Category: Business

Wow, the most annoying email marketing fail I’ve received…and I’ve seen a few

Carl Setzer

With 7 years working in Real Estate, I’m on tons of email lists. I don’t mind this much, as I get to see what’s going on out in the market. Today, though, got one that violates all my marketing skills, understanding and wisdom.

  1. It was a jpg dropped into an email. I’m not a fan (mea culpa: I’ve done that in the past, mainly out of time, or, sadly, that’s all I had to work with).
  2. In the jpg were several urls. Note: I don’t say “links”. The links were NOT CLICKABLE! Simply text in the jpg.
  3. As I was interested in the property in question, I manually typed the links into a browser. Nope! No worky. Not even the bit.ly one. Not a single link worked.
  4. I saw the project name in the email addresses in the “contact us” section. That was the right URL.
  5. The creme de la creme, the piece de resistance (insert cliche of your choice here): there was no address. No city. Not even a state, region…nothing. When I finally made a url work, I could see that it was on the Washington Coast. Please note: this was for a new real estate development. “Location, Location, Location”?

It seemed like the creator of this campaign worked really hard to ensure I not only didn’t connect, but actually ended up annoyed with them. Amazing how well it violated every tenet I have for effective email communication.

So, do:

  1. Location. Events: have a date, location (address, venue…at least a city), and times. Drives me nuts to get an email for a property that looks interesting, or an event that looks really cool and, well, sorry, it’s it Atlanta. And it’s not until I’m in the registration section that I find that out? Geez!
  2. If you can at all help it, don’t just email jpgs. FYI, spam filters hate them.
  3. Links. Oh. My. Gawd! Making me TYPE your link…from an email?
  4. Links, part ii: Links MUST WORK. Test them! Most people won’t do anywhere near what I did. I was curious at that point and choose to dig. They may have got a click, but they didn’t get a sale.
  5. Segment your market and sell accordingly. I’m not working the Washington Coast market. It’s hours of driving away!
  6. Your main call to action cannot fail. If clicking on the link takes you to a Google page saying “sorry, sparky, no frickin idea what website you’re trying to find”, every erg of energy expended was wasted. Your goal is sales, right? Customers gotta get to your page. Gotta!

Keep your eyes on the prize, folks. Sales pitches to the right people, in the right way, is a splendid thing. Spam? Yeah, no.

Go forth and do great things!

PDF Editors And Business Operations

Carl Setzer

At this point, I can’t imagine how anyone operates a 21st century business without a pdf editor.

Not being able to fill out forms, edit docs, transform them to Word or Excel…all rather critical for business today.

Adobe Acrobat is not the only option. Which is good since it’s ridiculously expensive.

I’ve been using FoxIt’s PDF Editor/Creator for some time. A reasonable price ($109).

Here’s a list of low cost options, including 1 or 2 free ones. One of the ones they list, Nitro, is another one I’ve used. It’s pretty good as well. I don’t know they other ones, but it’s PC World, so it should be a good source.

Anyway, there’s no good reason to not have SOMETHING. So, make it work.

 

A few reflections on marketing 

Carl Setzer

A few quick reflections…

Focus!

  • An easy, and dangerous, trap: selling to everyone! That kills sales, unless you’re already at a huge scale. Yes, Starbucks, Microsoft, etc, market to the planet. They didn’t start there. First they focused on a niche, on quality service. Build the relationship, the connection, a reputation for expertise and quality. When we find our gift, our marketing sweet spot, business will grow. Slowly but surely, growth. In Steven Covet lingo, when you focus on your area of influence, our area of influence grows. The
  • I like feeling special, connected and cared for. There’s a cafe close to home where I talk with the owners, they ask about my family, they suggest coffees based on knowing my tastes. Clearly, they do a great job communicating appreciation to me. And I’ve become an evangelist. 
  • Marketing power comes with knowledge. Yeah, perhaps a bit cliche, but hear me out. First element: expertise. Whether it’s a specialized real estate niche, coffee and pastries, burgers…It can anything. Second: know thy customers! What do they like, what makes them happy, what they hate; you get the picture. Lastly, with both bits of power, build marketing tools to grow that connection. There are so many great customer/client relationship tools out there which let you build specialized communication plans. Spend time building out those tools, knowing them, using them to make your customer’s lives better. 

That last line is the key: “make your customer’s lives better”. Every action needs to push that way, drive with that focus.