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January 20, 2010
Voting is easier than you think – you don’t have to stand in long lines on Election Day! Let everyone know in Ranking Arizona.
- Simply click on the link below
- Search by name to vote – Firedrum.
- Send the link to all your friends! – http://rankingaz.azbigmedia.com/
 VOTE for us on Ranking Arizona!
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October 6, 2009
This morning I was listening to the Diane Rehm show after leaving an appointment. Her guest was John (Jack) Potter, U.S. Postmaster General.
Mr. Potter had the unfortunate task of defending to Diane and her listeners why the U.S. Postal Service was still relevant and how to fix the acute financial crisis that was affecting it.
While there is a very real financial crisis effecting the health of the postal service, it was a very in depth and extremely informative interview.
There was one interesting perception of Postmaster General Potter’s that really stayed with me.
Stayed with me so much I actually had to tweet about it.
Now I am not a big twitter-er when I am out and about. I primarily use it when I am behind the computer screen, to share stories and internet marketing thoughts.
But once again this really stuck with me. A Postmaster General who views the postal service as an advertising medium. Same as TV, radio, magazines, etc…
General Potter shared with us that 90% of all money spent with USPS is on business advertising. WOW.
So that got me thinking to the next logical step (at least for me). What is the return on that investment for those business that advertise through the post?
1%?
7%?
I am willing to bet it is not much higher that 12% and even still, how do you measure that return?
Email Marketing.
C’mon, its so simple! Direct Mail and Email Marketing, just like peanut butter and jelly. Well, kinda…
First things first you need to follow the same old direct mail song and dance. Which is:
Buy a direct mailing list
Create a campaign
Draft a compelling call to action
AH HA! Stop right there. When designing the compelling call to action, give them MANY actions to take. First of all you want them as a customer. So a direct sale would help solidify that hard ROI.
Secondly they call you. Maybe they are not ready to buy from you, but me hopes you are gathering their personal information to marketing back to them. Preferably an email address. (Email Marketing opportunity #1!)
Third, and most importantly, give them a landing page (www.yourcompany.com/directmail) that can help drive targeted traffic and truly give you a handle on how effective your direct mail campaign is. Go even further with that call to action and give them a special discount, deal, or offer when they sign up for your newsletter on that page. (Opportunity #2!)
Watch that marketing effectiveness skyrocket.
And now not only can you feel good about yourself for increasing your companies’ sales, just think of how good you will feel when the U.S. Postal Service DOES NOT ask for a bail out, because revenues have spiked! 
-Shameless plug, follow me on twitter
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September 24, 2009
On Tuesday night I completed the 2nd seminar hosted at Entrust Arizona, entitled Blogging for SEO. As per a seminar hosted by FireDrum a rousing discussion of the evening’s topics always takes place and is encouraged.
This discussion was wide a varied, and while we kicked around technical aspects of the blog, I was really interested in the how to mentally prepare for blogging and the biggest factor is to…
BE FEARLESS!
Being fearless when blogging can mean a lot of things:
Getting over that “Nobody wants to hear what you have to say”
Yea you are probably right, but no good author, Twain, Hemingway, HST, the list goes on was a read author right away. They built up creditability through writing, just like how you are going to have to do.
or how about this doozy “I don’t have anything to say”
Really, you have no passions, hobbies, or even enjoy your work? Most people who blog in business are the business owners themselves, and if you stick to what you know, servicing clients, service offerings, success stories, best practices, industry trends and news, then you will quickly find you do have A LOT to say.
Here is another favorite “What if someone doesn’t like what I have to say?”
This was the topic of discussion with the group for a nice chunk of the evening. The bomb lobbers, haters, keyboard warriors troupe…..
So frustrating, you as a blogger are out there meaningfully contributing to the conversation in your industry and some bully behind a keyboard comes by and drops some rain on your parade. Now grated unless you are writing about controversial topics you are not going to run into much resistance however if you do, we had some great suggestions, examples and discussions for what to do:
Ignore it
Respectfully comment back
Or Ignore it and let the crowd source it and rebuke the hater (Definitely the best)
And what not to do:
Retaliating with some equally heavy words either through a comment or a direct message
So it boils down to this…
FireDrum can set you up with the most amazing, optimized, blog on the planet. It will look and feel just like your website. We can incorporate Social Media, SEO, Email Marketing integration and make it extremely simple to update and use.
But really at the end of the day, the only way to blog success is to BE FEARLESS, well that and stick to a schedule, but you should have came to the seminar to hear about that…
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August 31, 2009
Yea you read that headline correctly. Yours truly has spent last week and this upcoming week visiting family and doing some business development. As you can imagine Dubai is an amazing place. To bring everybody up to speed, Dubai is located in the United Arab Emirates and sits on the Persian Gulf. Dubai is a wonderful city, with world class hotels, abundant culture and caring people. I have been posting some pictures on my twitter feed that you can check out as well. I am going to post a few more updates about my trip, but I wanted to quickly talk about how great this internet thingy is.
Ah, I am just joking but I have been able to work all week in the states, while being able to reach out to new companies here in the UAE. Mostly what I have been learning is companies need Internet Marketing help. I have been able to provide many great solutions, and the one I have found the most interest in is our Enterprise Solutions.
I have been able to use my laptop to tie in back to my desktop in the states. I have also been extensively using Skype to make calls. I have also found Google Video while I have been out traveling and that is an awesome service.
Well, I am getting ready to go ice skating in the most giant mall I have ever seen. Ice skating in the desert! It doesn’t top snow skiing at Ski Dubai, but maybe some other time…
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August 20, 2009
Yes, I know this topic has been hashed out numerous times, but I still see email newsletters coming in with subject lines that will send them straight to the spam folder and my finger straight to the delete key. So let’s recap a little.
You’ve hit send on an aesthetic, poignant email campaign and it’s reached your recipients inboxes…but are they opening it? If your unique open rates are less than stellar it may be time to analyze what you may be doing wrong.
Let’s face it…it’s the middle of 2009 and email is the fastest growing communication tool. Users have to spend more time weeding through email after email than ever before. So the real question is – How do you stand out amongst the crowd and gain that sought after unique open?
Here are some factors to consider before launching your next campaign:
Permission-based: Can your users easily remember the where, why and when of opting in to receive your newsletter? If it’s not clear to them they will most likely mark you as SPAM.
Is it clear who the sender is? Don’t switch up your “From” name – stay consistent to avoid confusion with your recipients.
Experiment with your subject lines: One of the biggest factors of whether a recipient will open your email is an enticing subject line. Here are a few tips to keep in mind while writing your next subject line:
- Don’t use acronyms
- Don’t bore them – use interesting attention grabbing headlines
- Include a subject line that reveals a bit of what your newsletter is about.
- Avoid words like “free” “help” “percent off” and “reminder” – they scream SPAM!
- First and last name in subject line don’t necessarily help, but localization does – including a city name in your post (if relevant) can increase your open rates – “Cool Spots to Relax in Phoenix” (I’d open that!)
- Try and keep your subject line to 50 characters or less – A subject line which is too long will discourage your recipients from opening it.
Finally make sure your key points are in the top third of your email – many recipients use a preview function to decide whether or not your newsletter is worth reading. If all the juicy details are at the bottom of your email you’ve probably lost a few relevant unique opens.
To summarize: sometimes the little things can make the biggest differences. Constant tweeking and tuning your strategies for your online efforts is a must for acheiving the best possible ROI for your business.
Comments (1)
First of all I would like to thank everyone for attending. We had a great turnout with a lot of crowd interaction. I love a vibrant group…
The seminar last night was focused on Importance of Calls to Action. Now every marketer worth their weight should know what a call to action is. So why have this seminar? I wanted to focus on Optimizing that call to action in a web based world.
Why is this important?
In this interactive marketing medium web developers, search engine optimizers, and us folks that excel in the complete internet marketing game are met with new challenges when it comes to phrasing and language. I think this is totally exciting and embrace the challenge!
Interactive components and hyperlinks can be both content and navigation to inform and provide the action the user should take. This gives us many more opportunities to convert that potential lead into a CUSTOMER.
But only if we Optimize correctly…
I spoke at length last night about how to best optimize your call to action both on your website and within the push marketing medium of email marketing. Does you website prioritize the tasks you would like your reader to take? Or in other words is that first call to action, the action you want that potential customer to take? Many if not most of the websites I come across do not take this approach.
This is also true with the 1000’s of email marketing messages I view each week. I think it is a safe assumption only 10% are optimized correctly.
But how do you optimize an email?
It is as simple as the bullets below:
- Create compelling subject lines
- Use proper Call to Action Placement
- Provide Relevant Content
- Test your message
- Measure your results
- Revise all steps
- REPEAT
Yet I am amazed how often ALL of these steps are overlooked!
What did I learn?
From my conversation with the group there is a real need and a desire to have more effective Calls to Action. More people than I thought are interested in how to not only Optimize their emails for Human eyes, but also Optimize their emails for Search Engines…
Ooooops done went and said too much… That topic is for another Bat time and another Bat channel… although if you dropped me a line and shared your Sour Patch kids with me, I might be inclined to tell you more…
Follow us @FireDrumIntMktg and @jacobmlebo
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August 12, 2009
Next week Tuesday August 18th FireDrum and I will be hosting a seminar on the Importance of Calls to Action. The seminar will be located at Entrust Arizona 20860 N Tatum Blvd Suite 240 Phoenix, AZ 85050.
The event will cost $15.00 dollars to attend and we will be accepting the fee at the door. A part of the proceeds to this event will go to my favorite local charity Hands On Phoenix.
Networking will start at 5:30PM and the seminar will begin at 6PM. If you need further information please feel free to drop me a line.
I wanted to do this “Importance of Calls to Action” seminar for two reasons. One because everyday I educate business owners who are currently doing Search Engine Optimization that they are wasting resources by not having a compelling call to action to prompt that highly qualified lead to leave an email address to market back to them…
If you are optimizing for search engines, take that extra step with a conversion optimization analysis!
I also wanted to conduct this seminar for marketing professionals and business owners on how to have a more compelling call to action in their email marketing efforts. A few topics we will be covering on that end include, optimized subject lines, placement of calls to action, and when to announce that sale…
I am really look forward to this seminar, and I look forward to seeing you there.
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July 3, 2009
By now you’ve heard of social media and the impact it is having on the interactive world. Bridging the gap between email marketing and social media is a good way to increase your online presence and grow your email lists without having to lay too much groundwork.
and businesses are starting to recognize this growing trend. According to a report from Forrester Research, email marketing will grow by $2 billion by 2014, and social networking sites have become the largest portal for sharing information online. But recognizing and utilizing these features are two different things.
By including a Share-to-Social feature in your emails, you allow your recipients to share your content with their social networking contacts and followers. A few reasons to utilize this feature are:
- Increase user interaction with your recipients.
- A modern twist to the “Forward to a Friend” methodology.
- A good resource to build quality links to your content.
- Increase traffic to your content.
- Grow your email lists.
Choosing which social networks to utilize on your Share-to-Social feature depends greatly on your industry, but the big three to add are Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
To add Share-to-Social features to your email marketing campaigns, or to get started with an online marketing campaign, contact FireDrum today and a sales representative will work with you to create a package that will fit your needs.
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June 9, 2009
The current economy has thrust marketers onto a sinking ship; companies are decreasing marketing budgets while expecting increases in revenue. Finding ways to cut costs while increasing your ROI can seem daunting, but the solution is quite often a simple one.
Allocating marketing dollars towards email marketing is the most efficient way to increase your ROI while reducing your costs.
- Email marketing is 90% more cost-effective than most other methods of advertising.
- Fast, efficient and current – Uploading an effective campaign can be done in a matter of minutes. By utilizing an immediate messaging system with your customers it ensures that your campaign is relevant and fresh.
- Easy to use and easy to target – Email campaigns are easy to create and can be targeted to ensure delivery to the right audience. This specific type of targeting is unique to email marketing.
- Email marketing is measureable – you can see who opened your email, who clicked on what, and how many sales/conversions your email generated. Unlike television ads or radio ads, you have distinct, in-depth reporting.
When marketing efforts count more than ever, the winning application will be the one that consistently yields good results in terms of ROI – that application continues to be email marketing.
If your company is looking to stay afloat amongst the vast sea of drowning businesses, let FireDrum be your life-raft. Our email marketing campaigns, which are custom designed to fit your needs, will help you retain and maintain a loyal customer base while increasing your ROI.
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March 28, 2009
I attended the Business Smartz Educational Workshop held by the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce this Tuesday morning. It was a pretty great event. The topic was Internet Advertising Essentials and Jennifer Meyer from AZ Central was sharing her knowledge with the attendees. Most of the morning we were stuck on semantics; what is an ad rate, what constitutes a click through? I must admit I did get a little bored, but Jennifer’s smooth style of presenting kept me engaged. Especially when she said this “I expect you to speak back to me the way I spoke to you”…
I think I got that right? Maybe if Jennifer reads this she can clarify it for me. But anyways that’s what I heard and that resonated with me a couple different ways. See Jennifer was speaking about marketing messages. Customers want to be communicated with the same way they are communicating to you. How are the majority of customers finding out about your goods and services? Most likely potential and current customers are finding out about your business online. So customers are finding and communicating to your business through their computers….
If Jennifer’s adage holds true, which I think it does, and I am the one writing the blog, then these customers expect to be communicated back to through their computer. And there is no more effective way to communicate back to your customers than through permission based email marketing. Customers are going to find your business online, or else they are going to find your competition. When they come to your website to gather more information you should have a compelling call to action to capture an email so you can communicate back to them, the same way they contacted you. Online.
-Jacob
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