Why Focusing on E-Mail Delivery Time Wastes Your Time

Today, you’re going to learn something important about marketing communications that will save you lots of time.

Ironically enough, it deals directly with time. The time on a clock, that is.

There’s been much talk recently about the best time to send e-mails to consumers.

I’ve asked questions, thought, and talked about the subject myself. What time should I send if I’m B2B marketing? B2C? What about if I’m sending a time sensitive SALE e-mail?

The conversation is understandable because e-mail is the most important and effective marketing communication at your disposal.

But I don’t want you to get caught up in the “delivery time” conversation the way I and others have.

Why?

Because it’s not the best use of your time. Especially when it comes to e-mail marketing optimization. And especially because e-mail provides you with a distinct advantage that other marketing communications don’t.

And this advantage makes delivery time less important than you think it is.

Keep reading to learn more.

Prolonged Exposure is Good for Your (E-Mail) Health

The distinct advantage that e-mail provides is what we at Business Writing Solutions refer to as “prolonged exposure”.

What the hell does that mean? And why does it matter?

Thank you for asking.

Prolonged exposure means that the person who receives the e-mail can have your message in front of their eyes for a longer period of time than other marketing communications.

Because once an e-mail reaches their inbox, it can stay there for a while.

A recent study I saw showed about 30% of all e-mail users check their inbox only once every 3 days.

It can sit in their inbox for days at a time. They can open it, read it, close it, and go back and re-read it at a later time. All at their convenience and discretion.

This means one thing.

It’s not very important when you send the e-mail, because users decide when and how often they actually engage with it.

And it’s easy for them to engage, disengage, and re-engage with it because your e-mail is racking up impressions in their inbox all the while.

It’s literally right in front of their eyes – and at their fingertips – for hours and days at a time.

Other marketing communications like blog posts, webpages, and even Tweets don’t provide that advantage.

The Takeaway

Don’t waste your time focusing on delivery time.

If you’re sending a time sensitive e-mail for a sales event, send it at least 4 days in advance of the sale end date. This will ensure that you don’t miss those 30% of e-mailers who only check their e-mail once every 3 days.

Aside from that, other elements of e-mail marketing communications like subject lines, delivery rates, open rates, and conversions are much more important.

Spend your time writing different subject lines, body text, and conversion links for different e-mail groups. Track which variations perform the best because they are more important to the performance of future campaigns than delivery time is.

So use that information to your marketing communication advantage.

There will be more to come about using variations in marketing communications soon, so subscribe using the orange RSS button to stay current!

What do you focus on for optimum performance in your e-mail campaigns? Subject lines? Conversion links? Other? Tell us by commenting below!

For more about effective marketing communications, please visit elitebusinesswriting.com

HERE AND NOW: Webinar Replay – Increase Sales Through Effective Marketing Communication

Small business owners, entrepreneurs, and marketers: you can still learn how to write to sell more.

If you didn’t make it to the live instruction of our recent webinar “Increase Sales  Through Effective Marketing Communication”, you can still receive some of the knowledge that attendees gained by watching the video replay below.

Unfortunately, you won’t have the added benefit of asking me specific questions to answer like the live attendees had, but I believe you still gain some tremendous marketing communication insight by watching the replay of the live instruction.

Watch the video replay of “Increase Sales Through Effective Marketing Communication” here:

http://www.vimeo.com/17103561

Please comment with any questions you have. Enjoy the video!

For more about effective marketing communication, please visit www.elitebusinesswriting.com.

Now You Too can Learn What the Pros Know

Today is your lucky day.

Why? Because now you can download instruction that will teach what you need to know to write to sell more. For free.

This is the same instruction that was used to teach small business owners and entrepreneurs the secrets to effective marketing communication that they learned in a recent webinar that I instructed.

Attendees of the webinar left the event knowing:

• How to sell more by creating effective marketing messages
• How to sell more by presenting the benefits of their products or services persuasively
• How to create engaging promotional content that leads to loyal clients and web visitors

They learned how to do all of those things by following the instruction materials below. And now you can, too. Just click the link below to download the PDF version of the materials – for free.

Increase_Sales_through_Effective_Marketing_Communications

The podcast of the actual webinar is coming soon. But for now, enjoy the materials.

To learn more about effective marketing communications, please visit www.elitebusinesswriting.com

How To: Increase Marketing Communications Retention with Social Media

There are over 100 major social media channels out there. That’s a lot of fertile ground for you to plant your marketing communications on.

Potential customers can find information about your business on everything from Facebook to Foursquare and Flickr, to Vimeo, Squidoo and Kudzu. But just as those potential customers can find information on your business there, they can find information about your competition there, too.

It’s difficult to get your marketing communications message to stand out on all those channels amongst all those competitors. However, there’s one fundamental thing you can do to help your message stand out and help those potential customers remember who you are and how you can help them:

Don’t muddy your own waters.

In other words, be consistent with your marketing communications.

What You Shouldn’t Do…and Why

I often see businesses that get way too cute with their efforts on the different social media. They use different taglines, different company descriptions, and even different benefits or USPs. Note to companies that allow those “different” things to be published: You probably should get a different Brand Manager.

Don’t do what they do. Why?

Because this sort of multi-messaging madness creates confusion. You ask people to remember many things about your company instead of just one. That’s an awful tall task in this age of media overload and marketing communications saturation.

Worst of all, it kills retention.

And retention is one of the ultimate goals of effective marketing communications, because if they remember you, you’ve got their mindshare. And if you’ve got their mindshare, then you’ve got a great chance at winning their sale.

But how do you create retention, and what does it have it to do with muddying your own waters? Both good questions.

Studies have shown that repetition is the foremost driver of retention. Let me repeat that so you remember it the next time you’re creating marketing communications for your company: repetition is the foremost driver of retention.

You Already Know it’s True Because You’ve Proven it Yourself

Think back to when you were in high school or college.

When you needed to remember something for a test, you’d probably read and re-read the same info a couple of times to make sure that you remembered it come test day. Many of you probably remembered what you needed to remember on the test by using this technique.

What you were doing was practicing repetition on yourself. And guess what? Your customers’ brains work the same way yours do.

That means repetition works for them, too. So if you’re repetitive with what you’re telling them on social media, chances are greater that they’ll remember your messages. And if you’re repetitive, you’re consistent in your marketing communications – which means you won’t muddy your own waters.

How to Try it Today

So, how do you put this info to use today?

1.     Determine which marketing messages you want to use

2.     Create a presence on every social media that you think your business should have

3.     Copy and paste the same marketing communications from Step 1 to your social media presence from Step 2

That’s it. In addition to creating consistency in your messages, you’re branding will benefit as well.

Questions? Comments? Place them in the box below and I’ll respond.

A Very Important PS: You’ll be able to learn even more about effective and consistent marketing communications at an upcoming webinar I’m instructing. If you like what you’re learning here, you’ll love this webinar. To learn more about the event, click here.

Watch This Video: Increase Sales Through Effective Marketing Communication

Hi All,

Please enjoy the above video for the upcoming webinar I’m instructing, “Increase Sales Through Effective Marketing Communications”. The event will be held on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010.

One of the best parts about this seminar is that your ticket purchase is 100% risk free. If you don’t feel satisfied with what you’ve learned in this seminar, we will refund the entire cost of your purchase.

 

Just let us know that you would like a refund within 24 hours after the event ends (1 EST/Noon CST/10 PST) and we’ll give you your money back. Guaranteed.

 

Click here for more information about the event or to buy your tickets today.

Hope to see you all there.

Justin

http://my.brainshark.com/Increase-Sales-Through-Effective-Marketing-Communications-515675527

Your Chance to Sell More Today is HERE

This past summer, the leader of a local small business group asked me if I’d be willing to share my “knowledge and expertise” with members of her group to help them sell more.

Now, if this is your first time reading the Business Writing Solutions blog and you don’t know which topics I have “knowledge and expertise” in, then this is a good time for me to let you know.

I have “knowledge and expertise” on the topic of writing to most effectively market any business – a topic that’s generally defined as marketing communications.

In other words, I help businesses create and implement the marketing messages they need to sell more.

Now that you know more about me, let’s get back to her offer – and how it can help you sell more today…

3 Things I Considered Before Making My Decision to Help You Sell More

In the days after, I took some time to review her offer and think about everything that would be involved in fulfilling my commitment if I accepted the invitation. So I asked myself:

1. Do I have the time for this?

2. What do I need to do make the instruction nothing less than excellent?

3.     How can I guarantee that everyone will be able to apply what they learned from me in running and marketing their own businesses?

Once I was confident in my answers to those questions, I made my decision:

We are going to help small business owners and entrepreneurs learn how to sell more through effective marketing communication.

The main reason I decided to accept the offer was because I wanted to share what I knew with people who could benefit most from knowing the same information.

After I told her I would accept her offer, we started putting the pieces in place to help you sell more through effective writing techniques that you won’t learn anywhere else.

Making it Happen

The small business leader – her name is Heidi – and I immediately started working to make the program as valuable as possible to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

The first thing we did was determine what small businesses and entrepreneurs would benefit most from knowing about marketing writing. Heidi had a lot of insight to offer in this area.

Her experience working with small business owners and entrepreneurs gave her a first-hand account into what they want to know most in the world of marketing. She knew their areas of concern and what questions they had. She knew what they wanted to learn more about. And she knew what small business owners and entrepreneurs would want to be able to do with the information they learned – which is primarily to sell more and communicate more effectively.

Plus, Heidi and I are both small business owners ourselves, so we were analyzing all of our learning topics through the same lens that our audience would.

We proposed, determined, refined, critiqued, and then further refined the specific areas of instruction. We spent weeks working through this process. And then, this process led us to a final decision about what the program would teach.

4 Steps to Sales & Marketing Communications Success

To help small business owners and entrepreneurs increase their sales through marketing communications, we decided that the program would teach them how to:

• Create the marketing messages critical to their success
• Gain loyal repeat clients and web visitors through engaging promotional content
• Present the benefits of their product or service in a way that persuades prospects to buy
• Communicate with customers by using effective professional language

I learned how to do all of the above through months of specialized training coupled with hard-earned experience working on marketing campaigns for different businesses in various industries. (You can learn more about my marketing communications experience by clicking the event registration link at the bottom of this post.)

Discovering the ingredients of an effective marketing communication that helps you sell more requires a lot more time and experience than anyone who is not a marketing professional realistically has to offer.

You need to know what strategies lead to effective engagement, learn what techniques people react positively to, and then measure their effect on sales. And you need a lot of time.

I’ve made those discoveries and learned what works over (lots of) time. And now you can too – but you won’t have to spend days and weeks and months working on a campaign to learn like I did.

One Hour to More Effective Marketing Efforts (and More Sales)…for Everyone

That’s because with this instructional program, you can learn how to increase sales through effective marketing communications in one (1) hour.

And, you don’t have to be a member of Heidi’s Chicago small business group to attend. Plus, you can learn from the comfort of your home or office.

How? Because the live learning event, entitled “Increase Sales through Effective Marketing Communication” is a webinar that is open for any interested small business owner or entrepreneur to attend. It’s happening Wednesday, November 17^th from 11AM – 12PM Central Time (12-1 EST/9-10 PST).

And, you receive and keep the instructional materials that supplement the live learning event. And, it’s recorded for you to replay if you feel like you missed something or want to brush up on what you learned. And, you receive a free 1-on-1 consultation with me after the event so you can learn even more about effective marketing communications.

FYI: The value of your consultation alone is worth almost 10 times (10x) more than the cost of admission because my consultation rates start at $100/hour.

So, to:

1.     Attend the live one hour learning webinar

2.     Learn how to sell more through effective marketing communications

3.     Receive a copy of the instructional materials for you to keep forever

4.     Watch a replay of the live event at your convenience

5.     Receive a free 1-on-1 consultation with me after the event

All you to have to do is click here to register and buy your tickets today. Our webinar hosting service can support only a limited number of “seats” for attendees, so if you’re interested in learning how to increase sales through effective marketing communications, then click here to buy your ticket now.

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One of the best parts about this seminar is that your ticket purchase is 100% risk free. If you don’t feel satisfied with what you’ve learned in this seminar, we will refund the entire cost of your purchase.

Just let us know that you would like a refund within 24 hours after the event ends (1 EST/Noon CST/10 PST) and we’ll give you your money back. Guaranteed.

The event is presented by Heidi’s group, the Small Business Consortium of Chicago (SBC).

Read our official event press release here.

Watch an official video for the event soon here.

Thank you for reading.

Questions? Comments? Place them in the box below, and I’ll respond.

PS: I know that it seems like there is a lot included in the cost of admission. That’s because there is. (See #1-#5 above.)

So to start selling more through effective marketing communications today, take advantage of this risk-free offer now by clicking here.

"One of the best parts about this seminar is that your ticket purchase is
100% risk free. If you don't feel satisfied with what you've learned in
this seminar, we will refund the entire cost of your purchase.

Just let us know that you would like a refund within 24 hours after the
event ends (1 EST/Noon CST/10 PST) and we'll give you your money back.
Guaranteed."

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE: Small Business How To: Write to Sell More Webinar

Hi All,

Below is the OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE for the upcoming webinar, “Increase Sales Through Effective Marketing Communication” that I am instructing on behalf Business Writing Solutions. The instructional webinar is presented in conjunction with Heidi Burkley and the Small Business Consortium of Chicago. The webinar will teach you how to create the most effective marketing communications strategies for your business. If you find the information on this blog useful, then you’ll find this seminar even more useful.

You can buy your tickets to start selling more today here. The value of everything you receive by registering to attend this webinar (including a free 1-on-1 consultation with me) is more than 10x the value of the cost of admission. I hope to see you there.

Justin

PRESS RELEASE BODY

CHICAGO, Illinois – October 25, 2010 – Small businesses everywhere now have an affordable, efficient, and proven effective opportunity to start selling more today.

That’s because two Chicago organizations – the Small Business Consortium of Chicago and Business Writing Solutions – are producing an instructional webinar that will teach small businesses the writing techniques they need to most effectively market their products or services.

The one hour webinar entitled “Increase Sales through Effective Marketing Communication” will be held on Wednesday, November 17th from 11AM to Noon Central Time.

It will help small businesses sell more by teaching them how to:

• Create the marketing messages critical to their success
• Gain loyal repeat clients and web visitors through engaging promotional content
• Present the benefits of their product or service in a way that persuades prospects to buy
• Communicate with customers by using effective professional language

Business Writing Solutions President Justin Cerone will be leading the instruction. As a marketing communications expert, Justin has helped small businesses in many different industries most effectively market themselves through online content marketing, copywriting, and commercial script writing.

“In any form of communication, there are specific techniques that can help you produce the result you’re looking for,” Cerone said. “And you don’t need a Master’s Degree in English or Marketing to effectively do it, because every business person has the ability to properly use them. I am looking forward to the opportunity to instruct small businesses on how to use effective writing techniques to sell more.”

Heidi Burkley, Founder of SBC Chicago, recognized the need that many small businesses have for this type of instruction and decided to organize the event.

“One of the most powerful resources in growing a business is effective communication with your customers.  Consumers expect a high degree of professionalism and failing to deliver the right message can make the difference in a consumer selecting your product or services over your competitor.  Justin is a true professional with expertise in teaching business leaders the critical skills they need to write compelling marketing messages that appeal to the right consumer and encourage positive sales growth.  I am excited and look forward to Justin teaching this course.”

To register for the event, visit http://sbcofchicagolearning.eventbrite.com

For more information, please visit www.sbcchicago.com or www.elitebusinesswriting.com

###

Media Contact:

Heidi Burkley

(888) 600-8889 Ext. 801

hburkley@exalthiringsolutions.com

How To: Use Marketing Writing to Build Trust with Prospects that are Complete Strangers

The internet is full of complete strangers trying to sell things to other complete strangers.

If you’ve spent any time on the internet during the past decade, you’ve probably come across some of these “stranger” salesmen. Some of the tactics they use on their webpages may look corny, obnoxious, or both. You may sit there, examining the page from top to bottom, and say to yourself “There’s no way this works. There’s not anyone who actually buys from this person…is there?”

Guess what? Those tactics do work, because there are people that buy from them. Lots of them. And although I believe in a different, more toned-down approach than the size 87 font and bright red text that is heavily used on those pages, there are still things to be learned from them – such as how to use marketing writing to build trust with prospects that are complete strangers.

Keep reading, and you’ll find out how.

Identify and Connect with Your Visitors to Build Trust

Today, people are so aware of websites ripping them off or delivering less than what is promised that their scam-shields are on red alert.

They have what is called prospect fear. In other words, they don’t trust you.

This can happen for a number of reasons. Either they think your solution isn’t for them, or it doesn’t work, or your marketing writing doesn’t come off to them the right way, and so and so on and so on.

But there is something you can do in your marketing writing to eliminate that prospect fear and get complete strangers to buy from you, too.

It’s called building trust, and you can do it by identifying and connecting with your visitors. This is how…

How To Relate: Use the Internet in Your Visitors’ Shoes

In order to build trust, you must relate to what your prospect is feeling and show them that you, too, are a rational human being who thinks logically before they decide to buy something – just like they do. Speak to them like you’re having a conversation. To do that, it means doing this in your marketing writing:

• Identify and connect with their “pain”
  
• Address objections and/or questions
• Show proof that what you’re offering works

Right now, some of you are probably saying “hang on a second, how do you do all (or any) of that in your marketing writing?” Glad you asked, because here’s how:

1. Identifying with their pain – Think of the ideal prospect for what you’re offering, then think of what “pain” they have that has driven them to seek out your product or service as the solution to their pain. What problems do you solve? The answer to that question will lead to the source of their pain. Then use that pain source to show them that you know what they are going through, and what they are feeling. In your marketing writing, describe the situation causing the pain back to them so they know you know your stuff – and that you can help. This is when you present your solution to their pain.
2. Address objections or questions: After you show them that you know what they’re going through by identifying with their pain, and after you present your solution, take a second to think about the objections or questions that any rational person may have about your solution. Maybe they have questions about if this will work for them, methodology (what’s different about your approach, and how it works), or price, or your refund policy. Whatever those objections may possibly be, present them and answer them ahead of time, because this will let your prospects know that you think like they do – and that builds trust.
3. Proof: Nothing in your marketing writing will build more trust than proof. This is the time to use your testimonials, case study results, and 3rd party reviews. Show readers that your solution has worked for other people in the same situation that they are in. When using the testimonials you’ve received, (by the way: 100% real testimonials ONLY. Hope this goes without saying.) describe the situation under which your solution worked.

Build Trust by Relating and Proving

Remember earlier in this post when I said that people have their scam-shields on red alert in today’s internet age? Proof from other people that your solution works is the #1 way to disarm those scam-shields and build trust with your prospects. Use proof with your ability to relate to prospect pain and answer objections, and prospects will trust you after reading your marketing writing.

How do you build prospect trust with your marketing writing? Questions? Comments? Tell us in the box below.

For more information about effective marketing writing, visit our website at www.elitebusinesswriting.com.

3 Reasons Why You Should Be Really, Really Excited About Something Coming Soon

I’m going to let you know about something that I think is really exciting – especially if you’re a regular reader of this blog or interested in selling more today.

Because the most effective copywriting and marketing messages are concise and to the point, here are 3 things that you should know if you’re interested in writing to most effectively market your business:

1.     Next month, there will be an event that reveals how to create effective marketing messages that will help you sell more today.

2.     The value of the materials and instruction – which you get to keep forever – plus the FREE 1-on-1 consultation you receive with me after the event is worth 10 times the cost of admission.

3.     There are a limited number of seats available.

That’s all for now, but there will be more updates for you in the very near future. So, check back soon to learn more about how you can start selling more today.

Or, you can subscribe to this blog by using the orange RSS button on the right, and you won’t have to “check back” at all because the updates will be automatically deliver to you.

7 Ways to Keep Your Marketing Message Cohesive

I talk a lot about delivering a consistent marketing message.

Consistency ensures your most effective marketing messages are being delivered every time you market. It also improves consumer retention about what you have to offer, because you’re telling them how you can help them in the same manner you told them previously.

In short, this leads to cohesion in your marketing message. Cohesion unifies your marketing strategy because it means that your most effective marketing messages are delivered everywhere you market, every time you market. It creates an “always on” effect for your message(s).

So, how do you achieve it? By placing the same (or very similar) marketing messages everywhere you put your company’s name. They need to know what you do and how you help in order for them to want to work with you. The only thing is, you don’t know where they’ll find your contact information. So, in order for them to respond to your marketing, you have to place that most effective marketing message everywhere you can.

Here are 7 ways you can create a cohesive, unified marketing strategy. Deliver your most effective marketing messages in these places, and people will know how you can help:

1. Website
2. Social Media
3. Blog/Content platform
4. E-Newsletter/E-Mail Marketing (i.e. get the message to their inbox)
5. Print material (brochures, fliers, etc.)
6. Online classifieds sites
7. Press Releases

Those are the places that people are most likely to find information about your business. They may go to 3 of those sources, they may go to all 7 – it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they know how you can help them wherever they see your business name. That’s what cohesion in a marketing strategy delivers.

And that’s what you gets your most effective marketing message(s) the greatest chance of being seen.

What do you think? How do you keep your marketing message consistent and cohesive? Let us know in the comment box below.

Like what you read? Subscribe to this blog by using the orange RSS button to the right.

For more information on cohesive marketing messages, please visit our website at elitebusinesswriting.com.

I talk a lot about delivering a consistent marketing message. Consistency ensures your most effective marketing messages are being delivered every time you market. It also improves consumer retention about what you have to offer, because you’re telling them how you can help them in the same manner you told them previously.

In short, this leads to cohesion in your marketing message. Cohesion unifies your marketing strategy because it means that your most effective marketing messages are delivered everywhere you market, every time you market. It creates an “always on” effect for your message(s).

So, how do you achieve it? By placing the same (or very similar) marketing messages everywhere you put your company’s name. They need to know what you do and how you help in order for them to want to work with you. The only thing is, you don’t know where they’ll find your contact information. So, in order for them to respond to your marketing, you have to place that most effective marketing message everywhere you can.

Here are 7 ways you can create a cohesive, unified marketing strategy. Deliver your most effective marketing messages in these places, and people will know how you can help:

1. Website
2. Social Media
3. Blog/Content platform
4. E-Newsletter/E-Mail Marketing (i.e. get the message to their inbox)
5. Print material (brochures, fliers, etc.)
6. Online classifieds sites
7. Press Releases

Those are the places that people are most likely to find information about your business. They may go to 3 of those sources, they may go to all 7 – it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they know how you can help them wherever they see your business name. That’s what cohesion in a marketing strategy delivers.

And that’s what you gets your most effective marketing message(s) the greatest chance of being seen.