Week 5: Effective business
communications and publicity
Provide a summary outlining the content of a e-newsletter or business blog that you enjoy (Please provide a url of where it can be found it as well.) As part of your assignment - its strengths and weaknesses. Do you think it effectively carries out its mission?
I have been keeping up with http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/index.html off and on for about a year now, so I was happy to see it in the list of resources provided. This site is aimed at the small business owner looking for effective and affordable marketing strategies. The author - John Jantsch - has written numerous books on marketing and offers workshops and seminars. Duct Tape Marketing offers
The site is full of easy to find information on marketing small business. Since Mr. Jantsch's blog has been ranked by Forbes as a favorite for small business, he is not only a positive voice for the use of social networking/marketing for small business but also offers a easy to use/understand system for making this happen without all of the learning curve this usually would entail.
What are the ways this e-newsletter or blog is growing its numbers? Who is the target audience? Do you think the e-newsletter is succeeding in ROI? What clues help you determine that?
Free tools and RSS feeds. Links and referrals to other sites with free or affordable services/information. Social networking abilities and jobs board. The target audience is the small business owner looking for an affordable means to market themselves online. I am sure that the ROI is high because while there is abundant information available free-of-charge the potential of receiving much more information with the purchase of programs or seminars is the hook.
What do you think is the biggest obstacle of email marketing? Also, show us your sig file.
I personally feel that the biggest obstacle to online marketing is the total lack of trust that many people (including myself) have in providing their email address to the people that provide the information you want. Everyone wants your email address and while they say that these will never be sold - I have personally been the victim of less than scrupulous individuals who have said this in the past and proceeded to make sure that their 132 closest business partners did have access to this information. This in turn leads to it being disseminated world-wide somewhere along the line. To control the SPAM you have to set up 500 filters in your Outlook or sign up with an online service that takes care of all o0f this spam (of course - you have to give them all of your valid contacts. Another source of emails for the spammers anyone?
Sandra C Asher
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