We’re pleased to welcome High Country Gardens of Santa Fe, NM as a new client. High Country Gardens specializes in plants for the waterwise garden, which they sell through their award-winning catalog. A Garden Watchdog Top 30 company, they help customers nationwide create colorful gardens while preserving precious water resources. We’re looking forward to helping them grow!
Best Practices For Email Welcome Series
When someone opts in to your email list, sending an acknowledgement is standard. Best practice, however, is to cement the relationship with a well-crafted series of emails. The series can be used to give your reader more insight into your company, guide them towards helpful areas of your website, encourage them to interact with your company using social media, and perhaps offer them some exclusive savings. Here are some suggestions for crafting a strong welcome series:
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Are You Missing Opportunities to Cross-Pollinate Your Marketing?
I’m always amazed at the opportunities companies miss to cross-pollinate their marketing efforts. Here’s what I mean… Think of all the different places you interact with customers and prospects, such as: Catalog Website Emailings Customer service calls Order acknowledgements Shipping notices Packing slips Trade shows Facebook fan pages Twitter Blog YouTube Then think of all […]
Some Facebook Marketing Aids
One of the most popular topics I post on is marketing via Facebook. While I’m not yet convinced that Facebook deserves a prominent spot in everyone’s marketing plan, it’s hard to ignore its 400 million active users. At the very least, it’s worth staying abreast of how other companies are incorporating Facebook into their marketing. Here are some links to help you do that: (Click on the headline for more…)
Generating Traffic From YouTube: A Different Approach
This month’s issue of Internet Retailer reported on a different way to tap into the marketing potential of YouTube. Instead of starting their own YouTube channel and building traffic over time, online merchant BeautyChoice.com wanted to jumpstart the process. (Click on the headline for more…)
How Do Your Customers Perceive You?
How do your customers see you? Does your company have a distinctive personality that pervades your marketing materials? Do you feed your customers a steady diet of useful information that will help them think of you first when they’re ready to buy? Here’s a self-test to help answer these questions: (Click on the headline for more…)
A Provocative Look at How Catalogs Must Evolve
At the recent NEMOA conference, Andrew Davis of Tipping Point Labs gave an information-packed presentation on The Social Media Tipping Point: Monetizing Incremental Commerce. I found Davis’ common sense approach to today’s “social media madness” (the NEMOA program guide’s words, not mine) refreshing. So it was with great interest that I read his take on how catalogs need to evolve in order to stay viable. (Click on the headline for more…)
Competitive Advantages Ready for the Taking
At the recent NEMOA conference, David Solomon, head of Lazard Middle Market’s Specialty Retail and Direct marketing Group, gave an excellent presentation on Creating Value in the New Economy. He emphasized how dramatically consumers’ decision-making processes have changed in recent years, and how successful merchants must adapt their marketing strategies as a result. Among his key points: (Click on the headline for more…)
Email Signup Best Practices: A Great Example
Hats off to Great Garden Plants for a super job on their email signup forms. On the navigation that appears on every page, their signup form follows several best practices. (Click on the headline for more…)
What Merchants Need to Know About Selling Value
In my last blog post, I mentioned that one common theme at last week’s NEMOA conference was the importance of selling on value. In a presentation titled The Consumer is Changing, Are You? Lois Boyle-Brayfield of J. Schmid & Associates pointed out that all too often, merchants equate selling value with discounting prices. Big mistake! Lois offered a long list of ways to demonstrate value. Among them: (Click on the headline for more…)
