Cross-Promoting Your Enewsletter on Facebook

December 13, 2011 – 4:15 am

If you publish an enewsletter and have a company Facebook page, are you doing everything possible to cross-promote them? Here are a few suggestions:

• Include a sign-up tab. In addition to the standard Facebook tabs, such as “Wall” and “Info,” you can add your own custom tabs. Consider including one that highlights the benefits of your enewsletter and includes a sign-up form, so visitors never have to leave Facebook to subscribe.

• Promote before you publish. Have a newsletter coming out in a day or two? Publish something  on your wall letting your fans know what they’ll miss if they’re not subscribers.

• Post a link to your enewsletter. After you’ve published your newsletter, share a link to it on your Facebook wall, and encourage fans to subscribe.

• Use Facebook content in your newsletter. If your Facebook wall includes a particularly interesting recent discussion, reference it in your newsletter and encourage subscribers to visit your Facebook Page for more details.

Don’t assume that your Facebook fans are already familiar with your enewsletter, and vice versa. Cross promote the two at every opportunity! What other strategies do you use to cross-fertilize your Facebook page and enewsletter?

By Val Gosset | Posted in Enewsletters, Facebook | Leave a Comment

5 Best Ways to Achieve Your Goals

November 29, 2011 – 4:15 am

As the year draws to an end, it’s time to review what worked and what didn’t, and plan the year ahead. Do you set the same goals year after year, without ever reaching them? Do you simply hope for the best, without ever setting goals? Here are 5 key strategies for taking success into your own hands:

1. Write Your Goals Down. It’s not surprising that most people don’t reach their goals; most people never even set them. Consider what you want to accomplish in 2012 and write it down. That one step will put you way ahead of 95% of the population.

2. Keep Your Goals in Front of You. I keep mine in a plastic sleeve on top of my desk, where I see them every day. A bulletin board or your bathroom mirror can be just as effective. Unless you keep your goals top of mind, they’re likely to take a back burner to putting out fires, and endless small tasks that won’t take your business to the next level.

3. Take Small Steps. Some “stretch” goals can appear so daunting that tackling them is discouraging. Break them down into a series of small, manageable steps. Every week, do something to bring you closer to each goal. Celebrate your accomplishments along the way. Before you know it, the seemingly impossible will be very much within reach.

4. Avoid the Naysayers. Some people cling to the status quo. After all, if you don’t try, then it’s impossible to fail! Their reaction is often to find fault with every new idea — often couched with the caveat “I’m only being realistic.” Learn to recognize the people around you with this personality type, and don’t share your goals with them. You’ll only let their insecurity get in the way of your accomplishments.

5. Develop a Support Team. Reaching your goals can be far easier when you have people who understand you and your business to support you, brainstorm with you, challenge you, hold you accountable, and cheer you on.

Such a support team can take many different forms, including mastermind groups and business coaching. Our new Garden Industry Peer Success Group incorporates both, giving you a wealth of support at an extremely affordable price. Registration closes Thursday, December 1, so find out more and register now!

By Val Gosset | Posted in Goals | Leave a Comment

How to Make 2012 Your Best Year Yet

November 22, 2011 – 11:49 pm

Would you like to make 2012 your best year yet? It’s easier than you may think. Here’s why I say that:

About 15 years ago, I made one of the most important business moves of my career. I joined a mastermind group, a group of five fellow entrepreneurs who have met monthly ever since to support each other in achieving our goals. They’ve served as an invaluable sounding board … suggested strategies I never would have thought of … encouraged me to venture into new territory … and held me accountable for reaching my goals. Without them, I never would have achieved the success I enjoy today.

That’s why I was delighted when my long-time friend, certified business coach Valerie Taloni, suggested that we team up to offer Peer Success Groups to Let’s Grow blog and newsletter subscribers. Peer Success Groups combine all the benefits of a traditional mastermind group with the Best Year Yet(R) goal planning and implementation system PLUS business and marketing coaching.

To find out more, click here to read the details. Registration closes Thursday, December 1 and space is limited, so please don’t delay.

I hope you’ll join us!

By Val Gosset | Posted in Goals, Marketing | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment

An Important Consideration in Holiday Email Schedules

November 14, 2011 – 9:30 pm

The holiday season is here, and you know what means: every merchant with an email list is ramping up their email schedule. Before you join them, give some thought to the effect that increased mailing frequency is likely to have on your list.

According to a recent report by Exact Target, the single largest reason that people unsubscribe to an email list – cited by 54% of those surveyed — is that emails were too frequent. At the holidays, when consumers are bombarded with emails from every list they’re on, it’s not uncommon for opt-outs and spam reports to run double the norm.

If sales from the increased mailings more than cover the cost of the subscribers who opt out, that’s great. But do the math before you mail and make sure you’re not killing the golden goose. What’s the average lifetime value of an email subscriber to you? How much does it cost you to acquire a new email subscriber?

Sending a barrage of emails is often the easiest way to pump up holiday sales. Before you set your schedule, make sure that the short term gain isn’t outweighed by the subscribers you’ll lose and never regain.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Ecommerce, Email marketing | Leave a Comment

Gaining Insights Into Your Web Traffic

October 27, 2011 – 4:15 am

Web buyers are becoming a larger and larger percentage of everyone’s business these days. It’s important to keep in mind that not all web buyers are created equal. Your web buyers generally fall into one of two categories:

1) Those who sought out your site specifically, with a previous knowledge of who your company is, and what you sell

2) Those who have no previous knowledge of your company, and found your website while they were trolling the Internet looking for a product you happen to sell

Understandably, these two types of buyers are likely to perform quite differently. The former are likely to be loyal customers and good repeat buyers. The latter have no brand loyalty, and are likely to be shopping for the best price. Getting them to return for future purchases can often be extremely difficult.

What does this mean for your marketing efforts?

First, if you’re a catalog marketer, it may be beneficial to mail web buyers as a separate segment. You’ll probably find that they perform quite differently from your other buyers. You may find it’s not profitable to mail your web buyers as often as buyers from other channels.

Second, don’t just look at your overall web results, but dig a little deeper. You’ll find three sources for your website visitors:

1) Direct Traffic. This means they reached your site by typing in your URL. These visitors are already familiar with your company, and may well already be regular customers.

2) Referring Sites. These visitors came from a site that links to yours. It could be an association you belong to, or your own Facebook page. Drill down for more detail to get a sense of how qualified these visitors might be.

3) Search Engines. These visitors reached your site by searching on a keyword that yielded your site in the search results. Depending on the keyword, they may or may not be good prospects for repeat business.

One way to assess the quality of the web visitors who reach you through search is to see how many of your visitors included your company name as part of the search. The easiest way to determine this in Google Analytics is to go to “Traffic Sources,” then “Keywords.” At the bottom of that screen, you’ll see a box with the words “Filter keyword containing” before it. Type in your company name and hit “Go.” Repeat with any common misspellings of your company name. With the rising use of smartphones and their small screens, misspellings are increasingly common.

If you track your web results to the conversion level, you may be quite surprised at how differently your web visitors perform, depending on the source. Visitors who come from direct traffic or search on branded terms are likely to be strong long-term buyers, while others may visit your site once, and never again.

Getting a better sense of how qualified your web traffic is can help you avoid waste in your mail plans and understand how worthwhile search engine optimization may or may not be.

It pays to get a good picture of your where you web traffic is coming from at regular intervals. Like most things on the Internet, change is the only constant. New strategies may be called for as your web visitors change over time.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Ecommerce | Tagged , | Leave a Comment

Balancing Learning Curves and Opportunity Costs For New Marketing Methods

October 18, 2011 – 4:15 am

Mobile websites … smartphone apps … iPad apps … text marketing … Facebook advertising … Facebook company pages … Twitter … StumbleUpon … Groupon … YouTube channels … blogs. There’s a plethora of marketing possibilities that were virtually non-existent 10 years ago. Just as many have come and gone within that time. It’s hard to tell what will last, and what will disappear. So how do you decide what to focus on, and what to ignore?

It’s a tough question, and one I wrestle with often.  Personally, I tend to be an early noticer, but not an early adopter. I read widely and attend educational events that help me stay on top of trends, new technologies and emerging marketing techniques.

When new marketing opportunities arise, the details of how they’re executed tend to change rapidly as the kinks get ironed out. My strategy is to watch closely until the rate of change slows, then jump in. I walk a fine line, trying to avoid steep learning curves on things that may  change radically or be obsolete within months … while getting ready to dive in as soon as long-term viability is evident, and procedures are somewhat standardized.

Perhaps a greater risk than hopping on a new marketing bandwagon too soon is ignoring it too long. The opportunity costs can be huge. If you’re focused solely on your catalog, website and email marketing to the exclusion of all else, you’re putting your business at long-term risk. Sure, you may get by just fine today, but the world changes faster with each passing year. If you want to continue to grow and thrive, develop at least passing familiarity with social media and mobile marketing issues, keep your eye on trends, and don’t be afraid to experiment when you see new marketing methods gaining traction.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Advertising, Marketing | Leave a Comment

To Email Or Not To Email?

October 5, 2011 – 4:15 am

Now that it’s the first week in October, you’re probably starting to think about holiday promotions. So is every other marketer in America.

Since email is so inexpensive to deploy, you’re undoubtedly thinking about ramping up your email marketing. So is every other marketer in America. Last holiday season, I was receive multiple emails per day from some companies!

Before you set your plans in stone, consider this: emails may be inexpensive to send, but opt-in email subscribers take work to acquire, and nurturing to keep. Don’t squander your subscribers’ trust by inundating them with emails just because you can.

Weigh the ROI of the extra emails you send against the cost to acquire new email subscribers, and their long-term value. A few extra profits in December may not be worth the effort if your expanded mailing schedule puts too big a dent in your opt-in email list.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Email marketing | Leave a Comment

Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages

September 13, 2011 – 4:15 am

Creative inspiration often comes from watching what other industries do, and adapting their practices to fit your own circumstances. It’s with that outlook that I regularly review “top 10” or “top 100” lists, including Social Media Examiner’s recent Top 10 Small Business Facebook Pages.

Selected from 1,400 nominations, the winning companies were judged on their Facebook landing pages, engagement, reader involvement and creative use of promotions, among other things. Social Media Examiner’s blog post shows sample pages from all ten winners and specifies exactly what the judges liked. My personal favorites were these:

• Intrepid Travel, an Australian adventure travel company, has a “Meet Others” tab which allows people interested in specific trips to connect with each other. Seems like an easy concept to adapt to the gardening world!

• Arizona Pro DJs, a teen entertainment company, does a great job of posting photos and music and asking for feedback. Their posts follow a consistent formula, with a very specific call to action. For instance: Who is excited for all of the football in the next few days? Arizona State Sun Devils vs Missouri, Arizona Wildcats football vs Oklahoma State, and Arizona Cardinals vs Washington! COMMENT and tell us what your favorite football team is!

• Dog Training Ireland contains so much information, so well organized and presented, that there’s no need to ever visit their website.

• New Jersey Family, a regional magazine, uses Facebook’s “Questions” feature to do periodic polls. Compiled on a separate “Questions” tab, it’s a novel way to promote engagement and find out a little more about their audience.

• Brasserie Sixty6, a restaurant, incorporates customer reviews on a separate Facebook tab. They also do a good job of asking for email addresses, and offering an incentive for joining their mailing list.

 Have a look at all the Top 10 winners and see if you find any good techniques that, with the proper modifications, might apply to your business.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Facebook, Social media | Leave a Comment

Surprising Report on Email List Segmentation

September 9, 2011 – 4:15 am

I just read an interesting research report on email list segmentation published by email service provider MailChimp. They reviewed responses from 1,998 of clients who segment their email lists, and compared the results to non-segmented campaigns. In addition to overall results, MailChimp looked at the data several other ways:

• Emails segmented by database field, such as zip code.
• Emails segmented by signup date, usually so recent subscribers can receive additional mailings
• Emails segmented by self-selected interest groups, such as vegetable gardening or greenhouse gardening
• Segmented by activity, such as sending an email specifically to subscribers who have not opened the last three campaigns

The emails that were segmented by database field received the biggest lift. Opens were 18.85% better than average, and clicks were 21.98% higher.

Emails segmented by signup date also received a significant boost. Opens were 11.64% higher than average, and clicks were 10.50% higher.

Interest group segmentation made surprisingly little difference. Opens were only 1.66% higher than average, and clicks were 1.71% higher.

The shocker was that segmenting by activity actually produced worse results: Opens were 2.07% lower, and clicks 2.52% lower. The most common use for this segmentation was to remail a campaign to subscribers who had not opened it on the first sending. MailChimp theorizes that, due to the inherent problems with accurately reporting opens, some subscribers perceived the remail as an annoying repeat.

To read the full MailChimp report, click here.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Email marketing | Tagged | Leave a Comment

Interesting Trends in Garden Product Sales

September 6, 2011 – 4:15 am

The August issue of Garden Center magazine includes a fascinating analysis by Ian Baldwin of the recent National Gardening Survey published by the National Gardening Association, highlighting a variety of industry trends and opportunities. One observation I found especially interesting involved where people buy their gardening products.

From 2005 to 2010, an average of 4.2% fewer households per year bought gardening products from mass merchants, 3.9% fewer per year from home centers, and 3.0% fewer per year from garden centers, while hardware stores stayed steady.

Garden centers have complained for years about the big box stores taking business away from them. Yet judging by these numbers, garden centers are losing fewer gardening customers than the big box stores … but they’re both still losing.

Also notable is the fact that garden product purchases from hardware stores have stayed steady. Baldwin theorizes that hardware stores have earned a reputation for helping their customers achieve success with their projects, in a way that garden centers have not. He makes a valid point, and one that can extend to catalogers and online merchants as well. The more you can do to help your customers become successful gardeners, the more they’ll buy from you.

You can read all of Ian Baldwin’s informative analysis here.

By Val Gosset | Posted in Garden industry trends | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment
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