Welcome to Part 2. I’ve had some very intense reactions from a number of readers. Some of the comments have been hostile…Why?
Let me add a disclaimer: These postings about Electronic Direct Marketing are not necessarily my opinion. These are just transcribed notes of the seminar. I just thought that the information could be of enormous value to my colleagues, readers and any other business owner that cares to get involved. If you know of other business owners that could use this information then pass on this link: The ABC Business Coaching Blog.
OK, here we go…
If you are using electronic means to communicate with your prospects, clients and customers realise that you know your results within 48 hours. That means if it didn’t work or if the results weren’t what you were expecting within that 48 hour period then quickly change an aspect of the message and send it on to a new group. Getting results so quickly will ultimately be way better for us than surface mail or (god forbid) leaflet drops.
The Mobile Phone Phenomenon (“Cell Phone” for USA readers)
Interesting Fact # 6: On average we all own 2.6 mobile phones.
Interesting Fact # 7: 60% of us take our mobiles to bed with us!
Interesting Fact # 8: On average it takes us about 26 hours to realise we’ve lost our wallets but it only takes us 68 minutes to realise we have lost our mobile.
More on the level of significance that mobile phones have in our lives
Do you have a Blackberry? Are you thinking of getting one? Are you a decision maker in your business? Well try this stat on for size: 64% of decision makers view their emails on their Blackberry. Now, just understand how small these machines are. Most of us are used to reading our emails on a computer screen. Nowadays because of our increased need to be mobile more and more people are picking up their emails on mobile phones. Because of this downsizing a whopping 63% of emails DON’T get passed the subject line or as we like to call in the marketing game “the banana” otherwise known in simpler marketing terms as “headline”.
You had better make that subject line a doozy!
A New Country is Born!
One without the constraints of land or boundaries. At last count MySpace has 206 million members/ subscribers. Think of that number for a moment. 206 million. That’s a lot of people isn’t it? I live in a country that has 20 million people. If each one of those 20 million people created 10 MySpace pages each one with a different I.D then we would be close to th e 206 million. Now get this – if MySpace was a country it would be the 6th largest in the world!
If you’ve got something to say or sell then you had better be doing it on MySpace and other social networking and bookmarking sites.
Before I close off part 2 I’ll quickly share some things with you right now so that if you are electronically marketing in the next 24 hours you will save yourself a lot of potential heartache. Ensure that nothing critical dies in your electronic message. It can happen. Sometimes people outsmart themselves and put critical information in images. DON’T! The only use of images in your electronic marketing is for the consumer to click on them to navigate away to a purchasing page or similar.
Images can get scrapped. If you’ve ever read mail in Plain Text you will see that the images don’t come through. OK, so most people read their email in Rich Text or HTML. Your contingency plan must ensure that you are catering for absolutley everyone…including the Plain Text users.
MAXIMIZE ABOVE THE FOLD. Huh? Next time you navigate to a site that wants you to scroll down further to reach important information understand that a lot of people just won’t do it. They will leave. I like to focus on the “path of least resistance” which in a buying and selling sense means do not, under any circumstances make it remotely difficult for someone to make a purchase. Keep the path clear of obstacles and hindrances. If you do that then you are almost guaranteed in making the sale.
OK, take some time to digest what I have just written. It will take time to take route in your sub-conscious. Keep comments coming. I know this is a hot topic. Tell everyone.
Until tomorrow for part 3.