BLOG.ACOSTAAGENCY.COM

5 Things You MUST Know About Email Marketing

2011-11-01T21:21:25Z

Looking to begin email marketing and wondering how to start?

1. Manage inhouse or hire outside help. First, decide if you have the resources to manage email marketing inhouse. You may be surprised at how easy and user-friendly some of the ESPs (email marketing service providers) are. With an investment of maybe 30 minutes each day watching the tutorials generally provided by these ESPs, you can be up and running in no time and make incremental improvements along the way.

If you have the budget to hire a contractor or consultant to run your email marketing, a good place to start is to find an ESP you like then ask if they have a partner program that enables customers to find a seasoned email marketer to assist them. They are generally listed on the ESP's site. Check out how much social media costs in 2011 by Mack Collier.

My favorite recommendation for an all-around robust program that is exceptionally user friendly, affordable, humorous training that sinks in quickly, and has more bells and whistles than many of its competitors is MailChimp.com. With over 1M users, MailChimp also offers robust reporting, google analytics tie-in, and automated social media integration, which will help you continuously maximize your email's reach in addition to having the necessary data to make continual improvements. Remember that Email marketing, like most internet marketing, is a work in progress. Once you get it up and running, it's similar to a new car that must be maintained and serviced to keep it operating at optimal efficiency. [NOTE: I do not receive any financial gain from endorsing MailChimp.com; I'm just a big, sappy fan of theirs.] After using other programs, like Vertical Response, Election Mall, Paramount Communications and Marketo, I think that MailChimp gives the most bang for the buck and is an awesomely fun program to use as well. If you want a good laugh in your work day, MailChimp will not disappoint you. I'm convinced that the employees were all stand-up comedians in their past lives.

2. Test, test and test. Never rest on your laurels with email marketing. Make sure you are testing subject lines, images, image placement, offers, signup form content and length, design, send times, send days, video, and more... one at a time so you can know what's affecting any change. Start out using A/B testing so that it quickly becomes a habit for you to test. When you find out what works better for each email, you'll soon be making incremental improvements that, over time, will give you better results.

3. Always include a text version of your email. Another reason I am smitten over MailChimp is the ease with which it creates a text version of your html email. With just a click, your text version is complete with links in place. It's important to always include text versions so you can increase your deliverability. Some folks do not have images turned on in their inbox and in many email programs, like Gmail for example, a recipient must activate a link in order to view the images in an email. Programs like Vertical Response also offer this easy text version creation; however, Vertical Response falls extremely short on the reporting side of the equation. In that system, you cannot know what the actual deliverability is because their setup does not allow customers to view SPAM, invalids, or a bounce breakdown. I'm a bit stumped by this as most ESPs allow this transparency and there is no way to determine ROI if you do not know deliverability. At best, it is a guesstimate in Vertical Response. Paramount Communication offers fantastic reporting; however, in every other aspect, the program is a dinosaur.

4. Include 'ALT Text' for all images. Don't even think of including an image without linking it to a relevant landing page and putting in the Alt Text ("alternative text" that details the image and its offer using relevant keywords). This is super important, especially as you'll recall, text versions will not show images. This way, a recipient can read what the image is about. Ever receive an email from a catalog company or similar that, in text form, is a bunch of small boxes with an "x" in them and nothing else? This is lazy! The email person should have added Alt Text for each image so that when the image doesn''t appear, the alt text description of it would. Don't let this one slip by. Alt Text is also searchable in organic search, so it's equally important from that standpoint, especially as you're wanting your emails to be shared.

5. Standard Header and Footer items. In the header, it's a good practice to include a link to view the email in a browser as well as a concise summary of your content so that inboxes that show snippets will display this copy. Consider adding an unsubscribe link in your header as well as in your footer. Your best results will come from people who want to be on your list so don't worry about losing people by making it easy for them to unsubscribe. Rather, this will save you from being marked as SPAM in many cases because many readers are in a hurry and if they want off your list, they'll use the path of least resistance. For the footer, ensure you put company name, address, URL and telephone number. The more transparent you are, the more trust and credibility you'll instill in your readership. Include one-click unsubscribe links and a link to change email preferences as well. If you can, always include "share with a friend" link.

Happy Marketing!

Teresa

Teresa Acosta Agency

One Instant Improvement for Your Facebook Business Page

2011-10-21T22:51:47Z

You can easily take on social media improvements in small steps. These improvements ideally come after you've outlined your purpose for social media, stated your goals, and created an editorial calendar.

To continually optimize your business page, try implementing improvements on a daily or weekly basis. In just a matter of weeks, you'll be far ahead of many competing businesses.

Do This: Turn your facebook profile picture into a display ad
Space allowed: 180 px wide x 540 px tall

Many business page admins upload their logo for their profile picture and don't realize they can customize that picture space into more of a display ad rather than just a logo.

Here is an example of an AMC Theatre business taking full advantage of the 540 px height allowed:

OPTIMIZED

AMC uses the extra height allowed to promote an engaging contest that is sure to bring customers in. The extra space is allotted by facebook for logo uploads; however, many businesses seem to not know about it or are not taking advantage of it.

Here is a screenshot of a business page with a common picture profile size, not taking advantage of the space allotted by facebook:

NOT OPTIMIZED

The unutilized space offers important real estate and this business is losing the opportunity to promote their popular Thursday night Paella nights hosted on their side patio near the charming wine bar.

Here are the easy steps to set up a display ad in the profile picture space:

First, create your display ad (180px wide x 540px tall max.)
Go to your business page
Click on "edit page" in upper right
Click on "profile picture" in left sidebar
Click on "Choose File" to upload your newly designed, 180px wide x 540px tall, display ad [TIP: Include your logo in the display ad so that you can use it as the thumbnail image shown later.] You do not have to delete the existing image. You may do so my clicking on "Remove Your Picture;" however, uploading a new image will automatically replace the existing image.
Once your new display ad is uploaded, you will need to crop the image so the "thumbnail" that you desire to show up next to your postings will be the logo portion of the display ad you've just created. I recommend using the logo portion for branding purposes. To crop the "display ad," click on "Edit Thumbnail" as shown below. Don't worry--this will not change the main page display image; it will only affect the thumbnail image that appears next to each of your postings.

BEFORE

Once you've edited the thumbnail, click on "View Page" to see your newly created display ad! Remember, view this space as a you would a display ad. Keep it fresh and up-to-date with your newest promotion, contest, special or event. Your thumbnail should stay constant (static) so ensure you always your logo in your display ad, then crop it to show your logo as the thumbnail image.

Below shows an example of the above profile picture reworked. For additional help, click here to view video on how to upload a new display ad to your profile picture in facebook.

AFTER

If you have any questions, please post in Comments.

Market Happily,
Teresa

Teresa Acosta Agency

How to Use Questionnaire Tool on Facebook Business Page

2011-10-10T01:52:11Z

Create engagement on your facebook business page with the questionnaire tool provided by facebook.

This tool can be used to create closed or open-ended questions.

Want to find out if folks would like to see your menu offer more vegetarian dishes? Is your customer support wait time acceptable to your customers? Just want to have fun and find out the creative ways your product or service is being put to use by your customers?

This is a great tool to not only get some answers to your questions but to also create engagement on your site. People love to answer polls. Publish results in your next newsletter.

Watch the tutorial video here on How to Use Questionnaire Tool on Facebook Business Page. If you have any questions, please use the Comment section.

Market Happily,
Teresa

Teresa Acosta Agency

How to Set Up a "Like" Facebook QR Code

2011-10-04T18:45:44Z

New to QR codes?

Defined, "QR" is the abbreviation for "Quick Response." It is a bar code that can be read by cell phones, and, similar to bar codes, it can store a wide range of information ranging from your URL, email address, Buy it Now PayPal link to any other special offer or information you wish to promote as long as it's alphanumeric.

The QR code is standardized internationally, allowing up to 4,296 characters. QR codes have been widely used abroad and are quickly catching on in the USA.

Start by publishing a simple print flyer for you or your client's retail business to "Like" a Facebook page.

Size guidelines: At least 1" x 1" with most averaging 1.75" x 1.75 " as precaution.

Here is the training video for "How to Set Up a "Like" Facebook QR Code.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this tutorial in Comment section.

Market Happily,
Teresa

Teresa Acosta Agency

How to get LinkedIn's new sharing button + adding publications and patents

2010-12-01T23:43:00Z

LinkedIn just launched their own sharing button, making it that much easier to accelerate your content across LinkedIn networks.

It's super easy to get the script. Just follow the directions and the script automatically populates. And then paste into your website as I did mine just this morning:

LinkedIn also has a new feature for adding your published work and any patents to a new section on your profile. On your profile page, look for the orange "New..." right below your LinkedIn URL. Once you click on "Add sections," follow the simple directions. (I didn't see any way to add multiple entries at once.)

If you want to install the "View My Profile on LinkedIn" button, check out how to do this in my blog "How to Put View My Profile on LinkedIn Button on Website or Blog."

Happy Marketing!
Teresa

Teresa Acosta Agency

How to Translate Praises & Problems into Customer Connections

2010-11-18T23:39:00Z

Writing or speaking to a person's "pain" is becoming easier and more interesting through online listening. Online listening is putting an ear toward reviews, social conversations, and testimonials, discovering more of what people need and want from you by their gripes and their praise. This goldmine of information is just clicks away.

Here are some popular review sites in addition to what you find on social media channels:

Gather and embrace online reviews, social conversations, and website testimonials before working out your message to prospects or customers. Begin by gathering several reviews, mentions, and testimonials written about your company, both off- and online. If those are scarce or you want to dig even deeper (recommended), search for reviews and testimonials written about your competitors.

Copy and paste each review, mention, or testimonial onto your page and begin looking for themes of:

Praise (happy person sharing how they were helped, what they liked, etc.)
Problems (unhappy person sharing what they didn't like, what was lacking, etc.)

Circle or highlight the most repetitious praises or problems; common themes will emerge.

You'll gain more information of what people want and don't want from you and what they like and don't like about your company, products, or services. Equally important, you'll find out what terms they are using--their language. Divide these words and phrases into columns of problems and praises, and you're looking at a helpful glimpse into what's relevant to your customers and prospects from their perspective.

Incorporate their words and phrases into your writing and conversations; you'll soon be speaking customer-speak, not corporate-speak. And that's a first step toward building and strengthening relationships.

Happy Marketing!
Teresa

Teresa Acosta Agency

How to put View-My-Profile-on-LinkedIn Button on Website or Blog

2010-10-24T23:45:00Z

If you'd like to place a LinkedIn button on your site so that visitors can view your profile on LinkedIn, follow these easy steps:

Step 2: Image I

Sign in to your LinkedIn account
In upper right corner to the left of your name above search bar, click on the arrow to bring up a dropdown menu. (see Image I)
Click on "Settings"
In left column under Settings in next screen, click on "Public Profile" (see Image II)
In the next screen, just below Public Profile heading, look for "Promote your profile with customized buttons"; click on "customized buttons" (See Image III)
This brings you to a screen full of button choices with your unique script to the right. This script is customized to your LinkedIn address ONLY! (See Image IV)
Copy the script that correlates with the button of your choosing and paste the code.

Step 4: Image II

Step 5: Image III

Step 6: Image IV

www.AcostaAgency.com button example

Note: If you are placing buttons on a 3rd party's site or blog, you must use code unique to their login ID.

Happy Marketing!

Teresa Acosta Agency

Get found with relevant keywords

2010-10-08T23:48:00Z

Keywords are to your website as a foundation is to your home.

The core element of search engine optimization (SEO) is keywords in content and incoming links. Search engines find, index, categorize, and rank based on web content. Optimizing web content makes it easier for search engines to do their job.

Before you put content on your website, make sure you're keenly aware of what keywords you are aiming to rank for in search results. Once you build your foundation of keywords, it'll be easier for you to create relevant content for each page of your website, including page titles, headings, and meta descriptions.

Start out by using Google's free keyword tool. Select keywords from the list that have high traffic and are the least competitive. These will be easier for you to rank for. Next, search on the keywords you selected to see what page you show on in search results for that keyword, if at all. You'll get a good feel for what you're up against when you find out where you show up in organic search for terms that you think will bring potential customers to your site.
Select 1 - 3 keywords (a keyword can be a phrase, aka "long-tailed) for each page then theme that page's content around those related keywords. Use your keywords in your page title (make sure you have a page title) and heading. Sprinkle your keywords for that page throughout the content, but make sure your writing flows naturally and does not look like you stuck keywords in just to have them in there. What helps me is to create my heading and write naturally from that and then go back and insert keywords into places that make sense. This way my writing doesn't appear forced.

It's important to not duplicate keywords on other pages in your website, or you'll be competing with yourself in ranking for those keywords. Using themed keywords relevant to each page's product or service also serves to keep your writing focused, a plus for site users as it's important to keep their attention focused on what brought them there in the first place. Avoid distracting users with irrelevant offers or unrelated content. Think of this type of writing as driving down a tunnel versus the wide open highway.

Keyword Takeaways:

Keywords used in content and internal text links,
Relevant content is reachable by search engines,
Content is added often and periodically,
Keywords used in Alt Text for images,
Keyword content is organized logically--themes, categories,
Quantity of quality sites linking in (relevant and authoritative),
Monitor on a regular basis; adjust continually.

Analyze your results with Google's free analytics tool. This powerful tool is supported with step-by-step directions for the novice, so don't be intimidated; it's easier than it looks. Once you get the green light and a few days for the data to roll in, review your results. There's no magic formula to getting it right. Just keep testing and tweaking and you'll see improvements over time.

Happy Marketing!

Teresa Acosta Agency

5 best practice blogging tips

2010-06-21T23:50:00Z

The Summer Solstice offers a chance to start anew, which is why I'm blogging after a long hiatus. Nope. I'm not a bear, but thought I'd act like one when it came to blogging in temperatures below 72 degrees.

And now that I'm out of my home office den, I decided to recommit myself to blogging in order to share my marketing experiences plus a lot of the useful information that comes in front of my radar. One of my favorite resources is Hubspot.com. I'm a big fan of Hubspot's and they don't pay me to say so. They are content rich when it comes to educating people on how to bring in more business. I'd like to share some best practices revealed in their video on How To Blog Effectively for Business.

My top 5 takeaways:

Before writing, always ask "What value is this going to create for readers?";
Respond to any comments on your blog and address the person by first name;
Create a Blogroll as a resource for readers. (Links to other relevant bloggers);
Use your full name plus a photo to make it more personal as well as transparent;
Label your blog with keyword tags;
Notice what topics stimulate comments and give readers more of what they like.

How to Blog Effectively for Business (GF101)

Happy Marketing!

Teresa Acosta Agency

Keep your ads fresh

2010-01-28T23:51:00Z

At a new position in advertising sales for a community newspaper, I inherited a small but established territory where my mission was to expand the customer base. I was directed to go after new business and focus on increasing what had become a stagnant territory.

At first blush, I decided to focus on the current customer base, evaluating ad histories and seeing where improvements could be made. I ran ad histories and noticed that many of the advertisers had been running the same ad week after week or alternating weeks for months. Many would change their ad only when the New Year came along. When I queried their goals, I was told by many that it was an "image" ad, an ad running to keep their company name in front of the local readership.

I strongly advised small businesses selling locally to not run image ads. What I picked up from experience and from industry reading is that image ads really are for the big guys, corporations that have the budgets to spend on image advertising. And I don't think they're that useful even for larger companies. Why waste expensive space when you could entertain and ask for an action?

The average small business person is best served by running ads with a benefit headline and a call to action. After a reader views the same ad once or twice, their eyes usually glaze over thereafter.

I encouraged several clients to start changing their ads, advertising services or products that needed some buoying up, putting in special offers or just highlighting a particular item. A restaurant started changing out specials on a consistent basis, which I coordinated with other local publications. The results were immediate and favorable. Business grew. The feedback I received was that many of the restaurant's recurring customers commented on the new ads, some even saying "it was about time." New customers came in drawn by the special of that week. The readers wanted something new and different. Giving it to them got results.

The current customer base in my territory ended up spending more money with the newspaper as they saw more results. Some ran more often; others switched from black and white to color; others increased ad sizes.

Always look at your current customer base before going off to spend money on prospecting that will cost more to convert in the first place. If you can increase a customer's business, your business will increase. Customers are often your best referral source, too. You already have an established relationship with your customers; just make it a better one.

Teresa Acosta Agency

Vintage Christmas advertisements inspiration

2009-12-15T23:52:00Z

Want to stand out from the crowd? Find some inspiration in these charming vintage Christmas ads collected by Jon Williamson. To see his collection, visit this link and then click on the "slideshow" button in the upper right.

The holidays and nostalgia go hand-in-hand. For the holidays, set your own advertising tradition by creating a vintage-like ad, print or online. You can have a lot of fun by looking up historical facts related to your industry or product, or make the ad more personal by including a message from the owner or CEO. Shake things up a bit and you're sure to have your customers talking.

Happy Marketing!

Teresa Acosta Agency

Create holiday coupons on Google Maps for free!

2009-12-02T00:30:00Z

A quick and easy way to place a coupon for your business is by using Google Maps' FREE coupon listing. That's right--FREE!

First, you must have your business registered on Google Maps. If you don't have your business listed yet, drop everything and visit http://maps.google.com. Follow the easy instructions and you'll soon be listed. Once you're listed, getting a coupon placed next to your listing is simple.

Navigate to your Google Maps listing. You'll see a "Dashboard" tab and a "Coupon" tab above your listing. Click on "Coupon" tab and it'll have easy-to-follow instructions on adding a FREE coupon alongside your business listing. This coupon is printable, so a customer can print it out and bring it in or use it in your online store. (Remember to set an expiration date and a PROMO code if for online.) Have fun posting your holiday specials!

Happy Marketing!

Teresa Acosta Agency

Without sorcery, you can covert Pantone colors to RGB and Hex

2009-12-01T23:54:00Z

If you're ready to cast a hex on your website or blog because you just can't get the colors between the two to look remotely like second cousins, then worry no longer. Put aside the bat wings, toads, and magic wand, because I found two great resources when it comes to converting your PANTONE color to a Hex or RGB color.

The first website is www.edigita.com/pantone.php and the second website is www.2createawebsite.com/build/hex-colors.html. These sites sure helped me out when I was trying to color match from print to the web. The second link will actually generate the color #'s for you, so if you want a new toy to play with, try the latter.

And if you're interested, here's a link to find out what in the heck is a "hex" if it's not a spell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hex_colors . This information will come in handy the next time you rub elbows with a graphic or web designer.... "So, any hex trouble lately?"

Teresa Acosta Agency