Email marketing - how to improve enewsletter open rates

Below are some simple tips on how you can improve email marketing opening rates.

From field and email address
Send your email from a recognisable 'from' email address and person. If your recipients don't recognise your email or person it's coming from, they will delete it or report it as spam. We recommend sending the enewsletters from a name, followed by your company name, eg Bob Smith | ABC Company.

Attention grabbing subject line
Your email recipients will scan a subject line to determine whether it's relevant or of interest to them. You can test subject lines to determine what holds the most interest for your email subscribers. Avoid using words or symbols (such as multiple exclamation marks), as this may trigger spam filters.

Ask to be added to your subscribers' address book
Some email providers will automatically send your emails to the spam/junk folder if your email address is not included in the address book or trusted senders list. To avoid your email being sent to the junk folder, ask your email subscribers to add your email to their address book.

Send emails to people who genuinely want to receive your email
Check your sign-up process. Does it clearly state that they will receive emails from you?

Improve email deliverability
One way to improve email deliverability is to remove any recipients who have complained from your mailing list. Delete bounced emails (wrong email addresses) from your list and improve your reputation.

For more tips on email marketing, speak to TA Fastrack today on 1300 659 289 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

Are you communicating with your clients?

Whether your clients are long-term customers, find you through the internet, through word of mouth or referral, it's very important that you collect some contact information about them, such as phone number, email or address. You can offer tips, travel information or specials on a monthly or weekly basis through email marketing. It's important to keep in touch with them constantly, as even though they might not be buying anything now, you will be at the top of their minds when they are ready to commit.

You should keep a list of your past clients, so that if you come up to a lean period, you can send an email newsletter or a flyer to them, to simply remind them about your products and services. It doesn't even need to be a hard sell. I can guarantee you that you will get a response from people who have been meaning to call you for weeks or months, but never got round to it because they were busy or forgot - until you emailed them.

So here are some action steps for you to take to ensure that you start building your database of potential and past clients.

1. Collect names and contact details of every single person who expresses an interest in your business and products and services. Set a process in place to ensure that you and your staff are capturing the vital information - from your front desk, to phone enquiries and the website.
2. Follow up and stay in touch with your customers. An email newsletter or a postcard is a very cost effective way to stay in touch with clients.
3. Start now. Make sure you start collecting that data now. You can always fine tune the process or data capture and follow up messages as you go along
4. Set goals. Just as some people measure sales and profits, we recommend that you consider 'growing the size of your database' as a goal/measurement too 

If you would like more information about our email marketing services and how you can stay in touch with your clients, speak to TA Fastrack today or email us direct on email@tafastrack.com.au. 

Best practices for email marketing success

Below are some of our top tips for email marketing success.

• Get started! It doesn't cost much, it's so easy to do and it works so well! If you can't bring yourself to do a regular newsletter each month because of content, then at least one e-Christmas card a year is a good start. 
• Make it about them. Did you know that 294 billion emails get sent each day? If you want people to notice your emails and not delete them, then give them something they want and they can use. It could be a special offer, a whitepaper download, news updates on upcoming events in your area or travel tips. 
• Make it personal. Don't be lazy and send a mass email to everyone. Have a look at your database and see if you can send them something that's unique to them. Whether it's using their first name, writing a personal message, or giving them a deal based on their interests or hobbies. It shows that you care and you're listening. 
• Keep it short. People have short attention spans. They don't have time to read, so keep it short and sweet. 
• Use pictures. Pictures say a thousand words and can make your newsletter and articles look good. Don't overdo it though with too many images that take a long time to download. Take into consideration that some email clients may block images from showing through. 
• Don't spam. Australia has a very strict anti spam legislation, so make sure you follow it, or you will be fined. 
• The best time to send your emails is on Tues/Wed after 10am. That's when most people are reading your email 
• Include a strong call to action 
• Use an attention grabbing subject line

To get started on email marketing, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588.

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.

Email still backbone of cross-channel marketing

Email continues to be the backbone of cross-channel marketing in Australia despite the clear emergence of multi-channel and segmentation trends, a new report has confirmed.

Mobile channel use has grown by over 300% and social marketing now has 10 times more activity than a year ago, according to the Responsys Big Australian Report on email, mobile, social and web marketing.

Despite this, email remains the central and most used channel, and the highest volume by some considerable margin. Of the marketers surveyed, not surprisingly 100% are sending emails to customers and members. The report found, however, only 14% of marketers send according to customer preferences.

“16% of companies send all messages via all channels,” the report read. “We would expect this will drop as sophistication in targeting increases.”

Much like email being the spine of multi-channel, data is emerging as the centrepiece of converged web-focused marketing, with 2010 seeing a major breakthrough in targeting according to the report.

“For the first time a majority of marketers engaged in segmentation to target the more relevant members of its data base with certain messages or offers.”

More than half the marketers surveyed incorporate data metrics into their measurement, and around 40% feed it back into CRM systems, so the insights and results can be fed back into the database and applied across many channels.

The findings were based on the analysis of more than 1 billion email, mobile and social messages sent between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2011, and survey of 350 enterprise marketers in Australia.

Keep your customers with email

Email marketing enables you to proactively communicate with your existing customers instead of passively waiting for them to visit your website, store or call you.

With email marketing, you can solidify existing relationships, start new ones (when they forward your emails to their friends and family), and convert your one-time visitors and buyers into repeat business and long-term customers or contributors.



According to research:

• A five percent increase in retention yields profit increases of 25 to 100 percent.
• Repeat customers spend, on average, 67 percent more than new customers.

It's All About Communication
Communication is a vital part of any relationship. Your business needs to keep in touch with customers on a regular basis to ensure you remain "top of mind." Research has shown that it takes about six to seven contacts before you can turn a prospect into a buying customer. All that contact can be expensive and time consuming and that’s where email marketing becomes a critical part of any business’s marketing efforts.

Why Is Email Marketing the Answer?
Email marketing is easy, affordable, direct, actionable, and highly effective. When you add email marketing to your marketing mix, you spend less time, money, and resources communicating with your customers than with traditional marketing vehicles (e.g. direct mail or print advertising). And, with email marketing, you can communicate more quickly and regularly.

Communicate More Information More Often
Email marketing is an affordable way to stretch a tight marketing budget. With a response rate five times greater than direct mail and 25 times the response rate of banner ads, email marketing is an effective way to increase sales, drive traffic, and develop loyalty.

Unlike direct mail, there is virtually no production, materials, or postage expense. Best of all, you can use email marketing to send newsletters, preferred customer promotions, sale notifications, new service announcements, event invitations, holiday greetings, and so more.

Use Email Marketing To Educate Your Customers
Your customers are more likely to buy when they can make an informed decision. Why force them to look elsewhere for the important information they need? Your email communications can gently lead a customer through the sales process, provide all the important information they require, and drive them to your website for more details or a purchase.

Foster Long-lasting Relationships
Email is an easy and inexpensive way of establishing early and long lasting relationships with your past customers. When you inform and educate your clients, they begin to perceive you as capable of addressing their needs. Even better, they start to look to you as an expert. This develops trust, opens the door to two-way communication, and allows them to share their pain points with you.

Use the information you gain from your customers and you will be able to better serve their ongoing needs. In the process, you may discover hidden sales opportunities that you may not be addressing or even considered.

Measure and Improve Your Results
With email marketing, you can easily measure the number of emails sent and opened, bounce backs, and unsubscribes, as well as your click-through rates.

You can also see who opened your email, which links they were most interested in and who clicked on what link. All of this useful information can help you send highly targeted campaigns to the people most likely to respond to your offer, thus improving your results going forward.


If you would like more information about email marketing and how it can help your business, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588. TA Fastrack can assist you with setting up an email template and email marketing campaign.

Click rates highest in the morning: Report

According to a report by MailerMailer, most people tend to open emails between seven and ten in the morning.

Below are other findings from the July 2011 Email Marketing Metrics Report.

• Subject Lines: Emails with shorter subject lines tend to outperform those with longer lines: Subject lines with 4-15 characters generated a 14.1% open rate, whereas those containing 51 or more characters had the least amount of opened emails (9.9%). The highest click rates were generated by emails with subject lines between 16 and 27 characters long (4%). 
• Bounces by mailing frequency: Marketers who send emails more frequently garner fewer bounces. Emails that were sent to subscribers less than once a month (5.1%) generated the highest bounce rate. Emails that were sent more frequently, like once a day or more, registered the smallest bounce rate (0.4%).
• Personalisation: Personalised emails (ie personalisation in the actual message) registered an average open rate of 12.6%, compared with those containing only a personalised subject line (4.1%). Click-rate trends closely mirror open-rate trends: Messages that contained a personalised subject line only generated a 0.8% click rate, whereas personalisation in the message portion of the email generated a 3% click rate. 
• The survey also found that emails are typically opened during the morning hours of 7am and 10am. During that period, email open rates maintain a steady climb until noon, at which point, open rates begin to slowly decline.

The survey found that the average overall unique click rate at the end of 2010 was 2.9%, up from 1.6% one year earlier. Similar to open rates, click rates registered a decline from the first half to the second half of 2010.

The positive click-rate trend indicates that businesses are maintaining their database and ensuring links work properly. It also indicates that they are becoming savvier overall with how they create, design, and distribute their email campaigns. In addition, an increase in the click-rate trend may indicate that messages are becoming more relevant and contain clearer calls-to-action messaging.

If you would like more information about email marketing and how it can help your business, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588. TA Fastrack can assist you with setting up an email template and email marketing campaign.

Beef Up Your Opt-In Email List With an Offer Your Visitors CAN'T Refuse!

If there is one piece of advice I would give to every business operating on the Web today, it would be this:

You MUST collect the opt-in information of visitors to your web site!

Why? Because if you're not constantly building your opt-in email list, you're letting MOST of your sales opportunities slip right through your fingers! I can't say it often enough!

Studies have shown that it takes an average of FOUR TO SEVEN points of contact to make a sale — and you won't make it to the second point of contact if you don't have a way to reach your visitors after they've left your site.

Think about how many websites you visit in an hour of surfing the Internet — do you remember the salescopy and products from each of those sites? Could you find a particular site again if you wanted to re-check their information? Even if you Googled it, there's no guarantee that exact URL would show up in your keyword results.

In most cases, visitors come to your site, they look around, then they leave, and they're gone forever.
But simply by collecting their first name, last name, and email address, you can stay firmly on their radar and expose them to your products time and time again — all at nearly no cost to you! These people are your opt-ins, and an opt-in email list is the very foundation of any online business.

That's why it's amazing to me that many people don't take advantage of opt-in email marketing.
Especially when statistics from PostFuture back up exactly what I'm saying:

• 82% of online buyers have made at least one purchase in response to an email promotion
• 67% of users open at least 60% of opt-in emails they receive
• 32% have made an immediate online purchase in response to an email!
• 59% have gone on to redeem an email coupon in an online OR offline store

People pay close attention to their email, and more and more people are buying online every year!

But consumers know that their personal information is gold, and they won't give it to you unless you give them something they want in return. If you provide your visitors with a targeted, valuable opt-in offer, your opt-in email list will grow — and so will your revenues.

So now that you know WHY you should be collecting your visitors' information, let's take a look at...

• WHO you should be considering when you build your opt-in strategy
• WHAT to offer your visitors to get them excited about opting in
• HOW to promote your offer
• WHERE to put it on your web site

Once you've got the answers to these questions, you're ready to put together the best possible opt-in offer for your target market.

WHO? Know your target market — and build an offer they can't refuse!

The first step in creating a solid opt-in strategy is to consider the people you want to opt in to your list. Just as the best businesses are created in response to the needs of a specific niche market, so are the best opt-in offers!

That's why the first, most important question is always WHO. Unless you can specifically say who you're aiming your strategy at, you're going to have a hard time running any kind of an opt-in campaign... AND your business, for that matter.

You can find out a lot about your site visitors' preferences and habits by looking at the server logs that your web host supplies. What's the most popular page on your web site? What pages do visitors stay on for the longest time? Build your opt-in offer around what's on those pages.

Where do people most often click away from your site? Obviously whatever's there isn't something your market considers valuable, so a related opt-in offer wouldn't work.

When do most people visit your site? If they're visiting during work hours, your offer will be much different from one aimed at people visiting in the evenings.

Also consider the questions or comments you get from customers after a sale. What do they want to know? What do they like or dislike?

The more hard information you have on your target audience, the easier it will be to come up with an opt-in offer that answers their specific needs.

Now's the time to think about WHAT your target market really wants...

WHAT? Discover the opt-in incentive that will provide maximum value for your opt-in email list — and get your subscribers in the mood to buy! 

There are tons of different incentives you can use to encourage people to give you their personal information — but not every offer will suit every web site or business.

Because people already get so much email these days, you need to provide them with a really compelling incentive to opt in to your list.

Most people think of newsletters right off the bat when they are first developing an opt-in incentive for their web site. Starting your own online newsletter is one of the most effective methods of building your opt-in list. It's an incredibly powerful way to position yourself as an industry expert with your customers and subscribers, and it reminds them regularly of your presence.

For some businesses, however, offering a free newsletter isn't the best way to collect email addresses. Let's suppose, for example, that your site sells washers and dryers. You're going to be hard pressed to come up with interesting, relevant information about laundry for your free newsletter every month!
According to an Ipsos-Reid poll, 71% of all Internet users have unsubscribed from at least one email list because the information delivered wasn't sufficiently interesting or relevant.

Before you start a newsletter, think about how much interesting and relevant information you can deliver to your specific audience and how much time you have available to put it together so it can be delivered on a regular schedule.

If a newsletter isn't a good fit for your business, don't worry — there are other ways to collect email addresses, and they require less time and effort.

1. Offer a free brochure

A free brochure can be a great incentive, depending on the kinds of products or services you offer.
If you offer a free brochure, you'll have to take the time to actually write it. But a brochure doesn't need to be hundreds of pages long to be useful. An information-packed brochure can be as short as 8 to 10 pages, and still provide a ton of value for your opt-in subscribers.

Not only does a free brochure help build your list, it also helps familiarize your visitors with you and your products or services.

You can also make your brochure viral — and no, that doesn't mean you're making anyone sick! "Viral marketing" is a strategy in which you encourage your customers to pass on a marketing campaign or message to others. Like a virus, your message has the potential to spread throughout online communities.

With viral brochures, word about your business spreads quickly. For example, let's say that you persuade 10 people to pass your brochure on to their friends. And if they share it with even a few of their friends? That's a number that multiplies pretty quickly — and can convert into tons of highly targeted potential customers!

You can even create a new opt-in offer for people who've received the brochure from friends. Put a link in the eBook to a special landing page that features the offer and collect a "second generation" of opt-ins.

2. Offer downloadable articles

If your site contains a lot of useful, original, content-rich articles, one of the best ways to collect email addresses is to require that visitors to your site opt in toyour list if they want to download those articles.

As long as you offer useful information, and as long as the downloadable articles contain something that people can't get for free in the version you have posted on your site, you can expect to get a TON of sign-ups using this strategy.

Now, maybe you're not comfortable writing, or your business isn't suited to offering a written opt-in incentive. But don't worry! There are a number of opt-in offers that don't require much writing at all — just a bit of creativity!

3. Offer a contest, puzzle, or game
Running a contest on your web site works on the same principle as dropping your business card in a jar at the local cafe in hopes of winning a free lunch for your office.

The cafe collects information about its customers, and the customers get the chance to win a valuable prize. Both parties benefit, and it doesn't really cost the cafe anything more than a few burgers for the winner.

Depending on the kind of business you run, there are a ton of different options for this type of opt-in incentive. Some examples include:

A contest to win an item (or a coupon for a percentage off an item) related to your product.
A contest to win one of your products. But remember — don't offer to give away the primary product you sell. People will enter the contest hoping to win — and leave your site without considering an actual purchase!

A weekly puzzle or quiz. The type of puzzle is up to you: a crossword with words that relate to your business, or a "multiple choice"-type quiz, an animated jigsaw puzzle, or a game of "Hangman"! You can set it up as a contest and draw a name from the winning entries to award a prize — or require that people give you their opt-in information to get the answer.

4. Offer members-only specials
One of the easiest ways to encourage visitors to opt in with their personal information is to offer them a chance to save money! It can be as simple as the following text:

"Do you want to receive our special MEMBERS-ONLY offers? Every month we bring exclusive deals to our subscribers that you can't get anywhere else! To start saving now, just sign up below!"

This is a great way to drive opt-ins AND sales, and to make your potential customers feel appreciated before they even buy your products!

There are many different opt-in incentives available — you just need to apply a little creativity to choose the one that's right for you and your target market!

But even the BEST opt-in offer can be ignored if you don't know how to present it to your visitors.
Let's check out HOW to get your potential customers interested in your offer...

HOW? Build a compelling opt-in offer that no visitor to your site will ignore!

Opt-in offers aren't tough to write, but they do require a little bit of thought and time on your part. We've worked with some of the best (and highest-priced!) copywriters in the business, and here are the three hard-and-fast rules they follow when writing an opt-in offer:

Rule #1: Emphasize benefits, NOT features 

To persuade visitors to sign up for your offer, you NEED to answer their biggest question: "What's in it for me?" The best way to do this is by always emphasizing the benefits of your product or service, as opposed to the features.

Here's an example: Suppose you are offering an eBook on your tax advice site. If you were to write...
"Download our FREE eBook, written by a real CPA."

...you'd be advertising a feature. You are telling your visitors a fact about your eBook.

Here's how it reads if we emphasize benefits instead of features:

Don't pay a penny extra on your taxes! Discover 10 simple things that you can do to save hundreds — even thousands! — of dollars on your return this year! Just enter your name and email address below to get your FREE eBook!

That's a pretty dramatic difference, isn't it? You've hooked your visitors by letting them know how THEY will benefit by signing up for your offer — by avoiding costly taxes in the future.

Rule #2: Include a call to action 

If you want people to take action on your site (such as sign up for your eBook), you need to have a call to action that tells them exactly what you want them to do.

For example, if you want your visitors to opt in to your list (and of course, you do!) you should include a link that says something like, "Subscribe here to receive dozens of FREE PowerPoint templates every month!"

You might think it's obvious that you want people to opt in to your list — especially if you've written a great sales pitch that explains how your opt-in offer solves their problem.

But no matter how convincing your copy is, if you don't provide your potential customers with a very specific call to action, you're just leaving them hanging.

Rule #3: Include a link to your privacy policy
A lot of people still feel a bit reluctant to hand over their personal information to someone they've never met before. The best way to ease their fears is to include a link to your privacy policy whenever you ask for personal information. In fact, you should have a link to your privacy policy on every page of your site!

This lets people know that you are committed to protecting their privacy, and makes them feel safe leaving their email address with you.

Your privacy policy should state explicitly what information you collect from your visitors and how you intend to use it. You don't even have to create your own privacy policy from scratch! There's an easy-to-use "privacy policy" generator at:
www.the-dma.org/privacy/creating.shtml

Now that you've learned about HOW to craft a winning opt-in offer, let me show you WHERE on your site it should go to get you the maximum amount of opt-ins!

WHERE? Place your opt-in offer in the RIGHT spot and send your opt-in rates through the ROOF!

Believe it or not, there are still a lot of sites that hide their opt-in offer, making it almost impossible for their visitors to find it. In fact, a 2005 MarketingSherpa study showed that only 52% of e-commerce sites have a prominent call to register on their main home page!

If your homepage contains a long salesletter, you'll want to put the opt-in form somewhere around the second "page" of text. By this point, you'll have grabbed your visitors' attention and shown them that your site offers some valuable information. They'll be more inclined to give you their email address once you've established your credibility.

If your homepage DOESN'T have a long salesletter, you'll want to place your opt-in form prominently within the "first fold." (This is the portion of your web site that is visible to a visitor without scrolling.) That's where you'll see our opt-in offer on this page.

Place the opt-in box in the same place on every single page of your site. The more chances you give your visitors to opt in, the higher your conversion rate is going to be. Of course, you don't want to overdo it... one opt-in offer per page is plenty!

You can create an opt-in offer that is specifically targeted to a particular page on your site. For example, if your web site is a catalog site selling home aquarium products, and you have a special page dedicated to different kinds of fish food, you can include an opt-in offer on that page for a free report on "The Top 5 Mistakes People Make When They Feed Their Fish."

And on your page dedicated to exotic breeds of fish, you could offer a free eBook on "Tips and Tricks for Caring For Exotic Fish". That way, you could establish yourself as a fish expert with your potential customers at the same time as you capture their information for your marketing purposes.

Final thoughts

An opt-in email list that you build with great opt-in offers will generate profits for you starting immediately — and continuing well into the future! If you follow these suggestions, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to get at least 10% of your site visitors converted to subscribers!

If you are getting less than 5% of your traffic opting in to your offer, you know you need to tweak your strategy.

I'll say it again: Building a successful opt-in email list is one of the most important things you can do for your online business. That's why we've spent years learning and testing how to create the kinds of opt-in offers that will have a DRAMATIC impact on your conversion rates — and your bottom line.

For more information about email marketing, speak to TA Fastrack today.

Email is still the main way consumers share

A survey recently conducted by Nielsen Online, which analysed more than 10,000 social media messages to see how consumers share content online, has found that 93% of internet users turn to email to share content. 89% of those surveyed use social networks and 82% use blogs to share content.

Web users, however, use different platforms to share online content with different groups of people. The April 2011 'Content is the Fuel of Social Web' report found that social networks are the top method for sharing content with friends, with 92% of users doing so, while email is the most popular way to share with family (86%) and colleagues (26%). In sharing online content with the general public, consumers prefer to use message boards or blogs, at 51% and 41% respectively.

At The One Club’s Creative unConference in May 2011, Paul Adams, global brand experience manager at Facebook, said that the average person has four different friend or influence groups. Each has an average of 10 people and they are based around life stages, experiences or hobbies.

“We are highly influenced by people who are up to three degrees away from us,” he said, which presents a tremendous word-of-mouth marketing opportunity via social sharing.

For more information about using social media marketing to reach your consumers and encourage word-of-mouth, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today. We can also assist with facebook marketing, social media online reputation management and more.

15 Marketing Strategy Alternatives Every Tourism Business Should Know

Do you know the direction that your travel or tourism company is going in? I don't mean downhill or nowhere. I mean do you know the final destination, where it is that you want to get to in one year, five years or ten years. If it's all in your head and not written down then you may end up struggling with the effective marketing of your small tourism and hospitality business.

Consider this. Let's say you have just arrived in a foreign country for vacation. You've rented a car and along with the car come either a road map or a navigation system. Getting from point A to point B will be relatively easy for you because you have the directions, where to turn, when to stop, when to go, and if you get lost you can get back on track with relative ease. Now, what would you do without the map or the GPS? You'd be pretty lost wouldn't you?

That is why you need a marketing strategy. If point B is your destination, that is, your marketing objectives, then your strategy should outline the methods you will use in order to reach those objectives.

However, a marketing strategy can cover many different functional issues so, determining the best marketing strategy for your small tourism and hospitality business could require your consideration of some alternatives. Here are fifteen marketing strategy options you can consider.

1. Local, Regional or National Marketing Strategies
2. Seasonality Strategies
3. Product Strategies
4. Target Market Strategies
5. Competitive Strategies
6. Branding Strategies
7. Pricing Strategies
8. Packaging Strategies
9. Promotion or Event Strategies
10. Public Relations Strategies
11. Social Media Marketing Strategies
12. Advertising Strategies
13. Sales Strategies
14. Merchandising Strategies
15. Web and E-commerce Strategies

Having a combination of these strategies is really what you are aiming for. If you can organize your companies marketing objectives under a selection of these strategies then you have a much better chance of staying focused and ensuring you arrive at your destination on track and on time.

If you would like assistance with business coaching to move your travel or tourism business to the next level, or if you would like more information about our marketing services, including website marketing design, email marketing, social media marketing, public relations and more, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3588.

What Donald Trump Can Teach You About Direct Marketing

I never thought of Donald Trump as a direct marketer. In fact, from what little I had seen, he seemed largely ignorant of the principles of DM.

For instance, on the first season of "The Apprentice," the two teams had to come up with an ad campaign for a company that made corporate jets. The planes (complete with flight crew) would be available to clients who wanted to fly in private jets but did not have the budget to buy their own.
In particular, Trump praised one team's campaign, which featured slick color photos of various parts of the jet shot at angles that made them look like phallic symbols.

"Idiot!" I complained to my partner, who was watching the show with me. "The ads should have offered a Membership Card entitling the recipient to take his first 30 minutes of any flight FREE!"

(That's how we direct marketers think. Offer, offer, offer.)

But an episode in the second season of "The Apprentice" was much more encouraging in its demonstration of direct-response principles.

This time, the two teams had the task of putting together and running, for one evening only, a bridal shop in NYC. The contest was simple. Whichever team had the highest gross sales for the evening would be the winner.

Team A printed huge stacks of pink fliers inviting people to their bridal sale. They distributed these fliers by handing them out at Penn Station as morning commuters got off the trains.

Trump correctly questioned the wisdom of Team A's marketing strategy. He asked, "How many people are thinking about getting married when they're on their way to work in the morning?"

Team B took a more targeted approach. They rented an e-list of thousands of women who were planning to get married and e-mailed them an invitation to their sale.

I think you can guess the result.

Team A had only a handful of customers in their shop, sold only two dresses, and grossed around $1,000. Team B had customers lining up on the sidewalk to get into the store, as if it were an exclusive Manhattan nightclub. They sold 26 dresses for gross revenues of more than $12,000, outselling Team "B" more than 12 to 1.

The project manager of Team A was fired by Trump that night.

The lesson for direct marketers is clear: The list is all-important.

In this case, Team B knew that everyone on their list was planning to get married. Team A, by comparison, handed out their invitations to anyone and everyone who happened to be at Penn Station that morning.

How many of those people had any interest in getting married? Was it one out of a hundred? Or maybe one out of a thousand?

The "list" used by Team A had maybe 90% to 99% "wasted circulation." In other words, most of their ads went to the wrong people: those not interested in buying their product. The list used by Team B had maybe 1% or as little as 0% wasted circulation. Because virtually everyone on that list had indicated a planned wedding.

And the result? B outpulled A by approximately 12 to 1 . . . a differential that is not uncommon in actual direct-marketing tests.

Using the best mailing list vs. the worst mailing list can increase your response rate by 1,000% or more. That makes testing different mailing lists perhaps the best marketing investment you can make this year.

If you would like more information about our direct marketing service please click here or speak to one of the Marketing Consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3590.

Five reasons for embracing an email marketing strategy

Here are the key points why you should start emailing your customers on a regular basis:

1. Email can help you achieve your business goals
2. Keeps customers in the loop, which equals happier customers
3. It's cost-effective 
4. Lets you gather and use customer intelligence to target specific specials to them
5. Improved overall online marketing

To get started on email marketing, speak to one of the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today on 07 3040 3590.

7 Top Reasons to Use Email Marketing Campaigns

Email marketing is a great way to promote your business easily and quickly. It can help you reach an unprecedented number of potential customers, while staying in touch with current and past clients.

Below are some reasons why you should start using email marketing for your business today:

It’s really easy!
Setting up an email marketing campaign doesn’t take very long and you don't need to be very computer literate to get it set up. You can send out a monthly newsletter with just a few articles informing your customers about what's happening with your business and the area.

It draws more web traffic
Unlike a regular mail marketing campaign, which might only draw a little bit of traffic to your website, an email marketing strategy will draw tons of traffic on a regular basis. This is mainly because you can embed links to your site in emails; if people just have to easily click on a link to get to your site instead of booting up the computer and typing in a link, they’re more likely to visit your website.

It keeps customers in the loop
Putting out monthly or weekly emails about specials, business updates and what's happening in the area is one of the best ways to keep customers coming back time after time. Instead of sending out expensive mail that will never get opened, you can send emails that customers can scan easily for current specials and discounts they’ll be more likely to use.

It’s cheap
With email marketing, you don’t have to pay for printing and postage, which means that it’s one of the cheapest ways to stay in contact with your customers.

It can be voluntary
It can be annoying when you send people unsolicited mail, but if you have a great website, you can allow people to sign up for your email newsletters and special offers. This is a great way to get advertising copy to the people who want it the most: customers who are already interested in what you have to offer or who have already used your products and services.

It’s fast
Sending an email takes almost no time at all. Of course, writing and proofing a professional-looking email will take some time, but it won’t take you any time at all to send out that email once it's finished. This means that your email can be in their inboxes almost immediately.

It builds relationships
Keeping in touch with your current and potential customers on a regular basis is the best way to build your relationship with them. People love to feel connected to other people, and by sending out regular emails, your customers will feel connected to your business, which will draw them back time and again.

We've listed some great reasons why you should get started on an email marketing campaign straight away. Just make sure that you hire a professional email marketing company who will be able to help you design a professional looking email design and provide you with tips on how to make your campaign more successful.

If you are looking for a company that can provide you with a great email marketing solution, manage and design your campaigns or somewhere in-between, check out TA Fastrack's email marketing service. For more information, visit www.tafastrack.com.au for a free email trial, or call 07 3040 3590.

Spend Less Time on E-Mail -- and Accomplish More

Chances are you are struggling with too much email everyday either from internal sources or from other people. However much you may want to be informed about everything that's going on, you can't possibly keep up on it all without increasing unnecessary stress and damaging your productivity.


My largest client issues a flood of e-mails every day. Some come from the Head of the company. Some come from its divisional leaders. Some come from its operational heads. And some -- not too many, but some -- come from me. If I thought it were important to read and respond to every one of those e-mails that come to me, I'd be spending at least eight hours a day doing that. By the time I would get done, I'd have zero energy left to make useful improvements or suggest productive new directions for my client.


One recommendation for handling a deluge of e-mails comes from Bill Jensen, author of "The Simplicity Survival Handbook". Don't read every word, he says. Instead, scan them with the purpose of discovering what action is being called for. "If the communication does not contain an action and a short-term date [to complete that action], ignore it."


This applies to all communications -- even from top brass. If hitting "delete" makes you worry that you're missing something, do it anyway, he says. There is a 69% chance you'll get this exact communication again, a 48% chance you'll get it a third time, and a 36% chance you'll have to show up at a meeting or event to review it.

I have no idea where Jensen got these numbers. Their exactness makes them suspect. But I do think he's right about freeing yourself from the feeling that you need to read and possibly respond to every message that's sent to you.

I am in favor of scanning incoming messages. And I like the idea of paying attention to need-by dates. But it makes no sense to let a memo's urgency determine whether you are going to respond to it. That will turn you into a slave to the latest crisis. You'll spend all your hours fighting fires that aren't dangerous or can be fought by others.

Here's the three-step method I recommend:

Step 1. Scan the message to find out who's in charge of the issue/problem that it's about. If it's not you, make sure that person has been copied on it. If he has, either delete the message or send a short reply saying you trust that person to handle it. If he needs anything from you, he should let you know.

Step 2. Ask yourself: "If I ignore this message, will the issue/problem resolve itself?" If the answer is "yes," either delete the message or send a short reply suggesting that you are going to give the issue/problem some time to work itself out.

Step 3. If the memo is about something for which you are responsible -- and it's not likely to be fixed without some adjudication (see "Word to the Wise," below) -- ask yourself: "How important is this in terms of the business's most important goals?" If it's not important or if you are otherwise preoccupied, delegate it to someone else.

IMPORTANT - Try this......TURN IT OFF !!!!

Check your emails first thing in the morning....and then close down or turn your email system off ! Then turn it on again once every hour ....and then turn it off again. You very well know what happens when you receive an email............. you just have to read it........ Well....don't ! It will take your focus off the important tasks you are currently doing.

If you currently have your email system configured to flag you with a 'pop-up' or 'little enevelope' every time you receive a new email....turn this function off. Focus on completing what you are doing!

I started checking my emails once an hour many months ago and I have literally doubled my daily productivity.

Your Action Plan

My rule, as you know, is to limit all correspondence to a single page. It is very rare when any written discussion I'm involved in can't be dealt with (advanced to the next level, not necessarily resolved) in 200 words or less.

Take a look at the memos and e-mails you've been issuing. If they run more than one page, you're wasting your time -- and the time of the people you're sending them to. Make a conscious effort, starting today, to express yourself in fewer words. When you do, I think you'll find that your written communications will not only be more direct . . . but also easier to understand.

If you would like any further advice check out my Facebook Page


Alternativly if you would like any information about Business Coaching click here.

Until next time

Adrian

3 tips to improve your email marketing

Look at your inbox. Chances are that it is packed with emails - all screaming for your attention. So how do you cut through all that clutter and deliver an engaging email that gets opened and produces results. Below are a few tips that will help you do exactly that.

Give subscribers what they want
The most impactful thing you can do to improve your email marketing is to send relevant and interesting emails. When your subscribers know that there is something valuable in your email, your open rates and conversion rates will dramatically increase.

So offer something of value in every email you send, such as industry research, tips and tricks, discounts etc. Not only will this establish your credibility, it will also reduce spam complaints.

Get to know your readers
In order to deliver relevant content, you need to understand what your subscribers care about. If you don't already know the answer, you can find out by conducting online surveys or by asking for specific information on your web forms. 

Once you know what individual readers want, you can segment them into groups based on their interests. This will help you send relevant messages to each person.  

Be consistent
People (and remember, your prospects are people) gravitate toward things that are familiar. Campaigns that have a consistent look and feel will be more effective in helping your prospects absorb information. That's not to say you can't get creative and mix things up, but you should maintain brand standards in design, tone, and personality, and use the same sender name and address throughout your campaigns.

For more information about email marketing, or if you would like to try the fastrack email system for free, visit www.tafastrack.com.au.

E-mail Marketing: Is your property capitalizing?

Does your property have an effective and comprehensive email marketing stragey in place? Do you send consistent email messages that match your brand and build relationships with customers and drive revenue? 

Email marketing has evolved from simple confirmation messages to being an important component of your online marketing strategy.  If your property doesn’t have a plan or the right messaging, you could be missing the boat on additional bookings and repeat guests.

According to a survey conducted by HSMAI and VIZERGY, email marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) are the two most effective online marketing channels. Approximately 74% of hotels use some form of email marketing.

Below are some tips on how you can get started with email marketing and what you should do when sending out your email messages:
 
Your database 
It starts with your property’s database. Compile past, current and future guests, along with other contacts you’ve gained, to form your email database.  You can build this database via your website by including a contact form and newsletter sign up form. You can also use the contact forms to gain specific stats from your visitors - ask them their location, travel intentions, etc. This will allow you to target and cater messaging to specific groups.

Sell the benefits of your property
Emphasize the amenities, local attractions and convenience of your property via emails.  Professional photos and copy, information on local demand generators, guest testimonials, and special promotions will help.  Partnering with local attractions or businesses such as restaurants, spa/massage or events can help you add discounted packages to your emails… and upsell to guests.

Should you do it in house or outsource?  
Once you’ve reviewed your database, consider whether to tackle email marketing in house or outsource to professionals.  Having a comprehensive program can be fairly time consuming, but the bigger issue is expertise.  Can you afford to have an employee trained on the nuances of email marketing - from design, to copy, to tracking, to SPAM laws?  It may even be less expensive to outsource to an experienced hotel Internet marketing company.  If you elect to send out e-newsletters and edms in house, be sure that your staff is properly trained.  If you do decide to outsource, make sure the company you hire has the experience, expertise and have a plan in place for your business.

Subject lines are important
An over the top or a subject line that is too long is equally ineffective as an uninspiring one.  Keep it short and sweet (preferably 8 words or less), and it's easy to read. 

State the benefit or offer first, and entice them to read more.  The “from” address should identify your property (eg. “A Hotel [specials@ahotel.com.au]”), so it’s not necessary to repeat your name in the subject line. 

Below are some examples for subject lines:

• Too over the top, too long and no true benefits - “Stay at our breathtaking hotel in June and be enchanted with our lovely room views”
• Uninspiring - “Stay with us this summer”
• Just right - “20% off your long awaited romantic getaway…”

Content 
Email content should be brief, easy to read, state the offer or news early, provide links to your website and have bold calls to action for what you’re promoting.  With the huge number of emails that people receive, they will most likely scan your email message quickly and not read word for word.  If an offer appeals to a reader, it should be simple for them to take action or contact you straight away.

All messages should be professional, proofread by at least two people and tested in both HTML and text formats, to ensure the content displays properly. Send a test email to your Outlook, hotmail and gmail account to ensure that the email displays properly.

Experiment with “personalizing” the e-mail too, for an added touch.  Most services allow you to insert the name of the person (“Dear Sarah,”), assuming you have their first names.  And remember that you must abide by the CAN-SPAM act, which essentially requires that all recipients are “opted in” to your e-mails, and that there must be a clear “opt out” option in the email design (usually at the bottom).  Study up on this act, or make sure that your provider has it covered.

Design
Design is subjective of course, but let’s look at three objective elements that all email designs should include.

• Branding - Every message should be branded to fit your property’s website.  It doesn’t have to be identical, but it should at least include the logo and your corporate colors.  This will make it easier for recipients to remember your branding in the future and makes it more consistent
• Imagery - E-mails should have photos that connect with readers.  Amateur photos look second rate, and don’t convey professionalism.  Corporate photos of an empty hotel look high quality, but don’t cultivate a sense of comfort or inviting.  Use professional photos with real guests or stand ins to show that people visit and enjoy your property.
• Layout - Keep it clean, simple and scannable.  Again, recipients want to scan over the excessive amount of messaging they’re exposed to.  Use a header with links to your site, a main content area and a footer with your property’s contact information.

Build relationships with your guests and generate Revenue. Email marketing is a vital component for hotels, resorts, bed and breakfasts and any other type of business in the accommodation industry.  It enhances your website, SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising by reinforcing your property with past and future guests. 

Besides a great guest experience, email marketing is the best way to increase repeat bookings and generate additional revenue.  You must encompass every aspect mentioned above if you want to fully realize its potential. 

If you would like help with email marketing, speak to the marketing consultants at TA Fastrack today. Call 07 3040 3588 or email us on email@tafastrack.com.au.

How to use social media and email marketing to spread your message further

The integration of social media and email marketing now makes it easier to extend your content beyond your database. Subscribers will share your messages with their friends and family on twitter or facebook which will allow you to find prospective customers and members more quickly.

Below are some best practices for integrating social media and email marketing and expanding your reach.

You can now share your newsletters on Facebook and Twitter
When sending a e-newsletter to your customer base, you can also automatically share a link to the web version of the email with your Facebook fans and Twitter followers. This will get your newsletter content in front of both your subscribers and all of their social media connections at the same time.

Include a Social Share Bar with all your outgoing email newsletters
Adding a Social Share Bar to your e-newsletters makes it easy for subscribers to share your message with their friends and family, thus helping to spread your message well beyond your original distribution list. It's word-of-mouth marketing made easy.

Social media is more than just buttons
You have to remember that social media is more than just about adding Tweet and Like buttons to your e-newsletters. You have to give people a reason to connect with you and interact with your content on social media sites.

You may also have to tell people who are less social media savvy than you are, to click the share buttons or connect with you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc if that's what you want them to do.


If you want to find success on social media, below are some other best practices to follow:

Use your subject line as a tweet
When your email message is shared through social media, the subject line is often the default text that gets published, especially via Twitter. Make sure your subject line is appealing to both email recipients and those who might be seeing a link to your content via social media sites.

Don't forget to take into consideration Twitter's 140-character limit, which will help keep your subject lines short and succicent. (We recommend you try to keep it shorter than 120 characters so your followers can easily retweet it.)

Drive the conversation
Your content should be engaging. Add a social call to action, such as a question at the end of your newsletter article, that directs readers to your Facebook Page to respond. Tell recipients to tweet their response along with a hashtag of your choice.

Track your social shares
With Social Stats, you can track how many subscribers shared your email with their social media connections and see how many people clicked to view your message via social media. It's a great tool to for seeing how far your message is distributed beyond your original contact list. You can then see which social networks are most popular with your subscribers.

Don't forget to listen
Social media is a great way to spread your message and to reach new prospects more quickly. But in addition to generating share-worthy content, you have to remember to listen to your customers.

Take the time to read what your customers and members are posting on your Facebook Page. Monitor Twitter for mentions of your company name, products, or services to see what people are saying about you. By listening, you may also find new trends or great pieces of content to share with your newsletter subscribers and social media followers. Social media is a two-way street of content.

Keeping a close eye on social media can be resource consuming, but tools such as TA Fastrack Social Monitor can help cut down on the time spent on the task and allow you to respond quickly to those with a complaint and thank those with compliments.

When the year started, business and organizations were using social media and email as almost separate marketing entities. As we enter 2011, they're a complimentary team that can help power any organization's marketing efforts.

Keep Online Marketing In-House or Outsource?

The goal of this article is to share practical suggestions to help you figure out whether to keep your marketing efforts in-house or to outsource them.

All things being equal, it is very appealing for a company to maintain internal control over their SEO, SEM, Design, Social Media and Analytics efforts. There ought to be a multiplier effect from having someone with those skills be able to interact on a daily basis with the rest of your team and as a result, be able to execute in a highly efficient and “dialed-in” manner. A perception also exists that it’s cheaper to manage inside than pay a firm to help you. That may or may not actually be the case.

As I look back on our past 8 years in the marketing industry and the great clients we have worked with, I can point to many examples where we have essentially trained that in-house person for an organization through months or years of working together. We have always tried to teach as we go and recognize that a transition from out-of-house to in-house works well for certain companies. The key is finding and retaining an individual(s) who understands the key disciplines and who can effectively execute on behalf of your company.

Besides the difficulty in recruiting in-house talent, another challenging aspect centers around the fact that there are so many different skill sets involved which ultimately need to be mastered. SEO, SEM, Design, Social Media and Analytics all overlap, but are each unique disciplines. When we work with a client, their main point of contact within TA Fastrack is their Client Strategist, but our Client Strategist then interfaces with subject matter experts internally on SEO, SEM, Analytics, etc. It’s a lot to ask of most individuals to become proficient in each of these areas.

If you hire an individual who already has some of these skills (and or is highly trainable), then this path can work. You may also need to consider hiring multiple individuals. What tends to be less effective is adding interactive marketing responsibilities to a person on your staff who already has a heavy load or who doesn’t demonstrate enthusiasm about the opportunity, as the results are typically underwhelming.

The bottom line, I believe, is that companies need to be incorporating SEO, SEM, Design, Social Media and Analytics, plus possibly Affiliate Marketing into their overall marketing mix. In-house or out, someone needs to be constantly thinking about and acting intelligently in these channels on behalf of your business.

At TA Fastrack we have the resources and most importantly the best experts in each marketing channel who will always think strategically about improving the current results you get from each channel. To discuss the benefits of outsourcing your marketing, please contact me directly via email or call me on +61 7 3040 3589.

Enjoy more success with your marketing!

Adrian Caruso - CEO, TA Fastrack

Attract and Keep Your Clients Online - write content that is relevant to them

Content is King

It takes more than great pictures to attract and maintain email subscribers. Your content has to planned, written and edited specifically for email delivery and eReading.

You know the old adage: Pictures speak louder than words. Well, this is not always true in the email environment.

According to specialist online research firm Eyetrack, 78% of users look at website text before they look at graphics on the same page.

Stop for a moment and consider your own online behaviour ... I can guarantee you will admit that you go online looking for information and that you scan pages until you find what you want. The web is a jungle and we are all just foraging for what we need!

Writing for an eAudience

So what does all this mean for those of us trying to write for an eAudience?

1. It means that content is king. The world's greatest graphic designer will not save you from the delete button if the content that your reader wants is not front and centre. In fact, overly complex graphics could be a hindrance if your email is slow to download or so large that it crashes your subscribers' email system. Try rebuilding a business relationship after that!
2. Give your audience what they want. Remember, people are scanning for information online and less than 20% of people will read word for word. As you are writing, think less about what you want to say and more about the person who has subscribed to your eNewsletter. Work out what they are looking for and give it to them!
3. Keep it simple. Screen reading is about 25% slower than hard copy, so you need to make your copy easy on the eye and easy on the brain. 50% of your eReaders drop off after 300 words and about 80% by 500 words, so keep your copy short. Use simple sentences and plain language too; would you read Shakespeare off a computer screen?

If you are stuck for content, check with your front line staff. What are they being asked? If it is enough of an issue to bring people to your front counter, or FAQ section, the chances are that it will interest a broader audience.

For the first few issues of your eNewsletter, run your copy by someone who is not involved in the business but is in your target market. Is it readable? Is it interesting? Would they act on the information you have provided? You may not like what you hear, and you may need to rethink your content, but the final product will register more unique opens than your first draft.

For assistance with copywriting or to set up an email marketing system to keep in touch with your customers, speak to TA Fastrack on 07 3040 3588 or visit www.tafastrack.com.au for more details.