priority list.

2) We do not have direct access to the mailing and tracking tools and have to rely on outside resources to put our strategies into play.

3) We do not know exactly how to implement an effective business to business email marketing strategy.

4) We fear being branded as a spammer at the slightest indiscretion.

Regardless of why business to business email marketing is not more widely accepted, the fact remains that it is a marketing tool that we must have in our toolbox.

Those marketers who jump on the bandwagon now will have a decided advantage versus the competition when they deploy their 'secret weapon'.

Benefits of Business to Business Email Marketing

1) Low cost

Compared to any other form of direct marketing, business to business email marketing is fantastically cheap. When you cultivate and mail to your own opt-in email list, the cost per message is so low, you can almost call it free.

You do need to invest in some kind of infrastructure, but if you are smart and careful, you can keep your costs below $1,000 a year.
If you only send 10 messages to a list of 2,000 subscribers, your cost is just $.05 per message. You can see how a serious business to business email marketing program could cost just a fraction of a penny per message.
2) Metrics Galore

With business to business email marketing, almost every step in the buying process can be measured and tracked on an ongoing basis. You can easily track the total clicks on every link in each message, the conversion of clicks to sales or clicks to leads, and with some programs you can measure opens (how many people opened your message) and forwards (how many people forwarded your message) You can take what you learn from one campaign and apply it to future campaigns with a high degree of precision.

3) Permission based

Unless you are spamming (sending unsolicited emails), all effective business to business email marketing is conducted to an opt-in list. This means that every subscriber requested to be on your list, they want to receive emails from you. Because of this, business to business email marketing is one of the purest forms of permission-based direct marketing. Very few direct mail or telemarketing campaigns can claim the same.

4) Easy to implement

If you aren't implementing business to business email marketing in your business right now, it may seem a daunting technical challenge to build the infrastructure and tools required to pull it off. But rest assured that adding business to business email marketing to your mix is not as difficult as it sounds.

There are many great tools available on a subscription basis that allow you to outsource the complete infrastructure required for effective business to business email marketing. You will find two great tools listed at the bottom of this article.

5) A gile Marketing Tool

All marketers and business owners are painfully aware of the fact that the speed of doing business continues to steadily increase. This relentless acceleration drives the need to be supremely responsive to new trends and opportunities in your market.

There is no more responsive tool available to marketers than business to business email marketing. You can literally deploy the tactical elements of a campaign moments after the strategic and messaging elements have been developed. In other words, you can decide on a new strategic direction in the morning, develop your message and offer in the afternoon, and have a message waiting in your prospect's inbox the next morning.

That is rapid communication!

6) Highly Targeted

Business to business email marketing is the only medium I can think of where you can not only easily segment your list based on demographic attributes, but also where you can segment your list based on the behavior of your prospect. With some of the simplest systems available, you can begin to develop a profile of your prospects based on the kinds of offers they respond to. With the more complex systems, you can track and store ALL of the actions individual prospects take as a result of your email efforts.
7) Can be Personalized

It is very easy to merge database fields in to email messages to add personalization. Simply adding your subscriber's first name to the subject link has been shown to increase readership dramatically.

The real power of personalization in email marketing comes when you can personalize an offer based on information you have added to your subscriber profiles based on their past behavior. Sending someone a personalized message like the following is a great way to leverage email marketing as a sales tool.

'Ted, I know you bought product x from us last month and I just wanted to check in to make sure it is working as well for you has it does for our other customers. I also wanted to let you know that we have replacement filters for product x available at a 30% discount for the remainder of this month. While you probably don't need filters yet, in a month or two you will. Why not buy now to take advantage the special price and make sure filters are on hand when you need them?'

8) Relationship Builder

Through frequency, personalization, and targeting, your marketing communications can be transformed from a traditional broadcast approach into a system that helps you build relationships with your subscribers.

Studies have shown that qualified prospects require 3-7 contacts from a company before they will respond with a purchase. The main driver of this need on the part of the prospect that they want to feel a level of trust in their relationship with the company.

business to business email marketing allows you to develop a personal presence with your subscribers and the low cost per contact makes it easy to contact subscribers frequently (within reason).

9) High Response Rates

There are many variables that contribute to response rates, but most direct marketing experts agree that email generally pulls a higher response than other direct marketing choices.

One of key reasons is that if you read a compelling offer in an email you can respond immediately by following a hyperlink to an order page or to get more information.

Responding to a direct mail piece requires one to pick up the phone and dial a number, a much more active response requirement.

10) Develops a Maturing Asset

The larger and more mature your list is, the more valuable it becomes. Your client database continues to be enriched with additional information about your subscribers and subscribers continue to develop a deeper and deeper relationship with the company.

Over a period of years, your opt-in database is likely to become your most valued marketing asset.

Ok, so there are a lot of compelling benefits...but what does one do to overcome the barriers I outlined at the beginning of this article?

The most important thing to do is to start doing something now, even the smallest steps will lead to big successes in the long run, just put some element of an business to business email marketing strategy into play within the next few weeks.
I've also listed some tips for overcoming the barriers below.

We must frequently rely on IT and/or our Web team to provide the enabling infrastructure and we are low on their priority list.

This one is easy. The best and fastest solution is to outsource. You can task a marketing communications agency with helping you set up a program, or you can subscribe to one of the hosted email solutions and do it yourself. I list some places to start investigating self-service solutions under point the next point.

We do not have direct access to our mailing and tracking tools and have to rely on outside resources to put our strategies into play.

This is why I prefer a do-it-yourself solution, at least in the beginning. Being able to touch and modify your campaigns directly is not only a great way to learn, it will save you a ton of money and help you ensure that your business to business email marketing strategy is truly a low-cost solution.

Here are a two popular tools you can look into...

1 Automation Wiz:

This is the tool I use to publish this e zine and to automate all of the email follow-up on my site. I chose it because it provides the subscriber acquisition and database management tools I need, allows me to send text or HTML emails, doesn't restrict the number of emails I can send in any given month, and (most importantly) provides unlimited sequential auto responders. The auto responder feature is a must-have if you want to truly automate your program.
Mailer
This is an excellent tool as well. Mailer Mailer provides a lot more HTML support than 1AutomationWiz (including complete, fill-in-the- blank templates). If your goal is to create good looking HTML messages, Mailer Mailer makes it really easy.

Another thing that this tool has that 1AutomationWiz does not is the ability to track opens (how many times your message was read). What it is lacking is unlimited sequential auto responders.
We do not know exactly how to implement an effective business to business email marketing strategy.

There are a lot of resources on the Web to help get you started, but this is definitely an area of need. As I look around, I find that there aren't any great, step-by-step guides for setting up an business to business email marketing strategy within a business. In fact, I see such a need that I've started writing a book about it. I'll keep you posted about the progress, but if you have immediate questions, please email me and I'll try to include answers in the Subscriber Q&A in the next issue.

We fear being branded as a spammer at the slightest indiscretion.

Spam is an epidemic, but this concern is overblown when it comes to emailing your customers. If you send an unsolicited email to a customer with legitimate information that they are likely to want, you will not be accused of spamming. Be reasonable, provide an easy way to opt-out, and check your ethics, and you won't have a problem. The best rule of thumb is to give first...then ask. Provide excellent, useful information, and then make an offer.
Of course, if you are mailing (as you should be) to people who have opted-in to your mailing list (thorough a Web form or some other means) then you are in safe water.
Good luck in building your business to business email marketing program!
Taken From (http://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/business-management-articles-reports/10-benefits-of-b-to-b-email-marketing/10-benefits-of-b-to-b-email-marketing5.asp)

Make Money Online With Internet Marketing

Make money online is what many many people dream. The idea of working online gives us a lot of benefits such as the freedom of working at your own pace, working in your underwear, no need to wake up early, escape the morning traffic rush & so on. The benefits is just too many to say it here.

There are many ways to make money online but there are one important tool you need to master to be able to generate an income online. This important tool is the Internet. You need to understand how it works to be able to tap on this great resources. With this, Internet marketing plays an important role in helping you to make money online. You will be lost without any knowledge in internet marketing.

There are many marketing techniques in Internet Marketing but I won't go into much detail into it. So now how do you really make money online with Internet Marketing? There are many ways to do that.

Many people blog for a living. They blog about anything that interest them & the readers. Blogging is one medium people use to get traffic & it turn convert that traffic into income. Bloggers sell advertising ads space to advertisers. There are also many programs in the internet such as PayPerPost, Text Link Ads, Paid Reviews for them to monetize their blog. As such, blogging is a popular way to make money online.

Another popular way is doing internet network marketing to make money online. There many popular network marketing or MLM programs out there. A good example is the Success University. Most network marketing programs do offer recruiting by using the internet without having to face the person. However, you need to be very good in internet marketing.

Now the most easiest way to make money online is none other than affiliate marketing. You don't have to have a product, a website, no need to keep track on inventory, no need to handle credit cards transaction, don't bother about customer enquirers & many more.

This means that you promote other people products in exchange for a commission. It is the most easiest proven business model to make money online. You will be given a affiliate link plus a few marketing tips or tolls from the product owner. However not all product owners provide you marketing tools.

All you need to do now is to promote your chosen affiliate program link & if someone click on your link & decided to buy it, you make a commission from the transaction.

I would suggest to you if you are just starting out on your quest in achieving your financial freedom online, becoming a affiliate marketer is best & easiest way in making money online. Just go here to get access & get started to become a super affiliate marketer immediately.

In summary, in order to make money online, you need to be knowledgeable in internet marketing. The success depend on your understanding of the internet skills. The internet is so huge that the potential of making money online can never end.
Taken From (http://www.articlecircle.com/internet-marketing/make-money-online-with-internet-marketing.html)

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Social Media Marketing-A Mixture of Word-of-Mouth And Viral Marketing

Are you going to set the advantages of social media marketing for your business? This is the right time to make a perfect move on the decision. Social media is the most powerful marketing tool that saves your market share from big loss and help you beat competitors who are near to risking their market shares. Application and uses of internet in daily life has been increasing these days as more and more people visit internet to find the latest and authentic information on their search. Besides a channel to information, internet is being used as a medium to market business through social media sites at the best possible manner.

Social media sites now include information about products and services. These types of information are posted by marketing companies on behalf of business owners. Facebook is one of the popular social media which has millions of users. If you post your business information in this media, many people will view and read it and some of them will get attracted to your business. Thus, you will be able to generate more business without spending a single penny for marketing. You can do it by yourself or hire any experienced marketing professionals. Anyway, the result will be positive for your business. You just need to make a small initial investment for this kind of marketing strategy, and the rest will be best for you.

Business promotions through social media can kick in a viral effect and outstanding benefits can be achieved without pushing any physical strain. Facebook fanpage is a kind of marketing tool where you can post information about your business and attract more fans to it. All your friends and their fans will have the potential to see your business details on the fanpage. Social media can be something like word-of-mouth advertising which is the most powerful advertising mode available for a business. Social media advertising is a blend of word-of-mouth advertising and viral marketing. With this type of marketing, you are connected to those whom you are not familiar with.

Twitter and LinkedIn are other two popular social media outlets that work the same way as Facebook does for your business. The best aspects of these genre of marketing is they are available at free of cost and potentially reaching a multitude of people in very short span of time. You just need to spend a shot amount of time each day and you can get your business information to the knowledge of everyone who is a part of your social network. It is not something reserved for the future; else it is for this moment popularity. You have to bring the benefits of this technology for your business.

Businesses that neglect the advantages of social media are leaving their business at risk in this world of competitive market. Primary investment for getting started with social media includes very small amount but, it makes a good sense to begin as soon as possible.
So, start now and provide the benefits of social media marketing for your business.
Taken From (http://www.sooperarticles.com/internet-articles/social-networking-articles/social-media-marketing-mixture-word-mouth-viral-marketing-484503.html)

Monday, 22 August 2011

Developing an Effective Marketing Campaign

If you're trying to sell a product of service, you need to concern yourself with only four marketing principles. Although these marketing ideas may seem simple, they are incredibly powerful for communicating your message, motivating your prospects, and getting them to take an action.

As a marketing veteran, I can tell you that many people over complicate the process of marketing, and as a result, never see a positive return on their marketing investment. This is not to say that certain aspects of marketing are easy. Many require in-depth knowledge of a specific marketing discipline. However, the four basic principles I describe here are the building blocks of any effective marketing, Internet marketing, or search engine optimization campaign.

1. Know Your Audience. No one can effectively market, communicate, or sell without knowing their audience or what motivates them to buy. Is your potential customer male or female? Young or old? A first time buyer or frequent purchaser? Are they the final decision maker? Do they have preferences for a particular product, service, or delivery method? The more you know about your audience, the more targeted and relevant your marketing can be.

2. Timing is Everything. Even with the most convincing marketing campaign, prospects will have no interest in your product or service if you aren't communicating to them at the right time. Be sure your marketing message is in front of prospects when they're ready to buy. This could be at a particular time of year or perhaps prior to a life event.

3. Finding the Right Offer. In direct marketing, experts say that results are 40% dependant on your list, 40% on the offer, and 20% on your creative. The same is true for internet marketing, search engine marketing, and the like. Test your offers and find the one that out performs all the others. This offer should continually be tested and refined to improve your results.

4. It's all about the Messaging. If you know your audience well enough, you should be able to craft a message that addresses their needs and differentiates your product or service from the competition. Additionally, be sure to stress benefits over features. This will give your audience a reason to read, try, and buy.

The next time you are conducting a marketing campaign, use these effective marketing principles. Knowing your audience, ensuring that you reach them when they're ready to buy, experimenting to find the most productive offer, and communicating to them productively, are essential for any marketing campaign to deliver results.
Taken From (http://www.marketingscoop.com/developing-effective-marketing.htm)

Friday, 19 August 2011

Social Media Marketing interact with customers

Social media marketing іѕ characterized bу engaging social networks Ɩіkе online communities, blogs, wikis аnԁ οthеr form οf networking sites tο reach tο thеіr niche customers аnԁ сrеаtіnɡ аn interest іn thеm. Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, аnԁ UTube аrе social media marketing tools tο сrеаtе аn interest іn visiting community.

Social media communities аrе interactive аѕ well аѕ informative. It іѕ nοt essential thаt thе Company οr website hаѕ tο keep οn writing information аbουt thеіr Company. Thеѕе sites ѕhουƖԁ bе updated regularly fοr greater interactive ability аnԁ hence higher publicity. Once a visitor gets a prompt response frοm thе website owner, thеn οnƖу іt іѕ sure tο become a permanent member аnԁ promote thе website through word οf mouth.

Social media marketing іѕ a large means οf reaching tο thе customers, simultaneously. Those websites, whο hаνе large database οf thеіr customers аnԁ visitors, саn easily interact wіth thеm аnԁ сrеаtе interest іn thеіr website’s product аnԁ services easily.

Social Media Marketing саn сrеаtе a buzz οr events thаt саn attract attention frοm visitors. Buzz ticks аnԁ travel through user tο user contact.

Multiple online social media venues Ɩіkе Twitter, Facebook аrе ɡοοԁ means οf building fans.

It іѕ tο bе noted thаt bаԁ sites backfire οn social media marketing. Therefore сrеаtе such sites whісh аrе informative іn positive manner. BаԁƖу designed site wіƖƖ generate negative publicity аnԁ devastating effects fοr thаt website.

Social media sites аrе visited аƖmοѕt daily bу innumerable visitors. People аrе registering themselves daily tο interact wіth thеіr friends аnԁ mаkе nеw friends simultaneously.

• Thіѕ online marketing technique helps tο increase website traffic tο a website, irrelevant аѕ well аѕ relevant.

• It helps tο understand user-behavior.

• Helps detect conversions аnԁ keeps record οf sales.

• Networking sites provide page-views аnԁ exposure frοm advertisement.

• Crеаtіnɡ brand awareness amongst lesser known group аnԁ popularizing amongst known customers.

• One οf thе mοѕt іmрοrtаnt benefits іѕ tο сrеаtе positive brand association аnԁ maintaining wіth full aptitude.

Thе best раrt οf social media marketing іѕ thаt іt helps іn business development аnԁ broader customers reach.
Taken From (http://socialnetworkingtips.org/headlines/social-media-marketing-interact-with-customers.html)

Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Top Ten Opportunities to Use Testimonials to Power Up Your Marketing

Boost your marketing messages with testimonials. Without them you will have a tough time getting people to sign up for what you are offering or to part with their money. Treat them like gold. Seek them, collect them and use them at every opportunity. Here's a top ten list of how and when to use testimonials to power up your marketing.

When it comes to marketing, testimonials are as important to your business as your list. There is no substitute for authentic verification from a third party of what you offer. We all know people do business with people they know, like and trust and testimonials provide the perfect vehicle to deliver these essential ingredients in a truly authentic way.



Without testimonials you will have a tough time getting people to sign up for what you are offering or to part with their money.



Treat testimonials like gold. Seek them, collect them and use them at every opportunity.



Here's the top ten opportunities to use testimonials.



# 1 is on your website. Either on a particular page dedicated to testimonials or use the left and/or right margin and fill that with testimonials. Use pictures, audio or video for variety and impact.



# 2 is in a sales letter. Use throughout your sales letter, highlight them in boxes or filter into body copy to demonstrate or emphasise important aspects or benefits.



# 3 is in your newsletter. You could feature a testimonial to support your article or special promotion or simply have a little testimonial snippet. It might just be two sentences or part of a testimonial. Mix it up for variety.



# 4 is on the front and back cover of your information product. This is extremely valuable space as it will support the sale as well as re-enforce the product after the sale because whether shippable or downloadable it will be in the clients hands and read many times.



# 5 is woven into your articles. This is a subtle way to maximize the use of testimonials that will gently resonate with the reader. Weave them into your articles and quote clients to support a particular benefit or point you want to make or as part of a story you are telling.



# 6 is on a postcard or direct mail piece. Whether a solo mailing or part of a campaign, testimonials bring that third party endorsement right into the letter box . Keep it short and relevant and capitalize on this tangible, personal communication.



# 7 is in an email promotion. When you send out a promotional email for your preview call or sales page, you can use a testimonial one of two ways. Either use an outright quote or even better, as part of a before and after story to demonstrate your point.



# 8 is on your free articles page. If you have a dedicated page for free articles or resources, load it with testimonials to encourage people to sign-up to your list.



# 9 is on flyers, brochures or leave behinds. Whether mailing or handing out at networking opportunities a tangible item is a great place to feature testimonials.



# 10 is on the back of your business card. This is prime real-estate and will be read by everyone you hand your card to and most likely will be referred to more than once. Especially powerful place to use a celebrity endorsement.



In a nutshell, you want a testimonial on everything. Every product or service that you offer. Use them whenever and wherever possible and utilize every medium to exploit them to their full potential. You always need them and can never have too many.
Taken from (http://www.articlesfactory.com/articles/writing/top-ten-opportunities-to-use-testimonials-to-power-up-your-marketing.html)

Inbound Marketing VS. Outbound Marketing

Inbound marketing has been the most well liked on-line marketing pattern for the last decade. Experts and huge enterprise homeowners contemplate it a cheap and efficient method to achieve potential customers. Discover how SEO or web optimization and website marketing carry out better than telephone and email marketing.

Inbound advertising and marketing focuses on creating the company's visibility to the public, and never on instantly contacting potential customers. This system is extensively acknowledged and confirmed to be effective. Should you haven?t began on it but, that is the precise time to contemplate an inbound advertising and marketing campaign. Listed below are a few of the advantages of utilizing this methodology:

Your prospects and purchasers don't get aggravated or interrupted.

Based on studies, round 2000 outbound ads target an individual everyday. They come within the form of spam emails, TV and print ads, telephone calls, direct mails or SMS etc. These are thought of ineffective because the prospects do not need all of them. They can simply be thought of as an annoyance and be ignored. There are also a number of legislation restrictions on outbound marketing and there are computer filters that may block them.

Once you do inbound marketing, you simply make your organization and its provides readily accessible to the public. The campaign focuses on increasing the visibility of your brand. Keep in mind the precept that prospects have fixed demand for a selected product. You simply have to be probably the most seen company when they are able to make a purchase.

It requires less capital and fewer effort.

Outbound strategies require print materials, postal and telephone charges, and transportation expenses for promoting in person. Tv adverts, alternatively, require a large fee for airtime. One can also pay search engines to be displayed in sidebars or search engine results pages (SERPs). However, that is inefficient because search engine corporations can't assure putting you in high pages.

The sweetness with web optimization and other inbound strategies is its cost-efficiency. You invest money in creating your site and hiring a website optimization company. With a effectively-optimized site, you possibly can earn excessive ranks in SERPs and generate a large number of visitors. The best half is you get the site visitors without spending a dime!

Performance and progress can simply be tracked.

Not like TV adverts and telephone calls, the efficiency of an inbound campaign can easily be tracked. Website hyperlinks and keywords may be rated depending on the number of visits they've directed to the website. The outcomes may be stored in a text file or database for future reference.

Should you can monitor the progress of your campaign, you possibly can easily establish the strengths of your adverts and rooms for improvement. You should use the data in identifying new keywords to your web site content. Then, you possibly can provide you with a extra aggressive advertising and marketing strategy for the future.

It lets you realize your prospects more.

Lastly, inbound strategies can help you generate extra leads. There are website options that let you study extra about your visitors' demographics, needs and preferences. Examples of these options are remark containers, direct emails to website homeowners and fast survey forms. These further options can also be incorporated into website design and SEO.
Taken From (http://www.internet-marketing-home-business.com/internet-marketing-articles-directory/internet-marketing-article.php?article_id=1100)