Marketing communications
Cold-calling business to business
11th July 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
I’ve just walked in the door from by Women in Business Network meeting. The phone rang so I answered and gave my name. After a pause, a hard-to-distinguish voice asked if I was Mrs Lawrence. Sigh. Yes, I said. “And how are you today?” asked the voice. Sigh. It just so happens I’d just been taking part […]
Marketing e-mails: what do they look like and what do they say?
6th June 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
I prefer signing up for email alerts and newsletters to following someone on Twitter. Emails can be saved for quiet times. Tweets are gone in a flash and you might miss something useful. So as something of an email addict, despite the protestations from the social media crowd, I know how fast they can fill […]
Writing newsletters that people want to read
10th April 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
Have just spent an enjoyable couple of hours advising a small business on taking their newsletter to another level. It read well enough, but it just wasn’t being opened, read or acted upon. Bit of a problem. So let’s go through some of the advice I offered. Make the open tempting. Write a subject line […]
Lessons in e-book writing
20th March 2012 | Posted in Marketing communications
So a group of us with small business skills have got together to write an e-book. (See my previous post on why and how.) I volunteered for role of editor. Why? Because I used to be the editor of a magazine way back when print was king, and I know about project managing collections of articles and […]
What’s the point of your newsletter?
15th February 2011 | Posted in Marketing communications
I’ve been working on newsletters for several companies recently, and I’ve noticed a distinct change of approach from the marketing team. Old-style newsletters were generally a hard sell. “You’ve bought this product from us. Now you need add-ons and upgrades to get something even better.” Others were full of company news. It was about the […]
Do you really know what your email audience wants to read?
19th February 2010 | Posted in Marketing communications
Interestingly, it seems that what marketers think is valuable as email marketing content isn’t necessarily what technology buyers want to see. According to report from MarketingSherpa (content available only for a couple of weeks), there’s quite a bit of difference in perception of what achieves clickthrough. Here are a few email marketing suggestions based on their findings: […]
Direct mail still works
26th November 2009 | Posted in Marketing communications
Direct mail is often seen as the poor relation of more instant, Internet-focused marketing. Yet a recent survey found that 56% of marketers believe that direct mail still can influence top executives in organisations. The move towards online marketing is continuing though, driven partly by green concerns, and more recently by the UK postal strike. According […]
Top tips for newsletter writing
18th July 2009 | Posted in Marketing communications
Newsletters are a great way to keep in touch with your customers and your colleagues. They require a bit of thought first though, to ensure you are providing useful and interesting information, and that everyone will benefit as a result. Here are some top tips for newsletter writing. 1. Who is your audience? Customers or […]