SPAM Tweetup

Looking forward to seeing anyone who wants to talk about SPAM in Charlotte Weds, November 11 at 11:30 :

• Who decides when spam is officially SPAM
• Making sure you’re not mistaken for a spammer
• Best practices for email marketing (including newsletters)
• How to handle spammers

By nature, a tweetup is informal, so drop in at Mama Ricotta’s and meet some great tweeple. Not tweeting yet? This group might convince you to give it a twhirl.

My NPR 3-minute Fiction Entry

I entered NPR’s Three Minute Fiction contest.  The rules are straightforward: using a prescribed first sentence, write a short story in less than 600 words. If I’m the big winner, I’ll be interviewed and have my story read on-air during Weekend All Things Considered and receive an autographed copy of the book “How Fiction Works” by  The New Yorker’s James Wood, who’s judging the contest.

Here’s my submission:

The nurse left work at five o’clock.  He knew what he was doing, leaving mid-shift, but it was time for a change. A mid-shift departure would make change inevitable.

Leaving the employee parking lot, he waived at the attendant and switched on the news.  More reports of layoffs, expiring unemployment benefits, bank failures…yet, he’d walked out.  Mid-shift.

Pulling into the potholed parking lot, he scanned the fenced-in runs to see if it really was Scamp they’d brought in.  “Puppy prison,” he’d called it when his parents took him to the pound to choose a dog for his 8^th birthday.

Prison. Maybe he’d apply for a job at a prison – plenty of job security in a growth industry like that. Maybe he could get a job working on death row, keeping the guys alive until the state could have its justice. He might enjoy working with those who’d accepted their ultimate fate, for a change.

Just an hour before, he’d advised the Johnson family that without a Do Not Resuscitate Order on file, the staff was obliged to keep their mother alive if possible.  Of course he didn’t go running to an administrator just because Mrs. Johnson’s daughter slapped him, but his former co-workers would draw the conclusion that it was the “Johnson family incident” that finally took him over the edge.  Cardiology was notorious for unruly family outbursts. Was it because there was usually no time to plan?

Death row. Opening the door to Puppy Prison he wondered how many they’d gassed today.  The uniformed clerk looked up from her filing and smiled as if she worked at Dairy Queen, not Auschwitz. “Here to pick out a pet?”

“No, my vet called to say you might have picked up my dog – a beagle mix with an attitude.”

“Oh, yes, good thing he had a rabies tag. C’mon back.”

Fifteen minutes later and $50 lighter, he and Scamp merged back into traffic.  Fondling Scamp’s notched ear from a long-ago-lost battle, he mused what a perfect match they were – their sweet faces belied a tendency to pick fights they couldn’t win.

Moving his hand to his own lightly-califlowered ear, acquired four days after he’d started the job he’d just essentially quit, he felt the irony that in that case, he’d tried keep a patient from taking his own life. God, that guy was strong. A monster.

Swerving to miss a kid on a skateboard, the sudden jolt swept Scamp and the cell phone onto the passenger floor.  Scamp was no worse for the wear, but the nurse wondered if this was the last tumble for his old phone. He’d resisted replacing it because all the new phones had features he didn’t want.  “Simplicity” was his new watchword.  Life had gotten too complicated.

After a traffic report, NPR ran a story on the nation’s death panel hysteria. Yeah, everyone’s a little crazy right now. The living take their lives and the dieing want to prolong theirs. Whatever happened to the role of Providence in these things?

Pulling into his driveway alongside the lime green Beetle driven by the home health aide, he was glad his father was past noticing the early hour of his arrival. Pop’s days and nights were indistinguishable to him now.

Scamp pushed past his master. Trotting straight to the living room where they’d set up Pop’s hospital bed, the dog uncharacteristically stopped and whimpered.  The aide looked up; “I’m so sorry,” she sobbed, “I tried calling your cell phone ten minutes ago.”

Next Q: Online/Offline

I’m having a good time responding to questions from my 6/18/09 presentation to CPSE.  Thanks, ladies.

Q: With so much moving online, what do you bother to print?

If a tree falls and no one hears it...

A:  I’m not qualified to answer questions about e-commerce and web-based customer self-service.  I’ll answer this from the perspective of the solo-preneur who asked the question.

What goes online and in print varies from a person to person and must align with industry norms. For example, when I ran an environmental contracting business my market was general contractors with public-bid jobs.  Contractors are low-tech, and expect bids to be FAXED, not emailed.  Most of them have Yahoo or Hotmail accounts and a LIGHT web presence if any.  I could have senselessly spent a fortune on multimedia that would have been like the proverbial tree falling in the woods with no one to hear it. Instead, I hired a telemarketer who made personal contact with the estimators and then followed up with a customized packet that spoke to our expertise on the kinds of jobs the contractor bid.

On the other hand, when I ran a software and services consulting firm we had to demonstrate our tech chops — everything was online.

Answer these questions:

1. Where do the people you  most want for customers turn when they’re looking for your products and services? Referrals from people they know or from independent raters like Angie’s List?  Straight to the Google search page?
2. When you’re at a business mixer, how often do people ask you to send them a packet of information?
3. When you present your qualifications/proposal to a new prospect, what materials do they spend time REALLY looking at?  What do they repeatedly ask for that you don’t often bring?
4. Why do your competitors do what they do?  They may have best practices or they may be laggards, but it’s always prudent to check them out.
5. Do you represent a product or offer a service that requires buyers to hunker down and study to make a decision?  Offer that online for sure — also in print if you’ve got lots of money to spend.  When I meet a new client I find it helpful to simply sit with them at a computer screen and go through pages on my site and elsewhere.  This assures that they’ve seen my site and gives them a constant place to go if a printed piece goes astray.

Business cards & postcards

Business cards are, in my view, still a must. There’s an ongoing and lively discussion on whether you should include your social media “handles” on the card (for example, you can follow me on Twitter @TamelaRich).  I can see all points of view.

I also carry 4.25″  x  5.5″ double sided postcards that act as a mini home page.  Most people, when given the choice, will take a p-card instead of a b-card.  Given the nature of my work, that’s all the print collateral I need, b-cards and p-cards. Your mileage may vary.

How ’bout it, experts?  What else should entrepreneurs/small business owners consider?

Next Q: Personal vs Professional Blog?

Continuing my series of answers from questions asked at the CPSE meeting 6/18/09.

Q: When should you have a personal blog and when should you use a blog professionally?

A: (From the perspective of a self-employed/solo-preneur who asked it) This can be a delicate balance.  Find your voice somewhere between “faux big business” and the emerging “my-life’s-an-open-book” ethos.

Set the tone with your bio

Here’s a Twitter follower’s bio, (@ex-wirehouse) which sets the stage for the voice he uses in his blog posts and tweets:

“One time Infantry Officer, longtime wirehouse veteran. Currently Principal and CEO of Andover Equity Investment Group LLC an independent asset management paractice,successfully focused on absolute return investing. Proud husband and father of 7 year old twins. Discplined trader who is constantly humbled by the markets. In no way should this even remotely be construed to constitute investment advice, more aptly a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

When you go on to read his posts, you’ll see that he blends strong professional views with a heavy dose of humility, just as his bio suggests he would.

For something a bit more traditional, here’s my bio.

Find your voice

Let’s say you’re a baseball card collector, you love all things about the sport but your paid work is interior design.  How to get into the new media groove?

You might talk about the parallels between project management and third base coaching or dealing with a difficult customer with a personality like Ty Cobb’s.  This makes you a REAL PERSON, infuses warmth into your posts and will probably garner you a following of other baseball lovers.  Wow, imagine having a client roster full of other people who love the game — that’s the potential of your new media voice.

Next post:  What to put in print/online

How to Quench the New Media Thirst?

I’ve got street cred talking about adolescent boys — mine are 17 and 20.  So believe me, when it comes to technology, I’m like an adolescent boy learning how to deal with hormones; my ego swells and deflates according to the company I keep.

Last week I addressed a business networking group of small business owners and solo-preneurs.  Their program director asked me to speak on e-newsletter marketing, but they wanted to know EVERYTHING about social marketing, from blogs to the proper form for declining a Facebook or LinkedIn invitation without offending.

Since nothing they asked stumped me, my head swelled .  Like an adolescent boy, it doesn’t take much.

Getting the job done

Half an hour for Q&A was insufficient; books have been written on each question!

As marketing and media become more granular and everyone’s expected to publish SOMETHING, even a 140-character tweet,  there’s an audience for what I have to say about effective business communications and plenty of opportunities to ghostwrite. But I’m a Business Person who writes like an English Major, not a new media guru.

Fortunately for us all there are technology scouts out ahead charting the best path to success. Given the thirst for new media information, I’m going to address the specific unanswered questions of the Charlotte Professional Saleswomen and Entrepreneurs through a series of posts and invite the REAL GENIUSES out there to comment on and enhance what I have to say.

Blog versus Newsletter:  what’s the difference?

The word “blog” is truncated from web log.  Remember Star Trek, with “captain’s log” entries?  Well, a blog is a web-based log of thoughts, activities, articles, and whatever else the author publishes in a “post” (as opposed to a web page).  Lots of great (and free) software makes publishing a blog easy.

A newsletter can contain the same kind of materials that are published on blogs. Newsletters can be published electronically or on paper, but the blog is called a “blog” because it’s a web log.

If you publish both a blog and newsletter, they should reinforce each other.  Your blog should be updated more often than you publish newsletters, so refer to blog posts that take the reader further down the knowledge path of the articles and topics in the newsletter.  For example, in my recent newsletter I referred to six blog posts on how to keep your e-newsletters out of the SPAM filters.  No need to condense six blog posts in the e-newsletter!

OK, that’s enough from me on this particular question.  If you have further questions or want to elaborate on my answer, have at it — floor’s open.

Speaking on Newsletters

This week I speak to the Carolina Professional Saleswomen and Entrepreneurs on a favorite topic:  Newsletters and CAN-SPAM.

I plan to start with a primer on the scary compliance stuff and then discuss how professionals can build their newsletter subscription list (as well as subcriptions to blogs, ezines, etc) with a solid CONTENT strategy, including article marketing.

I’d appreciate any advance questions you think I should plan to address in my talk.

I’m also interested in any research on this topic, whether your own or someone else’s.

Thanks in advance.

Your Reputation as a Spammer

You think you’ve properly built a subscriber list of folks who OPTED IN to receive your e-newsletter.  Turns out, that’s not good enough.  Your email might still wind up in the SPAM file.

Lyris, Inc.’s 2008 analysis showed one out of every four permission-based email messages sent to U.S.-based Internet Service Providers (ISPs) lands in the junk mail folder.

What’s up?  While results vary by the filter policy of each ISP (such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AIM, etc), the report says it’s the sender’s reputation driving 25% of messages to the SPAM folder.

How do you earn the right reputation?

• Craft a compelling message.
• Don’t bombard your list — send no more often than your recipients bargained for.
• Make it easy for people to find the “Unsubscribe” button.  If it’s easier to hit “SPAM” than “Unsubscribe” you’ll get a reputation as a spammer on ISPs’ scorecards.

Stefan Pollard, Lyris email marketing expert, points out that “The definition of spam has moved beyond the legal requirements of the CAN-SPAM Act to include any message that is unrecognized, unexpected or unwanted... This puts the onus on senders to make their messages recognized, expected and wanted.  Until they do, invited email will continue to be delivered to the bulk folder.”

Spam filter trigger words:

Act Now!                     Free!                               50% off!         While Supplies last

Click Here                  Call now!                       Earn $             Why pay more?

Discount!                   You’re a Winner!        Credit               Serious Cash

Weight                        Opportunity                 Compare         Double Your Income

Removes                   Collect                           Amazing           Work from Home

Offer                           As Seen On…                Click Here         “Stop” or “Stops”

Buy Direct                Loans                            Buy Direct         Satisfaction Guaranteed

Subscribe               All Natural                    Winner                Avoid Bankruptcy

Promise You         Cash                                Easy Terms       Special Promotion

Get Paid                 Great offer                     One time             Guarantee, Guaranteed

Join millions       No cost, No fees          Order Now         Online Marketing

Please Read        Don’t Delete                   Save up to          Time Limited

Problems with promotional email

In a study by Merkle, “View from the Inbox,” 2009, the main reasons subscribers choose to opt out of email programs, are perceived irrelevance (75%) and sending too frequently (73%).

Promotional emails were deemed the most  intrusive. Solution?  Make your newsletter informative, not promotional.

Merkle reported that 20% of those receiving e-newsletters thought they were worthy of reading, and received, on average,about eight newsletters each month.  That’s a heap of competition for YOUR customers’ attention.

Your reputation intact

If you can’t do the job in house, pay a good ghostwriter/copywriter.  You’ll offset by the fees with savings to your reputation with customers and ISPs.

When you decide to outsource, be sure you hire someone who not only can cut a phrase and punctuate, but also who knows your firm/industry.  That is, unless you really want to bring a writer up the learning curve(!)

Pardon my plug to consider my turnkey newsletter service. When you go to the trouble of communicating with customers, track results so you know what’s working and what’s not.  My service includes custom templates with analytics that can tell you details like who opened what link in what browser.

Speaking engagement

At the kind invitation of the Carolinas Professinal Saleswomen and Entrepreneurs, I’ll be speaking on CAN-SPAM and e-newsletters June 18.  Hope to see you there.

Laryngitis, LinkedIn and Me

I spoke at a networking event last week on one of my favorite topics: email marketing and the scourge of  SPAM.

More correctly put, I whispered my way through it.  Laryngitis. It helped that people wanted to know about CAN-SPAM compliance — audience members shushed each other so they could hear me croak away.  Afterward, someone told me that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis  spoke in a whisper to make people pay attention.  Savvy, Jackie.

The topic was well received, so I went to LinkedIn and in-mailed it to selected contacts. Within three hours a friend asked if I would present it to his company at a Friday lunch-n-learn and another asked if she could link to it in her blog.

Later, I offered it to a LinkedIn group.  Within 24 hours I learned that it had been Tweeted around the world and one group member wanted to post my guide on her website and use my presentation for a Chamber of Commerce event!  This social networking thing is amazing, eh?

About 40% of my new web traffic comes from LinkedIn and newsletter efforts. My subscriptions include people from around the world.  Worthwhile CONTENT on your website can drive eyeballs.

If you want to see what the buzz is about visit http://tamelarich.com/food-for-thought/canspam-download/

Less is More

 

Interesting blog post at MediaPost, a firm that provides an array of resources for media, marketing and advertising professionals. In it, I discovered it’s not just my inbox getting bruised and swollen by a flood of marketing messages.

LESS is MORE.  Did your newsletter subscribers sign up with the belief they’d be getting a monthly coupon and now you’re pummeling them with daily exhortations to BUY NOW?  You’re probably shooting yourself in the foot.

If enough of them hit “spam” to rid themselves of your aggressive communications, you can’t email them again. Plus that, you run the risk of a $11,000 federal fine under the CAN-SPAM ACT.

Focused and fresh content, delivered at comfortable intervals, will help you avoid “spam” reports from recipients who are overwhelmed by everyone, including you. One way to avoid the compulsion to blast an email: devise an editorial calendar.  I spoke on this topic Monday night at Connect the Dots, a networking event run by the PR Store. If you want a download of my presentation it’s available here.

Kill your Darlings

Postal rates go up in May and there’s even talk of cutting service back to five days a week.  This fuels desire for e-communications, particularly newsletters and mail blasts, which cost less and are more likely to be opened than snail mail.

Hold your horses. Just because you CAN send e-communications doesn’t mean you SHOULD.  Further, if you don’t write well, your e-blasts might do your business more harm than good.

Tips for the intrepid, go-it-alone types:

• Give yourself a quota on passive voice.  Writing 200 words?  Three instances of  “to be” is sufficient.  You can do it.  Search for “ing” in your document and re-write those sentences with active verbs.
• Discipline yourself. As a freelance journalist, I learned the importance of “killing your darlings” because print and airtime are scarce.  What’s a darling?  Force yourself to cut a sentence from a short piece or a paragraph or section from a longer one.  If it doesn’t hurt to strike it, it isn’t a darling.  Keep cutting!  When you come across something you love that isn’t essential to the message — a darling– kill it.
• Single out your best customer or most coveted prospect and ask yourself, “Why does Janice need to know this?”  If you can’t come up with at least two reasons, overcome your desire to hit the “send” button.
• If you simply aggregate news stories and personalize them with a cover note, you should blog, not blast.

When I speak at Connect the Dots March 9 someone will win a drawing for a free newsletter consultation.  Will it be you?

Next Page »