Preview Panes and Email Stationery

Many email pundits claim the subject line is the most important factor in getting your email read and I wrote a blog post entitled Getting Your Email Read - Start With a Better Subject Line which points out the importance of effective subject lines.

But as many subject lines are so weak and uninformative many people use the information displayed in their email preview pane to determine if they will read on further.

A typical preview pane is a few inches of space at the top of your email. It is prime real estate and can help you increase the chances of your email being read.

How prevalent is the use of preview panes?

There was a study done in 2007 by Marketing Sherpa that found the following:

• 64% of people who are offered preview panes start using them as their default.
• 80% of at-work users in the U.S. rely on Outlook, which offers preview panes.
• 38% of online consumers now use email clients that offer preview panes.

Other email clients also offer preview panes including Lotus Notes, Mozilla Thunderbird, Yahoo Mail and Windows Live Mail.

So what is the secret to capturing the readers attention with a compelling reason to read on?

inboxFX Email Stationery

Here is an example of how my Outlook displays emails. (Your Outlook may be set up with the preview pane at the right or no preview pane at all. You can change this by going to View - Reading Pane - Bottom.)

The email on the left is a plain text email and the one on the right is a simple email stationery design. You can see how the one on the right stands out with the color and the simple image.

Click on the image for a better look.

If you would like to see more samples of email stationery from inboxFX click here.

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20% of U.S. Has Never Sent Email

Over the past couple of years I have been lulled into thinking everyone uses the internet and cannot live without email even though my parents use neither. According to the National Association of Realtors something like 80% of people start their search for a home on the internet, but what do the other 60 million Americans do when they are thinking of buying a new home? I wonder what percentage of people don’t read the newspaper, watch the TV ads, read direct mail or glance at billboards?

According to research firm Parks Associates roughly one-fifth of all U.S. households are disconnected from the Internet and have never used e-mail. A recent phone survey of U.S. households by Parks found 20 million households are without Internet access, approximately 18 percent of all U.S. households.

John Barrett, director of research at Parks Associates, stated “Nearly one out of three household heads has never used a computer to create a document.”

Age and education are factors in this divide, Park found. One-half of those who have never used e-mail are over 65, and 56 percent had no schooling beyond high school.

Parks found 7 percent of the 20 million disconnected homes plan to subscribe to an Internet service within the next 12 months. In 2006, Parks found that 29 percent of all U.S. households — 31 million homes — did not have Internet access, citing low perceived value of the Internet.

“Many people just don’t see a reason to use computers and do not associate technology with the needs and demands of their daily lives,” Barrett said.

I am going to dig a bit further into the statistics regarding newspaper readership, radio listening habits and other advertising mediums to see if I might be missing some important marketing trends. Stay tuned.

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Getting Your Email Read - Start With a Better Subject Line

Email is my life. Okay that is an exaggeration, but as one of the leading email stationery providers (inboxFX Email Stationery) I spend a lot of time studying the art of email.

How important is email in business today?
An April survey conducted by Ipsos for Habeas found that two-thirds of adult respondents said they preferred e-mail for communicating with businesses. Just as many—and this is the important part—said they expected to still prefer e-mail five years from now.

Why is it so important to have a great subject line?
Think of subject lines like the headline of a newspaper article. If it grabs you, you start to read. Furthermore it is the only thing people see in an email. It is what they are going to use to determine if they go any further down your email or if they are even going to open it. It is the only thing that differentiates your email from all of the others.

Scott Ginsberg of Hello My Name Is Scott offers up some interesting observations on passive subject lines. Do you ever find yourself using these?

• Hi! (This sounds like spam.)
• Hey there… (This sounds like pornography.)
• What’s up? (Come on, you can do better than that!)
• Check this out… (Yep, more spam.)
• (No subject) (This is lazy and annoying.)

Scott has a different approach to subject lines and recommends using them to entice the reader. He offers 12 exciting subject lines on his web site that will get your email opened. I think these are excellent for personal emails:

1. Have you seen this article about your company yet?
2. I saw something that made me think of you…
3. Man, I sure hope you’ve already seen this…
4. I thought of you when I read this…
5. I thought of you when I saw this…
6. I was thinking about you the other day.
7. I was thinking about your business the other day.
8. Someone paid you a compliment yesterday.
9. I blogged about you the other day…
10. When I saw this, I immediately thought of you!
11. Your ears should be ringing…
12. Your name came up in a conversation recently…

The Golden Rule

The golden rule of email subject lines according to Josh Nason of SendLabs is:

Tell what’s inside, don’t sell what’s inside.

Advice from Mike

1. Use your name (or company name if it will have more impact)
2. Do not use all caps in a subject line.
3. Write a compelling subject line that won’t deceive people.
4. Have some fun with subject lines!

Look through your subject lines and ask yourself which ones seem to work. I recently sent out a free ebook called 50 Great Marketing Tips and Techniques and the subject line was Mike Blaney’s 50 Great Marketing Tips and Techniques. Pretty catchy!

How about the ones you get from Facebook? John Smith sent you a message on Facebook... simple, but effective.

Scott Ginsberg sent me an email with the subject line 12 Ways to Get Your Emails Opened FIRST It caught my attention and I opened the email.

My ISP needed a new credit card expiry from me and sent an email with the subject line Hello - Important notice from ________. I found it friendly and informative and I knew it was important.

I recently signed up for a weekly travel email and the subject line was UNIGLOBE Geo Travel - Weekly Travel Specials - May 21, 2008. I recognized it as the email I had subscribed to and it was dated so I can tell which one is the most current.

Top 10 Subject Line Words

For B2C and B2B emails choosing the right words for your subject line is important. According to Karen Talavera president and founder of Synchronicity Marketing the Top 10 Power Words for a Subject Line are:

10. New - Appeals to our basic human curiosity to seek novelty.
9. Save - We all love a bargain.
8. Safety - Connotes reliability; appeals to basic human needs.
7. Proven - Justifies your claim, removes fear of the unknown.
6. Love - An all-time favorite.
5. Guarantee - If you have one, state it. It iron-clads your offer.
4. Immediate (Now, or Instant) - Instant gratification is the expectation online. If it can’t be found, completed, or received almost immediately, you’re offer is in the wrong channel.
3. Results - Provides rationalization for instant conversion.
2. You - Remember WIIFM? Your audience wants to hear about what’s in it for them, not you. Articulate your benefits in personal, conversational terms.

And the number one Power Word:

1. Free - Surprised? Probably not. Because this is the time-honored, most potent motivator in direct response, be particularly vigilant of overuse. Just a dash’ll do. Strive to optimize placement, and test if necessary.

Bottom line for the subject line; a good subject line is the fine line between being read and being deleted. Make every subject line compelling.

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10 Ways To Build Relationships

Do you ever find a point where your business has tapered off and you are not sure where the next order, listing, client or deal is coming from?

Most of the time this can be attributed to not having a marketing plan with the ability to measure the success or failure of the various strategies you deploy. You don’t know how you got your business in the first place so you don’t know what to do to get back on track.

One way to “recession proof” your business is to incorporate Relationship Building Strategies into your business that you can deploy on a regular basis. After all, business is based on relationships so if you are not paying attention to this aspect of your business you are missing the “low hanging fruit”.

How do you build relationships? There are dozens of ways, but the top 10 in my opinion are:

1. Handwritten Thank You Notes
2. Remember birthdays
3. Educate Your Clients
4. Inspire & Motivate Them
5. Share Your Talents & Resources
6. Help Them By Referring Them to Others
7. Invite Them To an Event
8. Apologize and Clear Things Up
9. Make a List Of People Important To Your Current And Future Success
10. Identify Relationships That Are The Most Valuable To You

Following is a workshop you can go through for your own business to help you implement your new relationship building strategies.

1) Handwritten Thank You Notes
Send handwritten thank you cards to show people that you appreciate them. Handwriting them is a time‐tested method that creates a positive response when it’s sincere & genuine.

Workshop:
Write down the names of 5 people you’d like to thank today.
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________

2) Remember birthdays
Remember birthdays ‐ because most people don’t. Birthdays are special to people. And if you care enough to remember their birthday… and give them a call or send a quick note, you go from being a business contact to being a personal friend.

Workshop:
Do you have your top client’s birthdays?
Call or email each one and ask them for their birthday. Add these dates into your calendar.
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________

Do you have your employees birthdays? Ask each one for their birthday. Add these
dates into your calendar.
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________

3) Educate Clients
The world is constantly changing … and it’s changing quickly. Give them useful information… and if you give them an insight that they end up using, they will remember you… and you’ll soon find yourself to be a trusted partner in their decision making.

Workshop
What do I know that others would love to know?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

What do my contacts want to know? Can I go learn it and then share that info?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

4) Inspire & Motivate Them
If you can find a way to inspire & motivate them, they will feel warm & fuzzy feelings for you. This tactic is one of the hardest ones to pull‐off because you have to have good timing & something interesting.

Workshop
How can I inspire & motivate my contacts?
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________

5) Lend Your Talents & Resources
Offer your talents and resources to people who need it…without asking for anything in return. Sometimes helping someone move over 1 weekend from Point A to Point B can build a relationship that creates 10 or 20 sales over a few years. Be a friend and you’ll find more friends.

Workshop
Which talents or resources of mine could I put to work for my contacts?
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________

6) Help Them By Referring Them to Others
One of the best ways to do this is to recommend them to people who need them. Another way is to help them look good in front of their boss by show how successful a project is. Help them look good in front of others.

Workshop
How can you help you clients look good to whoever they report to?
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________

How can you help the key influencers in your market look good?
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________

7) Invite Them To an Event
Whether it’s a baseball game, workshop, networking event or a business mixer these types of invites show that you are thinking of them…the time spent together invariably leads to strengthening the bond.

Workshop
What kinds of events both personal & business can you invite people to?
1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________

Apologize and Clear Things Up
Sometimes we mess up… we drop the ball… Often, it’s not as bad as you think it is. And if you messed up a while back, they probably don’t even remember why they were mad at you. This is a great way to win back lost clients.

Workshop
List down the names of people where you dropped the ball and messed up? Schedule
a time to call or visit that person and apologize… simply for the purpose of making them feel good.

Name Date To Call/Visit
1. _____________________________ _____________________
2. _____________________________ _____________________
3. _____________________________ _____________________
4. _____________________________ _____________________
5. _____________________________ _____________________

9) Make a List Of People Important To Your Current And Future Success
This helps you bring focus to developing the right network of friends before you need them… so if & when the time comes that you do need them, they’ll be more than happy to help you.

Workshop
Who is important to your current success? Name general categories such as ‘my employees’ or ‘local real estate agents’ or ‘CEOs of top 100 companies’ And then research those categories and write the names of the real people.

Category Name
1. _____________________________ _____________________
2. _____________________________ _____________________
3. _____________________________ _____________________
4. _____________________________ _____________________
5. _____________________________ _____________________

10) Identify Relationships That Are The Most Valuable To You
Allocate resources accordingly. The 80/20 rule definitely applies to your relationships… 80% of your success will be the result of 20% of your relationships. Indentify this 20% and treat them extremely well.

Workshop
Who are my best & most profitable customers? Who are people who refer me the most?
1. _____________________________ 1. _____________________________
2. _____________________________ 2. _____________________________
3. _____________________________ 3. _____________________________
4. _____________________________ 4. _____________________________
5. _____________________________ 5. _____________________________

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What Is a Millennial?

Guess number one - A thousand years?

Guess number two - A bug with a thousand legs?

Guess number three - Something bigger than a centennial?

Actually it is a term to describe the generation of workers born roughly between 1977 and 1995, known as millennials or Generation Y. This group represents the biggest shift in the U.S. workforce since the baby boomers came of age. They are eighty-million strong and will soon account for the majority of American workers, especially as boomers start to retire.

How big is this group? There are more millennials than baby boomers and there are more than 50 percent more millennials than Generation Xers.

Andrew Tilin has written an interesting article on BNET that answers the question “Why Millennials Matter to You“.

According to Tilin “these workers are also change agents who may force you to rethink and improve your methods of recruiting, training, and management — the lifeblood elements of your company. They’re accustomed to working away from their desks, using everything from library computers to smartphones and laptops. They got intense and individualized mentoring from teachers and coaches, and they were never told that their elders should intimidate them.”

According to Lynne Lancaster, a consultant on generational issues in the workplace, millennials were the first generation to grow up with soccer moms, doting dads, and trophies for participation. All that adult attention gave them confidence and a knack for following directions. In addition, says Lancaster, many millennials’ lives have been heavily scheduled since childhood, so they understand achievement and heavy workloads. And growing up with PCs has contributed to their comfort with technology and social networking.

Millennials are nicknamed Generation Why for a reason. Experts say they’re like living, breathing search engines, asking question after question.

As a marketer I was not familiar with the term millennial although I had used the Generation Y term and have 6 kids that fall into this category. I must admit that they are different than we are and everything I have read seems to hold true. They present a different challenge to employers and marketers than their Gen X predecessors.

Following are a few other terms that are associated with millennials that you might have heard:

Helicopter Parent: Parents who hover over their millennial offspring. Acting on the notion that they know best and can help their children make decisions, Helicopter Parents hope to prevent their kids from making missteps.

Black Hawk: A Helicopter Parent who goes to unethical lengths to help his/her child. A dad who helps write his kid’s college application essay is a Black Hawk.

Trophy Children: Children driven to succeed in part to please their parents’ need for elevated status and bragging rights.

Boomeranging: The act of children moving back into their parents’ homes after graduating from college. Parents often welcome their millennial children back into the house. The children are sorely missed and get the opportunity to squirrel away money for a down payment on a house or to start a business.

I am going to use this information to change some of my messaging to this group as I can see now that they will respond differently to marketing than their predecessors. I can also see why being a parent has been so challenging!

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Is It Good to Be Green In Your Marketing?

TNS, a world leader in market insight and information, released the results of “The Green Life”, a groundbreaking global study assessing how consumers around the globe are responding to the challenge to “go green.” The study takes an in-depth look at global consumers and how environmental issues have impacted their lifestyles, attitudes and purchase behaviors.

What I wanted to find out through my research was whether a green marketing strategy would be effective. I personally make every effort I can to recycle, reducing consumption, save energy and reduce waste, but am I the only one?

Well I’m not the only one, but I am in a select group. The survey found that just 26 percent of Americans saying they “actively seek environmentally friendly products.”

The bottom line…The Green Life reveals a clear intent from U.S. consumers, at least hypothetically, to be environmentally conscious. Businesses have an opportunity to capitalize on these good intentions, given they provide affordable and convenient options.

What does that mean for marketers if consumers are unwilling to make lifestyle changes in their own buying habits? How much goodwill will you generate by adding “green” to your marketing? The study points out;

“the value of green marketing is not so much reaping the goodwill, but avoiding upsetting consumers who actively practice environmentally friendly behavior.”

It was interesting to learn how environmental conscienciousness (that is a hard word to spell) varies around the world. TNS research experts compared consumer responses from 17 different countries across 5 continents.

Responses from the developed nations (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong and Korea) were invariably clustered at the least environmentally conscious and responsible end of the spectrum. Developing nations (Mexico, Thailand, Brazil and Malaysia) showed the highest concern for the environment and greatest willingness to take action and seek out ‘greener’ products.

The survey found that just 26 percent of Americans saying they “actively seek environmentally friendly products.” Additionally, 44 percent of U.S. respondents are skeptical that global warming exists or don’t believe it at all. Illogically, over 90 percent also say that the environment influences their day-to-day purchasing decisions. This apparent disconnect poses an undeniable challenge for marketers attempting to create an effective environmental marketing strategy.

Take The Mystery Out of Marketing Your Business

I am a fan of Allison Nazarian who is a well known copywriter and marketing professional. Her web site Get It In Writing Blog is an excellent source of information and her blog which is also entitled Get It In Writing provides great tips and observations on copywriting, marketing and growing your business with the right words.

As a marketing guy myself I would prefer you didn’t rush out and hire her for all of your marketing needs (just some of them), I do recommend you take a look at her free e-book entitled Take The Mystery Out of Marketing Your Business. Allison poses these three questions:

1. Have you ever wondered why some sales and marketing approaches SUCCEED while others FALL FLAT?
2. Did you know that your results, good or bad, have VERY LITTLE to do with your actual product or service?
3. Do you have a hard time finding the BEST WAY TO TELL your prospective clients why they should choose you over your competitors?

And then she actually provides the answers. She offers proven techniques to increase sales, credibility and visibility. Some of her key points include:

1. The “hard-sell” approach is a thing of the past.
2. Understand what it means when someone tells you it’s ‘all about your customer.
3. Speak their language, know their pain, show (don’t tell) you have what they need.
4. Make your target clients feel as if they can’t live without your truly valuable product, service or expertise.
5. Once and for all, stop the platitudes, jargon and empty words.

I gleaned a number of useful tidbits that I plan to introduce into my own marketing:

1. I will build my business on a foundation of true value and true expertise.
2. I am going to give my target market and clients something valuable.
3. I am going to share what I know and what I offer in a way that clearly demonstrates that my service/product/expertise is the bridge between their problem/need and a satisfying solution.
4. I am going to put my expertise into action.

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Cool Web Site of the Day

I don’t usually feature web sites, but as a marketing guy I take an interest in everything new and this caught my eye.

While meandering through the internet today I found a web site for HEMA, which is a Dutch department store. No I don’t speak Dutch, but you don’t need to to enjoy some great programming. Click on this link to get to their web site and sit back and enjoy the wonders of web 2.0. It will scroll up and down for you so don’t touch your keyboard.

Actually if you do speak Dutch please let me know if this is a legitimate web site and why it is not tied back to their corporate site. Regardless, it is still the cool site of the day.

Did it make you watch the entire show and then want to buy something? Do you think there is a place for this type of web site? Let me know what you think.

My thanks to Kite Boy for featuring this on his blog.

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Social Networking Sites Update

With all of the hype about the value of Social Networking to marketers eMarketer estimated last December that US marketers would spend $850 million to advertise on MySpace in calendar year 2008. Facebook is projected to reach $305 million in US revenue this year.

Following are the rankings of the the Top 10 Social Networking Sites as published by eMarketer.

I have been experimenting with Social Networking joining a number of different networks including Facebook, Linkedin, ecademy and Meetup and will report my results in a few weeks.

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How To Make Your Business Card Unforgettable

One of my favorite blogs is Hello My Name is Scott. Scott Ginsberg is known as THE NAMETAG GUY. Scott is the only person in the world who wears a nametag 24-7 to make people friendlier. (In case you’re wondering, he has a nametag tattooed on his chest for certain occasions.) While transforming his simple idea into a business, his adventures have earned him recognition as “The World’s Foremost Expert on Nametags” and secured a spot in Ripley’s Believe it Or Not!

I have written a number of articles on business cards including Business Card Stuff, How To Make Your Business Card Stand Out and Business Card Tricks - How To Make Them Work, but Scott adds even more great advice. His complete article can be read by subscribing and logging in to The Nametag Network on his web site.

Scott asks you to think back to the last trade show, networking event, seminar, convention, social hour or association meeting you attended. How did people react to your business card? Did they compliment its design? Quickly shove it into their pocket? Show it to someone else? Rip it up? Without exception when people see the front of my card with a picture of a glass half full and feel the silk texture and thickness of the card I get some sort of response.

Tip #1: Only the most creative, unique and memorable business cards make UNFORGETTABLE impressions. Call me to start the ball rolling for your card.

Tip # 2: Your business card should stand out among all others.

Look at the picture below that Scott took of 66 business cards and see if you agree with his findings below:

Red: every card that had red on it stood out.

Picture: only a few cards had pictures of the cardholder. This not only made them stand out, but helped me connect faces with names and companies.

Vertical: several cards were formatted vertically, which caught my eye.

Black Background: most cards have a white background, so the black ones REALLY stood out.

Image: cards with some sort of colorful image that took up at least one fourth of the total surface area captured my interest.

Tip# 3: Enhance your business card in some way that will make it stand out. Scott’s suggestions include:

1. Size or Shape – It doesn’t have to be a rectangle. You can die-cut squares, circles, ovals and triangles.

2. Trading Cards – If your company is team oriented, get trading cards with your “players” pictures and stats. Then encourage your customers and prospects to “collect all 12!”

3. Cartoons – Get a custom cartoon commissioned for the back of your card. It’s cheap, royalty free and absolutely unique to your business.

4. Table/Chart – Include a mortgage loan interest table or some staggering statistics on the back.

5. Pop-Ups – Just like kid’s books, some business cards can be printed as folded, pop-up cards. Talk about thinking three-dimensionally!

6. Rubber Stamps – Buy 10 different customized rubber stamps for the backs of your cards. When someone asks for one just say “Pick a card, any card!”

7. Recipe – If you work in an industry connected to food, kitchens or homes; include one of your favorite recipes on the back!

8. Material – Use leather, blinking or brail business cards (yes, these actually exist too!)

9. Language – If your business requires international travel, consider offering multiple languages, or print the phonetic spelling of a difficult to pronounce name.

10. Stickers – Print one side of your cards on adhesive label paper. This gives the recipient a peel off sticker for reminders, appointments or phone numbers.

While not every person meets regularly with prospects and hands out cards I think business cards are still the most important marketing tool for the majority of businesses. This is not the place to save money or think small.

Mike’s Business Card Pet Peeves

1. Make sure every employee from the mail room to the delivery driver to the bookkeeper have business cards.
2. Attach them to everything as a customer of prospect cannot have enough of them.
3. If even one piece of information changes buy new cards and throw out all of the old ones. Do not scratch out information.
4. Use both sides of the card.
5. Use the thickest stock you can find.
6. Use a silk or crystal finish.

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