Massmailsoftware Blog category Email Marketing

Going back to the fantastic graphics I posted about on Wednesday, I wonder if you’re advertising enough in your marketing emails. If you recall, the image that represented “marketing” was a single statement, while “advertising” was the same statement repeated several times. This brings us to your email marketing message, whether it’s a newsletter or a straight sales email. I’m sure you have a call to action, but do you repeat it? I don’t know about you, but there are days when I’m as dumb as a box of rocks. On those days (and most others if you ask my […]

I’ve mentioned before that the process of sales can be boiled down to solving problems. Seth Godin has a great angle on this idea: That thing you’re marketing… Does it add to stress or take it away? Is it stressful to talk about it? Buy it? Get rid of it? Is it more stressful not to buy it than it is to go ahead and buy one? Does it promise to reduce stress, but end up causing more? This is a great thing to keep in mind while creating your marketing message. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to use […]

Deborah Schultz has one of the best graphics I’ve ever seen up on her blog (courtesy of Brand Identity Guru), explaining the difference between marketing, branding, public relations and advertising far better than anything I’ve run across. This puts quite a few things into perspective: Notice several things…for example, marketing is represented as nothing more than a less-annoying version of advertising. However, the one thing that jumps out at me is this…notice how branding and marketing are very similar. The only difference is who holds the opinion. This goes back to what I’ve said before…lead your customers to form an […]

Too many times, marketers focus on the medium being used to transmit their message, instead of concentrating on the message itself. An effective marketing message will be effective no matter what medium is used to transmit it. The trick is to know how to construct an effective marketing message. Luckily, this doesn’t involve deals with the devil, mystic VooDoo rituals or ancient Chinese secrets. (Unless you want to base your chances of business success on Satan, a dead chicken and a fortune cookie, in which case have at it.) There’s one simple method that is present in all effective marketing: […]

The car salesman sits behind his desk, fresh from yet another meeting with the sales manager. As he slides the “four-square” worksheet across his desk toward you, you have no interest in what’s written there, and tell him…for the twelfth time this hour. “Okay, what would it take to get you to buy today? Right now?” he asks. “Nothing. I told you I was just looking; I’ll be in the market in a few months, but there’s nothing you can do or say to get me to buy today.” “I’ll be right back,” he replies, standing up and starting for […]

If you had the opportunity to either tell ten people about your business or tell one million, which would you do? I’m really hoping you said “ten thousand”. Marketing is nothing more than telling people about your business while prompting them to take action. And while it’s true that marketing to ten pre-qualified targeted people will always give a higher percentage of conversions, they don’t let you pay your light bill with conversions. Sometimes, you have to put the marketing blowgun away and bring out the shotgun. Why? Simple…if 80% of those ten people make a purchase from you at […]