Test Your Way to Success: 11 Tips for Your Email Subject Lines

When you open your inbox,you definitely find many emails from various companies having thousands of email subject lines. While we had developed best practices, we always knew we would have to test our way to success. So, when an email marketing ninja says “it depends”…in many ways, they are telling you the truth. Your market and customer base have unique needs no matter what you read or are told.

Bottom line: we have to be great with email open rates as we compete for mindshare in the inbox.The Image below shows a bit of what should the subject lines look like.:

Here are some of the things we’ll cover. These are my eleven favorite tips for your email subject line strategy (which is technically your “email open rate” strategy)

1. Optimize your subject line for the mobile inbox first – Do I need to tell you how big mobile is? You are probably reading this post on your iPad.
2. Clear subject lines are the name of the game now — More people clear out their inbox with their mobile phone than ever before. Here is my slogan: “Be clear or get cleared out.”
3. Be relevant – My buddy once told me, buyers don’t consider something intrusive if it is relevant. I get tons of email, but if you can hit me with something I care about, I will open the email.
4. Scalable personalization – Segmenting your database to deliver a personal message that still scales. I once received a message: “Join 25 marketing experts just like you.” I opened it.
5. Localization –Michael Lodato from Network Hardware Resale who said they increased open rates by 5% by just mentioning the local weather. I got really excited about this tip and saw all the possibilities. I used this concept on a couple mini-email campaigns and they worked. When the lottery reached $350 million, I wrote a long effective one: “If you aren’t in line buying lottery tickets right now, join us for…”
6. The “From” line – In my old media company days, we had certain brands that converted dramatically better than others. In other words, the open rates for our trusted brands were fantastic and the open rates on our lesser known brand names were much worse. Email experts will tell you the From line can get you deleted pretty quickly.
7. Numbers/lists – 875 million ways to get your emails opened. Lists still work. I wanted desperately to move away from lists since the concept is so ridiculous right now as every blog post, tweet, etc has a list. We tried, but the numbers spoke for themselves.
8. Test and test and optimize – I know I already mentioned this, but I actually can’t message it enough. T-T-O or “always be testing” – The best email marketers have patience because they know the drill.  Their open rates will get better over time.
9. Don’t send once – This isn’t a subject line tip per se, but everyone is busy and the email may get buried. Feel free to send again, and if you want to add a little something to the subject line to recognize that fact, that’s okay.
10. Follow your competitors – This is not a crazy tip. You can learn a lot about what is working for them that you may want to test. They typically hit the same target market, so let them do some work for you.
11. Make it actionable – Tell the email reader what he/she is going to do or get. Again, people typically delete more than they open.

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Time Traveller's Tips for Internet Marketing

It's 2012. You've got a website, you've put some tracking code in to see how you're doing. All good so far.

But wait. Your traffic isn't growing and you're certain that with the visitors you have, more should be converting into customers.

So what do you do? How do you take what you've got and really make it successful? I mean more visitors, more customers, more turnover. More success!

Do you redesign it? Do you get some search engine optimisation done? Do you start blogging and tweeting? And if you do any or all of these things then how do you know if it's really working?

It's difficult to know what to do, because depending upon who you talk to you'll get different advice.

If you talk to a design agency, it's a design problem.
If you talk to an SEO company, it's an optimisation problem.
If you talk to a PR agency, it's a PR problem.

Ouch.

To answer this, it looks like we need to go back in time!

Let's zoom back to 1996 in our DeLorean (if you're going to build a time machine, you might as well build it in a DeLorean right?)

First stop. Design Agency. 1996.

In 1996 websites were seen simply as online brochures. The design and structure of websites was geared around explaining business activities and products from the businesses perspective. Copy was generally written by product or marketing managers to communicate important features.

Today, successful businesses understand that they must engage with customers by listening and solving their problems, focusing on benefits whilst building trust and maintaining relationships.

Strong and consistent branding is still important as it helps to position and differentiate, making sure that any communication has maximum impact and that brand communications are mutually supportive.

However, it is the content that is crucial in developing and maintaining customer relationships. Repeatedly redesigning around stale content will undermine brand consistency and strength.

Time machine tip: Strong consistent branding adds value across multiple communications and maximises content investment.

Second stop. SEO agency. 2004.

As people came to rely on search engines to find stuff, businesses came to rely upon search engines to get found. Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns were two ways to get in front of people on the web.

Back in the day, an SEO company would help you to understand the search phrases your customers use and to restructure your website to align your content to these search phrases. Then build back links from other websites to get your pages to rank well for your prospects searches.

If you were creating great content that naturally attracted links from other websites, Google loved you and your traffic grew. If you were buying links to 'brochure' pages on your website, you spent your time dodging Google's algorithm changes.

Yes, it's important to get ranked in search engines. But the content that you rank with is more important. Because when somebody clicks through to your page, they are either going to be engaged and want more from you. Or they are going to click away. Disappointed.

Think content strategy. Search is still massively powerful, we've got our branding and tone of voice from 1996, let's pick up our content strategy from 2004!

Time machine tip: Google is in the business of helping people to find the content they want. If you make it your business to create and deliver content that your customers want and need, you win.

Back to the time machine and..

Third stop. Business blogging. 2008.

Everyone knew that they should have a business blog, to keep their website up to date, to get people to come back maybe even make their website a destination.

But many struggled to find the time to create the content, or spent time creating posts that didn't add value and saw little return on the time and effort invested.

Interestingly, those that did find success in blogging, did so by aligning the content they created with the search terms they knew that their potential customers used to research their marketplace. They added white papers and PDF ebooks that could be downloaded in exchange for a visitors contact details to create engagement and to identify business leads.

These tactics drew in the prospects who were using the web to research their purchases, the very people advertising was finding it increasingly difficult to reach.

But wait. On the subject of reach, we have one more stop before we go back to the future..

Fourth stop. Social media. 2009.

I'll confess, it took me a while to get it. "What good is a 140 character tweet going to do my business"? I said to myself back in 2009.

Well listen up, old me from the past!

It's about reach. And It's about influence. It's word of mouth on a global scale in real time. And building your own network that draws those with shared interests towards you. This is how it works...

Social media drives visibility for your blogging and content generation. Blogging and content generation drives the growth of your social media network. Both support your SEO strategy.

Creating strong, interesting content that helps and informs, and then sharing it, is incredibly powerful.

Got it? Well we're outta time... So let's get back to the future!

But before we land back in good old 2012. I want you to notice that over the years the conversation you have had with your customers has become less about trying to communicate the things that you do as a business, and more about delivering the things that your customers want. Think benefits, not features.

So here we all are, with our ingredients for success pilfered from across time. We've got our consistent brand identity, our content plan and a social media powered global publishing system.

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Social Networking for Business Growth

Don’t forget about old networking methods

As you enter into the realm of the social media, you can’t forget about the old ways. Tweeting, posting and sharing are all great ways to get your brand to a lot of people. However, meeting people in person, networking, making phone calls – those methods all still work.

Today I went to a luncheon for business women and they were quite a hoot. As I generally spend my days hunched over my computer tapping away at the keys, getting out and seeing other humanoids was enriching, if nothing else! Just like giving a polar bear at the zoo a giant ice ball with a fish in the center of it, meeting some people in person was my enrichment for the day.

The women I met were from various fields, only one other spends her entire day alone with a computer. While immersed in cyberspace, we tend to forget about how important it is to do networking in person with other business people to help grow our businesses.

Check your community and find a networking organization. Most allow visitors to attend at least one or two meetings without joining the organization. Get a feel for the group and see if it is a good fit for you. You don’t have to meet everyone at once. I felt a little intimidated at the first one I attended. If you just make a few connections, the next time you go, you will know at least one or two people. Then, it becomes much easier.

Always take a big stack of cards, even if you think you will only give out a few. It’s always best to be prepared. If you don’t have cards – shame on you! Get some. There are reasonably priced places online like vistaprint.com where cards are very inexpensive (some are free, you just pay shipping). Vista Print offers designs already made up for a variety of businesses or generic cards. If you need help, get in touch with me. I can design something for you at a reasonable price.

Take advantage of all the ways to connect with others and grow your business. Don’t limit yourself by relying completely on the internet.

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Give Your Employees the Latest Tech Tools, or Else!!

Does your small business have the right stuff to attract qualified employees? Technology stuff, that is. Almost three-fourths (72 percent) of workers in a recent Workplace Options survey say that the better the technology tools a company provides to its employees, the more attractive it is as a place to work. 

That number soared to 92 percent among workers aged 18 to 29.

How important is technology? Half of all workers and 75 percent of those aged 18 to 29 say they assess the level of technology a workplace offers when they’re looking for a new job. A good computer doesn’t cut it, either—employees consider that a given these days. What they really want are smartphones, tablets and presentation tools.

It’s not all about them, either. Some two-thirds (65 percent) of employees in the survey say providing employees with current technology is crucial to a company’s success. But less than half (45 percent) say their employer provides up-to-date technology to all its workers.  More than half (53 percent) say that up-to-date technology is essential in order to do their jobs properly. Interestingly, older employees (in the 45 to 65 age range) were more likely than younger workers to say that up-to-date technology was essential both to their jobs and to their employers, and women were more likely to say so than men.

Employees feel so strongly about technology that more than one in five (22 percent) say they would quit or change jobs if their employers didn’t provide the latest technology. That figure was highest among employees age 29 to 44, with 29 percent saying they would quit for this reason.

Nearly three-fourths of employees (72 percent) say their reliance on technology has increased over the past five years; almost half (46 percent) say it has increased “significantly.” Employees in the 29 to 65 age group were the most likely to say their reliance on technology has grown.

What do these figures mean to you?

 No matter how old your employees are, you can’t assume they will be happy to get by with less than the latest technology. While younger employees in the survey cared more about the latest tech tools, they were also less likely to quit over the lack of them. It’s the workers in their prime years—those who are most valuable to your business—that you stand to lose if you’re making them struggle with inadequate technology.

Today, cloud computing, subscription software and lower hardware prices are all combining to make technology more affordable than ever for a small business. There’s no excuse for not upgrading—not when it can make your employees more productive and your business more successful.

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Bootstrapping Your Biz: Starting Cashless

What is Bootstrapping?

Let’s start with what bootstrapping isn’t.

You’re not starting a franchise.  You’re not using an existing model.

Well,dont take the cartoon seriously,anyway!!

You’re also not using venture capital or major 3rd party investments.

Bootstrapping is about starting with little money and (relatively) infinite time, and then starting on the journey of building your business.  You begin with a seed of an idea, but remain open to and embrace the notion that your business will come to fruition through the process of figuring out HOW it will come to fruition.

In other words, you’re okay with not having the answers right from the beginning.  In fact, you appreciate the fact that “the journey” is what will create the business and all its parts.

For example, Southwest Airlines (profiled in our interview) started as a small, puddle-jumping airline.  By the time it was ready to begin operations, it had no planes, and no money to buy them.

By looking around, talking to people, and eventually going to Boeing and telling them their situation, they were able to get what turned out to be their trademark 737s for cheap, and Boeing was willing to finance them.

The idea of being open to “whatever shows up” is tough for those of us who mold, craft, and fantasize about every little detail of our impending vision.  But the notion of bootstrapping a business is about a willingness to relinquish the “how” and just let the world shape it as you go along.

A little scary, but so is life.

What aspect of your business have you bootstrapped?  What else could you do to get further along by finding answers along the journey?

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Do You Really Want To Be Your Own Boss?

We all seem to have reasons for wanting start our own businesses but one of the ones I hear most is just about firing your boss. Getting out of the rat race seems to be the most popular of them all, but few people tell me which race they actually want to enter.

The best advice is to always follow your dreams but what if you mostly have nightmares? Or what if you are like most americans who can’t sleep at all and take ambien resulting in no dreams to hold onto?  I’m not trying to be facetious in any way but my point is this.

What do you want to do and Why do you want to do it?

We have people come into Seed Capital all the time seeking our professional advice about getting a business loan and we can usually have no problem getting them money.  We do it with low rates and easy term so they are immediately faced with our question, what do you want to do with the loans?

Our unsecured business loans have no limits or restrictions on how a borrower can choose to use their funds.  They may pay down debt, save cash on hand, expand or hire.  Our loans put you in charge and leave the bank out of it.  This comes as a complete surprise to a lot of borrowers.

All of the sudden being faced with the money they thought they couldn’t get leaves without a barrier to entry. Now they must come to terms with why they wanted be an entrepreneur in the first place .  So I ask them this.

Do you have what it takes to leave your job and become an immediate success at something else?  Or are you planning a side business for a few years so you can gain market share in a new niche?  Their personality type will help them determine their best plan for them .

If you believe in your gut feeling then listen to it.  If you know you just want to stop working for someone else, then take it slow, plan wisely and get as much advice as you can.

The bad news, believe it or not is that these opportunities come along a lot because the money is readily available to start today. You may hear that banks aren’t lending, the economy is weak,  the sky is falling and the pigs are flying.  But the truth is that you don’t need banks.  There are plenty of small business lenders out there and, Seed Capital, can guide you through the free processes of getting a business loan.

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How to Manage Franchise Relationship to your Benefit

Franchisee and franchisor have long held love-hate relationship. They know that they both need each other to be successful, but at the same time, they are constantly disagreeing and fighting over number of issues. While healthy debate and disagreements are beneficial, constant fighting over trivial issues can sap energy out of both franchisee and the franchisor.

For this reason many franchisees feel they should just venture on their own rather than dealing with the tyranny of franchisor. This could be a mistake, however. There are number of benefits of owning a franchise as opposed to running an independent business. As a franchisee, you need to develop a symbiotic relationship with the franchisor and focus on what you want to get out of it. The key is to understand and follow the rules of the game and develop a playbook that will make you a winner. Follow these guidelines when developing the playbook.

1. Keep the District / Area / Territory Managers happy. These people go by various names, but they are franchise representatives who you interact with on a regular basis. They pretty much manage the franchise in their assigned territory. Their job is to ensure the franchise rules are being followed and help franchisees develop their business. The key point to remember is that these people hold a lot of power and can make your life miserable if you they “don’t like you”. On the flip side, they can make you very successful if they are happy with your performance. That is why it is very important to stay on the “good side” of them.
2. Leverage franchise’s purchasing power. One of the primary benefits of the franchise system is their ability to negotiate volume discount on number of items as a result of their large purchasing power. This is especially true of large franchises. You should take advantage of this by funneling number of purchases through their channels. This could include your goods, marketing material, equipments, banking and so on.
3. Seek their advice on your performance. Franchisors have a good understanding of how various franchisees are performing and why. You should ask them about how you are performing against other franchisees. You should also discuss why your performance is not as good as others and see their advice on how you can improve. You may not like all of their advice, but it will help improve your business.
4. Follow the rules. This is a sensitive topic for many franchisees. Some of the franchisors are notorious for establishing draconian rules and insisting that the franchisees follow them no matter what it costs them. While you may not like them, choosing to ignore them may create problems down the road. That is why you should understand the operating requirements of franchise and ask these questions to franchisor before joining them. Even if you do choose to fight or ignore the rules, do it tactfully, so that you don’t end up in the penalty box with them.
5. Document all transactions. Finally, you want to document and keep track of all transactions with the franchisor in case things turn ugly and you end up fighting with them in the court. Remember, as a small franchisee you are at a disadvantage against them to begin with. Keeping documentation of the transactions will help you improve your chances of winning.

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