Hints & Tips Email Marketing

Hints & Tips Email Marketing

Greetings! Happy Holidays! Well, not yet, but they'll be here before you know it. As consumers, we bemoan the fact that retail shops have the halls "decked" with everything for the December holidays—thedayafter Halloween. But put on your business-owner hat, and you know that you've got to get a holiday marketing plan in place before you hear the little ones say "trick or treat." And we want to help. Last year, we offered you Gail's article,Using Email Marketing for the Holidays, which was chock full of holiday email ideas for businesses and nonprofits. When we considered what to share with you this year, we discovered that the best thing we could do is give you last year's article with a few additions. This article, along with a number of current real-life examples, will give you just what you need to get your email marketing plan in place&#8212before your doorway is filled with ghosts and goblins! Sincerely, Amy Black Editor,Hints & Tipse-Newsletters In this issue: Gail Goodman's Article,Using Email Marketing for the Holidays The October Success Stories, featuring examples of holiday email campaigns Using Email Marketing for the Holidays Tips for including email in your holiday marketing mix By Gail Goodman, Constant Contact CEO Ready for the holidays? You still have plenty of time to purchase all your gifts. You can even do your shopping as late as December 24, if you dare! But when it comes to holiday communication from your business or organization, now is the time to take action. Sending holiday email campaigns is an excellent way for you to stay connected with your customers, clients, donors, or whoever is on your list. In this month's article, we will start with a few tips for everyone, then explore some creative ways that retailers, B2B businesses, and nonprofits can incorporate email marketing into a holiday communications plan. Three quick tips 1. Get started now- Your competitors aren't wasting any time getting started with their holiday promotions, so why should you? Most businesses that benefit from the November/December season start sending their holiday communications the first of November. Starting then gives you the chance to sell to the early shoppers and build awareness with the ones who will buy later. 2. Send throughout the season- You may have noticed that most large companies (retailers in particular) communicate frequently during the holiday season. Some send two or three different versions of a catalog or multiple email promotions highlighting different products and specials. While you don't want to communicate too often with the people on your list, sending consistent communications during the holiday months can increase sales, attendance, or donations. Make sure to be sensitive to the expectations of your audience. 3. Schedule it and forget it- Think through what products, promotions, and events you want to highlight (there are more pointers on promotions below) and then create a plan that includes what you will send and when. Pick a holiday template you like, create a series of campaigns, and schedule them to go out on the appropriate days. By planning, creating, and scheduling your email campaigns before November, you can put your promotions on auto-pilot and focus on your customers during the busiest time of the year. Read on to get tips for retail, B2B, and nonprofits

Get help with your holiday e-promotions Take a free online seminar to get ideas on how you can plan, design, and measure the success of your holiday email communications. Click on dates to register (all ET): Tuesday, 10/9 11:00 - 11:45 a.m. Thursday 10/18 4:00 - 4:45 p.m. View all live webinars Email marketing seminars in your area Constant Contact has small business marketing experts across the country. Attend a seminar, speaking event, or trade show in your region, where you can meet your local marketing expert in person. See events in your area

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Success Stories... Holiday Email Marketing Campaigns Looking for ideas for your holiday emails? Here's how three Constant Contact customers use email promotions to boost their holiday sales. "When the holiday season came, I did some additional research and discovered that buyers don't just want to be sold to, but they also want information. I began writing small articles related to our jewelry product line, such as how to select the perfect gift, how to care for different types of jewelry, etc. The response was wonderful! Although our open rates were about the same, our click-through rates nearly doubled overnight, and our e-newsletter related sales went up 300%!" Jenna Marie Maciel, Owner,Le Loft Jewelry "Three weeks prior to Christmas 2006, a short 'postcard' style e-mail was sent out to the entire database to remind shoppers that a Wanderlust Tours gift certificate would be a great gift idea. Although open rates were average, gift certificate sales tripled over the past year—all due to a simple, clean, full color, HTML e-mail postcard." Patrick Conlon, Marketing Manager,Wanderlust Tours "When we test marketed our CasaQ Ornament Collection by sending out a 'Top 10' email, we received orders and media responses from across the country showing interest in our unusual collection of Latino-themed holiday ornaments. As a result, the ornaments were included in the Andy Roddick 1st Annual Texas Hold 'Em Tournament Celebrity Gift Bag. "Because we did no other marketing for this collection, we know the success we experienced was because of the 'Forward-to-a-Friend' feature. We piggybacked the promotion by emailing a press release. The combination of these emails helped to increase our ornament sales by 450% over the previous year! We did no TV, print or radio advertising, it was purely online efforts." Darlene Tenes, Founder,CasaQ

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About the Author Gail Goodman, the CEO of Constant Contact, is a dynamic speaker and author, as well as an expert in small business and marketing. She has been featured in numerous online and offline publications including Fortune Small Business, Entrepreneur, Small Business Technology Magazine, Inc. Magazine, CNN, and the Boston Business Journal.

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