VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business

Calendar of Holidays - September/October

Even though these months are "light" on the holidays, don't miss an opportunity to drive traffic to  your business because you're too busy! Email is a great "last minute" thing you can do to capitalize on it.

Make sure to check out your calendar of holidays in your VerticalResponse Account. Depending on what country you have set up in your profile, it displays the appropriate holidays.

September

• Labor Day - September 3rd
• Back-to-school - August-September (it's almost gone!)
• US Football Season Starts

October

• Columbus Day - October 8
• Halloween - October 31

I also found a page with more International Holidays. Did I miss one? Comment and let me know please.

Your Email Campaign Launch Checklist

To avoid nasty email campaign mistakes we created an easy to use checklist internally here at VR that we're happy to share. Never make a mistake again (or at least come close to never, no one is perfect.)

Print this out and pin it up!

Newsletter Dates - If you copy a campaign and include a date in your content make sure the date has changed.

From Label - Make sure that the From label is correct for the email you're sending.

Postal Address - Ensure the correct postal address for the sender is at the bottom.

Preview for Images Turned Off - View what the email looks like with images on AND off (you can do that in VR) - I will send myself a test with my images turned off to see it as well.

Image Text - Make sure all images have alternative text so that when images are turn off your recipients have some context of what should be shown.

Links - Test that all links go where you want them to - click on each and every one.

Images Linked - Make sure all images are linked that need to be.

Subject Line Review -

• If you copy a previously send campaign make sure you change your subject line.
• Make sure the subject line relates to the content of the email.
• Make sure your most important information is at the beginning so it won't get cut off in the email reader.

Preview in Email Readers - View in email clients Yahoo!, Gmail, Outlook, MacMail and AOL.

Forward to a Friend - Make sure this feature is turned on, it can't hurt to get a few more subscribers.

If you've got any you'd like to add, let's put them on the list!

Download this in PDF.

Workaround - Bold, Ital, Trackable Links Anywhere in Your Email Wizard Campaign

Customers are always amazing me. I always say that a customer can know more about our product than we do. So I'm dedicating a category to "workarounds", that is, for one reason or another we have not gotten to a specific update but sure enough a customer has come up with a clever way around the issue.

The Issue:

"I like your Email Wizard with the nifty borders, but I don't know how to bold, ital, and move things exactly where I want them. Furthermore I'd love to put trackable links in the middle of my content."

The Workaround:

1. In "Preview" click on your computer's "View" then "Page Source".
2. Find <!--  ### CUT AND PASTE BORDER CONTENT STARTING HERE ###  --> and <!--  ### CUT AND PASTE BORDER CONTENT ENDING HERE ###  --> in the HTML code and copy it.
3. Start a new campaign using "Email Canvas."
4. Click on the "Edit Source" tab and paste the new code into the white canvas.
5. Toggle over to the "Edit Graphical" tab and POOF you see your campaign like you had it in Email Wizard, except now you can use our HTML editor by just selecting the words you want to bold and click the "B" icon.

You can also insert pix from your Media Library, as well as insert trackable links anywhere you want by simply highlighting what you want your link to be and clicking on the link button (shown below). A window pops up to ask what you'd like your link to be, type it in and you've got a trackable link...voila!

Huge Caveat:
Make sure that when you paste your HTML in the Email Canvas and edit your campaign, you remove the old unsubscribe instructions that are included in the bottom of the email. VerticalResponse does not allow for multiple unsubscribes in a single email, since it's confusing to the recipient, especially one that won't work.

Let me know if this was helpful!

VR Named as Finalist for ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards

What a week. We were really hoping to be nominated again but with competition so hot we weren't so sure. Thanks to all of you who voted for us. The 7 finalists in the Email category are:

CAN-SPAM legislation - VerticalResponse is an avid follower!
Goodmail
Habeas - Friends of VerticalResponse
Responsys - The only other ESP on the list. They serve larger corporations.
ReturnPath - The makers of Sender Score - hey how'd they get two listings? ;-)
Sender Score - A VerticalResponse Partner
VerticalResponse - C'mon VR!

Now it's up to the judges. We live for this stuff here so keep your fingers crossed for us, they'll announce the winners in October!

Driving More Business - Host Your Own Event

 Think you don't have the right "type" of business to do an event? Think again! Anyone can drive more business by hosting an event. Defining your event could be easy depending on what business you're in.

• An anniversary party or "birthday of the business" party
• Customer Appreciation Party
• Seasonal Party - "Wine Harvest", "Holiday Party", "Sent the Kids off to School" Event...

Your Venue

If you've got retail space already why not save costs by having it there. You can also start up the cash register and ring in some sales while yer at it. If you're having an event at a restaurant, see if they'll fork over some free appetizers if they think you'll be driving them new business in the long run. Work with them to let them know you'll be bringing xx amount of people by.

Your Marketing

Lists - You'll want to take stock of your list. Make sure you've got the right people coming for the event you're having. If you've got a "come one come all" event then get everyone coming and tell them to bring a guest. If it's a customer appreciation party make sure they feel special and only invite the customers. If you want to widen the net rent a postal list For B2B check out DemandBase, for consumer lists check out USA Data. You don't have to do a crazy minimum purchase and the quality seems good.

Prizes - You also might want to think about offering prizes. Either gift certificates for your goods or some other great deals would be a start. Make sure you get a fishbowl and collect cards. You might get some new customers out of the deal!

Email Campaigns - Make sure you prepare the invitations for your event ahead of time. We've seen a 50% no-show rate. Your email campaigns might look like this:

4 weeks prior: Send everyone on your list the invite.
2 weeks prior: Send all of your "non-responders" the same invite.
2 days prior: Send all of your RSVPs a reminder

During the Event

If you can, why not offer cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks? Also food appys work well. If you're offering prizes, make sure that you get enough cards in the fishbowl, but don't wait too long to enter them and do a follow-up email with them. Give them a discount for your services if you have one.

The Aftermath

Take pix of your customers and post them online at Picasa or  Flickr. Then include the link to the pictures in the email thanking them for coming.

Examples

Restaurants - You've got it great, you've probably already got food and space! If you've got a private room, you can host your yearly "Bits and Bites" or "Tastes from around the World" event! Why not try out some new food items on your best customers before you make new menu decisions? Make sure you're capturing your customers email addresses as you see them come into the restaurant.

Retailers - Have an off-hour customer appreciation sale. Send invitations either via email or postcard where your customers have to print it out and bring it in or remember a code.

Salon/Spas - Have an annual birthday party where you are the one giving your best customers the gift. Have some champagne and bites, but also introduce a new treatment. Have your customers bring a friend who has never been to the salon for a "special gift". Then make up little sample gift bags with your information and a $10 first time certificate. Even have someone giving chair massage in the corner!

B2B - Why not host a party at a local restaurant or a hotel in zip codes where you've got lots of customers. Then invite those customers to bring someone they know who'd benefit from your services with free food and a mini "show" that they have to sit through (not long). Have your employees mingling with the guests in a "soft sales" approach.

Some examples of Customer Appreciation Parties I ran across on the web, proof anyone can have one!

Boating Company - Lynnhaven Marine
International Eyecare Laser Center
Adams Car Detailing
Food for Thought Bookstore
VerticalResponse's Customer Party

Do you host your own events to drive business? Bring us some great ideas!

VR Music Video Premiere!

Many of you have seen "AppEx Baby" music video. Our very own Furious ALF stars in it. If you haven't seen it you should, it's a good short watch. Due to popular demand, VerticalResponse has released our 2nd music video, "Nuthin' but an App Thang" starring the crazy antics of Furious ALF and debuting another VR star, 2Fein.

Read why we do these crazy videos here.

VerticalResponse Caught!

I recently blogged about creating your emails for images turned off. One of the things I talked about was the importance of naming your images so that if images were turned off, it would at least display what the image name was. Last week, VerticalResponse sent out a newsletter where I thought that simply naming your image in the VerticalResponse Media Library was good enough to show up. My bad, it wasn't.

Good news? Thanks to the competitor who pointed this out (IMO someone might have too much time on their hands, but good news for us!) and one crafty engineer (Thanks James) we fixed that and now your image name will show up .

Cheers!

Andy Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Guru, Interviews VR!

VerticalResponse was paid a visit at ebay Live in Boston some time ago by Word of Mouth Marketing Author, Andy Sernovitz.

Check out the short interview with Nick Marden our Chief Architect Engineer (and Bostonian), Patricia Callaway our Marketing Manager, and Alf Brand our Director of Marcom as they sit back in the VR Lounge at the event and talk to Andy about email marketing and retailers!

Blog Business World - An Internet Radio Interview with Janine

I was lucky enough to get stumbled upon by blogger Wayne Hurlbert who has a great Internet Radio Show hosted by Blog Talk Radio called Blog Business World. (BTW, this is a VERY cool technology, those who want to be broadcasters need to check this out...you can bet I am going to.) Anyhoo, Wayne interviews people on a full range of topics from business blogging, search engine optimization, marketing, PR and other topics that will help you grow your business.

Here are a few questions he asked me:

"You say that it's possible for small businesses to compete with large companies. What are your reasons for this bold statement?"

"One advantage that small business does have over its larger counterparts is flexibility, resulting in faster decisions. How important is speed of introduction of new technology?"

"Has the email newsletter got a bright future thanks to new technology?"

"One of the biggest problems with developing an email program is developing a list. Are there some practical and low cost ways to create a solid mailing list?"

"What recommendations do you have for the format of a newsletter to get it read, and used as a relationship development tool?"

"What are some mistakes and pitfalls that a novice email newsletter user should avoid?"

"What are some easy to use and cheap to employ marketing ideas that small businesses can use to give the impression that they are much larger organizations?"

Wait for it...are you sitting on the edge of your seat? 

"What is next for Janine Popick and VerticalResponse?"    :-)

There are many more, and it was a lot of fun. You can listen to this at your desk, or if you've got an MP3 player you can download the content and listen on your way to work. Caveat: it really is 60 full minutes long. Thanks Wayne!
 

Using an Opt-In Form When You Give Anything for Free

If you give something away for free on your website like coupons, whitepapers, case studies, a PDF, anything downloadable or printable, you should get something for it shouldn't you? How about an email address and permission to email to it?

We've seen successful companies include opt-in forms on a page where visitors have to go before they get to the "free schwag" page. A good example is this WorkZ page above. Before a visitor is taken to the page where they can get free forms for their business, WorkZ asks for their email address and permission.

You'll want to try to get them to double-opt in if you can.  How can you do this?

1. Offer them benefits of what you'll be sending them.
2. Tell them how often you'll be emailing them, set their expectations up front.
3. Deliver on your promise.

You can use the VR Opt-in form for free in your VR Account, or use one of your own. Either way it's a great way to build your email list.

More ideas are greatly appreciated!