Email marketing is alive and well and one of the most cost effective and targeted ways of delivering content, information, deals, and maintaining business relationships. It can also be easily be tied in with social media. Done right, permission based email marketing is a cost effective and effective way to get in touch with warm leads, stay in touch with loyal customers and keep your brand top of mind. This presentation includes bullets on best practices (and worst) content development ideas, SEO 101 tips, building your list and email marketing service comparison points between Constant Contact, AWeber and MailChimp

1. SOCIAL MEDIA
KILLED
THE EMAIL STAR(?)
PERMISSION MARKETING RULES!

2. demystifying web, empowering entrepreneurs
Didn’t spam kill email?
or
Blogs
or
Twitter
or
Facebook
or
Pinterest
or
With so many free ways to communicate online?
…Who needs email?

3. GOAL?
…Brand Recognition
Relationship
RESPONSE!
The more things change the more they stay the same.

4. MARKETING MIX!
Inbound
SEO
Permission
In concert with SEO, Social and a solid website hub eMail is GOLD

6. (Effort + Authenticity + Best Practices) x Consistency = Results

7. WHY EMAIL?
• NURTURE 80/20 stay top of mind build database
• Move conversation to PERSONAL PLACE the in-box.
• Build a relevant, permission based database
• Capture TARGET market website visitors who may have been to
your website but not contacted you = competitive advantage
• Best ROI
• Easy to share your campaign
• OWN vs. RENT ie: FB edgerank = maybe 20% see it
• Control over exactly who it is delivered to
Older than dirt in internet terms - email must be dead.

8. NOT JUST A WEBSITE …
AN INTERNET STRATEGY.
Website HUB
Social Media AMPLIFIER
Email Marketing Database builder
(access and control)
Relationship Building and Maintenance
Top-of-Mind Brand Recognition

9. PERMISSION TRUMPS
INTERRUPTION
– WHEN YOU’RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET IT,
HONOUR IT!
Some thoughts from Seth Godin, author of Permission Marketing…
“Subscriptions are an overt act of permission.”
“Magazine subscribers are worth more than newsstand ones.”
“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of
delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to
people who actually want to get them.”
“Permission is like dating. You don't start by asking for the sale at
first impression. You earn the right, over time, bit by bit.”

10. ―It is a value exchange —
your valuable information for your
prospect’s valued time.
Your subscribers need to
know they can trust you.‖
Interruption marketing
Fails because it is unable to get
enough attention from consumers.
Permission Marketing
Works by taking advantage of the
same problem there just isn't enough
attention to go around.
Best Case Scenario:
“Real permission works like this: if you
stop showing up, people complain, they
ask where you went.”
- Seth Godin

11. BEST PRACTICES
Set Expectations & Just do it
If it is going to be different - let me know in advance (permission)
Clarity beats sales every time
Niche – Authentic – Share – Consistent – Interesting – Brief
Relevant – Informative – Branded – Provide Value
Test before sending - Think viewers perspective - Do they care?
Remove any “Yada yada”
Before adding – do they know me? – slow steady and authentic wins
Segment – talk to people with specific interest
Install social sharing widgets
– social sharing widgets should be in all marketing content

12. CALL TO ACTION…
What do you want them to do?
Walk into your store? Call? Share? Forward to a friend?
Include a clear, compelling, risk-reducing, or benefits-oriented Call to Action
“add to cart‖ “Start your 30 day free trial” “Like” “Tweet” ―Save now‖
“Reserve your spot” “Contact Us” “Purchase” “Click” “SHARE
“Learn more…” “Follow” “Register now”
“Enter the Contest” ―Subscribe‖ ―Get your free copy‖
“free assessment” “DOWNLOAD” “Read more….”
“join our community” ―get the free app‖
―make that blue button green‖

13. From: info-bsp@rogers.com
To:
james@bartsbiz.ca, sales@xyzcompany.com, reliant@jameslor.com, jason@
salesfork.com, linda@burlington.com, support@customerservice .ca
Subject: March Newsletter

14. …WHAT NOT TO DO
Boring
Too much text
Too many fonts / colours
No Branding
No images
Stuffy
All CAPS screaming
List of recipients showing
Send every other day
―Email #23, June 23 2014‖

16. If you are going
to include a lot of
content – give the
reader an above
the fold index

18. …WHAT TO DO
Identify yourself in the From: 60% decide here – include brand
Compel me to open in the Subject – keep it short :
30% decide here– give me a reason 5-8 compelling words (keyword rich)
• Enrolling question: “Would you like to double your client list overnight?”
Who would say no to that?
• Incomplete sentence: Our brain hates them!
E.g. “Did you know 70% of biz owners don’t know ….?”.
• Curiosity statement: Something that creates intrigue.
• Numbered Sequenced Subject Line: e.g. “The Top 5 Marketing Mistakes”.
Branding
Call to Action Short – Simple – Drive traffic (Snippets with links)
Consistent Benefit
Include Forward - Share - unsubscribe

19. MORE WHAT TO DO
Avoid Stale - evolve the look while maintaining branding
Not boring or stuffy - personal familiar
Fewer options = more action
Always one click away
Segment and focus on interest – survey to clarify
Accessible - 60% have images off - Info in text as well
Web Hub - All content lives at 1 other destination
- Social & Email all drive traffic to that 1 place
Use a service with good deliverability
- avoid ending up in spam folders.
Proofread!

20. SEO 101 (SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION)
• Non salesy
• Keywords used naturally in content - what users say, not what you say
• Onsite SEO - content, layout, usability, internal links, site efficiency,
mobile friendly?
• Off site SEO - inbound links, social signals
• Text locked in images = useless
• PR - still useful to get the word out but no longer nirvana of SEO
• Video YouTube - #2 search engine – transcripts = SEO edge
• Tricks? (no big green button)
Hummingbird = no stuffing, no duplicate content, no strict density
• Think Niche, niche and niche and then nichey.
Oh did I mention niche?

21. BUILD YOUR LIST
P.O.P
- Bowl for business cards – clearly stating they will receive
emarketing
- Ask- 50% will fill in card at POP
QR - on banner at trade show etc.
Text to join
Offer:
Coupons
Tips
Info
Events
Downloads
Support
APPS: Captricity
Contact Capture
icapture
• Ask on Social media
(LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Offer incentives
("bribes” e.g., $5 off, 10% off)
in exchange for an address
• Collect contact info, including email
addresses, from everyone who calls your
office – with full disclosure (CASL)

22. OPT IN OR IT IS SPAM?
Aside from the fact that it is not targeted and a waste of your
time, sending spam is illegal according to the Can Spam Act
(CASL)
Better providers will help you comply - You are allowed to legally
send bulk emails (email blasts, mass emails, or newsletter emails)
because companies like Constant Contact and AWeber only
allow opt-in emails.
People have to agree to receive an email from you (permission).
The most obvious way this is done through a “join our community”
or “sign up for our monthly digest” button on your website. By
voluntarily giving you their email address, they are agreeing to
receive whatever you have promised in that signup form - updates
and other email communication from you.

23. METRICS
Do more of what’s working
Find out what’s working and what’s not - refine
Opens?
Click through? what? then to where? (GA link builder)
Never post full info = clickable snippet link to websitte
What got most response?
Frequency? Time? – Test - Know your industry
(3 – 5x/week Faceboook, 3 – 5x/day Twitter, 1– 2x/month mail)
Autoresponders

24. CHALLENGES?
Time to Produce
Get message out In few words
Where to get content
- don’t worry about giving away the farm
Also keeping up consistent SM broadcasting
Building a list
Standing Out - Less is more - genuine for value
….Why bother?

25. LEARNING CURVE?
• Build your database
• Use good reliable service with customizable templates
• Decide on copy (largest commitment)
• Choose graphics if not just pulling from an existing post
• Use your segmented database to decidewho to send to
• Hit send
Yes, the first two or three emails will take a little longer but
with a little planning ahead, weeks' of work can be accomplished in just a
few hours once you are familiar with the tools and process.

26. CONTENT! …UGHH
BONUS - ALL IDEAS ARE INBOUND LINK OPPORTUNITIES
Blog Post (articles)
Guest Blog
Tips & Tricks
Client Case Studies
Free Tools / webinars
Coupon offers
Announcements
Relevant Quotes
Video
Add to resources list
#ff style nod to
relevant businesses
= Link bait & useful
Book or industry event reviews
Infographic
Product Announcements
Humour – more viral than good info
Testimonials for relevant colleagues
Get interviewed - helpareporter.com (HARO)
Press Releases – your own or collaborative
Network - build relationships for future
reviews, testimonials, guest posts, sharing…
Volunteer to be the subject of a case study.
Companies often looking for customers willing to be
subject. Volunteer your time for one of your major
vendors, and get a backlink from the case study once it's
published.

27. EVEN MORE CONTENT IDEAS
• Do some newsjacking. – first to comment on a news event brings
you to the top of SERPs due to freshness component of Google
Algorithm - others will link to your content (and so on)
• Scoop.it – tool to find and curate content (really good curators of
relevant content) – why Search through all the content when others
are actively curating for you
• Postplanner – discovery engine – enter relevant keywords and it
displays recent content that you can sort by popularity
• Swayy – specify categories and it will pick the most relevant content
based on popularity among your friends and followers
• Feedly – allows you to subscribe to blogs and view the latest posts
within the application
• Rebelmouse – not truly explored yet but looks immensely interesting
- automated site curration of your feeds.

28. • Repurpose: Use a longer version of an article for a blog post. An
easy read shorter version for Facebook post, a 140 character tease
as your next tweet. (hoot suite)
• Use photos. (Image Handling)
• Don’t feel you need to be an expert on everything you share, just
surround yourself with, or read and learn from experts. That’s what
Oprah does! (Curation)
• Use your e-campaigns database – not to sell, but not only to share
content - also for thank you and happy holiday notes.
(add a join form now, figure it out later)
MORE CONTENT IDEAS

29. REALLY NOT READY
TO START?
Add a signup form to your site with an incentive and build an
email list even with no plan right now.
• Someday you will want to speak to those who have visited
• Someone will want to sponsor something
• You will want to send something out
….even if it is just a “happy holidays” message.

30. "You don't have to be
great to start,
but you have
to start to be great."
~(Zig Ziglar)

32. A few thoughts on choosing a service…

33. APPLES TO APPLES?
• Begin as you intend to continue;
Do you really never want more than 2,000 subscribers?
(2,000 can actually mean only 500 if you want to segment)
• Support? Mailchimp: 0
Constant Contact (or Aweber): 110%
• Poorly executed email campaigns
or time spent battling a template or database
costs more than monthly subscription savings
• If you go free,
know where you will turn when you need help.
Oh, and stay away from email marketing companies that force you into
long-term contracts - should be able to suspend and retain static
components; databases, sign-up, existing templates.

34. MAILCHIMP
Pros
• Easy to use for beginners
• Integration
• Free for up 2,000
subscribers
• Pre-made templates +
wizard
• Responsive templates
• Upload images
Cons
• Logo included at bottom of every email sent on free accounts.
• Usability - great graphics but heavy load
• 'hold your hands’ approach bothersome once you know your way
around
• Much less intuitive GUI
• Only email customer service.
• No auto responders on free accounts
• Must use MailChimp templates cannot create our own
• Templates have same basic layouts & styles.
• - Difficult to differentiate - critical in an increasingly crowded
internet
• Segment ignored for count
• - Multiple list subscriber counts for every list
• - i.e. 900 subscribers can look like 5000 (faster to move you to
paid)
• Forms notoriously problematic, most use third party tool for
signup form to make Mailchimp signup work well and look elegant
• - if you are a coder go for mailChimp!
• Apparently they may suspend your account without notice for
using affiliate links so they don’t have a high bounce auto
responder service.
Clearly designed for non-technical users
(as it should be since there is no
support). Colorful, friendly, and fun.
They even have a monkey
with humorous sayings in a bubble

35. AWEBER
Pros
• Excellent, responsive
support
• Integration
• Auto-responders
• Ability to have custom
templates
• Fast load time
• 99% or above deliverability
of messages
• Pre-made, customizable
templates
• Ability to use completely
custom templates
Cons
• No wizards: Unlike
MailChimp, Aweber does not have
any step-by-step wizards for setting
up email campaigns (for some, this is
a bonus)
• No file uploads: If you want to embed
images, they must be hosted
elsewhere (your
website, Flickr, Photobucket, etc)
• Not yet responsive templates
A leader in email marketing. Good
integration with social and their auto
responder is best in the business and they
rock the deliverability rate (99% or above).

36. CONSTANT CONTACT
Pros
• Pre-made, customizable templates
• Completely custom templates
• Upload images
• Auto-responder
• Social share
• Responsive templates
• Multi lists no duplication - as many segmentations
for whatever use you choose
• No contract to sign -not locked in. You can cancel
for several months & start back with no loss or
hassle.
• Periodic updates? Suspend your account on the
months you’re not using it and still see analytics
etc.
• In all comparison charts CC rated best for
customer support, analytics
and content management.
Incredible customer service!
Easily dovetails with Eventspot and survey
Cons
• ―User friendly‖ interface can
be clunky at times.
• Always improving means
always changing
Like a hybrid of MailChimp and A-Weber.
Amazing real time support plus tons of learning
resources.
Premade email templates + ability to create custom
Flexible cost, service suspension no distribution limit.

37. HAPPY MONKEY
USERS?
"I’m willing to give up a free service and pay for another because saying Mailchimp
performs the same function as Aweber or Constant Contact is like saying a Ford Escort
performs the same function as a Maserati.”
"MailChimp’s Sign-Up form. It’s hard to customize and it looks like a 5th grader
designed it in 1995 HTML code. That doesn’t make it classic it makes it crappy.”
"Mail Chimp is a nightmare to setup and use. It isn’t at all intuitive. And I’ve been
using, designing, Q&A software for over 20 years now (yikes!) Don’t get me wrong
though – I think they are awesome for their free service.”
"Mailchimp display in Outlook is reportedly (for a long time) terrible - Mailchimp has
never done anything about it”
"Mailchimp has to get the sign up form right for non developers. It’s just crazy.”
“Less time posting monkey videos from youtube,
more time worrying about the top of my funnel.”
"Why not Mailchimp?
–um… the forms, the tracking, the auto-responder, nobody to call…”

38. RESOURCES
5 reasons Email Crushes Social Media Marketing – kissmetics
http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/24486/are-you-doing-email-wrong-just-four-steps-
to-increase-sales
http://blogs.constantcontact.com/fresh-insights/holiday-promotion-ideas/
http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/basics/why.htm
http://www.sethgodin.com/permission/thanks.asp
http://www.marketingprofs.com/cmp/29/oct13sale?adref=prosaleribbon&utm_source=mpsite&u
tm_medium=ribbon&utm_campaign=pro&utm_term=discount&utm_content=membership
http://www.constantcontact.com/learning-center/webinars/live/index.jsp
https://www.rebelmouse.com/
https://support.twitter.com/articles/76460-using-twitter-lists
http://www.informationweek.com/social-business/social_networking_consumer/the-art-of-
tweeting-dos-and-donts/240157863
http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinecomaford/2013/09/29/become-a-social-media-rock-star-in-
4-easy-steps-infographic/
Google URL builder https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en&rd=1