Legacy Marketing Services

In a previous post, we discussed common email marketing mistakes that small businesses make with their email marketing.  Today we are going to cover some best practices for email ads and newsletters for your business.

Affordable Email Newsletter Programs and Services for Small Business

I know that in today’s economy, every business owner is watching the bottom line and if your company does not already have an email campaign integrated into your marketing plan, it may not seem like now is the time to add another expense.  However, as you are reading over the options for starting an email campaign, I want you to keep in mind and compare the costs to the same effort if you were sending it by direct mail (design, printing, and mailing.)

Step 1:  Choosing an Email Platform

An email mailing platform will allow you to compose your email and then will automatically merge it with your mailing list.  As each email to each subscriber is mailed individually, the chance that your email will be caught in a spam filter is much lower.

There are two types of options for a platform: self hosted and subscription based services.

Self Hosted Email Software

With a self hosted version, you obtain the email software, install it on your own web server, and then create your list(s) and send the emails.

Pros: There are no restrictions or additional charges for the number of lists and/or subscribers.

Cons: Installation and maintenance of the platform itself requires expertise.  Mailing capabilities could possibly be limited by email restrictions of the site host.

Self Hosted Solutions:

• PHPList:  A stand alone open source solution; however, it is not the most user friendly.
• Interspire:  commercial platform
• Add on components to CMS platforms such as Acajoom for Joomla, Civimail for CiviCRM on Drupal, or SugarCRM’s email campaigns.

Subscription Based Services:

There are countless email subscription services out there.  A few things you want to look at when comparing services are:

• The monthly subscription price.
• How many lists are allowed at each pricing level.
• If the sender can be change for the mailing and/or for each list.
• The pricing levels per subscriber
• If the list owner can add subscribers or if the subscriber has to opt in on their own.
• The reporting and statistics available.
• The subscription process: does it look seamless to the end user.
• Are both lists and autoresponders (preset sequential mailings) available?
• What effort does the company providing the service take to ensure the sending IP addresses are not blacklisted?
• What is the service’s delivery rate?

As I said, there are many email marketing services available.  Here are a few of the more popular ones:

• Aweber: the email service of choice for many internet marketers
• Constant Contact:  an easy-to-use service used by both email marketing newbies and experienced users.  Try it FREE for 60-Days.
• iContact: Provides a Fully-Loaded Product at an Affordable Price. Click here to start your free trial now!
• Get Response: GetResponse’s competitive advantage is offering a turn key solution for email marketing including email templates, custom field options, autoresponders, and tracking.

Other Tools:  DeliveryWatch allows self email publishers to measure the success of their email campaign by tracking the deliverability rate.

Step 2: Create Your Email Template

The next step in getting your email marketing campaign off the ground is to get your email newsletter template created.  If you have signed up with a subscription service, generic HTML email templates will be available and most also offer the ability to use an HTML email template that has been custom designed for your business.

Creating an HTML based email is different from designing a web site as well as different from creating a flyer in Word.  Each email client and web based email service renders HTML based email slightly different (Microsoft Outlook 2007 being the biggest offender.)  So specific guidelines must be followed when designing for email.

When setting up an email campaign for my clients, I like to create an email design that complements the business’s other identity pieces to continue the branding.

Once you have the template set up you can reuse it again and again, changing only the current message.

Step 3: Compile Your Email List

Once you have your service and email template set up, the next step is to compile the list of your email subscribers.  Most email services allow you to import a list; however, you will need to check on the required format.

Normally, this is done by creating an Excel file with a each subscriber on a row and each field for the subscriber in a separate table cell.  The file is then saved as a CSV file, and then imported into the email platform.

In order to maximize the distribution of your newsletter, integrate a newsletter sign up box on your web site and provide a link  to the newsletter in your signature on all of your outgoing emails.

Step 4: Plan Your Email Campaign

Now that you are set and ready to go, it is time to integrate your email newsletter schedule into your marketing campaign.

Need help starting an email marketing campaign for your business?  Contact Carla at Legacy Marketing Services today at 713.289.0819 or 800.589.8729 for a free consultation.

I get a lot of emails . . . and I mean A LOT.  Some are mailing lists I have signed up for, others are emails with product updates from online merchants I have purchased from, and of course there is always the ubiquitous spam.

However, one type of email that I always pay particular attention to are those from local small businesses.  For one, I like knowing when merchants I shop with on a regular basis are having sales or special events going on.  Second, I am always interested in watching how the independent business owner is actively marketing and the tools that they use.

What Not to Do in Business Emails and Newsletter

1. Don’t send emails from your desktop application.  I get emails like this frequently from local businesses.  They create a distribution list in Outlook, create their email, and then send to their list directly from Outlook.There are two problems with this.  First, many times the recipient’s emails aren’t event listed as a blind carbon copy (BCC), and they are displayed to the entire list.  Second, most internet service providers restrict the number of emails you can send to in one email.  So if you have an email going to 100 recipients, maybe only ten or twenty will actually be sent.  Also, that is the quickest way to get your email and/or IP address blacklisted as a spammer.
2. Don’t send attachments in Word.  I also get a lot of flyers sent as an attachment in Microsoft Word.  While the ideal is to create an email ad that includes the promotion, if you absolutely must send an attachment, send it as a PDF.There are several reasons for this.  Some people don’t accept email attachments.  Some people don’t have Microsoft Word, and if they do have Word, older versions won’t open the latest Word format.  Also, a file may look one way on your computer and totally different when opened by someone else due to fonts and formatting. Adobe Acrobat Professional is the program most businesses use to create and edit PDF files.  However, if you don’t have the program, CutePDF is a free PDF driver available for download that will create a PDF out of any file.  Simply download and install the driver, open the file you would like to convert to a PDF, and go to print and select CutePDF instead of your standard printer.  A save dialog box will appear allowing you to name the PDF file.
3. Don’t design your emails in Microsoft Word.  Another common mistake is designing the email in Word.  Microsoft Word is not an HTML program.  Microsoft Publisher is not an HTML program.  I’m not even that fond of FrontPage.  Anything that has Microsoft in the product title, in my opinion, should not be used to publish on the internet (although I do like Live Writer.)Why all this animosity towards Microsoft?  Anything Microsoft puts out is a big bloated mess.  Have you ever copied an article you wrote in Word and published it on the web?  Have you ever looked at the code?  It is a huge mess.   Lines and lines of pseudo code which only serves to slow down file transfers.When you create an email in Word, what you are sending is a message that is proprietarily coded by Microsoft.  Yes, it will display as you want in Outlook, because Outlook is a Microsoft program; however, that is all you can count on it displaying correctly in.

I came across this video today and just laughed and laughed and laughed.

The video is by Scofield Edit, a boutique agency in Indianapolis that provides editorial and editing services.   The video perfectly captures some of the outrageous attitudes that clients sometimes have towards service based businesses.  The only thing that they don’t reference is where they want you to work for free in exchange for a “partnership.”

For all of my service based clients, the next time someone tries to beat you down on price:  step back, watch this video again, laugh and go back and hold firm.

I just got a call from my printer and they are running an amazing special on brochure printing and I am passing that savings along to you.

Save $100 on brochure printing from now until July 10th.

The special offer is on 8.5″ x 11″ trifold brochures, full color on both sides, on 100 lb gloss book paper.

With this promotion, it is a great time to stock up for your marketing efforts for the rest of the year.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, your order needs to be in no later than the 10th to get the pricing of $229 for 1000.   To get the best results, your brochure file should have a resolution of at least 300 dpi.

If you would like me to design a new brochure or make changes to an existing one, please let me know as soon as possible because we have to have everything completed by the deadline of the 10th.

Either give me a call at 713.289.0819 or you can order online as well.  Click “Update Cart,” and at the next screen enter the promo code, JULY09, to get the savings.

I just sent this out as part of an advertisers update for the Kingwood Connection and to my eNewsletter List, and thought I would post this on my blog.

Most of you reading this will not be in the Kingwood area; however, wherever you are I am sure there are opportunities for you to do some community marketing on the 4th of July.  If there truly is nothing going on in the area, then pull out a BBQ and make your own event like Rick Alspaugh of Ace Hardware does with his annual Street Dance.

The 4th of July & You

When we moved to Kingwood in 2002, our first taste of Kingwood life were the 4th of July festivities.  We went to our first Kingwood 4th of July parade and received a promotional fan from the RE/MAX float where we later found our Realtor.

There was also a float entry by the neighborhood village we eventually bought in (that is the only time I have seen a float by a village HOA).  When we were looking for homes, that was in the back of my mind because to me it said that it was a friendly, community oriented village.

If you want to forge relationships with the community, participating community events is a great way to do it.   People may not always mention it, but it does make an impact on a customer’s opinion of your company.

I don’t have any affiliation with these events,  I just think that local businesses have a great opportunity and I hate to see anyone miss out.

4th of July Parade

The Kingwood 4th of July Parade is organized by the Kingwood Civic Club.  The fee for commercial entries is $30.  If you have a nonprofit organization, the fee is waived.   Entry forms can be picked up at the Lake Houston YMCA.

Line up starts at 8 am on the corner of Feather Lakes and West Lake Houston Parkway.  Judging starts at 9 am, and the parade starts at 10 am.  The route goes south on West Lake Houston Parkway from Creekwood Middle School, and West on Kingwood Drive to Kingwood High School.

Entry Ideas:   Some businesses go all out and create real floats.  If you have the time, resources, and inspiration to do that . . . awesome!

If not, don’t think you can’t participate.  Get a banner printed for your business, have your employees (or wrangle some friends to do it with you) wear shirts advertising your business, and walk the parade route.  Slap some banners on the side of a pickup truck and drive in the parade. When Kids in Action has participated in the past, they have walked with a parachute and did the thing where they pop up waffle balls during stops.

I do offer banner printing through Legacy Marketing; however, with shipping the time is a little short.  I go to Signs Designs Now on 494 for all my last minute banner and sign printing.  But if you need a banner for the 4th, you need to order it now . . . as in call them first thing Thursday.

If you have a business that offers classes, do little demos during the breaks.  I’m originally from Oregon, and parades are big, especially with the Rose Festival, and there are always entries with exhibitions in the parades.

If you have a landscaping business, create a mini scape in a trailer bed.

Illustrate what you do to parade goers.

Handouts: Be sure to have plenty of business handouts.  If nothing else, hand out your business cards.  Full sized 8.5 x 11 flyers have always seemed a little unweildy  to me for passing out at a parade.  Rack cards or 4″ x 6″ or 5″ x 7″ postcards are great for that.

Parade goers always like getting other “stuff” though.  One year for a mom’s group, we handed out ice pops, which were a big hit.  Tip: if you are going to hand them out get them now, they take a lot longer to freeze when your freezer is full of them.

Candy is always a staple.  Just be sure not to get anything that will melt.  A lot of people hand out water bottles.

If you are looking for little toys and gadgets, we go to Party Wholesalers on the South side of Houston to get our prizes for Picnic on the Park.  If you want to stay a little closer to home, The Goody Bag is on 1960 in Humble.  Right now The Goody Bag has a promotion on their website, $5 off a $25 purchase.

Parade Tips:  Remember it gets hot in July.  Wear sunscreen and be sure to bring plenty of water for your people.

Also, last year I did a float with my friend for her son’s business, the Reptile Wranger , and I could not believe all of the kids that crowded the route . . . some running right up to the floats.  If you are driving and have the manpower to do it, it would be a good idea to have one or two people walk in front of your vehicle to make sure children don’t get too close while it is moving.

Town Center 4th of July Festival

I love events at Town Center and the 4th of July Festival is one of the biggest . . . and I say this as the organizer of Picnic on the Park.

The festival will be from 2 to 9 pm.  Regular vendor booths are $75, food booths are $100.  You can download the application from the web site

I’m pretty sure they will take applications even up to the day of, but give Angela Griffing, the coordinator, a break and get your application in ahead of time if you are planning on doing it.  Trust me, it makes life so much easier if you don’t have to try to get people situated at the last minute.

Frequently Asked Questions: i get these questions all the time for Picnic on the Park, so I’m sure Angela does as well.

What do I get with a booth? You get a 10′ x 10′ space.   You need to bring your own tables, chairs, canopy, etc.  They don’t require a canopy, but I highly recommend it.  If you need electricity, you need to bring a generator.  The electrical situation is very shaky at the park and they just can’t have a bunch of people plugging in or it will blow the breakers.

What do I do if it rains? The event goes on rain or shine.  If starts raining, don’t pack up and go home.  Hunker down in your canopy (see note above), invite passersby in and make new contacts.  It almost always rains on the 4th, but it is never for very long.  Yes, people still come.

People start coming when the event opens, but things really start hopping at around 6 pm as people start coming for the fireworks.

What should I do at my booth? If you have a retail business, it is easier to set up a display that will draw people in and give them something to look at.  Don’t set up a table across the front and making it easy for them to just glance and walk by, put the table to the back and sides and draw them in.

Be friendly.  Make eye contact and smile.  I’ve seen many vendors at my event founder because they sat at the back of their booth with a glum look on their face.  They gave off such a negative vibe, it was almost a physical wall.

If you have a service based business, it is a little harder to come up with something to attract people.  A few examples of successful vendors at our Picnic on the Park event would be The Little Gym that brings mats and wedges for kids to play on.  Jamie at Creekwood Dental participated in her first Kingwood event this year at Picnic on the Park and had a beehive of activity by handing out tattoos  (available at Party Wholesalers or the Goody Bag) and candy filled eggs.   Tracy Woodard was a Plus Sponsor at Picnic on the park and promoted her new resale shop, Everything-N-Between, by renting a helium tank and handing out balloons.

Have sign ups for drawings.  Ask people to sign up for your mailing list and put something in it for them by offering discounts through it (if you don’t have a mailing list or eNewsletter and would like to start one, contact me).  if you still need ideas for your booth and would like to rent one of the games we use for Picnic on the Park , contact me.

Since migrating from Joomla 1.0.x to the 1.5 release, I’ve been very pleased with the changes to the platform.  The backend is more straightforward for the end user.

The challenge is finding the right components and plugins to use with 1.5.  I have been using the platform since 2004, beginning with Mambo before the project forked and Joomla was founded.  I had tested countless add-ons and favorite standbys that I used on all of the sites that I developed.

The release of Joomla 1.5 marked a major update to the platform.  So much so that transitioning a site from 1.0.x to 1.5 requires a migration, not just an upgrade.  In addition, many of the pre 1.5 extensions are not compatible with the new release.  So I have to do all of the research on the extensions for 1.5 again.

A client wanted to add a social bookmarking option to the blog section of her web site running on Joomla 1.5.  Adding that functionality is a simple thing, but again the catch is finding the right plugin out of all of those available.  There are 59 extensions for social bookmarking alone in the Joomla extension gallery. That is a lot to sort through to find just the right extension for your site.

Social Bookmarking Criteria

My client’s needs weren’t elaborate, but there were a few criteria that I was looking for in an extension:

1. The ability to easily enable and disable the bookmarklets for the different sites.
2. Bookmarklets displayed in a list.
3. An “Email to a Friend” option along with the bookmarks.  Joomla does have a built-in “Email to a Friend” feature, but rather than having to style the core option to match the bookmarklets, I preferred that it was a built-in option for the plugin.
4. Since the site was more than just a blog, I wanted the ability to select which content types the bookmarks would display on.

Below is a comparison of the top rated extensions that I tested

Social Bookmarking Plugins Comparison Chart

Module vs Plugin

There are two different approaches that the extension developers could take for the social bookmarking functionality: developing the extension as a module or as a plugin.

If you are not that familiar with Joomla, the difference between the two can be a little confusing.

A plugin performs an action on content items.  A module displays existing information.

A plugin’s output is displayed within the content item itself.  A module is displayed in a module location in the template and is assigned by menu items.

So in reference to the social bookmarking extensions, a plugin would display the bookmarks at the bottom of the content.  One developed as a module would display the bookmarks in a module position on the page.

Extension Selected:  Sexy Bookmarks

I chose the Sexy Bookmarks plugin because it met three of the four of my criteria out of the box, and I could make the fourth work with a little CSS manipulation.

1. Bookmark Selection: Bookmarking services are easily enabled or disabled with radio selectors.
2. Bookmarklets Displayed in a List:  Not only do they display in a list, but they have cool rollover effects as well.
3. Email to a Friend:  This was the only extension that I tested that had this feature.
4. Specify Categories to Display: This was the one criteria that I had to fiddle with to get it to do what I wanted.  The plugin does offer the option to specify the display on the homepage, category lists, or articles; however, it doesn’t give you the option to limit it by category or section.

Fine Tuning the Plugin Display

I got around the inability to specify the display by category or section with CSS.  In Joomla, the displaying of information is controlled by the menu items.  When you set up a menu link, you specify what the name of the link will be, what type of information it will display, and how it will display it.

A cascading  stylesheet  (CSS) basically tells your HTML page how to display specific information.  For example, you could specify in a stylesheet that all heading 2’s (h2) would be 15 points, in the Georgia font, and the color blue.  You could further specify that h2’s with a class of “school” would be orange and those with a class of “work” would be green. (Visit CSS Zen Garden for a vivid illustration of the power of CSS.)

The Joomla menu manager provides the option to specify a page class suffix for each menu item.  Even though the option for a unique ID for each menu item is built in, it isn’t hugely useful in a stock Joomla implementation.  The only place it is output on a page is in the content heading and content page classes, which doesn’t do much for you if you want to style each page differently.

However, there is a way to make that page class suffix more useful.  When designing the client’s site, I coded the body tag to display the page class suffix if one was specified.  This allows for every single page to have a unique ID and to be styled differently.

Since this was already built in to the template, in order to set the bookmarks to only display in the blog section, I set up each menu item related to the blog with the same page class suffix.  Then I set the first CSS definition for the division containing the bookmarks not to display.  The second definiton set the bookmarks to display on any page that had the blog page class suffix.

.sexy-bookmarks {
display: none;
}
body.blog .sexy-bookmarks {
display: block;
}

I know . . . a little convoluted, but it does what I needed it to do.

I hope this review saves someone else time narrowing down extensions.  Which social bookmarketing plugin is your favorite?