Constant Contact Poll Finds Franchisors and Franchisees Expect Positive Financial Outlook for 2012; Will Use a Variety of Marketing Tactics to Support Their Efforts (02/22) | Email Marketing Advice
WALTHAM, Mass.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--According to a new poll conducted by Constant Contact®, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTCT), the trusted marketing advisor to more than half a million small organizations worldwide, franchisors and franchisees are expecting a positive financial outlook for 2012. the poll of more than 200 franchisors and franchisees, conducted in January 2012, found that 86% of respondents expect to have moderate or strong financial performance this year. these findings echo those from a recent forecast by the International Franchise Association, which noted that after three straight years of decline, the number of franchise units are projected to increase nearly 2% in 2012 and total revenues increase 5% to $782 billion dollars.
“We've seen franchise businesses improve their results by taking an integrated approach to their marketing, combining email and social media marketing along with direct person-to-person communications”
“Franchises are beginning to feel a bit more optimistic about their futures,” said Eliot Grossman, senior manager for franchise, distributors, and direct seller groups at Constant Contact. “We’ve seen signs of this in our own operations over the past year. Our Franchise Program added more than 140 franchise brands, and 3,500 franchisee, dealer, and distributor customers during 2011—an indicator that franchises understand the important roll marketing plays to their business success.”
Additional poll findings underscore the importance of marketing to franchise success. Franchises report that they are using a variety of marketing tools to promote their organizations. Ninety-four percent of respondents cited websites as effective marketing tools to market their franchises, followed by email marketing (79%), public relations (64%), online advertising (62%), and social media marketing (60%). Ninety-three percent of respondents plan to maintain or increase their email marketing efforts in 2012.
when it comes to finding new customers, direct person-to-person communications rank high on the effectiveness scale: 93% say that in-person communications have helped them find new customers, and 88% report that telephone conversations are effective. Websites also play an important role in attracting new customers, with 85% of respondents citing it as effective.
"We've seen franchise businesses improve their results by taking an integrated approach to their marketing, combining email and social media marketing along with direct person-to-person communications,” said Grossman. “This integrated approach ensures franchises can most effectively engage with customers and get their messages in front of a wider audience to attract new ones.”
About the Constant Contact Franchise Program
Constant Contact's Franchise Program enables franchise organizations to maintain brand consistency across their franchise locations while providing each franchisee with proven tools to help market directly to their customers. Members of the Constant Contact Franchise Program receive special account pricing for franchisees, branded templates that support both corporate and local content, a dedicated Franchise team and Constant Contact's award-winning free personal coaching and support.
Franchise businesses interested in learning more about the Constant Contact Franchise Program and how email marketing can benefit their business should visit: constantcontact.com/industry/franchises.jsp.
About Constant Contact, Inc.
Constant Contact is revolutionizing the success formula for small organizations through affordable, easy-to-use Engagement Marketing™ tools that help create and grow customer relationships. More than half a million small businesses, nonprofits, and associations worldwide rely on Constant Contact to drive ongoing customer dialogs through email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, and online surveys. All Constant Contact products come with unrivaled KnowHow, education, and free coaching with a personal touch, including award-winning customer support.
Constant Contact and the Constant Contact Logo are registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All Constant Contact product names and other brand names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Constant Contact, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
Vicky Anscombe: Why you still need email marketing – and why it’s not going away
Vicky Anscombe from further Marketing
Monday, February 13, 2012 11:59 AM
When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg predicted the death of email back in November 2011, due to the social networking site’s new instant messaging service, a flurry of reaction articles appeared both lauding and mocking his prediction.
However, the question still remains. With BBM, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Whatsapp and Viber to name but a few ways of communicating, can email really keep up? Do we still need a medium of communication that was developed in 1971, or are we vainly clinging on to technology that is vastly outdated?
Happily, the answer appears to be ‘Email is fine, stop worrying about it.’ despite these gloomy predictions, email, and email marketing, is still thriving - and here’s why:
“Social media, and the various messaging functions available on it, are seen as a threat, but email can do things that social media can’t,” explains Econsultancy’s Graham Charlton. “It’s reliable, measurable, and provides a demonstrable return on investment. as long as it continues to do this, it will be a relevant channel. It allows brands to build a one-on-one relationship with a consumer in a way that social media cannot, and it can be tested and tweaked to optimise the effectiveness of messaging. the UK email market is alive and well, and continues to grow year on year - it was worth £388m in 2011, up 15% on 2010, and has grown steadily over the last 8 years.”
So far, so good. Email looks like that it’s not only managing to hold its own, but it’s thriving in a fiercely competitive environment. even so, why has it received so much negative press recently?
“I think people have been saying ‘email is dead’ for a while now, partly because it because it makes for a nice, bold headline, but there are some underlying trends which could ‘threaten’ email,” warns Graham. “This is the growing use of social media for communication, and the belief that the younger generation will eventually abandon email in favour of social media. In a recent email trends survey by Econsultancy, 69% of marketers said they believe that young people are abandoning email as a primary channel. However, the same survey found that the majority (60%) of their clients who use them for email are increasing their email usage.”
Well, here’s a sobering thought - could the innocent schoolchildren that we see every day be the people who’ll finally put email out of business? Brought up on a diet of BBM, Facebook and Twitter, there’s a very real possibility they’ll see email as a slightly-too formal method of dropping a client or employee a line. Email has to stay fresh in order to engage more fans - but how can it do this? Graham suggests that rather than try to fight social media, email should embrace it…
“Email can use social media to its advantage,” he explains. “For instance, by adding social sharing buttons, which can mean emails are spread beyond the subscriber list. Email marketing will continue, but it will have to evolve to fit into the changing times by moving from the ‘load and blast’ approach, to a ‘focus on relevant one-to-one communications’ approach. the coming years will see email evolve even further, to fit into the growth of social.”
It would appear that email and social are always going to have a rocky relationship that will need to be carefully monitored; both will have to embrace the other, no matter how awkwardly, in order to carry on engaging potential customers. However, despite social media’s ability to woo internet users into its sticky snare, email’s reputation as reliable, straightforward, and, above all, suitable for business use, has ensured it’s doing fine - for now.
“Email can offer many things that social media can’t,” Graham explains. “For example, longer messages - there’s only so much you can say in 140 characters. Twitter, Facebook et al are effective for certain types of communication, but there are some things email is best for. also, you can’t open an account on social sites without an email address.
“Sending an email can be more effective for building long-term relationships. if brands and marketers are on top of email, and respond to customers preferences and purchase habits, email can be a long-term retention tool. Finally, email has one other advantage for brands - they have control. the statistics on preference, open and click rates, and response rates are owned by the brand - not by Facebook.”
Ten Free Things to Boost Your Marketing Today (02/22) | Email Marketing Advice
The average small business does not have a multi-million dollar marketing budget. If fact, many entrepreneurs struggle to find any money for advertising and marketing. here are ten ideas you could implement now - free:
1. Take Advantage of your Email Signature
Use your email signature as a marketing tool. below your contact info, include things like: quotes from happy customers, a link to your Webpage, product info and so on.
2. Keep your Cards Handy
Keep an ample supply of business cards on your person. Yes, they’re low-tech but they are still much faster and effective than trying to convince an interested party to save your info in their phone or worse, scrambling for a napkin and pen.
3. make your Phone Work for You
Never play the radio through your on-hold service. use it to feature new products or services. even if you don’t have a fancy phone system, use your voicemail greeting as an opportunity to give a five-second plug about something new at your business.
4. Samples and Demos
Be sure to have sample and demo products “on the floor.” Give customers the experience – your product will sell itself. If you happen to conduct your business online, provide plenty of sample material. for instance, provide large high-resolution photos, detailed specs and dimensions.
5. use the Free Online Stuff
Social media is a very fast, easy, and free way to promote your message online. In fact many businesses are turning to these options over shelling out cash for traditional Websites.
6. Third Party Help
Bring in third-party, unbiased research and literature to substantiate the virtues of your products and services. Credibility is a big deal in commerce; it’s up to you to obtain as much “cred” as possible.
7. Take your Media Rep’s Calls
If you’re already paying for some type of marketing, keep your ears open for specials and deals that your rep may have. every so often the companies they represent provide special incentives to keep you as an advertiser – some of which may be free.
8. Minor Updates
In the marketing world, it’s quite easy to lull customers to sleep by doing the same things over and over. Try to freshen things up a bit. Now this doesn’t necessitate the reinvention of the wheel – just a subtle shift. for example, swap out the images in a graphic layout, tweak the language of a radio ad or alter the color scheme on a brochure.
9. Bartering Works
There are instances when you can exchange your business’ products for a marketing opportunity. have you ever seen business-card-fishbowls at a restaurant? This most likely is a bartering agreement that allows the two respective parties to obtain increased exposure without the involvement of cash.
10. ask for a Review
When talking to highly-satisfied customers, ask if they’d be willing to go online and review your business. whether you sign up for it or not, your business will mostly likely find itself subject to the five-star rating scale on Google. so do yourself a favor and make it work to your advantage.
Walter Dailey is a small business marketing consultant and speaker with Dailey Sound Vector Media. DSV Media is a creative services company which features jingles, radio ads, and an ad review service for small and medium sized businesses throughout the North America. ask Walter your questions at
Love is in the air… but not always in the inbox (02/21) | Email Marketing Advice
Valentine’s Day is a difficult one for single people, and a great many of the UK’s 15m singles turn to online dating sites to find a special someone with whom to spend the evening.
Research suggests that there are 24m first dates in the UK each year, of which 69% are arranged through online dating.
As a result, online dating is an enormously competitive market, and sites must send relevant, engaging email that perfectly matches their subscribers’ wants and needs.
An analysis of data from our online dating clients shows that their inbox placement rates were far higher than the cross-industry UK average, with 90.2% of sent emails reaching consumers’ inboxes.
The best performing client enjoys an inbox placement rate of 96%. Compare this to the 86.4% average across UK email marketers for the same period, and it’s obvious that dating sites are doing something right.
These good looking vital statistics are largely due to these dating site clients applying much of their own first date advice to their email marketing programs:
Make sure your prospect is really right for you
There’s nothing worse than realising half way through a date that you have nothing in common. Prepare by checking out their profile to make sure that you’ll have things you can talk about and mutual interests.
The best performing online dating sites are the ones who are making the most effective use of their email subscribers’ data. The online dating industry is all about connecting people and understanding customers to provide the best possible matches.
Subscribers see the value in this, and this helps to drive email engagement as a result.
Your reputation may precede you
Making a good impression is absolutely essential on a first date, and make no mistake that your date will have scrutinised your profile beforehand.
Don’t exaggerate, honesty will always make a better impression than one you can’t live up to.
Likewise, dating sites must ensure that the impression they make, i.e. their reputation as an email sender, is as good as it can possibly be.
This reputation can be negatively affected by poor data quality, spam complaints and spam traps to name just a few. any email marketer that is failing to deal with these issues is going to struggle to get their emails into the inbox.
Be presentable, make eye contact and smile
Take a look in the mirror before you leave the house, and make sure you’re looking your best.
Marketing emails have to make a good first impression, and the best way to do this is to ensure your emails look good in any environment.
For example, our latest mobile report showed a 73% increase in email being read on iPads.
Just as people need to make sure they’re looking good before their date, email marketers should use a rendering service to ensure that their emails will display correctly in various browsers and look as they intended.
Be punctual
Timing is everything when it comes to dating, and there’s no excuse for showing up late.
Likewise, there’s nothing worse for a subscriber than to receive a great profile only to find out that their “perfect match” stopped activity on the site months ago and they’re now engaged to someone.
Ensure you’re only emailing subscribers with current content to provide a great consumer experience.
Give yourself and your date an ‘out’
You can’t always tell if a first date isn’t going well. You have to be prepared for the possibility that they might not like you. be courteous; provide a simple honest option for you both to be able to call it a night.
Dating sites that provide a simple, one-step process to unsubscribe from emails give a better experience to users. after all, it’s better to spend time and money on people who really like you.
The creative sites offer subscribers different ways of staying in touch with their brand after they unsubscribe from emails, never cutting all ties to maintain that “What if?” factor.
Failing to get the unsubscribe process right means consumers’ complaint levels are more likely to increase in response to unwanted emails, which could lead to all of the brand’s future email communications being blocked by ISPs.
Dating sites wouldn’t want a subscriber hounding another member. it makes sense for such email marketers to practice what they preach.
Don’t talk too much
Try not to bombard your date with as many facts about yourself as you can spit out over the course of a meal. A date should be a conversation, a dialogue, with as much give as there is take.
Likewise, a major issue for online dating sites’ consumers is the sheer deluge of email that the bad sites send out. many of the emails that get sent are trigger-driven: every time the consumer is viewed, browsed or winked at, they receive yet another email detailing the account activity.
Subscribers are rapidly tiring of this type of volume-driven approach, and email senders need to remember that sometimes less is more.
Don’t get “wrong-numbered”
It happens – you meet someone, exchange numbers, then when you send a text to ask if they’d like to meet up again, it turns out that you’re trying to arrange a date with the local taxi company.
Data quality is an issue for all email senders. many online dating sites encourage their members to upload their address books. It's a quick win from a list building point of view, but there is no guarantee that these addresses will work, or that they will create sufficient recognition to generate a positive response.
Many of these addresses may be either extremely old or no longer valid – both of which can be very damaging to sender reputation and, ultimately, email deliverability.
Online dating is increasingly more competitive. Large sites that don’t effectively segment their user base are losing subscribers to new sites specifically designed for niche interests, whether single parents, mature singles, particular professions, different religions, vegetarians or pet lovers to name just a few.
The mass market sites have to work harder than ever to engage people.
Email marketing success, like most digital marketing disciplines, is increasingly determined by relevance and engagement. if subscribers don't receive content that fits their stated needs and interests, then they are going to vote with their "spam" buttons, and nothing’s more certain to wreck your chances of a second date than by banging on about something your date has absolutely no interest in.
So marketers, show your email programs a bit of love on this Valentine’s Day, and it may very well be the beginning of a meaningful relationship with your subscribers.
We’ll be examining data to keep you informed as to how the UK’s biggest dating sites performed on the day in question in a further blog post in a couple of weeks time.
VerticalResponse Launches Mobile App for Social Media Marketing (02/21) | Email Marketing Advice
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --VerticalResponse, a leading provider of self-service marketing solutions for small businesses including email marketing, social media marketing, online surveys, event marketing and direct mail marketing, today announced the launch of the iOS mobile application for its Roost by VerticalResponse social media marketing platform. Roost by VerticalResponse enables small businesses to easily and quickly create, schedule, manage and measure their social media marketing campaigns from one convenient dashboard. The new mobile app gives them access to the platform's most popular features, no matter where they are.
The app is free and available now at the Apple iTunes Store.
"Most small businesses aren't tied to a desk or computer 24 hours a day, but with social media, you need accessibility around the clock," said Janine Popick, VerticalResponse CEO. "With the Roost by VerticalResponse mobile app, small businesses can create and oversee their social media marketing campaigns whenever and wherever it's convenient for them.
"Whether it's a Realtor snapping and posting a photo of a new listing, a restaurant owner sending a status update of the day's specials, or a marketer checking campaign statistics while on the road, social media management just got a lot easier."
with the Roost by VerticalResponse mobile app, users can:
Post status updates or photos (taken with the phone's camera) to a Facebook Personal Profile, Facebook Business Page, Twitter account and/or LinkedIn account. The status update can be sent immediately, scheduled for a later date or added to an existing campaign.
Categorize posts by attaching them to a campaign name, for easy tracking and management.
get a quick overview of all posts sent or scheduled via the "My Posts" page.
Obtain more detailed analytics on individual posts, including the proprietary Roost Engagement Score as well as the number of impressions, likes, shares, comments and clicks.
because the mobile app was designed to complement the full Roost by VerticalResponse social media marketing toolkit for small businesses, users need an account before they can access the mobile app. Set up a free account by going to https://roost.com/app .
For complete details on the new release as well as screen images, visit the VerticalResponse Product Blog.
ABOUT VERTICALRESPONSEVerticalResponse inc. provides a full suite of self-service marketing solutions for small businesses including email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, direct mail marketing and online surveys. its mission is to empower small businesses and non-profit organizations to easily and affordably create, manage and analyze their own marketing campaigns. Users can benefit from a wide variety of features including more than 700 free email marketing templates; tools to create, schedule and publish content over social media networks; and robust reporting so that they can understand overall marketing success. VerticalResponse is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. For more information visit verticalresponse.com , and connect on Twitter at@VR4SmallBiz and Facebook at facebook.com/verticalresponse . Learn more about Roost's social media marketing tools for small business here and by following @Roost.
Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link.JANINE POPICK https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=92010
SOURCE VerticalResponse inc.
Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
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