Listen here to the very informative WENS Hour on CJAD for discussion on eMarketing Strategies. Print your own transcript or feel to read along below.

Segment 1 - 7:05 am - 7:10 am WENS intro

Welcome back to another edition of the WENS Hour. We have a jammed packed show for you this evening. Tonight, you'll find out absolutely everything you wanted to know about eMarketing strategies using newsletters as your online marketing technique.

My guests and I will be talking about:

• The various eMarketing strategies and how to get your campaigns started
• Advantages over online newsletters verses print newsletters
• Advantages and disadvantages of the various types of newsletters and the most effective ways of getting your message to your customer
• And we'll be talking about the technology behind these campaigns as well as the various considerations to avoid the big black cloud otherwise known as spam.
• Find out how not to be blacklisted and how to track your ROI results of your online marketing strategies

Right here! Right now! on The WENS Hour!

I'd also like to mention that at anytime, you can log on to the WENScentral website and view all of the questions and answers that we will be discussing this evening. Just click on www.wenscentral.com and go to the CJAD page on the top navigation bar in yellow. If you have any questions that have not been addressed here tonight, please feel free to contact us and it would be our pleasure to forward the information you are looking for.

Before I introduce my guests for this evening, I would like to bring you up to speed on how WENS can help you grow your business. WENS really goes beyond the business card because we create events that are not only educational and fun, but we work hard to help you build the relationships of contacts and referrals you need to build your business.

It's a well known fact that word of mouth marketing is not only THE most effective way to get new customers, but it's also the most cost-effective way of marketing.

WENS will help you build this powerful network through online and offline networking events, educational workshops, seminars, teleseminar and webinars. Our comprehensive website has more than 400 pages of articles and resources to help you get better informed of today's business trends, and of course our online member's directory is the ultimate gold mine of the site. This is where the magic happens.

We offer a wide variety of events every month ranging from round table discussions, early morning breakfast meetings, educational workshops and we even get our counterparts involved in the fun during our MENS meets WENS jazz networking nights.

One event that I would like to bring to your attention is our Seasons Greetings Holiday fair which will take place this Saturday at 420 Sherbrooke Street West at the Holiday Inn between 10 am and 3 pm. Come out and support Women in Business and get some excellent gift giving ideas for the Holidays. We have more than 50 booths of products ranging from handmade products, original art, jewelry and accessories. Oh, there is just so many things, you'll have to come out and see for yourself at 420 Sherbrooke Street West at the Holiday inn between 10 am and 3 pm this Saturday.

Now's I'd like to introduce my guests for this evening.

First up we have:

Charlotte Riley is the president of A.C. Riley Web Content Services, a company that specializes in the development of optimized copy for the Internet. Previously she has worked as an editor of an international Internet directory, reviewing more than 20,000 web sites and working with paid submissions. Before that she was VP of Marketing at a Montreal-based firm that specialized in sales and marketing strategies for small and medium-sized businesses.

Charlotte Riley
ACRiley.com
Tel: 1.866.882.1019
Web: www.acriley.com

Karen Fegarty is co-owner of Mailworkz - an eMarketing company focused on providing email marketing, ad tracking, and deliverability product, services and consulting. Karen's background in IT programming, design, marketing, sales and small business startup investments, gives her a unique perspective and understanding of the issues faced by small businesses today.

Karen Fegarty
Mailworkz.com
1.902.835.8974
www.mailworkz.com

Jim Royal is the creative director of Digital Wind, a corporate branding and web design firm. He is also the president of the Montreal chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. A former journalist and technical writer for more than 10 years, Jim's focus is message first, technology second.

Digital Wind
Tel: 514.481.7380
www.digitalwind.com

So stay right where you are, we'll be back in two quick seconds. Ready to dive into the Eworld of marketing strategies.

Check out our website for a complete list of all the questions we will be addressing this evening.

Segment 2 - 7:12 am - 7:20 am
Questions and Answers

JIM
What is online marketing and can you describe several different strategies? (Newsletters, Ads, Ezines)

Online marketing is a different animal from marketing out in the physical world. In radio, TV, and print, your ad is part of the environment, and is hard to avoid. In the physical world, you have some control over how the customer sees you. On the net, people see your stuff only if they want to see it -- the customer is in the driver's seat. And the online customer tends to be impatient.

So your pitch must be different: Instead of wooing the customer with mood and style, you often have to pair down your pitch to the essentials:

What is your value to the customer?

Your website is a passive tool -- it waits for people to come around and visit. To make yourself more visible, you can use email newsletters and banner ads. Newsletters and other electronic magazines help maintain and strengthen relationships with existing customers. And if you're able to do it, a really well-written newsletter can create a grassroots word of mouth about you.

Banner ads, and services like Google Adwords work more like traditional ads -- they make your advertising part of the landscape. But they have limited success. These days, text-based ads such as Google Adwords seem to work a bit better than banners ads because people have learned to skip by the banners.

Karen
How does someone start an online marketing campaign?

Assuming you have a website your primary focus is to drive potential customers to your website to promote your products and services. Take a look at this in terms of short-term, mid-term and long-term strategies. In the short-term, immediately have a sign-up box on your website to begin to gather email addresses. (Take a look at a product like Ezlistz to quickly get a sign-up box up on your site.) You should be doing this off-line as well. You will use these later to send email campaigns, promotions, etc. In the short term, as well, look at pay-per-click search engines like Overture and Google ad words. Within a half hour you can be driving traffic to your site.

In the mid-term, start to establish your own newsletters on promotional campaigns. As well look for other sites and ezines where you can promote your products.

In the long-term, focus on getting good placements in the major search engines like Google and Yahoo. This will take from six to 12 months, and you will need some skill sets with regard to this. It is worthwhile to invest the time and effort, as this is where you will see the majority of your free traffic.

Charlotte
What are the top three advantages of an online newsletter as opposed to a traditional print newsletter?

• Firstly, the cost. Because there are no printing and mailing costs, online newsletters can be produced for a fraction of the cost.
• Secondly, timeliness. Getting your news out takes only the click of a button and - poof! - it's there, information that is relevant NOW.
• Lastly, they help add informative, quality content to your site. After you have sent out your eNewsletter, you can add them to archived newsletter section on your site. This provides keywords and keyword phrases to your site as well as gives site visitors sections that contain industry trends, helpful tips, interesting articles, etc. (This helps add interaction with your site.)

Jim
Who is the typical audience for an email newsletter?

The number one audience for a newsletter is your existing customer base. Wells Fargo says it costs eight times as much to get a new customer as it costs to keep an existing one. Newsletters are proactive tools -- they remind your past customers that you still exist.

Also, a well-written newsletter with truly interesting content will tend to get forwarded from one person to another. So the newsletter becomes a source of potential new business as a secondary effect. What "truly interesting content" means depends on the type of business you're trying to promote.

Charlotte
What types of online newsletters are there and what are their advantages and disadvantages?

Plain-text email newsletter
Anyone who has an email account can receive and read plain-text email newsletters. Readers have the newsletter sent directly to them, and they view the newsletter in their email program. However, as its name implies, you are limited to a very plain, simple newsletter. Plain-text newsletters cannot contain color or graphics, and you cannot incorporate any design elements, such as using varying text styles and sizes, or formatting text into multiple columns.

Advantages
- Plain-text email newsletters are extremely quick and easy to compose and send out.
- This is an ideal format for sending out extremely urgent, time-sensitive information.
- Everyone with an email account can read these newsletters.
- Because of their small file size, plain-text emails are quick for readers to download.

Disadvantages
- Because plain-text newsletters cannot contain color, graphics or other design elements, they are not eye-catching. Readers may quickly lose interest when reading row after row of text with no graphical, visual breaks.

HTML email newsletter

This type of newsletter is distributed through email and is viewed in the reader's email program. This type of email looks like a web page. It can incorporate color, photos, graphics and other design elements, such as varying typeface sizes and styles, and text that is formatted into multiple columns. However, only people who have HTML-capable browsers (such as recent versions of Netscape or Microsoft email programs) can view these publications.

Advantages
- This is the most attractive type of email newsletter because you can include photos, graphics, color and other design elements.
- HTML email publications are a good alternative to more expensive printed newsletters.
- This type of publication is ideal for people who will primarily read the newsletter on screen.

Disadvantages
- People with older, non-standard or web-based email programs may not be able to read HTML emails, and will instead see a confusing array of programming codes on their screens. Recent estimates say that as many as 20% of people with email accounts cannot view HTML emails.
- If photos or graphics are included in the HTML email, readers must have an open connection to the Internet while they read the email to see the photos. This may be a problem for people who view the newsletter at work because many companies restrict their employees' Internet access.
- Unlike a web newsletter, all articles must be put on the same page. That means a newsletter with a large number of articles must be viewed and printed as one super long page.

Web newsletter
This type of newsletter is one that is hosted on a web site (either on the Internet or an intranet). It is not distributed by email. Readers must go to a website and read the newsletter on their Internet browser. These publications can be designed just like any other web page, including the use of color, photos, graphics and other design elements. View a sample of a web newsletter.

Advantages
- A web newsletter can be as attractive and eye catching as any other web page, and may include color, photos, graphics, etc.
- If you get your newsletter listed and indexed on Internet search engines, you will likely gain more readers and attract more traffic to your website.
- Ideal for onscreen reading.
- It's easy to archive back issues on your website. This makes a great resource for your readers, especially if you add a "search" feature to your site.

Disadvantages
- Readers must have Internet access to view the publication. Remember, not everyone who has an email account has an Internet connection.
- Compared to an email newsletter, a web newsletter is not as convenient because readers must go to an Internet site to view it rather than have it delivered to them.
- Doesn't look as good when printed and read from a hard copy as it does on screen.

PDF newsletter
This type of newsletter can be distributed as an email attachment or posted on an Internet site for people to download. Readers must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, available for free from the Adobe.com website, installed on their computers to view or print a PDF newsletter. A PDF publication looks and prints more like a traditional printed newsletter than any other type of online newsletter. Download a sample PDF newletter (this may take several minutes to fully load).

Advantages
- There are fewer design limitations with this electronic format than any other. That's because PDF newsletters can be created to look like just about any printed publication, including fancy, full-color publications.
- This is the best electronic format for people who will print and read the newsletter off screen.
- It's easy to convert most printed newsletters to a nearly identical electronic PDF publication.

Disadvantages
- PDF files are larger than any other type of online newsletter file. Thus they may take a long time to download with a standard 56k modem. Also, when sending these files as email attachments, some readers may not be able to receive them. That's because email providers usually limit the size of attachments that their customers can receive. Many email providers set that limit at five megabytes. A large PDF newsletter that has lots of photos can easily exceed five megabytes in size.
- Photos and graphics are usually saved in low resolution for PDF newsletters to minimize download time. This means the publication's photos and graphics may look fuzzy when printed.
- All readers must have special software -- Adobe Acrobat Reader -- installed on their computers to view and print a PDF newsletter.

To decide which online newsletter is best for you to publish, you'll have to know your readers' software, Internet and email capabilities. Then you'll have to match up the format that works best for your readers.

This may be easy if all your readers have the same technical capabilities. For instance, if your newsletter is only read internally, by employees within your company, they will likely use the same browsers and e-mail programs. However, if your readership is varied, you may find that you have to publish your newsletter in several formats so that no reader is excluded. For instance, many newsletters are published and distributed in both plain-text and HTML email formats, depending on each reader's preference.

Karen
What are the costs associated with email marketing?

The costs are relatively inexpensive as compared to traditional post and really depend on how you intend to manage and send your campaigns. You can choose to manage and send your own campaigns or have a service company do this for you. There are pros and cons to both. Typically if you choose to manage and send your own campaigns you will need to make a one-time purchase of software such as our Broadcast software. There are a number of software products available and range from $200 - $2000 dollars. You will also require an Internet connection. At this point you can send as many emails and campaigns as you wish for no additional costs. You decide to go with a email marketing service provider expect to pay an on-going charge of 1/2 to 5 cents per email that you send to.

Jim
Should you combine newsletters and ad campaigns or keep your promotional strategies separate? (ads)

Advertising and email newsletters fill different needs. They can be used at the same time as a part of a broader campaign, but they should not contain identical messages. Their audiences are different. their goals are different; as one is intended to bring in new business while the other is intended to encourage repeat business.

Jim
Do I or should I have a web site if I have an email newsletter?

Most businesses should definitely use their email newsletter in tandem with their corporate web site. One of the most powerful ways to measure the effectiveness of your email newsletter is measuring how many people visit your web site after reading your newsletter. A newsletter should contain links that invite the reader to visit your web site for more information. And it is fairly straightforward to measure the number of click-throughs that your web site receives from your newsletter.

Also, people use websites as a barometer for the quality of a company. A well-structured, nicely formatted newsletter that leads people back to a professionally-built, well-structured website says that this company is professional, reliable. And consistent, crisp branding across different media will help create trust in the mind of the buyer.

Segment 3 7:22 am - 7:30 am

Charlotte
How would a company getting started if they wanted to start sending out newsletters?

First, if you have the time, start by signing up for lots of newsletters months in advance. Sign up for industry newsletters, competitors' newsletters, and even unrelated newsletters that there's just something about them that you like - whether it's the look, or the tone.

Second, KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! I can't stress this enough. If you have several target markets, consider doing more than one eNewsletter. For instance if you have an accounting company and half of your clientele is over the age of 50, consider writing a specific newsletter for that group - talking about retirement savings tips, any new tax laws that might apply, how to make the most out of their existing investments.

Before you even pick up a pen, or put fingers to keyboard look through all of your existing communications - your brochures, your sales collaterals, letters you send to your clients and make sure your newsletter is consistent with the rest of your materials.

Charlotte:
What are the top three mistakes that companies make when putting out an eNewsletter?

• No consistency! Pick a newsletter schedule and stick to it! If you can't see yourself having the time and available resources to put out a newsletter on a monthly basis, that's fine have a newsletter that goes out every two months, or quarterly, but whatever you do plan a schedule and stick to it! As a guideline, it takes a non-professional writer about five to seven hours to write, revise, rewrite and proof each traditional page of content. So, if you cannot allot a minimum of 20 to 28 hours a month to put out a monthly newsletter, either don't do it, or better yet, hire a professional.
• Mistaking your eNewsletter with a brochure. While you do want to include information on your products and services to either cross-sell or up-sell, there has to be a balance between advertising and information. People sign up for newsletters for information, interesting articles, tips and hints, industry news - lots of things. Very few people want to get a newsletter that is 100% advertising. A good newsletter is a blend of news, ideas, and promotional messages.
• Newsletters that don't have a purpose. I know it sounds insane that people are taking the time and effort to put these things out and there's no purpose - but it happens - a lot! Keep in mind newsletters serve three purposes:
  1. Serve the needs of current and past clients
  2. Position in front of prospective clients, building brand and credibility
  3. Build a base of repeat business

Once you understand the purpose of an eNewsletter, it becomes easier to write. As well, you need to make it easy for people to contact your company, make a purchase, and inquire about a service…whatever. You do this by offering contact information embedded into the newsletter, and easy click-on links back to relevant information on your site.

Charlotte:
What are the top five tips to making sure an eNewsletter is read, not just deleted?

Always have catchy or descriptive headings.

Keep the articles short and readable. People read differently when they are online and tend to scan.

Use action verbs

Use a story-telling approach to draw people in.

Jim
What is more important in an email newsletter: the hard sell or being informative?

It depends on your business. If you're selling a commodity, then your value is in price or features, so a hard sell is appropriate. If you're a services or value-added company, then it might be better to promote based on the depth of your expertise. In this case, a regular column on issues relating to your field could create a loyal readership and good word-of-mouth. In either case, the focus needs to be on presenting solutions to real problems that your customers may be having.

Charlotte:
What are a few ways to get the creative juices flowing for a promotional piece?

Prepare - start by creating your vocabulary. Write down your product names or services and for each one list nouns, adjectives, benefits, facts and figures, if you have a tagline include it. Get the overall feeling of your company.

Think - Quality writing needs thinking time - there's no getting around it. This isn't an excuse for taking weeks to get something done, but take the time to think about the words you are using, interesting combinations. Look at all sorts of advertising for inspiration.

Expect writer's block - Accept it. It's going to happen. If you can't think of anything try a new approach think about your product from a visual approach and write what you see. Allow images to come to mind - people benefiting from your product or service, what are they doing or feeling. Capture all of these ideas on paper.

Charlotte:
Do I have to have perfect grammar to write?

Grammar is important and I always advocate proper grammar, but that said, some of the most powerful advertising writing and enewsletter writing includes such things as sentence fragments, beginning a sentence with a conjunction. Break the rules occasionally and above all make it conversational and believable.

Jim
What are the different parts of an effective email newsletter?

First and foremost, a newsletter needs crisp, punchy content. You must have something interesting to say. Second, a table of contents with links to the articles is important. People are busy, and they want to be able to tell at a glance whether your newsletter is something that they want to read immediately, later, or not at all.

Finally, a newsletter must have clear and friendly instructions on how to get on and off the mailing list. If your readers are not able to get on and off the list at will, they may conclude that you're really just spamming them. And that bad for your business.

Charlotte:
When sending out an email, the "subject line" is the first sentence people read before deciding to open the email. What tips can you offer to ensure that email gets opened?

Segment 4 - 7:32 am - 7:40 am
Questions and Answers

Karen
What is permission based email marketing?

Opt in - Double opt in - Opt out - Permission based marketing simply means that you have a relationship with the person that you are sending your emails to and that they have requested to receive these emails. They also have the ability at any time to be removed from your list. There are three types of permissions. Opt-in means that a person has entered their address to indicate that they would like to receive a particular piece of email information. This concern with this type is that anyone can enter any email address into a signup box. There is no confirmation check done. Double opt-in corrects this problem - People enter their email address into a sign up box they are then sent an email to that email address requesting confirmation. Only when this second confirmation is done is the email address added to the database. Opt-out truly cannot be considered permission based email marketing. This happens to many of us when we sign up for something and there are a number of boxes pre-selected for us to sign up for other emails. Unless we deselect these we can receive emails from these sponsors and often others that they sell the co-registrations to.

Karen:
What are the legal issues with regard to email marketing that people should be aware of?

Most countries now have specific legal requirements of any email messages that are sent. The most important is the Can-spam act. This act has a number of requirements that must be adhered to. We will be talking later about how to deal with the Can-spam act. More information about legal issues can be found on our site www.mailworkz.com and www.spamlaws.com

Karen:
What is the difference between doing my own email marketing and using a service provider?

The main differences are cost and technical. As I mentioned earlier doing your own email marketing typically will cost you a one-time charge for the purchase of software to create and manage your campaigns. A service provider will charge you on a per-email basis. Each solution will require that you have a certain level of comfort with technology. With the do-it-yourself option you will need to become familiar with the software that you have purchased. Most software is fairly easy to use and created for marketing individuals. A service provider will require you to sign in and become comfortable with their system and require you to upload your lists and messages. The biggest difference between the two options is how they are sent. With the option to manage and send your own campaign you will be required to send the message through your ISP's server or in some cases you may have your own in-house server to send the messages. With the service provider they will send the messages through their servers on your behalf. In addition, when doing the marketing yourself you maintain control of your lists, messages, etc. With the service provider everything is hosted at their site.

Karen:
What is the single most important thing to do when implementing an eMarketing strategy?

Ensure you are comfortable with either the software you have purchased or the service provider. Know how to use the systems to your full advantage.

Jim
Where do you get the names of subscribers for a newsletter?

Start with your own business contacts and your existing customers. These are the people who are going to be most receptive to your email newsletter. Also, asking people to subscribe to your newsletter should be part of your normal sales technique. Your website should also have a prominent subscribe feature to entice visitors to sign up.

Jim
Is it wise to purchase an existing email list from these companies that sell them?

No, it is not. Sending your newsletter to people unsolicited is the dictionary definition of spam. This is something you want to avoid, as it can be damaging to your business.

Jim
If I go to an networking event and pick up 50 business cards, can I come home and just add everyone I met to my email marking list… or is this a mistake?

This is pretty much the same thing as buying a list of names. It's spam. The best thing to do is talk to as many of these potential contacts as possible as they visit your booth, and ask them on the spot if they'd like to receive your newsletter. And if so, put a mark on their business card.

Segment 5 - 7:42 am - 7:50 am
Questions and Answers

Jim
What is spam? How do you keep your email newsletter from being misinterpreted as spam?

Spam is unsolicited commercial email sent in bulk. It is a massive problem on the Net, as it is slowly rendering the email networks useless for legitimate communication. There are companies creating blacklists of spammers, and you must at all costs stay off these lists. Not only will your email newsletters not get through, but your other email communication can get blocked as well.

Worse, spamming is becoming increasingly illegal around the world. Last week, a jury in Virginia sentenced a spammer to a nine-year prison sentence. Now, this guy was conducting his email campaigns fraudulently, forging return addresses. But clearly, you do not want your business to be associated this guy in the minds of your customers.

There are two important ways to keep you from being classified as a source of spam. First, no one who has not explicitly asked to receive your email newsletter should ever receive it. This is called an opt-in subscription policy. Indiscriminant mass-mailing is out. Second, your newsletter should be of high quality. Well-designed. Well-written. And it must provide an easy and clear way for people to get off your mailing list -- preferably more than one way.

Charlotte:
What about spam guards?

Spam guards are responsible for blocking up to 15% of all legitimate emails and eNewsletters and other legitimate messages. Avoid words like "free" and in particular, the expression "This is not spam," which seems to cause newsletters to be blocked. Don't use "spammy" techniques.

Avoid:

• Lots of exclamation marks in the subject line.
• Phraseslike "great offer!" and "money-making opportunity" "guaranteed" and other hype words.
• Never put the subject line in all caps.
• If using an HTML newsletter keep the text-to-html ratio in good proportion (about 60% or more of your email should be text).

As your email list grows, often anything over 50 recipients is flagged as spam. Ask subscribers in a confirmation to add your newsletters' email to their filter or white list. I'm not a technical person, but there are plenty of quality programs out there. Try some of the programs and services out there that help send bulk mail.

Karen:
How can I avoid being classified as a Spammer?

This is difficult because in actuality anyone can make a complaint to an ISP or blacklist and have you labeled a spammer. The most important things are, however, is to decrease the likely hood of this. Ensure your list is permission based, preferably double-opt in. Make sure your message is as clean as possible as to not trigger spam filters. Maintain a good relationship with your ISP that you are sending your messages through. Always take care of your unsubscribes and remove your undeliverables as to not create unnecessary loads on your senders bandwidth.

Karen
What are blacklists and how does this affect my eMarketing efforts.

Blacklists are lists of IP or domain addresses that are know to send spam. There are thousands of blacklists at this time. Most ISPs will check against these blacklists and if a sender is listed on a list they will not deliver the message to the recipient. Unfortunately it is very easy to be erroneously listed on a blacklist. The majority of ISPs checks a major list called SpamCop and it only takes one spam complaint to SpamCop for you to be listed. If you are listed your messages will not be delivered. AOL for example checks many blacklists and now blocks more than 80% of messages. On average you can expect now more than 30% of your email messages not to be delivered because of spam filters and blacklisting. It is very important for you to know where you are blacklisted and take steps to be removed. In most cases you can be removed fairly easily if you follow the correct procedures. One way of easily finding out if and where you are blacklisted is to use a service such as Blacklist Monitor - Blacklist Monitor monitors most of the major blacklists and will tell you where you are listed and will give you assistance in getting removed.

Karen:
How has the increase in spam affected email marketing?

Unfortunately because of the increase in spam, ISPs, companies and individuals have had to take measures to reduce the amount of spam. Anti-spam filters, blacklist checks, whitelisting, etc., can all lead to decrease deliverability of valid email. There are measures to increase your chances of having your emails delivered and breaking through the mountain of spam in your recipient's mailbox.

Karen:
What can I do to deal with the spam that I get?

The first thing you should do is try the reduce the opportunities for spammers to get your email address. If possible use specific email addresses for different purposes. For example when you sign up for newsletters, use a different email address than you would provide to your clients or friends. That way you can monitor which addresses are receiving the spam. Most likely the ones that are receiving spam are the addresses you used on other sites while signing up for something. These you can delete if the spam becomes unwieldy. Also, try not to post your email addresses on your site or use coding techniques to hide these from spyder software that goes from site to site stripping email addresses that are sold or used on spammer lists. Finally take a look at various anti-spam or filtering software. But be careful there is many types of software and some are better than others and all are capable of filtering emails that you, in fact, want.

Charlotte:
How do I make sure my eNewsletter is compliant with the CAN-SPAM policies of the Federal Trade Commission?

CAN-SPAM act was passed into law on January 1st, 2004.

• Make sure all the information in your headings (and newsletter) is accurate and, in no way, misleading
• Include the company's physical address
• Include an opt-out link (to unsubscribe)
• Indicate the email is an advertisement

Karen:
What changes in the industry should I be aware of?

The most important industry changes center around spam and deliverability issues. Know your legal requirements, find out what you can do to improve deliverability and keep informed of the methods used by major ISPs like AOL, MSN and Yahoo to protect their customers from spam. You will need to adhere to their standards to enable you to get your messages through and see the best return for your investments.

Segment 6 - 7:52 am - 7:58 am
Questions and Answers

Karen:
What can I expect as a ROI from email marketing?

Even with the difficulties with deliverability, spam, filter agents, etc., you can expect a positive ROI of your email marketing investment. Recent statistics show that 82% of consumers have made a purchase as a result of clicking on a permission-based email message. The important thing to remember is to ensure that your messages are targeted to your audience and relevant. Also extremely important is to use online tracking methods to know exactly how many, who opened and who purchased as a result of your online advertisement or email message. Only with clear numbers can you accurately measure your ROI. Tracking software such as Eztrackz will give you these numbers and is easy to use.

Karen:
Can I track my online eMarketing efforts to measure my ROI?

Yes it is extremely important is to use online tracking methods to know exactly how many, who opened and who purchased as a result of your online advertisement or email message. Only with clear numbers can you accurately measure your ROI. Tracking software such as Eztrackz will give you these numbers and is easy to use. My company created this software for our own purposes initially to allow us to see if our spending was effective. It was shocking! We found that we were spending significant in areas that were not at all profitable. Now we test and tailor and spend our dollars where we see the best returns. This software is now available as a service to our clients.

Jim:
If I wanted to hire someone to manage my newsletters or promotional mail outs, what are good questions I can ask these service providers to ensure they know what they are talking about?

- Do they provide lists of email addresses for sale? If so, avoid them.
- How does their subscription system work? Is it opt-in or double opt-in?
- If they are going to be writing content for you, what experience do they have in this type of writing?
- How will the click-thru rate to your web site be tracked?

Jim
What are reasonable expectations for an email newsletter campaign? How long does it take for an email newsletter campaign to show results?

It depends on your type of business and your approach. If you're a travel agent promoting weekly specials, you'll know pretty soon if the newsletter is working or not. If you're a service company trying to build a worth-of-mouth, it make take months for effects to become visible.

Jim
What is your ultimate goal in sending your newsletters?

An email newsletter campaign is part of a broader strategy that includes your website, sales calls, and traditional advertising. Your primary goal should be to strengthen your relationships with your existing customers.

Well! That concludes this evening's discussion on eMarketing strategies. I know I have learned a heck of a lot here this evening and I would like to thank my guests for joining me this evening. It was a real pleasure having you here.

Charlotte Riley is the president of A.C. Riley Web Content Services, a company that specializes in the development of optimized copy for the Internet.

ACRiley.com
Tel: 1.866.882.1019
Web: www.acriley.com

Karen Fegarty is co-owner of Mailworkz - an eMarketing company focused on providing email marketing, ad tracking, and deliverability product, services and consulting.
Mailworkz.com
1.902.835.8974
Web: www.mailworkz.com

Jim Royal is the creative director of Digital Wind, a corporate branding and web design firm.
Digital Wind
Tel: 514.481.7380
Web: www.digitalwind.com

I'd also like to remind you that our Seasons Greetings Holiday fair will take place this Saturday at 420 Sherbrooke Street West at the Holiday Inn between 10 am and 3 pm. Come out and support Women in Business and get some excellent gift giving ideas for the holidays. We have more than 50 booths of products ranging from handmade products, original art, jewelry and accessories! Again, there is just so many things, you'll have to come out and see for yourself at 420 Sherbrooke Street West at the Holiday inn between 10 am and 3 pm THIS SATURDAY!

Find out how we've helped so many women in Montreal. Go to our website ( the About Us page in the bottom blue navigation bar) and read tons of testimonials from members that have enjoyed and benefited from our women's network.

We go beyond the business card by making connections that matter. Call us at 1.866.936 WENS or click on our website at www.wenscentral.com.

Come check us out at the Season's Greetings Holiday Fair this Saturday at The Holiday Inn on Sherbrooke Street west between 10 am and 3 pm Again our website is www.wenscentral.com and our phone number is 1.866.936.WENS.

We hope you enjoyed yourself with us this evening and have learned a thing or two, and we'll see you soon here on Montreal's News Talk leader CJAD 800.