Automate your marketing
Profit from the scheduling capability built into today's software and web services
Maintaining consistent visibility is one of the most important tasks your marketing must perform. Consistent visibility ensures that your firm will be the first one thought of when prospects are ready to buy.
Yet, how do you keep in touch when you're busy, or traveling?
Today, it's easier than ever. The latest software and web services make it easy for you to schedule marketing messages in advance. Best of all, there are no extra costs involved in the techniques described here.
Print-on-demand postcards, like those available from AmazingMail, permit you to send color postcards, 1 or 2 at a time.
You create these postcards on line, for printing, addressing, and First Class Mailing the next business day. You can schedule postcards for printing and mailing up to a year in advance. Using this feature, you can schedule multiple postcards to key clients and prospects. In 10 minutes, you can schedule a series of holiday postcards and--for example--scheduled maintenance tips.
The ability to schedule postcards to be sent on specific dates also makes it easy for you to multiply the effectiveness of your postcards by sending a sequence of cards. Each card can include a numbered, educational message. This builds anticipation before the arrival of the next card.
You can also schedule e-mail to be sent on later dates. For example, each Monday, I send those who have agreed to receive my e-mails a summary of the week's upcoming teleseminars and webinars.
I prepare these messages the previous week, or over the weekend, and schedule them to be sent late Sunday night. This way, they'll be available to clients and prospects Monday morning.
When my wife, Betsy, and I are traveling, we prepare these mailings before we leave, so they will be sent in our absence.
Advance scheduling capability is built into online shopping cart and e-mail services like America Online, 1shoppingcart.com, Aweber.com, and Constant Contact. Scheduling add-in's are available for email programs lacking built-in capability.
Autoresponders are a step beyond scheduling e-mail to be sent on a specific date.
Autoresponders can send a sequence of e-mails at pre-set intervals following the initial mailing. The sequence typically begins upon receipt of a trigger. Typical triggers include requests for information, newsletter sign-ups, and new purchases.
Many firms, for example, use autoresponders to send thank-you e-mails triggered by online shopping carts. Others send emails welcoming new newsletter subscribers.
But, the above just scratches the surface!
One of the best uses of autoresponder sequences is to send an e-course, or series of short, educational e-mails, at pre-set intervals following the trigger.
A series of sequenced messages permits you to "chunk" your marketing message over a long period of time. This increases the likelihood of your messages being read and acted upon.
If you send a 12-page e-mail, no matter how relevant and well-written it is, chances are it will not be read--especially if it arrives on a busy day.
But, if you send the same contents over a period of four weeks, as a series of four, 3-page emails, there is much greater likelihood that your messages will be read.
Blogs typically contain calendars indicating the dates when new material was posted. Blogs calendars showing frequent postings project a more active and relevant image than blog calendars indicating infrequent postings.
It's a lot easier to prepare 3 or 4 post at one time, scheduled to appear over the next few days, than it is to stop what you're doing on 3 or 4 different days and create single posts.
You, too, can profit from "hands off" marketing by keeping in touch with clients and prospects while having time to build close, personal relationships with those you are working with on current projects.
In fact, you may already be paying for the features you need to multiply your time.
For more information...
Contact roger@designtosellonline.com or call 603-742-9673 for assistance setting up an automated marketing program.
I can help select the right services, and I can set you up with a customized content plan and the personalized templates you need to implement a "hands off" marketing program.
|
