"...And Now We'll Open the Floor for Questions"

I get a sense from our customers (and people that we talk with around town), that there are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding digital marketing, web strategy, social media and whether or not it's a good time to be spending money on such things. This is normal. At one point or another, we all have questions about our businesses (whether you own it, or just work in it). It's good to have a network of people that you can rely on to bounce questions and ideas off of.

One of the roles that we routinely fill for our clients is one of advisor or consultant. This service costs money, and can range from a one-time meeting to an ongoing monthly retainer-type agreement. But what if you could ask questions about the process and get a straight answer WITHOUT the cost or structured agreement? Would you do it?

Here's what I'm proposing:

If you have a question about business—specifically something related to design, marketing, technology, brand development, websites, social media, etc., post it in the comments section after this post or on our Ideavise Facebook page. Chances are that you're not the only person wondering, and we'd like to help get those questions answered.

Another thing; we're straight shooters. We've been around the block and we've got a lot of experience. But if we don't know the answer to a particular question, we'll tell you that we don't know and we'll make a few phone calls to try and find out. We know people. Smart people.

In a nutshell, our goal is to help you make infomed decisions about how to market your business. That's what we do.

So let's hear it. What questions can we answer for you?

—Jason @ Ideavise

 

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Filed under  //   2010   brand   branding   business   facebook   january   jason lombard   marketing   network   networking   questions   small business   social media   website  
Posted January 28, 2010 by Jason Lombard 
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Email Marketing Isn't Dead... So Use It!

Much has been said about the demise of email thanks to some of the new social networking tools that we now have at our disposal. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. have changed the game of connecting customers to companies. But what of email? Is it no longer valid? Has it been passed over by quicker, "tidier" methods of communcation?

Not according to a study published by eMarketer using data from sites StrongMail and ShareThis. According to the study:

A study of sharing activity across the ShareThis network in October 2009 also revealed that e-mail was the top channel for distributing content to friends, with 46.4% of all shares. About one-third of shares went to Facebook and less than 6% were tweeted.

Overall, Twitter did post the highest click-through rate in both studies quoted. But email came back swinging with higher page counts after click-through.

So how can you and I apply this to our businesses?

  1. Make sure that you have an email marketing strategy for your business. If you're short on time/bandwidth, don't fret—it doesn't need to be a weekly investment. Shoot for sending out an email once per quarter. Recap important news, and give your customers an opportunity to engage with the brand. Launch a contest, ask for feedback, announce a promotion specifically targeted to customers on your email list. The end goal is to make them feel like they have the inside track on what's happening with your brand.
  2. Email marketing is just one component of a well-rounded online strategy. As are Twitter, Facebook and the myriad of other social networking opportunities out there. Go ahead, start a Facebook fan page. But don't rely on it solely to carry your online marketing efforts. And just as Facebook shouldn't be your only online marketing effort, you shouldn't rely on direct email marketing to carry your voice by itself.

If you have questions on how to implement an email marketing strategy (hint: it's much easier than you think), drop us a line using the email address above or the comments box below. We've designed and implemented many successful emarketing campaigns, and can help you avoid the pitfalls that many people face when they're just starting out.

Thanks for reading!

—Jason @ Ideavise

 

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Filed under  //   december   email   facebook   jason lombard   marketing   networking   newsletter   social   statistics   strategy   study   twitter  
Posted December 23, 2009 by Jason Lombard 
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