Ideal Marketing Company Blog

Viral Marketing: Sneezing Via Email
By Akhil Shahani

If you’ve never heard of viral marketing before, we won’t blame
you for thinking that it’s the FDA’s problem! This rather
sinister term was coined by some very respectable people
belonging to a venture capital firm called Draper Fisher
Jurvetson (DFJ), who described viral marketing as a
“network-enhanced word of mouth”. Simply put, that means getting
your existing clientele to act as brand ambassadors for your
product. And the amazing bit is that it’s quite involuntary!
(Have you noticed what appears at the end of every email sent
from your Yahoo account?)

Let’s see how this works. Practitioners of viral marketing
leverage their customer base to pass on a marketing message to
others in their network. The recipients of such messages, in
turn, pass the same onto their contacts, and so on. Before you
know it, the message will have touched a multitude of people,
pretty much like an epidemic. We see you’re getting the
picture…..

This is old-hat, you say. Nothing other than network marketing,
a trick that’s been employed by legions of marketers! True. The
only difference is that this kind of marketing has succeeded
beyond imagination with some internet based businesses. In fact,
the good folks at DFJ invented “viral marketing” as a tribute to
Hotmail’s success. Not surprisingly, the term is usually
associated with internet-centric business models.

Like any other trick, not all viral marketing campaigns
succeed. Certainly, only very few work as well as Hotmail does.

Why did a particular program work? It has been observed that
successful campaigns had some or more of the following
characteristics.

Something or the other was FREE: This never fails to work.
Whether it’s a free email account, or a larger mailbox or
screensavers or that trial software for Arabic translation, the
word FREE grabs eyeballs like no other.

It was fully transferable: Viruses love travel, and it’s the
same with viral marketing. A short and sweet marketing message
as a tag at the end of each email, or an easy to download
graphic improves chances of the epidemic raging.

It pressed the right buttons: As with any form of marketing,
this too exploits an implicit need. If you’re not part of an
instant messaging group, you’re out! If you don’t blog thrice a
week, you should be in a museum! At the heart of every
successful campaign is its ability to create a feeling of
community.

It networked, so didn’t perish: And that’s the crux of the
whole thing. Social scientists say that each person has about a
dozen people in his or her close network, and perhaps hundreds
in an extended one. Viral marketing campaigns that find a way of
entering communication between people have a better chance of
making it. Riding on the back of someone else’s success is
another effective way of spreading the good word about your
product. Affiliate marketing programs work on the same
principle, by using traffic on popular partner websites to their
advantage.

Regardless of how individual programs are structured, the hook
is an implied endorsement from a friend or trusted source. The
power of communication technology has helped elevate this rather
simplistic proposition into almost an art form. Whether your
campaign makes a pretty picture or not is another story
altogether!

About the Author: Hi, I’m Akhil Shahani, a serial entrepreneur
who wants to help you succeed. If you like to work smart, check
out http://www.SmartEntrepreneur.net. It’s full of articles and
resources to help you start and grow your business successfully.
Please visit us & download our special ‘Freebie of the Month’!

Source: http://www.isnare.com

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=244551&ca=Marketing

 Feedback – it’s important to receive feedback on what went well and what could be improved upon. If the volume is high, e-mail or printed forms are the norm. If the volume is low and the level of service is very high, a formal written questionnaire is not appropriate. However, an informal set of questions for an appropriate amount of time with either the candidate or client would be relevant. This would have several benefits:

1. It shows interest

2. It provides an opportunity to see what can be done to improve for future work and therefore reduces the risk of losing the client

3. It gives the opportunity to pass on other jobs or candidates

4. It is an opportunity to build the relationship

5. It is the best time to gather testimonials for case studies.

I just came across this story about the power of punctuation in an article on improving communication - so important to all aspects of marketing:

An English professor wrote these words on the chalkboard:

A woman without her man is nothing

and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

All of the males in the class wrote: A woman, without her man, is nothing.

All the females in the class wrote:  A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Punctuation is everything!

Claude C. Hopkins  

You may or you may not have heard of the book Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins.  If you have ever read it it will have changed the way you think about advertising forever.  It’s author was Claude C. Hopkins (1866-1932) who was one of the great advertising pioneers of his or any age. He believed advertising existed only to sell something and should be measurable and justify the results that it produced.

He worked for various advertisers, including Bissell Carpet Sweeper Company, Swift & Company and Dr. Shoop’s patent medicine company until. At the age of 41, he was hired by Albert Lasker owner of Lord & Thomas advertising in 1907 at a salary of $185,000 a year, Hopkins insisted copywriters researched their client products and produce reason-why copy.  He believed, that a good product was often its own best salesperson and as such he was a great believer in sampling.

To track the results of his advertising he used key coded coupons and then tested headlines, offers and propositions against one another. He used the analysis of these measurements to continually improve his ad results, driving responses and the cost effectiveness of his clients advertising spend.

He retired in 1923 from Lord & Thomas, where he finished his career as president and chairman. Later that year he published Scientific Advertising which is cited by many of advertising and marketing personalities (such as David Ogilvy, Gary Halbert and Jay Abraham) as a “must-read” book.

In the book, Hopkins outlines an advertising approach based on testing and measuring. In this way losses from unsuccessful ads are kept to a safe level while gains from profitable ads are multiplied. Or, as Hopkins wrote, the advertiser is “playing on the safe side of a hundred to one shot”.

As a little new year gift to you, I have a link to a site where you can see or download the whole book for free. 

http://www.meta-morph.co.uk/meta/images/pdfs/Scientific_Advertising.pdf

Enjoy it, keep it but above all use it’s ideas in your advertising from now on.

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.

Don’t be shy about putting your message out there. As with any marketing material, it won’t do your company any good if it’s sitting in a cupboard. It’s always worth printing at least 50% more newsletters than you have current customers. The remainder can be used in a variety of ways to help your sales process.

1. You can include them with formal sales proposals as a sample of how your company communicates with its customer base. The newsletter is likely to be a well read component of any such proposal.

2. Whilst it is a given that you will mail to all current customers, why not mail it to a selection of recently lapsed customers as well as ‘hot list’ prospects?

3. Encourage your sales people to leave copies with prospects during a sales call.

4. If you are exhibiting at a trade show, your sales force can stop passers by asking ‘Would you like a free newsletter, with some valuable information about the XX industry?” It’s a great deal more likely to get a positive result than saying ‘Can I help you?’

5. Cut or copy a relevant section out of a newsletter to send to prospects or companies that you would like to form strategic alliances with to establish your credibility.

6. Set up a stand for your newsletters in your company reception area or by the till in your shop. Anywhere that potential or existing customers may visit.

7. Make the content of your newsletters available on your website. If you’ve created the content for a newsletter, why not prolong its life and share the relevant parts with as wide an audience as possible?

 More Newsletter ideas

1. Generate new leads by promoting free subscriptions to your newsletter. An easy way to generate sales leads is to add a line at the bottom of your company’s marketing materials: adverts, website, brochures, direct mail material etc. which offers prospects a free subscription to your newsletter. Make sure that you emphasise the news content and how useful it could be to your prospect when making this offer.

2. People who add their names to your mailing list make excellent qualified sales leads. With the exception of a few time wasters, almost everybody who wants your newsletter is interested in what you say, and typically over 80% have the possibility of being converted to a regular customer within the next 6 months. Without the newsletter, they could well drift into the arms of one of your competitors.

3. Never underestimate the power of the testimonial. Customer testimonials can be extremely persuasive for potential clients. You should always make any positive customer comments available to as wide an audience as possible, but a newsletter is probably the best place of all to use them. If you don’t actively seek out testimonials from customers, now is the time to start.

4. You can also publish feedback from customer surveys, customer forums or any other customer related events you run to demonstrate to your prospects what a customer focused company you are.

5. There is no shame in recycling. Just because you covered one topic last year, there is no reason why you can’t revisit it again this year. Most magazines will regularly run articles on areas that they know will appeal to their readers, even if they have covered them many times before, so there is no reason why you shouldn’t.

6. Remember, you are creating a newsletter – not an advert. Everything you write must have some newsworthy element. If you can’t write an article about it, you can always create a separate box for an advert if you wish. After all, it’s your newsletter and you can pretty much do anything you want with it.

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.

Here are some more ideas on how to create a sucesful newsletter

1. Why not highlight a new trend that is developing in your (or even better your customers’) market? Again, this gives you credibility in the eyes of your customers. Note that, whilst it’s OK to have an opinion on certain controversial industry subjects, just make sure that your views are unlikely to offend your customer base!

2. Ask yourself why am I writing about this subject? Remember, it should always be to promote a product or enhance the image of your company. By keeping focused on this, you can quickly check through the articles you are considering and then re-write or dump them if they don’t fit in.

3. Don’t make your newsletter too slick. Whilst you want your newsletter to appear professional, you don’t want it to look as though it has been slaved over by a team of designers for months. Keep it newsy in its style and use matt rather than glossy stock.

4. Don’t make it look like it will be hard work to read. Everybody is busy, so make it look as though your newsletter can be quickly read through with ‘top tips,’ short articles and plenty of space to break up the copy.

5. Use cartoons and photographs – especially on the cover – to grab people’s attention. Newspapers often use fun photographs to draw the passing readers’ attention to what otherwise might appear to be a rather dull article.

6. Use as little jargon as possible. Even if your newsletter is for people in the know, it’s best to assume that they don’t know all the industry speak. You could alienate potential customers who will quickly switch off.

7. Keep copy simple and use short sentences. Involve readers by asking them questions. Could your company also benefit from this? How much could this idea save you over the next six months? It makes sense to involve your readers as much as possible in everything you write.

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.

Tips on Creating Better Newsletters

A customer newsletter will only be effective if it is carefully planned and looks professional. There are specific ways to help make your customer newsletter more effective at generating sales.

1.Start with a plan. Decide at the start how many sections you are going to include each month. Now, instead of having to fill ‘a whole newsletter’ you only have worry about filling 6 or 8 sections. You can even delegate this task to other members of staff so each has their own small section. When choosing each section, carefully select an area that you feel will be of interest and promote the correct image for your organisation, such as customer care, competitive pricing or customer profiles.

2. Get the balance right between specially created articles about your product and services and more generic articles that are of interest to your wider client base. Don’t waste space printing articles that have nothing to do with your company’s area of expertise or your customers’ interests.

3. Use generic filler material, such as famous quotations only if they enhance the newsletter and have some relevance to you or your customer base. For example, a relevant quote by Earl Nightingale or Brian Tracy can be used within a newsletter for almost any industry.

4. Every key article should be used to generate specific results. For example, one article might be used to prompt sales by introducing a new product and its benefits, complete with a special limited trial offer. This offer could be presented as a mini advert beside the main article to avoid confusion between editorial and advertising.

5. Consider creating a regular profile of your best customers. This can explain how they use your products, why they bought from you in the first place and what the relationship holds for the future. If they are prestigious or well known clients, their association will reflect well on you in addition to giving them some useful and free PR.

6. Another area to consider is improving the long term trust that your customers place in your staff. Use the newsletter to create informative profiles about your staff that highlight their achievements within your company, their qualifications and key accomplishments.

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.

Ask yourself why am I writing about this subject? Remember, it should always be to promote a product or enhance the image of your company. By keeping focused on this, you can quickly check through the articles you are considering and then re-write or dump them if they don’t fit in.

Don’t make your newsletter too slick. Whilst you want your newsletter to appear professional, you don’t want it to look as though it has been slaved over by a team of designers for months. Keep it newsy in its style and use matt rather than glossy stock.

Don’t make it look like it will be hard work to read. Everybody is busy, so make it look as though your newsletter can be quickly read through with ‘top tips,’ short articles and plenty of space to break up the copy.

Use cartoons and photographs – especially on the cover – to grab people’s attention. Newspapers often use fun photographs to draw the passing readers’ attention to what otherwise might appear to be a rather dull article.

Use as little jargon as possible. Even if your newsletter is for people in the know, it’s best to assume that they don’t know all the industry speak. You could alienate potential customers who will quickly switch off.

Keep copy simple and use short sentences. Involve readers by asking them questions. Could your company also benefit from this? How much could this idea save you over the next six months? It makes sense to involve your readers as much as possible in everything you write.

Generate new leads by promoting free subscriptions to your newsletter. An easy way to generate sales leads is to add a line at the bottom of your company’s marketing materials: adverts, website, brochures, direct mail material etc. which offers prospects a free subscription to your newsletter. Make sure that you emphasise the news content and how useful it could be to your prospect when making this offer.

People who add their names to your mailing list make excellent qualified sales leads. With the exception of a few time wasters, almost everybody who wants your newsletter is interested in what you say, and typically over 80% have the possibility of being converted to a regular customer within the next 6 months. Without the newsletter, they could well drift into the arms of one of your competitors.

Never underestimate the power of the testimonial. Customer testimonials can be extremely persuasive for potential clients. You should always make any positive customer comments available to as wide an audience as possible, but a newsletter is probably the best place of all to use them. If you don’t actively seek out testimonials from customers, now is the time to start.

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.

A customer newsletter will only be effective if it is carefully planned and looks professional. There are specific ways to help make your customer newsletter more effective at generating sales.

Start with a plan. Decide at the start how many sections you are going to include each month. Now, instead of having to fill ‘a whole newsletter’ you only have worry about filling 6 or 8 sections. You can even delegate this task to other members of staff so each has their own small section. When choosing each section, carefully select an area that you feel will be of interest and promote the correct image for your organisation, such as customer care, competitive pricing or customer profiles.

Get the balance right between specially created articles about your product and services and more generic articles that are of interest to your wider client base. Don’t waste space printing articles that have nothing to do with your company’s area of expertise or your customers’ interests.

Use generic filler material, such as famous quotations only if they enhance the newsletter and have some relevance to you or your customer base. For example, a relevant quote by Earl Nightingale or Brian Tracy can be used within a newsletter for almost any industry.

Every key article should be used to generate specific results. For example, one article might be used to prompt sales by introducing a new product and its benefits, complete with a special limited trial offer. This offer could be presented as a mini advert beside the main article to avoid confusion between editorial and advertising.

Consider creating a regular profile of your best customers. This can explain how they use your products, why they bought from you in the first place and what the relationship holds for the future. If they are prestigious or well known clients, their association will reflect well on you in addition to giving them some useful and free PR.

Another area to consider is improving the long term trust that your customers place in your staff. Use the newsletter to create informative profiles about your staff that highlight their achievements within your company, their qualifications and key accomplishments.

Why not highlight a new trend that is developing in your (or even better your customers’) market? Again, this gives you credibility in the eyes of your customers. Note that, whilst it’s OK to have an opinion on certain controversial industry subjects, just make sure that your views are unlikely to offend your customer base!

The Ideal Marketing Company supports Leicestershire and Northamptonshire companies as well as companies from across the UK with marketing, PR and direct mail. The Ideal Marketing Company helps support companies with marketing consultancy in order to generate new business wins as well as making the most of existing customers.