Your website can, and should be, one of the top ways you bring patients into your practice. That can be a pretty bold statement for someone who doesn’t use the internet very much or doesn’t get ANY new business from the internet.
Many practitioners tell us that most of their clients come from referrals. That is exactly how it should be – word of mouth referrals should be your number one way to attract new patients. Your website should be number two. No matter what industry you are in, the fact is that most consumers are searching for health related information online.
In fact, 86% of online adults are searching for health related information an average of six times a month. Is your practice reaching this online healthcare consumer? If you’re not sure, here’s where you start…
The first step is to have a professional website that meets some of the basics for attracting patients.
- Your contact information is readily accessible from all pages.
- Your website has a professional look and feel, with a logo/brand that patients will remember.
- You clearly educate visitors on who you are and what you do… the basics.
After fulfilling “the basic” needs, your goal is to create ongoing methods for attracting visitors to your site. One easy way to do that is to have your site changing all the time. Search engines like Google are attracted to sites that change frequently rather than sites that are put up and then stay static for several years. So if someone with poor vision goes to Google and types in “eye care Tennessee” your website will pop up. Here are five easy and inexpensive ways to make this happen:
1) Write short articles about “pains” your patients experience and how your services help them. For example, if you are an acupuncturist you may write a short article (400-800 words) that talks about how acupuncture can cure migraines. Or how acupuncture can help with infertility issues is that is your specialty. Post each of these article on your website with a short “about the author” section at the bottom. This section should have a short description about your practice, a link to your website, and contact information. Also, consider putting your logo on the article somewhere. Post these articles on your website, creating a new web page each time.
2) Leverage the articles you’ve written by distributing them across the internet. Distribute them to strategic newsletters and websites that your target audience reads. You can also use subscriptions services that distribute to hundreds of online newsletters and portals such as www.submityourarticle.com.
3) Write press releases and post them through some of the free services online. You may be able to take some of the information from articles you’ve written and turn them into a press release. Some of the free or inexpensive places to post press releases include www.prweb.com, www.press-base.com, and www.express-press-release.com. Also post the press releases you write to a “press” page on your website.
4) Start a blog and have it be a part of your website. By doing this every time you post to your blog, you will show a change or an update to your site – which the search engines like to see. When you start a blog you may get the option to have a stand-alone blog or one that is a part of your website. Choose the one that is part of your website. We use www.wordpress.com, but there are several other options out there.
5) Leaving comments on other people’s blog is also a great way to bring visitors to your site. Similar to finding newsletters your target market reads, finding blogs your target audience participates in can be just as lucrative – if not more so. Leave professional comments on these blogs and be sure to link back to your website. It’s amazing how many people are nosey and will check to see who you are. We recommend setting aside a certain amount so time for blogging each week, it’s easy to get carried away and blog too much. We recommend no more than one hour.
These are just a few of the ways to bring traffic to your website. In reality your website should be an always changing, consistent source of information and education for visitors. Your site should allows them to get to know you and what you stand for without taking a big “risk” and giving out their personal information. Are you getting the most out of your website?
Let Creative Instinct help you ensure you’re getting the most out of your website. Call us at 501-244-0573, or send an email to owner Gwen Canfield. To see healthcare websites we’ve designed for health care practices – visit our website at www.creativeinstinct.biz. (Website pictured at top of article: AestheticsMD in Gallatin, TN (www.myaestheticsmd.com) designed Creative Instinct.)
(Article from “Creating An Energy Awareness Program” Handbook)
When planning an energy awareness program strategy, first decide how to convey the desired behaviors you want. It is important to consider what motivates your public audience to change their behaviors.
A common mistake is to assume that people will adopt energy-efficient practices simply if they understand the need to conserve energy, believe that energy efficiency is important, and know what actions to take. Many studies conducted over the last 30 years have shown that these factors alone are not enough to change behavior. If your program is based solely on giving information to people, it will almost certainly fail.
Changing people’s energy-use behaviors must go beyond one-way education. The campaign must address barriers to change, as well as making the behaviors easy, convenient, relevant, and socially desirable. Research and case studies have revealed some factors that have proven effective:
Make your contacts personal and interactive.
Face-to-face, back-and-forth communication is one of the most effective motivators in energy education. When people are personally confronted with an opportunity to adopt more energy-efficient behavior, as opposed to having the opportunity presented through information materials or the media, their participation rises dramatically.
Use vivid, relevant, personalized information.
Information that is presented in a vivid way is more likely to prompt action than a standard list of tips or numbers. If the desired behaviors are pictured, people are more likely to visualize themselves doing them. Videotapes of people taking energy-efficient actions in their homes and offices have prompted similar actions by viewers, even after only one viewing.
Emphasize a positive gain, not deprivation.
People naturally avoid and resent hardship and the implication that they are being asked to sacrifice their comfort to save energy. Therefore, emphasize what they will gain from adopting certain behaviors. For example, the most important factor in energy-related activities is thermal comfort. People resist doing things that make them feel uncomfortably cold or hot, even if they save energy, but are more receptive to things that will improve their comfort and health and give them a sense of control over their environment. Make it clear how certain activities, such as adjusting the temperature to be more seasonal and using daylight instead of electric lights will improve their well-being and convenience.
Promote social interaction.
Community meetings and other events may be used to conduct focus groups that design and evaluate the program, but also to help foster exchanges of information. Workshops, kids’ events, fairs, and other activities can be the means to promote energy-efficient behaviors.
Provide feedback.
Feedback provides the community with results and successes, and actually shows how much energy they have saved over certain periods of time. Feedback also helps people visualize the results of their actions, which is important because energy-saving results are often invisible or difficult for communities to evaluate.
For more information on this topic, or for assistance in designing and promoting your green program, contact Creative Instinct. Whether you’re a business promoting green products, or a government agency planning an energy awareness public outreach program, we can help. With sustainability and energy efficiency as our focus, we design programs, promotional communications and outreach materials for green businesses, government and non-profit organizations. Call us at 501-244-0573, or email gwen@creative-instinct.net. To learn more about our services, visit our website at www.creativeinstinct.biz.
Article by Susan Ward (www.about.com)
Green marketing isn’t just a catchphrase; it’s a marketing strategy that can help you get more customers and make more money. But only if you do it right.
For green marketing to be effective, you have to do three things; be genuine, educate your customers, and give them the opportunity to participate.
1) Being genuine means that
a) that you are actually doing what you claim to be doing in your green marketing campaign and
b) that the rest of your business policies are consistent with whatever you are doing that’s environmentally friendly. Both these conditions have to be met for your business to establish the kind of environmental credentials that will allow a green marketing campaign to succeed.
2) Educating your customers isn’t just a matter of letting people know you’re doing whatever you’re doing to protect the environment, but also a matter of letting them know why it matters. Otherwise, for a significant portion of your target market, it’s a case of “So what?” and your green marketing campaign goes nowhere.
3) Giving your customers an opportunity to participate means personalizing the benefits of your environmentally friendly actions, normally through letting the customer take part in positive environmental action.
Let’s put the three essential elements of a successful green marketing campaign together by looking at an example.
Suppose that you have decided that your business will no longer use plastic bags to wrap customer purchases. You know that the traditional plastic bag takes about one thousand years to decompose (cbc.ca) and want to do your part to stop the proliferation of plastic bags in landfills. You feel that this is the kind of environmental action that will be popular with potential customers and a good opportunity to do some green marketing.
To be genuine, you have to ensure that none of your business practices contradict your decision not to use plastic bags. What if customers who happen to walk behind your store see an overflowing trash bin filled with paper, cardboard and plastic bottles? Obviously, he or she will decide that you don’t care as much about recycling as you say you do in your green marketing.
Not using plastic bags appears to be environmental no-brainer, but you will still need to educate your target market. Did you know that a single use plastic bag takes about one thousand years to decompose? I didn’t until I researched this article and probably a fair number of otherwise environmentally conscious people don’t either. This one little factoid about plastic bags could be used as part of your green marketing campaign – all by itself it lets the public know why single use plastic bags are environmentally disastrous and that you and your business care about the environment.
And the third element? By shopping at your store, the customer is taking action to protect the environment by preventing at least one single use plastic bag from going into a landfill. It doesn’t sound like much, but he or she gets the satisfaction of physically doing something that fulfills their beliefs. You can also reinforce your customers’ green decisions and increase their participation by offering them additional related actions, such as buying cloth bags to use for future purchases.
Sometimes the best thing to do with a bandwagon is jump on it. You have to walk the talk and actually implement green policies and act in environmentally friendly ways for green marketing to work, but if you do, you’ve got a powerful selling point with those who are environmentally conscious and want to act to make the world a greener place – a market that’s growing exponentially right now.
Need help with your green marketing?
Contact Creative Instinct graphic design service. We are passionate about energy efficiency and what it can do for families, communities, businesses, and the environment. With sustainability as our focus, we will design effective promotional communications for your green business, government or non-profit organization. To arrange a free consulation, call 501-244-0573-9296. Or, send an email to Gwen Canfield: gwen@creative-instinct.net. To learn more about Creative Instinct, and see samples of our work, visit our website at www.creativeinstinct.biz.
Article by Darrell Zahorsky, About.com Guide
Your business card is often the first impression a potential client has with your company. The business card design and message will ultimately determine whether it gets thrown in the trash or filed for contact later.
Reach in your wallet and pull out your business card. Your Small Business Information guide has put together the business card test. Learn if your business card will pass or be trashed.
Size: Does your business card conform to the traditional size of 3.5″ by 2″? Anything greater will not fit in wallets or most business card holders. End result trash.
Paper Quality: Is your business card design of professional quality or is it flimsy with perforated edges? Cheap cards are trashed.
Ink: Drop some liquid on your business card. If the ink runs, it’s in the trash.
Color Test: Colorful cards can add to your professional image. Too much color can be detracting. Trash your card if it is black and white or has more than 3 colors unless it’s a photograph.
Message Design: Your business card should clearly tell people what you do and offer a meaningful benefit. No message adds confusion so your card ends up in the trash.
Image Match: Your business card design should match your business image. If you’re a designer, then the card should be creative. If your card is out of synch with your image, time to toss it.
Font Size: Is your card crammed with information? White space on the card will make it easier to absorb your message. If you have a lot to say, add it to the back of the business card. Is the print so tiny you have too squint to see it? This one is heading for the trash.
Contact Information: Your clients or potential clients should have as many means as possible to contact you based on their preference. Your business card design should include: voicemail, phone, fax, email, and website. Lack of contact information puts your card in the trash.
You only have one chance to make a great first impression. Make sure you invest in the best business card design you can afford. The business card is your introduction to a client, for the low cost per card that is money well spent.
Let Creative Instinct guide you through the effective business card design process. You will love the results! Call Gwen Canfield at 501-244-0573. To see business cards we’ve designed for other businesses – visit our website at www.creativeinstinct.biz.
(Article written by John Sternal – “Understanding Marketing”)
When you went to your last dental visit did you sit in the chair and wonder what kind of marketing the doctor was doing to drive business? I bet you didn’t. And neither did many of the dentists.
The recession has changed all that and many dentists are now stepping up their marketing efforts to include traditional marketing, public relations, online marketing, email marketing and even social media marketing via Twitter.
According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, some dentists estimate that between 20 to 30 percent of their patients have put off dental visits because of the economic conditions. Because of this many are stepping up their efforts to create more visibility and promote specials to current patients as well as new ones. The article also points out there are more than 120,000 dental practices in the U.S., according to the American Dental Association.
Dentists are just like your typical small business. They’re smart business people who would much rather focus on their skill instead of deal with things like marketing or business development. Unfortunately in this current economy, the ones that survive are the ones that know how to raise visibility, promote specials, create an atmosphere that breeds word of mouth excitement and reward customers to come back for more. In a word, integrated marketing.
Here are a few ideas to help dentists (and other small businesses out there) get started with their own marketing:
- Start by creating a blog. WordPress makes it easy to get started on a limited budget. Select a domain. And begin offering all kinds of health tips that inform people of great dental care for their teeth. Encourage people to participate in your blog community by letting them share their own information and ideas, as well as ask questions about their teeth (since, you know, it’s supposed to be about teeth).
- Once your blog is established you now have a base to direct people via your marketing efforts. Understanding marketing will be very key here. Design attractive brochures, post cards, direct mail and email campaigns that direct people to a special landing page attached to your blog. On this landing page include a special offer they just can’t pass up – like 50 percent off their first dental visit. Also, create incentives for them to bring in friends or other family members and reward them for doing so (an additional 20 percent off for each friend or family member signed up).
- Also consider promoting your blog and blog posts through Twitter
and Facebook
, which are great ways to spread buzz and generate excitement on a limited budget.
- Once you start getting people in the door via your blog and promotions, think about developing a PR story for the local news. Maybe a local business reporter will find it interesting that a local dentist is using Twitter to promote the business. Maybe you want to comment on how your business has been coping with a slowing economy. Or perhaps you want to develop a feature story and showcase how each week you offer your services to provide free dental care for women and children who find shelter from abusive situations (just an idea, of course). For more PR ideasPR Toolkit.
Need assistance with branding, marketing website design for your business or health care organization? Creative Instinct can help. Email Gwen Canfield at gwen@creative-instinct.net, or call 501-244-0573. To see how we’ve helped other organizations with their marketing efforts, visit our website at www.creativeinstinct.biz.
(Article written by John Sternal – Understanding Marketing)
Logos are a significant part of the marketing of any small business. Entrepreneurs should understand what to look for when developing a logo either for their business or for any visual brand mark for a marketing campaign being developed. Below are some great tips to keep in mind when developing a logo. You can also get more help and tips to learn how to create a logo for your small business or marketing by clicking on this link.
A logo should do the following:
1. Entice Customers: A logo needs to be inviting so that customers and visitors feel a sense of comfort with the company.
2. Instill Confidence: In today’s commercial landscape it’s always important to gain a competitive advantage. A logo that offers a sense of trust can help you accomplish this.
3. Build Your Reputation: Companies use logos to build upon an established reputation they feel resonates well with clients and visitors. A good logo can go a long way towards enhancing your corporate reputation and complement the social media marketing work you do to establish that reputation.
4. Extend Your Brand: Your brand identity has a specific look and feel to it. A logo that doesn’t match this identity is always counterproductive to extending your brand.
5. Be Powerful: In business, it goes without saying that you must have the look and feel to be a strong company. A company that exudes confidence. The same way people look at other people and feel they’re strong, a visitor can look at your logo and get a similar feeling.
6. Be Memorable: Naturally, it’s important for people to remember you in business. A logo that is memorable helps your company build effective mindshare so that increased future sales are easier to come by.
7. Evoke An Emotional Response: So much of branding is about establishing an emotional response, attachment or behavior among a certain audience. Your logo should also generate an emotional bond by delivering or bringing back positive memories within your visitors.
8. Identify With Company Attributes: What are the attributes of your company? Are you known for quality? Exclusivity? Affordability? Whatever your brand attributes are, it should come through loud and clear in your logo.
9. Be Simple: Ever hear the phrase Keep It Simple, Silly (KISS)? This law applies to logos as well. Think of the Nike swoosh, or the orange and red shell for Royal Dutch Shell. Sometimes less is more and this is certainly the case with logos.
10. Have Appealing Colors: Speaking of the Royal Dutch Shell logo, think about using vibrant colors, especially if that matches your brand attributes and marketing. Remember, you want to be noticed but also consistent with your branding.
11. Be Functional For Marketing Use: Today logos are used in all kinds of different applications and platforms. Whether it’s for a large roadside billboard, an on-screen Twitter account or even on a ballpoint pen trade show giveaway, make sure your logo is functional for a variety of different marketing and PR uses.
12. Reach Global Audience: Also keep in mind that we now operate in a global economy. It’s good to have specific campaigns that reach certain demographics, but overall your logo should be well respected and received on a global level. At the very least make sure there is nothing about your logo that would offend any specific group of people in any part of the world.
For design of your organization’s logo, hiring a professional is your best bet. If you want to ensure that your logo meets all the criteria mentioned above, give us a shout. It’s what we do: gwen@creative-instinct.net, or call 501-244-0573. To see samples of other logos designed by Creative Instinct, visit www.creativeinstinct.biz.
Article by Apryl Duncan (www.about.com)
How much junk mail do you receive each day? Do you read it? Toss it?
Now put yourself in the shoes of your direct mail recipients. Avoid direct mail deadly mistakes or your materials will end up in the trash too.
Know Your Audience
Before you even begin to put your direct mail campaign together, you’ve got to know who your target market is. Are they women? Parents? Young? Old? Understand what motivates them. What are their likes and dislikes? Write as if you’re talking to them. And even use terms these types of people would use.
Build A Good Mail List
All the fancy graphics and the most beautifully created sentences in the world won’t do you a bit of good if you don’t carefully select the people on your mailing list. If you’re selling adult diapers, you want to target senior citizens…not 23-year-olds.
Tighten your mailing list as much as possible to be sure it’s tailored to your needs. It’s tough to make people believe they need your product and even harder to convince them they need it now. But if you’ve researched your list, you have a higher chance of hitting potential customers instead of the trash can.
Define Your Objectives
You’ve made your list and checked it twice, so-to-speak. It’s the perfect list. Now it’s time to write. Define your objectives before you start writing. Stay focused and hit the points of your objective. If you get off track, your reader is going to stop reading.
The Headline
Spend a lot of time on your headline. Just remember how you feel when reading mail that comes to you. After you read that headline, do you keep reading? The headline can make or break your direct mail campaign.
Reel Them In
Does price really matter? Not unless you know what you’re getting for that price. Hook your reader with all of the product or service benefits. By the time they get to the end, they should be saying, “I can’t live without that!”
Disclose The Price
And then you let them in on the price. Even if the price is extremely low, you have to tell potential customers about the product first.
Disclosing this price shouldn’t put people into shock. Is your product priced according to the market? If you’re selling a new teddy bear, it should be priced within reason. Not many people will pay $90 for a tiny teddy bear, right? Truth is, a lot of direct mail goes unanswered because the products are unreasonably priced.
Success! Your potential customer read all the way through your mailing. Now what?
A Call To Action
Did you tell the reader what you want them to do? You can’t sell if you don’t tell. Your readers need a call to action. Tell them to send in the card, call you, etc. Then tell them again.
Once your direct mail is ready to go, test several smaller mailings before sending out a huge chunk. Test each of these mailings by changing a few items when you send them out. Have two or more sales letters you test against each other. By testing, you will find out which of those mailings are bringing in more responses and – hopefully – more orders. Stick with the clear winners. Remember the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Hire A Designer
Finally, unless you are a graphic designer… do NOT design the mail piece yourself. Leave it to a professional. A graphic designer can help ensure that your direct mail piece is eye-catching, concise, and “speaks” to your target audience — all essential attributes to an effective piece that stands out from the clutter.
Direct mail is a waste of money for a lot of people. But it doesn’t have to be for you. Understanding direct mail deadly mistakes — and avoiding them — will lead you to sales success!
Call us now for help with your direct mail piece.
Call Creative Instinct now at 501-244-0573 to discuss design of your next direct mail piece, email marketing ad or newsletter. Or, send an email to Gwen Canfield: gwen@creative-instinct.net. To see samples of our work, visit www.creativeinstinct.biz. Postcard at top of article designed by Creative Instinct for Fifty Forward senior center in Madison, TN.
Article by Julie Hyde, About.com
Marketing isn’t about using one medium. It’s about getting and keeping customers. Yes, Internet marketing can help you can do that but only if you use it in conjunction with other tactical tools. In addition there are thousands of potential customers that are extremely cautious about placing important business or buying an expensive item from an unknown online vendor. That’s one of the reasons why, in order to succeed, EVERY online company must have brochures and other forms of printed sales literature to hand out to customers and prospects. An online company needs printed sales literature for two reasons:
- Credibility: People expect a “real” company to have printed sales literature. It’s easy to afford spending $60 on business cards, letterhead etc. and call yourself a corporation. But if you want to look like you mean business, you need a brochure of some sort.
- Time-saving. People want printed material to take home and read at their leisure. Yes, you can direct them to your Web site, but a brochure adds a personal touch, tells your prospect what the product or service can do for them and why they should buy from you. Brochures also support other advertising, direct mail, online promotions, and can be used as a sales tool by distributors. In short, a good brochure sells.
To achieve just the right verbiage and look for your brochure – one that “speaks” to your audience in the most effective manner – we suggest that you hire an expert. A professional copy writer and graphic designer will partner with you to ensure that your brochure contains the following key components for success:
- Know What Your Reader Wants
You must write your brochure or leaflet from the reader’s point of view. That means the information must unfold in the right order. Begin by analyzing what your reader wants to know. An easy way to do this is by assessing the order in which your reader’s questions will flow. For example, imagine you own a medical spa facility offering Botox and other anti-aging treatments. You are interested in encouraging your readers to make an appointment for a consultation and/or schedule a treatment. Now, given the nature of your business, your reader will have a lot of questions they’ll want answered before they’ll consider making an appointment. Your brochure should answer their questions in a logical sequence following the reader’s train of thought. A good way to organize your points is to write down the questions you think a potential customer might have, and the answers your brochure might supply. - Motivate your reader to look inside
The first page your reader will see is the front cover. Get it wrong and you’ve as good as lost the sale. Don’t make the common mistake of couching your services in technical jargon. Think benefits or thought-provoking statements that motivate the reader to pick up the brochure and open it. Add a flash that tells the reader there’s something inside that will interest them – an exclusive invitation, a free report, special discount or advance notice of sales. Don’t be tempted to put only your company logo or product name on the front. It won’t work. - Contents Page – What’s in it
In brochures of eight pages or more, a list of contents is useful. Make your list in bold and separate it from the rest of your text. Use the contents to sell the brochure. Don’t use mind-numbing words like “Introduction” or “Model No A848DHGT”. Pick out your most important sales point and use that in your heading. - Describe Your Product
- Make it a Keeper
Putting helpful information in your brochure will encourage the reader to keep it, refer to it often or pass it on to other people. If you’re selling paint you can provide hints on color schemes, painting how-to information, tips from the pros etc. If you’re selling skin care products you can give your readers tips on how to combat pimples, dry skin, fine lines and wrinkles. - Alter the Shape
Who says a brochure has to be A4? Selling sandwiches? You can design a brochure in the shape of a sandwich. Season tickets to soccer matches? Design it in the shape of a soccer ball. Using your imagination when designing your brochure can produce better than average results. According to Direct Magazine, a recent mailing by CSi, a company that conducts customer satisfaction surveys for automobile insurance firms and repair shops, got a 15% response rate with a brochure delivered in a 32-ounce squeeze sport water bottle. The headline read, “Thirsty for more repair orders?” Try tall and slim, square, oblong. Whatever you like. The only limitation is your imagination, and, of course, your budget.
To help you describe your product draw up a list of product features (facts about your product) and add the words “which means that…” after each point. For example, “The cake is made from an original recipe, which means that…it tastes better.” Or, “The car has a 300 horse-power engine, which means that…it goes faster.” Remember that the purchaser of your product is not always the user so there may be more than one benefit for each feature.
- Make it Personal
An experienced speaker talking to a large audience will pick out a face in the crowd, and talk to that face. This connection with one person allows the speaker to make his talk more personal than if he were merely addressing a mass of faces. In a similar fashion, the words in your brochure should use this technique and zero in on one imaginary single person. Why? Because writing in a direct “I’m-talking-only-to-you” style will increase response. - Add Atmosphere
Don’t let your brochure sound aloof. Let your reader share your feelings. There’s no reason why a brochure about a wood burning stove has to go into the ins and outs of how the stove works. Tell your reader about rain swept winter evenings and snow-bound afternoons. Let your words show them how warm and snug and they’ll be when they purchase one of your stoves. - Get Selling…Fast
Remember, not everyone wants to be educated on every aspect of your product or service. Nor does everyone want to know the manufacturing details of your widget. Don’t waste their time telling them about things that don’t convey a benefit. - Talk about your reader’s needs
Don’t get carried away with your own interests. Talk about your reader, not yourself. Here are the first words in a brochure from a company selling insurance: “Insurance is a complicated business. Our company was formed in 1975 to help our clients deal with the process of finding the right insurance to suit their needs. In the last 20 years we have been selling insurance to a wide range of customers from many different walks of life. Our company’s reputation is unsurpassed in the industry…” Yawn…This is the bar room bore in print. Instead of telling you how the company can help solve your problems, it’s more interested in telling you about itself. - Give Directions
Every brochure should be organized so the reader can flip through the pages and easily find what they want. Provide clear signposts or headlines throughout the brochure and make sure each one says: “Hey, pay attention to me!” - Ask for Action
Regardless of how you organize your brochure, there’s only one way to end it. Ask for action. If you want your reader to respond include an 800 number, reply card, or some form of response mechanism. In fact, to increase your brochure’s selling power you should include your offer and a response mechanism on every page.
Need some help with your company brochure or other marketing collateral? Call Creative Instinct at 501-244-0573 to arrange for a free consultation. Not only can we create an appealing page-turning design for your brochure, we can bring in an experienced and talented copywriter to craft the perfect verbiage. Email Gwen Canfield: gwen@creative-instinct.net. To see brochure designs we’ve created for our clients, visit www.creativeinstinct.biz. (Brochure pictured at top of article was designed by Creative Instinct for Jackson & Dodd Valet Trash Removal Service.)
Article written by Darrell Zahorsky, About.com Guide
From the daily onslaught of email spams and newsletters filling inboxes, you would think that email marketing is losing its punch. Email marketing is not dead, but a thriving medium for business today.
Business today is finding email marketing attractive for several reasons:
The cost of sending a direct mail piece by postal service runs over a dollar, email marketing can cost pennies.
A one percent response rate from direct mail is considered terrific. An email marketing campaign can have a five to ten percent response rate.
According to DoubleClick’s Email Consumer Study, over 78% of online shoppers have purchased because of permission-based emails and 59% of email recipients have bought in a retail store as a result of a merchant email.
The benefits of email marketing range from increased sales and lead generation to stronger brand awareness and improved customer relationships.
Instruments of Email Marketing
Email marketing is immediately associated with personalized bulk mailings, and possibly newsletters. A complete email marketing strategy can consist of more marketing instruments, however:
- Individual replies to customer requests
- Newsletters (both with original content and supporting a Web site)
- Personalized mailings
- Public mailing lists (for market research, support, etc.)
- Autoresponders
- Networking (participating in forums, discussion lists, fairs,…)
- Web site
Of course, all email activities should also be in line with the overall marketing strategy.
Create A Clear “Call To Action”
Sometimes, I get newsletters and marketing messages via email that have everything except a clear call to action. They’re beautifully designed, a joy to read, and they get me in the mood to do something — if only I knew what the sender expects me to do. I don’t know where to click, what link to follow, where to order.
One of the crucial elements of an email marketing campaign is a clear call to action.
- Lay out exactly what you want the recipients of your message to do, and
- Design the message to make that path clear for the recipient, and easy to follow.
Don’t distract with too many links or offers, and make not only the call to action clear but also what recipients can expect when they click through. This can be as simple as “Click here for a 20% discount on your next weekend trip.”
Frequency
How often is too often? How often is not often enough? Your subscribers know best how frequently they want to hear from you. They’ll let you know by means of unsubscribing. To prevent that, consider asking them for a perfect frequency, test heavily, and maybe ask those who unsubscribe for their reason.
To get started, consider this rule of thumb, though:
- Everything less often than at least every other month is not often enough. People will forget about you, and the surprise of an email from you showing up after a year will probably result in a surprise unsubscription.
- Everything more often than once a week is too often unless your subscribers specifically agreed more frequent mailings. People will get tired and annoyed by your emails, and unsubscribe even if they like your content.
Reflect Your Corporate Design
Your email marketing strategy as a whole must be an integrate part of the overall marketing strategy. Similarly, the design (and the content) of your newsletter or email marketing campaign should reflect your corporate design. Your business “corporate design” or your business “brand” is the look and feel of all your marketing materials (print & online).
Ensuring that your emails reflect your corporate design ensures that recipients can make a connection between the emails and the sender’s other marketing collateral (even if it’s only a Web site). The company image and the image created by the email marketing efforts can interact and maybe strengthen each other.
If the email marketing does not reflect the corporate design, this can have a bad effect not only on the success of the email campaign, but also on the image of the company as a whole. In the subconscious minds of your audience, design consistency in your marketing materials = professionalism and trustworthiness.
Need some help with your email marketing?
Creative Instinct provides a powerful email marketing tool called KeyMail. KeyMail allows you to send e-mail “blasts” and newsletters to hundreds or thousands of customers with speed and ease. It also provides statistical analysis allowing you to view detailed breakdowns of your email campaigns’ effectiveness.
KeyMail allows you to create and send your own email campaigns using a professionally designed “stationery” that we create for you (includes header and footer banners with your logo). Don’t have the time to create an email ad or newsletter? — Leave it to us. Creative Instinct can access your KeyMail account, design a custom email campaign, and then deploy it for you.
Monthly packages or “pay as you go” plans are available. For more information, call Creative Instinct at 501-244-0573. Or, send an email to Gwen Canfield: gwen@creative-instinct.net. To learn more about Creative Instinct, visit our website at www.creativeinstinct.biz.
Article by Stewart Gandolf and Lonnie Hirsch
Ever wonder what the difference is between advertising and publicity?
Simply put, publicity is free. Advertising costs money.
In other words, if a newspaper writes a news article about you (but doesn’t charge you), that’s publicity. If the newspaper charges you for the space (even if it is in article format), then the message just became advertising.
Wouldn’t we all like a little publicity – or “free press” – now and then…just to “get our name out there” a bit…help build reputation and recognition…and attract prospective clients?
Sounds easy enough…nice payoff…so where to start?
Before someone starts wordsmithing a quick news release from the top of their head, this quest does not begin with you or your business – at least not yet. The first and most important insight is that getting the publicity that you want – good, effective publicity – depends entirely on being able to help the news media get what they want.
In other words, your story has to be newsworthy and relevant to your target media outlets’ readers, viewers and/or listeners.
Keep in mind that “free publicity” is a bit of a misnomer. It’s seldom easy, never automatic, and the required investment will be careful and thoughtful research, plus a healthy pinch of creativity. What’s more, if you really want to maximize your chances of getting proper exposure, you may need to hire a professional publicist to get your message out, and publicists are definitely not free.
Begin with two important inventory steps. Make two lists…and the match between the first list and the second list is where you’ll find (or make) opportunity for publicity.
#1 MEDIA INVENTORY
Chart all possible media that touch the people you want to reach. Start by brainstorming to find relevant media. In addition to the obvious local daily newspaper, magazine and/or broadcast outlets, include community weeklies, ethnic or special interest publications, regional, monthly or quarterly magazines, industry newsletters, etc.
In this process, also identify appropriate sub-categories. For example, a newspaper or magazine may have a designated section, editor, reporter or periodic edition for your industry. Look at several editions to recognize what each media outlet favors and whose name is on the “by-line” or section. Identify as many people as possible by category, section, topic or interest.
It’s no secret that the purpose of any commercial media is to attract an audience – and it’s these readers or viewers that the advertisers want to target. So, if the media appeals to an “up-scale” audience, or a “Smallville/Main Street” audience, your best chance of successful publicity will be to tap into their goal.
#2 PERSONAL INVENTORY & POSSIBLE “HOOK” IDEAS
Now look for ideas that help the media. Take an inventory of your own strengths, special knowledge or other ideas that might be of interest to the media’s audience.
You may or may not personally be part of this audience, so focus on their point of view. Look beyond the obvious, be inventive (within reason) and create a list of possible “hooks” or “angles.” What might be attention-getting or unusual? Consider:
- What is legitimately the first, newest, latest or unique?
- Do you have a new way to solve a problem?
- An insight to an emerging trend or something of benefit to a large number of people.
- A story that is truly heart-warming, tear-jerking or emotionally compelling.
- Is there a celebrity angle? …a “hero” angle? …an unusual hobby angle?
- Can you provide expert commentary about a timely topic?
- Do you know a local angle to a national item?
- Are you an expert, author, inventor or credentialed authority?
- Can you create a newsworthy event?
#3 CROSS REFERENCE “WHAT THEY WANT” WITH “WHAT YOU’VE GOT”
Brainstorm many possible topics…narrow to several…and refine the best two or three possibilities. The refinement step will also take into consideration the needs and interests of the specific reporter, editor or producer. And that’s the person to whom you will make your pitch.
It’s likely that you’ll find a match, but you may have to drill down and be a bit inventive to carefully make the match between what they want and what you’ve got. And when you do, that’s where your opportunity for free publicity begins.
That’s how the game starts. But there’s much more to winning publicity as well as planning, public relations, advertising, promotion, strategic thinking and effective execution for practice development.
Winning at the publicity game is challenging. Give us a call today at 501-244-0573 and we’ll be happy to help you grow your organization. Creative Instinct partners with some of the best PR strategists in the business, and can assist you with public relations planning, advertising, promotion, strategic thinking and effective execution. To learn more about Creative Instinct, and view our portfolio, visit www.creativeinstinct.biz.
