Tag Archive for 'email marketing'

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Email Marketing Tips for Travel Agents

Published on April 12, 2012 in Best Practices. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, travel agents.

With the rise of online tour sellers like Expedia and Travelocity, travel agents are competing in a market that’s increasingly competitive. Travelers now have the ability to go online and book their own travel deals, leaving the travel agent completely out of the picture. That why it’s important for travel agents to find low cost ways to market to potential customers. One of the best ways to do that is through email marketing.

Why email? Email is immediate, cost-effective, and it can be personalized. It’s also one of the best ways for a travel agent to develop a long-term a relationship with customers and market to them again and again. If you’re a travel agent, here are some tips for using email marketing to reach travel customers.

Travel Agents Can Use Email to Build a Relationship
Travelers book with agents that they know and trust. If you’ve established a strong relationship with your customers, they’re more likely to book with you again and again. Why? You’ve built a relationship with them, and they know you. People feel most comfortable buying from companies and agents that they trust, especially online. Email allows you to build that trust by sending customers helpful information. The best way to use email is to give customers something of value. “Soft sell” to them by sending a regular newsletter with useful travel information, suggestions for places they can visit and tips for traveling safely and comfortably. How about some of these articles?

10 Things You Should Always Pack When Traveling
5 Tips for Vacationing with Kids
10 Top Travel Destinations to Visit in 2012

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Email Marketing for Law Firms

Published on April 4, 2012 in Best Practices. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, law firms.

Email is one of the fastest and most cost effective ways to get in touch with clients.
Sending emails to clients costs nothing, and it’s a timesaver since you can preload a series of messages to send out on a set schedule. You can also use email marketing to build a relationship with clients to increase your future business. Here are some tips for using email to market a law firm.

Give Your Readers Something of Value
People can unsubscribe from your list with only a mouse click, and if they don’t feel like they’re getting something of value, they’ll quickly remove themselves from your list. Give them something to think about. Keep your customers educated and informed with emails that inform them about new laws or court decisions that could have an impact on their lives. An example? A personal injury attorney can send out safety warnings or information about new product recalls or tips on how to avoid a rear end collision. That’s relevant information people can use.

Think about questions that your clients frequently ask and address them in your newsletter. If you discuss what’s on the mind of your clients, you’re quickly gain a following. Keep your eye on the news for fresh ideas to talk about from a legal perspective.

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Email Marketing Tips for Insurance Brokers

Published on March 14, 2012 in Best Practices and Tips & tricks. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, insurance.

Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach new customers and develop a stronger relationship with current ones. The number of people who use the yellow pages to find insurance services is declining as more people turn to the internet to find an insurance agent they can trust.

And email does exactly that – establishes trust between you and your customers. It also offers the opportunity to educate your customers and “softly” sell to them. Here are some ways to use email to market insurance services.

Send a Weekly Tips Newsletter
Readers won’t stay on your email list very long if you focus exclusively on selling. Instead, send a weekly email newsletter that offers useful tips they can use in their daily lives. Choose topics related to the types of insurance products you sell. If you sell health insurance, focus on health, fitness and nutrition tips. Tips on how to lose weight are always a hit. To sell more car insurance, send tips on how to be a safer driver or an article about the top ten cars that are most commonly stolen.

Keep your tips short and to the point without trying to sell. People enjoy learning new things that will make their life better. Providing readers with information establishes you as an expert and builds rapport. This comes in handy when you’re trying to sell someone insurance.

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How to Recognize And Avoid Spamtraps

Published on March 1, 2012 in Best Practices and Tips & tricks. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, spamtraps.

Is it possible that your email list could contain hidden agents just waiting to determine that you’re a spammer? It’s definitely possible. Email addresses known as spamtraps exist for the sole purpose of identifying potential spammers and then blacklisting them. In some cases, spamtraps could have once been legitimate email addresses that have been abandoned by their owners and converted into spamtraps by the email service provider; in others, they’ve been seeded into the wild in an attempt to be harvested.
Below are just a few examples of common spamtraps as well as suggestions for avoiding them.

YouGuessedIt@example.com – Have you ever been tempted to guess an email address? For example, by putting common names or random patterns in front of a Gmail or Hotmail address? Many spammers use this technique to spread their messages, but email providers are on to it. When email messages arrive to a non-existent account, email providers immediately suspect spamming.
Spamtrap Seeds – Email service providers have been known to create spamtraps and seed them on Web pages, forums, and other Internet locations specifically to attract “harvesters” who scrape email addresses in order to send spam.
User-Created Spamtraps – Some users will create bogus email addresses in order to gain access to a special report, register for a forum, or fill in a required email address form because they don’t want to give up their real email addresses (because they don’t want spam). For example, someone might enter DontSpamMe@example.com or NoSpam@example.com. Just as the YouGuessedIt example, email service providers will take notice if an non-existent email address starts receiving email.
Spamtraps on purchased lists – Avoid the temptation to purchase a list and you’ll avoid annoying subscribers and potential spamtraps.

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Animated GIFs in Your Email Marketing

Published on February 20, 2012 in Tips & tricks. 1 Comment Tags: animated gifs, email marketing, newsletter, split texts.

Is it appropriate to use animated GIFs in emails? The number of marketers using animation in emails has declined in recent years but has recently experienced a resurgence. For good reason. Many recent split tests have shown that emails containing animated GIFs give better results, in terms of engagement and conversions, compared to the same emails without animation. And this is a good reason to rethink the idea of using animation in email marketing.

The Benefits of Using Animation in Your Email Marketing

One advantage of using animated GIFs is the attention factor. Animation engages readers visually and draws their eye to the page. With so many people skimming emails before deciding whether to read, anything you can do to distinguish your correspondence from the bulk of emails works in your favor. Animation grabs attention and makes your email correspondence stand out.

Strategically-placed GIFs can be used to draw your reader’s eye to points you want to emphasize or highlight your call to action and encourage readers to scroll down the page. They can also be used to demonstrate benefits and features of products. Unlike video, GIFs have a small file size that makes them practical to use in emails. Animation can give your email more personality and eye appeal and can be used to spread cheer around the holidays and put your customers in a buying mood.

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5 Email Marketing Tips for Valentine’s Day

Published on January 24, 2012 in Tips & tricks. 0 Comments Tags: email marketing, valentine's day.

What could be sweeter than Valentine’s hearts? How about bigger profits for your online business? Valentine’s Day is a time to show customers how much you appreciate them – and to make sales. It’s also an opportunity to show customers that you have gifts that will bring a smile to their sweetheart’s face. Now’s the time to remind them of what you have to offer. Here are some tips for getting the online cash registers ringing this Valentine’s Day.

Get Them in a Buying Mood
A Valentine’s Day header gets the message across with few words. Spice up your emails with banners depicting cupids, hearts, roses and any other sweet theme that reminds your customers that the big day is coming. Come up with a fitting slogan like “The Savings Have Never Been Sweeter.” Get them in the Valentine’s Day buying spirit early, and motivate them with a special discount before they spend their money elsewhere. Entertain them with a list of list of ten ways to tell someone you love them using products you sell.

Inspire Them with Gift-Giving Ideas
Make it easy for your customers to buy by offering creative gift-giving suggestions focused around your products. Show them how your selections can make Valentine’s Day even sweeter for their sweetheart, and include a link to each product you mention. Men are especially appreciative of gift ideas and suggestions for how to impress their sweetheart without spending a fortune. Make it easy for them to buy from you.
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When You Don’t Have to Worry About Clickthroughs

Published on January 17, 2012 in Best Practices and Internet marketing. 0 Comments Tags: content, email marketing, promotion.

Folyo is a job service for freelance designers. Sacha Greif, the service’s founder and a designer with more work than he can handle, assesses designers, reviews submissions from companies and tries to bring the two together.
Unlike other freelance jobs sites though, Greif doesn’t post the offers on his website. Freelancers can’t bid or compete to win the projects publicly. Instead, Greif charges companies a $100 fee once their offers have been accepted, waits until the end of the week then sends the list of jobs to his subscriber list by email.

For Greif, the benefits are clear. Because he checks both the jobs and the designers both sides know that they’re receiving quality. Employers know that the freelancers they’re hiring have been hand-selected for their creativity and professionalism. Freelancers can feel confident that the offers have solid budgets and come from companies that know what they’re doing. Handling everything by email ensures that both the offers and the designers remain private.

The service has only been running a few months but it’s already generating more than $600 a month for a freelance designer who was only looking for a way to share his excess workload. And his list consists of little more than 300 subscribers.

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