The 5 do's and don'ts of email design

Withouth a clear, consistent and well designed e-newsletter, your email may not get read, or worse, deleted. Consider the following tips for your next email marketing campaign to ensure that it gets read and forwarded.


1. Maintain a balanced ratio between text and images
If your email newsletter contains too many images, or too much text, it could be flagged as spam. Integrate images with text properly to ensure that your messages can be easily read, and most importantly, stays out of the spam box.

2. Always assume that embedded images won't appear properly
Don't you hate it when you get emails where every image is replaced with a red 'x'? Not all email clients automatically display images without prompting the user to take action first, eg click here to view images. It's important that your key messages - the information that you want your readers to take away from your email - aren't embedded within an image. Use HTML body text to deliver the most important information.

3. Do provide a backup option for emails with image-rich backgrounds
Not all email clients (like gmail or outlook) provide support for background images. Provide a backup option, such as a coloured background if an image is usually used as the backdrop for your email.

HTML allows both an image and a colour to be coded in the same tag, which means that if a mail client supports background images, the image will show, but if it doesn't then your chosen colour will appear in its place.

4. Consider using a table of contents for emails with several articles
Create a simple table of contents at the top of your email if your e-newsletter contains several articles or sections. Make it easy for your readers to navigate and read the articles that interest them.

5. Have a strong call to action
Whether you want your readers to click a link, email or call you direct, visit your website, or share the content with their friends, make sure you have a clear call to action where readers are most likely to see it.

Always remember that a great email design will help you in three areas:

1. A well-organised and visually appealing email is more likely to be read and shared
2. Proper email design can help avoid delivery hang-ups and will ensure that it always looks good regardless of the mail client used and it will always get delivered into a person's inbox
3. Optimal integration of text, images and a clear call to cation leads to increased ROI

To get started with email marketing, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

How you can use video marketing for your business

Below are some ideas on how you can use online video for your business.

1. Company profile - Online videos can be used as a great introduction to your busienss, for example, provide an overview of your company, your services and products, industry, history, the team and your company culture
2. Staff profile - Find employees who come across naturally on video and have positive personalities. Let them tell their story, eg why they love working at your company, what they are passionate about, or love about their job etc
3. Tell everyone what you are doing for the community - What notable causes is your company involved in or passionate about? A video about what your company is involved in shows you care about your community and that you're not just about money, but you care
4. Customer testimonials - showcase why clients use you and any successful stories, or what your products and services have done for your clients and helped them achieve. 
5. Training - a training video or a series of videos is a great way to educate yur clients on how they can use your products and services. They can also learn at their own pace and is an alternative to the usual and boring text training manual
6. Industry news/commentary - this needs to done in real time. You could consider using video to offer commentary on relevant news/breaking news and then post this on your blog, website or youtube channel. This will showcase your company's responsiveness to breaking news and industry awareness
7. How to guides and tips - share your expertise with your how to videos. Be seen as the expert and it could also help with search exposure for potential customers who need help and are searching for how-to content related to the products and services you are providing
8. Interviews - interview vendors, thought leaders, key influencers, staff or clients on a topic of interest
9. Events - if you are presenting or attending an event, don't just capture the event, but the people associated with the event or who attended the event. Eg get people to share their experience and what they thought of the event, interview presenters etc
10. Presentations - consider a video presentation to better showcase information in an informative and enthusiastic way

How to handle negative feedback online

1. Your first priority is to quickly respond. The longer you leave a negative comment go unanswered, the more credibility it will gain with other viewers. If you respond immediately, it will show that you are listening and you care and are willing to do something about the problem.

2. Apologise. Even if it is to acknowledge the problem. Don't go into who is right and who is wrong as this will accomplish little. And most people will see petty complaints for what they are.


3. Move ongoing/difficult conversations offline. Provide an initial response in public and provide contact details for further follow-up. Move on-going discussions with difficult customers to private channels.

4. Thank the customer for their feedback. Treat any negative comments as though it were constructive criticism. Apologise to the customer for their unsatisfactory experience and let them know that their feedback is appreciated and that you will take their comments into consideration for further improvement. Make sure you follow up with your promise.

4 tips for better video marketing

Did you know....

• The average online user watches about 16 hours of online video a month
• A person watches about 5 hours a month watching videos on Youtube
• The average attention span for online videos is about 60 seconds

So how can you ensure that your videos stand out from the crowd?

• Keep it short and sweet - people are busy and their time is important. Keep your videos short and sweet for maximum effectiveness. It's ideal to keep it under 2.5mins
• Put the important things first - people can be easily side-tracked or distracted, so make sure you lead in your video with the most important information first. That way, you'll have a better chance of getting your audience to take action
• Be specific - give people specific benefits or the success they will achieve if they use your product and service. Don't be afraid to show examples, eg testimonials from real customers
• Keep it personal - make it personal, so your audience will identify and relate with you more, which will result in longer viewing times. Show your personality and the 'human' side to your company

 For more information about digital marketing and how the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack can help you with your video marketing, call 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au. 

Learn the lingo for Facebook

Facebook provides businesses with a powerful one-to-many communication vehicle. When you update your status, the message appears on the profile of all other Facebook users who have 'liked' the business page. It's also easy to comment on fan posts, upload photos and videos and send messages directly to users to further establish relationships, answer their questions and drive loyalty.

If you are new to Facebook, we have provided some information below to help you familiarise yourself with some of the features and how it works.

• Like – a virtual thumbs-up you can give to Facebook content.
• Status –  answers the question “What’s on your mind?”- a brief update to your ‘friends’.
• Wall – shows all your latest activity including comments, photos, events, videos, and more.
• Wall Post – when people post comments to your wall.
• Friends – anyone you’re connected to on Facebook.
• Newsfeed – a stream of content that updates you on the status, likes, and posts of your friends and brands or causes you follow.
• Mobile Upload – content that comes directly from your mobile phone, like a photo.
• Tagging – identifying a person or brand in a photo or post.

Anatomy of  a personal page

1. Notifications – This bar will show the number of friends you need to approve, the number of unread messages and your unchecked notifications. Notifications let you know if someone has commented onto your Wall or commented and liked something that you’ve posted.
2. Your Post – You can post to your Wall or respond to posts that your friends have left. You are able to comment on these posts or click ‘Like’ to show that you like the comment.
3. Account Photo – Your account photo accompanies all your posts so make sure that it’s professional, identifies you and stands out.
4. Wall - The wall is the area where your friends can post questions, comments, photos and videos. The activity is public for anyone who you have approved as a friend.
5. Info Tab – Where people can find information about you. This can include everything from your education, employers and age to interests and activities.
6. Facebook Ads - Facebook sells advertising on the right side of the page. While you can’t determine what ads show up, you can purchase your own targeted ads that either drive people to your page or to any other site.
7. Friends – Facebook allows you to see how many friends you have. These are people who receive your statuses or updates in their news feed and have access to your page.
8. Post from Friend – People who you have approved to be your friend are able to post on your Wall.

TA Fastrack regularly holds marketing webinars on a range of topics, including website design, search engine optimisation, social media marketing and more, or if you would like more information on how Facebook can help your business, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

Be a Negative Optimist

The most important quality for success in entrepreneurship and in life is the quality of optimism. Optimists have an unrealistic expectation of success. As a result, they are willing to try far more things without becoming discouraged. In addition, because of their unrealistically positive attitude, they are willing to persist much longer than the average person. Optimism is a wonderful quality as long as you have it under control.


Taper Your Optimism
In order to be successful in business, and in any activity where your money is involved, you must temper your optimism with negativism. You must be enthusiastic about the possible upside of the investment but you must be sceptical, critical, suspicious and demanding about all the different ways that your money can be lost.

Listen to Negative Viewpoints
Seek out and listen carefully to people who are negative towards your idea. Look for negative thinkers, because their viewpoints can be invaluable and save you a fortune in time and money. I have a friend who is a lawyer. And he recommends and gives advice to many people on investments. And what he does is this. When someone comes and they want to make an investment that he's unsure about, he says, all right, I want you to come to my office and I want you to sit behind my desk. And then I'm going to come in and I'm going to present this investment to you and I want you to critique this investment as if you were me.

Help Others to Evaluate Honestly
And he says that when his clients begin critiquing the investments they're thinking about going into, when they begin becoming negative thinkers about the investments, he says they are astonished at how bad the investments really are. He said he has saved his clients millions of dollars by forcing them to be negative thinkers about their own ideas, simply by switching roles and sitting in front of the desk while they sit behind the desk.

Keep Your Mind Open
But don't be overly influenced by negative thinkers. Just take their viewpoints into consideration. There's a famous story of Mary Hudson, who started off with 200 dollars in the middle of the Depression and leased a gas station that two men had gone broke running at two different occasions. And from that she built a company called Hudson Oil, which is now the biggest independent distributor of gas and oil in the United States. From a 200 dollar investment, even though everybody told her she would fail. So remember, listen to negative thinkers, but don't necessarily accept their advice.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to get these ideas into action.

• First, view your idea as if you were an outside consultant. Ask, "What are all of the possible risks or flaws in this cause of action?"
• Second, seek out the opinions of others. Listen without responding or defending. Thank them for their input. They may save you a lot of money.

5 items on your website you need to also include on Facebook

Just a few years ago, your website was the most important marekting tool used to deliver relevant content about your brand, products and services to your target market. However, with the increasing popularity of Facebook, things have changed dramatically.

More and more each day, it's becoming apparent that a significant portion of the user web experience starts and ends with Facebook. If businesses want to garner the attention of consumers, they need to be in front of them where they spend most of their time - which right now is on Facebook. (According to statistics, a user spends up to 15 hours a month on Facebook).

But how far should we take this? Should we put all our marketing dollars on Facebook and forget about having a website? At this point, we recommend that businesses maintain a balance between their own web presence and their investment in Facebook. Company websites should still be left in place for the purposes of corporate communication. There are still some things that don't belong on Facebook -- and legal information happens to be one of them. But what about more creative and compelling content?

We've established a list of five items on your website that we feel would work great on Facebook. Let us know what you think.

Online fan communities

Without question, Facebook should be home to your fan community. While some might argue that it's important from a branding standpoint to provide an outlet for discussion, the sheer volume of Facebook users is enough to drive marketers to select Facebook in this case. For example, your facebook page can be used to engage with fans on new topics of discussion and fans can use the wall to declare their fandom all day, every day. This is very good for the brand. Facebook and its viral functionality make it easy for your fans to share and connect. And of course, it's no secret that peer endorsements are more influential among users than commercials or celebrity endorsements.

Photos and videos

Photos and videos hosted on your website can also be uploaded onto your Facebook page. For example, you can upload new phtoos of your room/hotel renovations on Facebook, include behind the scenes video, sneak peek videos on events held at your hotel etc.

Special offers and rewards programs

Upload your special offer and promotions on Facebook. If you have a rewards card or loyalty program, users can manage their subscriptions to rewards cards/programs through Facebook. This makes perfect sense for an audience that is already on Facebook each day.

Polls and surveys

In May, Facebook reintroduced Facebook Questions, reviving the service as a means of polling users on certain issues. Your business can use this functionality to drive more engagement among users. Eg ask questions on what fans think of your new menu, room renovations etc, or get their opinion on a topic.

Some companies are going all in

While some companies are testing the waters with Facebook and seeing what works and what is ineffective for their brand, other companies are going all out and fully integrating their products into the platform. For example, some businesses now give fans the opportunity to purchase clothes from the Facebook page, share their favorite items or suggest gift ideas to their friends via the share button. Your hotel can make it easy for fans to book accommodation straight away on Facebook.


For more tips and information about social media marketing, speak to TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.