An autoresponder series can be a great way to build a relationship and credibility with your prospects and to create a flurry of sales for your product or service. Of course, the copy you use is important. But all too often, I see entrepreneurs and marketers shoot themselves in the foot with the same five [...]

Small business owners and entrepreneurs often ask what a good response rate or conversion rate is for various types of marketing. So I’m sure many of you will be interested in seeing some of the numbers from the new 2010 Response Rate Trend Report from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). But I write this post [...]

I went to see how the new sales copy looked on a client’s website the other day…and sighed when I found long blocks of text staring back at me on the web page. I’ll admit, it drives me batty when a client or designer changes my formatting. I know their intentions are good, but there [...]

So far, we’ve discussed the difference between joint ventures and affiliates as well as the first two all-too-common mistakes entrepreneurs make when building these types of relationships–forgetting the “what’s in it for me?” and failing to set yourself up for success. Now we have… Mistake #3 — Giving Them the Wrong Promotional Tools Just as [...]

Last weekend’s Warrior Forum event has me thinking a lot about joint ventures and affiliate marketing these days. While the words “joint venture” and “affiliate” are often used interchangeably, technically, there IS a difference. Of course, WHAT that difference is depends on who you ask. I know one marketer who draws the line in the [...]

I’m sure you’ve seen one–a landing page touting a FREE CD then when you click through to sign up it asks for your credit card because… surprise!… there’s a charge for shipping and handling. Now I don’t have a problem with the concept–it’s actually a good one that I may try soon myself. And I [...]

I was reviewing my recent marketing promotion for the phantom teleseminar on 9 Secrets to Ebook Success and thought it might be interesting to share what I tracked and what I learned. (Phantom teleseminar=you just sign up for the audio, there’s no actual call time.) Overall, there was a great response with nearly 90 people signing up [...]

One of the revelations from the most recent Marketing Sherpa report on email marketing is how the preview pane has become a dominant force in the way people read their emails. In fact, after people look at the “from” line and the subject line, their next stop before they decide whether to open the email [...]

So what are the most successful ways to get prospects to opt-in to your email list? The table below, based on Marketing Sherpa’s new Best Practices in Email Marketing Handbook, ranks opt-in methods based on the number and quality of opt-ins received for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets. Top 5 for B2B Market Top 5 [...]

Remember when business was simpler and you only had one list to worry about?! (Or two, if you count contacts that aren’t on your ezine list.) But Web 2.0 has changed all that. Because blogs, Facebook and Twitter are essentially creating other lists of contacts and prospects within your sphere of influence. But the quality [...]