Vicki James, PMP, CBAP, PMI-PBA, CSM

“Social media is the word-of-mouth on steroids.” Dana Pethia

Yesterday I attended a Small Business Event hosted by Constant Contact and the Thurston Chamber. I had signed up specifically to hear Dana Pethia and to learn more about Constant Contact as an email service for Professional Project Services and a couple of professional organizations that I support. What I came away with was also a wealth of best practices in email and social media marketing to share with my consultant and small business friends.

Having an email list allows you to send information to those that have indicated an interest. Email is a way to establish a relationship with the customer and let them know your services, accomplishments, and ways you can help them. It keeps you visible so that they remember you and your services. Email has an added benefit of being easy to forward making it easier for subscribers to refer you to their friends. An email service makes establishing, maintaining, and distributing to your email subscribers easy and efficient.

Get subscribers

• Ask! 57% of customers will fill out a card for email alerts
• Offer information in exchange for subscription (an article, presentation, coupon)
• Use a QR code to point smart phone users to an email sign-up form
• Provide a “text to join” option
• Include a link to sign up in your business email signature
• Add an email sign-up link to your social media account profiles
• Establish email segments to allow customers to sign up for specific topics that interest them
• Do not ask for more than five bits of information on the sign-up form
• Establish and share a privacy policy indicating you will not share or sell email addresses
• Let people know what they will get and how often
• Provide a previous sample to show potential customer what they will receive

Get Readers

• The From line should show that the email is from you or your business, not an email service
• The Subject line should provide incentive to open email. Not summarize all that is in the newsletter
• Use links to point to online content. Do not fill the email body up with too much information
• Use formatting, pictures, and white spaces (how about a relevant cartoon or video) to make your email visually appealing and easy to read

Get Referrals

• Share your email online archive across all of your social media sites so to make it easy for your connections broadcast
• Include a share bar (tool for the reader to share your information) in your emails to make it easy for readers to forward
• Ask subscribers to share your content
• Offer discounts or incentives for customers that provide referrals

This is timely information as I start thinking about my next monthly newsletter. I now have some improvements and changes to make. In the meantime, please join my email list to get my monthly newsletter, discounts, and goodies. Thank you!

See the event flyer for more information on sponsors and speakers of this great event.

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Disclaimer: The workshop was hosted by Constant Contact. There are other services available that provide similar functionality including MailChimp, AWeber, Your Mailing List Provider, and more. This is not intended to be a specific endorsement of Constant Contact.