Mari Smith: Relationships first, business second

Today Mari Smith graced 900 attendees with her Facebook and Twitter expertise as she headed up the Thought Leader Series with Bob Ogdon, CEO of Swiftpage yesterday afternoon.

Why social media?
Social media, to Mari Smith, meets the fundamental need of wanting to belong that everyone craves and allows that need to enter into the business world. Tools for building a loyal tribe if you will. Now commerce is being produced through more efficient avenues and the ability to reach key decision makers has dramatically increased due to this surge.

Mari mentions the term “brandividual” and urges small businesses to appoint someone in their company to adopt this title. She sites Frank Eliason of Comcast saying that the number one common denominator in successful social media users is PASSION, not just about the brand they are representing but the people they interact with.  A brandividual is someone who knows their products and services inside out and can naturally and passionately relay that information to the public. Another title to add to the position is the Chief Listening Officer. The CLO has the ability to watch and listen to the conversation and trends of the industry and then engage and react to them.

Another important point brought up during the webinar was the balancing act between being a member of the social media community and a marketer of it. Mari strongly sticks to the motto, “Relationships first, business second” She urged the attendees to concentrate on becoming members of the Twitter and Facebook communities rather than solely marketers trying to sell their company’s services. When you approach social media in an organic fashion, more relationships are built and you will ultimately end up with more dedicated followers. Mari used the example of meeting someone at a bar. You wouldn’t walk right up and ask if they will marry you. You have a conversation first and if everything feels right then you move forward from there, starting a friendship/relationship. The same social graces apply to social media and shouldn’t be overlooked.

Why Twitter?
Twitter is a place where content is continually flowing in and out of people’s minds. One tweet that goes through is picked up by followers and then quickly transitions to the next. It is a constant flow of information. This is why it is far more important to concentrate on writing strong, quality content that will more likely get remembered rather than an abundance of mediocre tweets.

Mari describes two creative ways to engage followers in Twitter. Curiosity marketing is writing engaging content that will simultaneously lead people to want to click on the link provided. Provide your followers with content based material and use colorful language to catch their eye. Anticipation marketing is when you create a build up to a product launch, event, giveaway, you name it. By letting out little tidbits about your launch you create an anticipation that leaves followers wanting more and automatically following your tweets.

Why Facebook?
Facebook provides a perfect layout for you to continually provide a call to action to
your fan base. There are many different applications that allow you to do this that
include, staticfbml and networked blogs are just two examples. Such applications allow you to add an email opt-in to your page or the ability to automatically post your blogs to your wall as soon as they are posted from your blog site. Facebook  provides you with an avenue to blend many initiatives like the ones above as well as posting events and discussion boards.

What else?
Mari reminds us of the emerging trend of the business world turning content based. Every company and business professional can now create their own content and share it with the world. Case studies, white papers, webinars, articles, forums, press releases, blog are just a few. This gives us the ability to share new ideas and connect with people in all different ways.

The key to all social media ventures is to continually drive people back to your content hub, whether that is your blog or your web site. Driving people to your central hub allows you to be in control of the content and message that is relayed to the public. Commerce is being done at an unbelievable rate today because of social media and the ability to reach key decisions makers. Take some time to listen and develop strategic relationships and as the relationships evolve your services will come into play naturally and effectively. Creating a lead generation funnel boils down to creating relationships and trust that naturally bring new contacts your way. If you force it you’ve lost the battle.

Here are other social media resources Mari mentioned:
-    Tweetbeep
-    Techrigy
-    Scoutlabs
*The full list will be included in the follow up email to the webinar and will also be available on the Thought Leader webpage as well.

Thought Leader Series: Mari Smith

Swiftpage is debuting the Thought Leader Series next Tuesday, November 10 at 1:00 p.m. EST. Over the next six months our CEO, Bob Ogdon will be interviewing a variety of experts in the fields of social media, cloud computing and automated marketing. Each interview will examine how small to medium sized businesses can take advantage of these emerging technologies to make a difference in their industries and the greater business world.

Mari Smith will head up the series next week with her expertise in the social media arena specifically dealing with Facebook and Twitter.

So let’s take a moment to get to know her.

Relationships, internet technology and Mari Smith go hand in hand. As a Relationship Marketing Specialist and Social Media Business Coach , she has dedicated her career to showing professionals how to develop profitable relationships using social media. She ventured into the social media arena in 2007 when she discovered the powerful platforms of Twitter and Facebook.

Smith believes that “social media requires a whole different approach to be successful in generating more revenue. You have to know the right approach. My motto is, ‘Relationships first, business second.’”

Wendy Marx of Fast Company named Smith the “Pied Piper of the online world.”  I think you can see why as she has gained over 10,000 friends and fans on Facebook and over 45,000 loyal followers on Twitter.  Not to mention, she is an international traveler, delivering key note speeches and training on social media strategies.

Smith’s interview next week will show you ways to increase your site traffic, find legitimate subscribers and new clients, establish lucrative strategic alliances, attract targeted media attention and much more.

If you haven’t signed up yet, now is the time. Click here>>

FAQ Friday: How can I access my own Suppression (Opt-out) file?

Swiftpage Support has put together a list of the top Frequently Asked Questions that our staff receives. We plan on posting one FAQ on our blog from time to time to provide our customers with another resource for their questions. Kassi Johnson, our Customer Service Manager, has put this list together. Her Email address is posted on Kassi Johnson’s about page if you would like to contact her with any further questions.

How can I access my own Suppression (Opt-out) file?

You can access your suppression file by logging into My Swiftpage at http://www.swiftpage.com/logineditor.htm.  Then click on the Reports button.  Once you have clicked on the Reports button, click on the “Suppression Data” button at the top of the screen.  Enter your account password and click Email List to have the list send to the email address associated with your account, or click View List to view the list online. 

You cannot add or remove people to your opt-out file manually – you will have to contact Swiftpage in order to do so.  You can call  877-228-8377  or email us at support@swiftpage.com with your account name and the email address of the person you want opted-out or removed from the opt-out list.

Making a list and checking it twice.

The holiday season is underway and we are officially past the pre-holiday push. You have set up the groundwork and are ready to go full throttle into the holidays.

It’s now time to take a few minutes and review this season’s checklist:
 
Look back to what you did last season. 
What worked, what didn’t, what could you try different this year.
Things to consider:
- Were certain subject lines more catchy then others?
- Did you maintain the same frequency of emails?
- Were certain products or promotions bigger hits? 
- What days were most effective?

What else could you consider?
 
Clean your email lists.
You want to hit the most inboxes possible this season so you want to make sure the deliverability of your list is at its all time best. This doesn’t necessarily mean to try to increase your list by the hundreds, but it does mean to reorganize and clean you current list. Also, think of creative ways to give your list a little boost this year. Use outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin to gain more followers.

Add seasonal flare.
Make your emails noticeable by changing the design/layout of your normal emails. Add a little bit of seasonal spirit to it. Send out a holiday greeting to make it personal. Then follow up with your seasonal specials or an invite to your holiday bash.

We recently added over 30 new holiday templates in our editor. If you don’t see what you like, Bright Peak, a division of Swiftpage, is happy to design something special for you.

Offer a special discount.
If you haven’t already done this, the holiday season is the perfect time to give your customers a great deal on your services. Whether it is a giveaway or a price reduction or good old quality time, your customers will appreciate the gift and stick with you through the New Year.

Set up a Drip Marketing campaign.
A drip marketing campaign is a perfect way to reach each customer at their level. Start out with your first email or newsletter. From the actions that are reported you can set up filters to what the customer will receive next. The people who didn’t open your email may just need a direct mail greeting. Some may need a phone call to grab their attention. Those who interacted with the initial email can receive new emails that align with their actions. 

Keep track of your results.
Analyze your results while your actions are still fresh in your mind. You shouldn’t wait until the middle of next year to examine your holiday marketing results. Explore and record your results while they are happening.

What’s on your check list?

Holiday Marketing Giveaway!

Swiftpage and Bright Peak are working together to give Drip Marketing users the chance to build three email templates as a part of a Drip Campaign sequence, free, through Bright Peak.

All we want to know is: how would you use a 3-custom email Drip Marketing campaign pack for the holidays, and do you have any personal tips or past experiences with holiday marketing?  

Here is how to enter to win:

1. You must: comment on this blog post with your holiday tips, experiences and how you would use the custom campaign pack.
2. 1 additional entry: Become a follower on Twitter (current followers automatically get 1 Entry)
3. 2 additional entries: Tweet about this giveaway:
   RT @Swiftpage is giving away a 3-custom email drip marketing campaign pack! Details here: http://bit.ly/4abkH2
   (Logged into Twitter? Click here to Retweet now!)
4. 3 additional entries: Blog about this giveaway (if you link to this post, we’ll see it as a trackback link in the comments)

Giveaway ends on November 16, 2009 at 12am MST. Winner will be announced at 2pm MST on November 16. Good luck!

Our holiday templates have arrived!

 

 

 

 

 

The holiday season is in full throttle. Halloween is now in the past as we realize it is already November! How does time fly this fast? Two months left in 2009 allow the perfect time to push your holiday marketing to the forefront. We have created 30 holiday email templates just for you. The templates are fun and spirited ready to hit inboxes with a boom.

You can use them for your promotions, holiday sales, season greetings, holiday events and more. Just login to your Swiftpage account to check out our new Holiday Templates following zzz_Holiday.

Don’t see what you need? Commission Bright Peak to create some for you!

6 Reasons I Love Drip Marketing | Part 2 of 2

In our previous post  we took a look at the first three reasons why I love Drip Marketing. Maybe you are starting to fall in love already but if you need a little more spark here are all 6 reasons why I love Drip Marketing and why it pays to do it right.  

1. New revenue always finds me. A few years ago a long-time client who averaged about $300 a year in business with me, invited me to speak at a national conference as a result of one of my drip marketing messages. At the end of that event, I was offered a six-figure contract which I hadn’t even known was an opportunity for me. This unlikely event, while making me feel like I won the lottery, was more significant for another, more repeatable reason: my client didn’t know I offered that service, and I didn’t know he needed this service. Without my drip marketing campaign–and specifically that one message–we never would have connected on this amazing project.
2. I am the “go-to gal” for drip marketing. The top three referring keyword searches to my website are “ACT diva,” “Aviva diva,” and “database diva.” Many times people don’t remember the name of my company. But they do remember I am known as “The Database Diva.” They wouldn’t even remember “diva” if I weren’t reminding them all the time.
3. No need to hard sell. Because I keep in touch regularly, my online marketing can inform and entertain without having to push product. My customers are very smart. They know when they’re ready to buy. They don’t need me to keep hounding them like a broken record, “Are you ready yet? Are you ready yet? Are you ready yet?” But if I provide ongoing value to them in between orders (without the hard sell), it seems to them like I’m always in the right place at the right time—and they do appreciate that.
4. I can see inside my customers’ “underwear drawer.” Not really, but almost. That’s because I get great analytics every time a drip message is sent. Not only can I see a diary view of each contact’s interest over time; if “Sam Smith” calls me up, for example, I can tell he’s interested in training but not so much PDA phone synchronization by scrolling through his e-marketing history. It’s a verbal shortcut.
5. One-to-many sales opportunities. I’m continually amazed by the number of companies that rely solely on their sales force and have no customer database in place. There are something like 100 million websites, billions of e-mails sent everyday, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, forums, review sites, 24-hour news. How can you possibly compete with all of that when all you have is one human being and eight hours a day for sales calls? Drip marketing is your unfair advantage.
6. Nothing happens if nothing happens. Drip marketing makes something happen. Need I say more?

 Post Contributed by Lori Feldman, Database Diva of Aviva

6 Reasons I Love Drip Marketing | Part 1 of 2

There are numerous reasons to love Drip Marketing as you will soon see. In the following two part series I will be sharing my top six and at the end you will hopefully have a “light bulb” moment and fall in love yourself.

First I’d like to start off with a simple definition – Pursuing someone until they catch you. I can’t think of a better definition of drip marketing than that.

The strategy behind a good drip is to be so compelling, helpful, informative, and entertaining, that your future customers take a few minutes from their day to let some of your wisdom soak in.

Then when they’re ready, you’re the one they remember.

Contrast that with the 3 second-rule where your reader, inundated with TMI (too much information), unconsciously presses the delete key because your words weren’t even worthy of a synapse firing. OUCH.

So here are 6 reasons why I love drip marketing and why it pays to do it right.

1. New revenue always finds me. A few years ago a long-time client who averaged about $300 a year in business with me, invited me to speak at a national conference as a result of one of my drip marketing messages. At the end of that event, I was offered a six-figure contract which I hadn’t even known was an opportunity for me. This unlikely event, while making me feel like I won the lottery, was more significant for another, more repeatable reason: my client didn’t know I offered that service, and I didn’t know he needed this service. Without my drip marketing campaign–and specifically that one message–we never would have connected on this amazing project.
2. I am the “go-to gal” for drip marketing. The top three referring keyword searches to my website are “ACT diva,” “Aviva diva,” and “database diva.” Many times people don’t remember the name of my company. But they do remember I am known as “The Database Diva.” They wouldn’t even remember “diva” if I weren’t reminding them all the time.
3. No need to hard sell. Because I keep in touch regularly, my online marketing can inform and entertain without having to push product. My customers are very smart. They know when they’re ready to buy. They don’t need me to keep hounding them like a broken record, “Are you ready yet? Are you ready yet? Are you ready yet?” But if I provide ongoing value to them in between orders (without the hard sell), it seems to them like I’m always in the right place at the right time—and they do appreciate that.

   to be continued…

   Post Contributed by Lori Feldman, Database Diva of Aviva

Custom Email Template Giveaway!

Swiftpage is giving away five $99 custom-built email templates to five lucky winners, starting October 27th.

The custom templates will be built through Bright Peak, Swiftpage’s creative services division, by our very talented designers.

To enter:

1. You must follow @Swiftpage on Twitter (if you are already following, great!)
2. Tweet the message, “RT @Swiftpage is giving away five $99 email template custom designs! For details, visit http://bit.ly/2nKytX between now and Nov. 24th“

Each “Tweet” is a separate entry for you! Winners will be chosen at random and announced each Tuesday afternoon via Twitter.

Good luck!

Quality over Quantity

Last week we discussed strategic tactics to reach each one of your clients where they are at. By targeting people like this you are able to create relationships built on quality with your email recipients.  Quality is the keyword here. You can have an email list with numbers to boast about, but will each recipient feel a connection to your company or products. In other words, will they feel like a valued customer?

In a world where we can reach thousands of people on a given day it seems more important to target an audience that will be continually engaged in your company’s ideas. As I mentioned previously, it’s not about the number it’s about the relationship maintained.

So, how do you obtain this?

Jon Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing defines marketing as “getting someone who has a need to know, like, and trust you.”

He shares seven steps to pursuing customers: 
1. Know – Your ads, article, and referred leads
2. Like – Your web site, reception, and email newsletter
3. Trust – Your marketing kit, white papers, and sales presentations
4. Try – Webinars, evaluations, and nurturing activities
5. Buy – Fulfillment, new customer kit, delivery, and financial arrangements
6. Repeat – Post customer survey, cross sell presentations, and quarterly events
7. Refer – Results reviews, partner introductions, peer 2 peer webinars, and community building

These steps can be directly related to your list management and email campaigns. First, you will receive their email address through your advertising campaigns, articles, surveys and leads. Then, you can pursue them with your email campaigns/newsletters. Through Swiftpage’s reporting you will be able to qualify your contacts depending on their actions. At this point you can also utilize a drip marketing strategy. They will begin to trust your company as your campaign follows through and they will start trying out your products and services. If this is successful, you have made a sale. However, it doesn’t stop here. It is now smart to follow up with these customers, continually engaging them in their product of choice and pursuing new avenues to provide more services. Send them a survey and invitations to upcoming company events. If they really engage you, make them part of your initiatives. Invite them to be a part of a webinar or community portal. By doing this, you create a community of people centered around your company and a quality relationship is made.

We would love to hear your stories. Please share how you have maintained quality over quantity.