Archive for EMAIL CAMPAIGNS

Posted by DBC Digital on
 November 16, 2018

The Recipe for Great Email Marketing

For all the change seen in digital marketing over the last few years, it’s a surprise that email marketing is still around. After all, email is one of the oldest marketing mediums on the Internet, stretching all the way back to before Google was born. But in spite of the many new mediums coming to rise in the last few years, email campaigns remain a highly effective means of connecting with consumers and driving Web referrals and conversions.

This makes perfect sense when we consider the role of email in our lives. As it has remained one of our primary means of communication, email’s reach has expanded onto our smartphones, traveling with consumers wherever they go. This is a huge opportunity for marketers, but only when the right strategy is employed. An effective email marketing campaign depends on carefully crafted email content, timely releases, an embrace of analytics and a respect for proper email communication conduct.

A good email campaign needs to walk a fine line between passive enticements and aggressive bullying. One will get your emails ignored, the other will push recipients to unsubscribe. If you’re seeking out marketing services in Denver or surrounding areas, you need a company that is experienced in producing and managing effective email campaigns. DBC Digital helps companies build effective email campaigns by adhering to time-honored principles. These include:

  • Planning out email blasts well in advance. There’s nothing worse than sending out an email offering nothing of value. It doesn’t take long for consumers to treat this content like white noise, quickly skimming past your email content. Each email needs to have a very precise purpose or else it risks boring the reader — or worse, antagonizing them. Respect the time of recipients by avoiding impulsive email blasts or content that only fills inboxes with fluff. Each email needs to fit into your larger overall strategy, which is why it’s wise to have email content planned out weeks in advance. By doing this, you ensure every email is purposeful and constructive toward your long-term goals.
  • Creating content that is brief and link-oriented. Your email recipients are unlikely to stick with you through several paragraphs of text, and this isn’t the ultimate goal, anyway. What you really want with any email campaign is to trigger an action — in most cases, a referral to your website. The best way to do this is with short chunks of text that tease to content on your website and offer a convenient link to visit. This short, segmented approach to emails also lets you fit in more content topics, providing a more varied approach to consumers.
  • Making email content shareable. Not every marketing agency in Denver is up to speed with the marketing potential of social media, but it’s a powerful tool that can be wielded in your emails. Outfit your emails with social media icons that facilitate one-click sharing through a variety of outlets, including Facebook and Twitter. When email recipients use these icons, they will be providing a free marketing service to your company, broadcasting your message to new recipients and increasing your referrals opportunities.
  • Listening to what the numbers tell you. Every company employing marketing should be paying attention to their email analytics, but too many dismiss their credibility. It’s a huge mistake that will always hurt a campaign’s efficiency. Regardless of the email campaign platform you use, keep a close eye on performance metrics to figure out what’s working and what needs to change. With statistics like the email open rate, link click-thru rate, total social shares and overall conversion rates, organizations can continue tweaking their campaigns to see better results and get more value from their efforts. In this way, an effective email campaign will continue to increase in value as it gets better at giving consumers what they want.

Email marketing can help any organization thrive, but it is particularly beneficial to companies seeking rapid growth — particularly through an online consumer base. If this aligns with your organizational goals, contact DBC Digital today to find out how we can help your business grow. 303-357-5757. dbc@dbcdigital.com

Categories : EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
Posted by Greg Sherwood on
 August 6, 2018

3 Multi-Channel Marketing Essentials for Real Estate Pros

For more information about real estate marketing, or to schedule a free marketing consultation, please call (303) 357-5757, or e-mail dbc@dbcdigital.com.

 

Curvy Road Ahead
As we all know, the Denver housing market has been cruising along at high speed with steady increases in residential market values over the past few years. Yet with the newest housing market report, it’s looking like the market may be coming into balance.  With this market trend predicted to continue, along with the influx of newer real estate agents over the past few years — now is the perfect time for Denver-area agents to evaluate their multi-channel marketing strategy.

What is Multi-Channel Marketing?

Multi-channel marketing is the practice of using multiple approaches to reach your prospects.  Multi-channel marketing allows your prospects decide how they want to interact with you, giving them a choice that works best for them. Agents who wisely invest time in these three channels will achieve better and longer-lasting results.

These three channels are:

  1. Social Media
  2. Direct Mail
  3. Email

Let’s dive deeper into each channel …

Social Media Marketing

  1. Social media

Social media marketing is crucial for successful real estate agents. Around two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) use Facebook, according to a survey conducted in January 2018 by Pew Research.  That’s about 2.19 billion users!  More than 700 million users are on Instagram, and half of all online adults use more than one of the five main social media platforms.

The most effective sites for real estate agents’ content include: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

A smart social strategy for real estate agents, as with all content marketing, starts with quality content. Agents should create and post articles and videos on what they know best. An authentic voice will resonate with your local market and demonstrate your confidence and expertise.

We suggest following the 80/20 rule with social media content updates. Eighty percent of your posts and other content should focus on your prospects and your client’s main interests, while twenty percent should be aimed at expanding your business (offers, ads, etc.).

Also, effective content includes posting your listings, talking about what’s happening in the area (like community events or school activities), as well as including client testimonials. Agents must be sure to interact with anyone who likes or comments on your posts, and always (always) respond to any messages as soon as possible.

Once agents open their business social media accounts and are posting quality content, the next vital step is to post consistently and strategically.

By the way, to improve your SEO, you should be writing blog and video posts on your website and then sharing the blog links on social media with intros to “read more” (or watch) versus posting an article directly to Facebook.

Direct Mail Marketing

  1. Direct Mail

Print is alive and well. Postcards and other types of mailings are excellent direct marketing tools for multi-channel content marketing since they provide a touchpoint for branding and information.

Even Google uses direct mail.

According to Data and Marketing Association’s 2017 Response Rate report, direct mail response rates outperform digital marketing by more than 700 percent.  In fact, the overall response rate from physical mail has increased by 3.7 percent in the last couple of years.

Direct mail is even more powerful when you combine it with the other two channels. You can create a Facebook campaign that targets the same neighbors and will be seen at the same time they receive your direct mail piece, increasing your response rates on both channels.

Given the strong success of direct-mail marketing, it becomes the perfect way to advertise your digital presence.   Whether you’re reaching out to current clients or looking for new leads, direct mail is an important pillar.

Success boils down to two key components: top quality content and consistency. We advise our clients that your prospects and sphere receive direct mail from you each month, year-after-year. Postcards are perfect for driving prospects to your website, announcing recently listed and sold homes, or fun items such as sports schedules or event calendars keeping your name always in front of your prospects.

Email Marketing Strategy

  1. Email

Email is fundamental to any smart marketing strategy for real estate agents. Agents can really shine by providing useful updates to prospects and their sphere. Top quality emails can differentiate the savvy agents from the less experienced.

By using platforms like MailChimp, real estate agents can easily create cost-friendly and highly personalized email campaigns.

Agents should remember to leverage their social media and direct mail programs to grow their email lists. They should entice prospects to sign up with you by promoting meaningful content that is only available by subscribing to your emails. Additionally, agents should always include “Subscribe” buttons or links with any social media or blog posts.

“Quality over quantity” especially applies to emails. This means agents should avoid sending out full-length articles in their emails. Instead, provide links to your blogs and encourage readers to click over to your site by including compelling images along with brief descriptions of what your readers will gain if they do.

Email was the leading digital channel for ROI in 2016, according to DMA’s 2017 report. This is why email marketing must be included in your marketing mix.

In Conclusion

Ultimately, your success with multi-channel content marketing is about creating top-quality content— content that relates to your prospects, buyers and sellers.  Content that demonstrates your expertise and shows that you are there to help. Through multi-channel marketing, agents can be sure they are most visible to their sphere and always tell their prospects, “As market patterns change, we’re here to help you find the best route to your new home.”

Need help with this?
Do you need some help in getting all the pieces working together?  Give us a call and we’ll help you prioritize the most important parts as well as give you support on what you don’t have time to do yourself. You can call us at (303) 357-5757 or email us at dbc@dbcdigirtal.com

About the Author:

greg-sherwood-ceo-dbcdigital-marketingGreg Sherwood is President and Chief Executive Officer of DBC Digital, a strategic marketing firm with expertise in helping companies build stronger marketing campaigns, brand awareness, customer engagement and revenue.
Greg was previously National Executive Vice President of a global B2B firm. Prior to that, he was its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). DBC Digital is the only marketing company in the Denver area with a former Chief Marketing Officer as its CEO. 
He is a featured writer, speaker and panelist on topics that include strategic marketing, content marketing, social marketing and innovation.

 

 

Please note: Since 2004, we’ve been helping small and medium-sized businesses with all of their marketing needs. We specialize in the real estate, mortgage, financial, and insurance industries. Located in Centennial, Colorado (just south of Denver), we work with clients throughout the U.S.

Categories : Content Creation, EMAIL CAMPAIGNS, Marketing, PRINTING SERVICES, SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
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dbc digital email marketing
Posted by Greg Sherwood on
 October 27, 2017

5 tested email campaign tips you need to help you grow

We’re pleased to offer a free marketing consultation. Call today, (303) 357-5757, or e-mail dbc@dbcdigital.com.

 

There are so many ways you can focus on marketing your business today.  From social media, paid search, advertising, to paying people to do wacky things to create guerrilla marketing.

But the standard email marketing campaign often gets overlooked.

Sure, email marketing isn’t as sexy as putting up a children’s slide in a subway station, but it can be very effective.

Powerful ROI

If done right, (and we assume that’s why you’re reading this) the return on investment for your email campaign is insane. According to Campaign Monitor for every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI.

We’re not all math wizards over here (some of us majored in English), but that’s an incredible return on investment.

Incredible because out of all the popular marketing efforts, email delivers the highest ROI, beating out social media, paid search and video.

Powerful Lead Gen

The same report from Campaign Monitor shows that email is 40 times more effective at bringing in new customers than Facebook or Twitter.

Let’s just agree that you’d have to be crazy not to include an email campaign in your marketing plan.

After going over the numbers we feel very strongly about that.

The 5 email Marketing Campaign Rules

But not all email marketing campaigns are created equally. Here are five email marketing campaign rules you should adhere to if you want your campaign to be effective:

  1. HAVE A CLEAR PURPOSE

Before you start sending out emails willy-nilly, you first need to decide what results you want from your campaign. What do you want to accomplish? More sales on a specific product, grow your email list, have people tell you how pretty you are?

Deciding what you want before you start will help you create the right emails to meet your goals. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, how will you know when you get it?

  1. ALWAYS MAKE IT WORTH THEIR WHILE

Yes, of course you want these emails to benefit you. Most likely, you’d want people to open your emails and immediately buy up all your products or sign up for all your services. But since you are writing this email for the recipient, it matters what they want.

What’s in it for them? As humans that’s our thing. Even when we’re acting altruistically, we’re doing it because it improves our lives in some way, making us feel good about who we are as human beings.

EVERY EMAIL YOU SEND NEEDS TO BENEFIT THE RECIPIENT. We bolded that and put it in all caps because it’s important. Every email you send needs to benefit your client, whether you’re providing valuable information, giving them a discount, or finding some way to make their life easier or better.

If you can’t answer how this email is going to do that, then you shouldn’t send it until you you can.

  1. HAVE A CLEAR CALL TO ACTION

Once you’ve figured out how your email is going to benefit your client, you need to decide what action you want them to take. You don’t want to email your client just to say “hi.”

Your email needs to have a clear call-to-action. It can even have more than one call to action, but you need to lead your client into a specific action. Whether you want them to visit your blog, fill out a form, buy your new product or take a survey.

You need to direct them to do something.  Every time.

Pssst, if you want your call to action to get a better response, use a button image instead of a text link. A button increases conversion rates by as much as 28% over text links. (Source: Campaign Monitor)

  1. PERSONALIZE YOUR EMAILS

People like to hear and see their own name. We all want to feel special, no one wants to feel like some faceless person in a crowd.

Emails with personalized subject lines have a 26% greater open rate. Plus, according to Experian, personalized emails have transaction rates that are six times higher than those that aren’t personalized.

Six times higher just for acknowledging that you’re talking to a specific person. Whenever possible, make sure you personalize your email so your client knows you’re speaking directly to them.

  1. SEGMENT YOUR EMAILS

Chances are, you probably wouldn’t send the same email to your grandma as you would your friends. The same goes for your clients.

The more you segment your list and focus on your clients’ needs, the better off you’ll be. When your email is specifically targeted, you have a better chance of having it do what you want.

Segment out your email list and make sure your grandma doesn’t get the same email you as your best friend.

So Follow the Top 5 Rules

Creating a great email campaign can be the easiest way for you to add new clients and increase your ROI. If you make sure your campaign is following the top five rules, you’ll be well on your way to an incredible email marketing campaign.

Want to start an email campaign? Contact us at dbc@dbcdigital.com or call us at 303.357.5757 (see, a call to action) today to find out how you can easily gain more customers through smart email campaigns.

 

 

Please note: DBC Digital is a full-service marketing agency in the Denver metro area. We’re in Centennial, just off I-25 and Dry Creek. We work with clients throughout Colorado and the U.S., in a variety of industries, including: real estate, financial, insurance, and mortgage.

 

Categories : EMAIL CAMPAIGNS, Marketing
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Posted by Greg Sherwood on
 May 3, 2016

Email List Building: What You Need to Know

email list-sign-up-form

Searching for ways to grow and strengthen your business?  Many successful business owners credit their success to the quality of their email list.

Both large and small businesses rely on their lists as a honey pot that they can always use as a source of sales and leads.

If you haven’t focused on building a solid email list for your company, or you just wish your own list was more fruitful, consider these list-building basics.

Here are 4 things you need to grow the quality and quantity of your email list.

1. Always Offer Value

Most of us receive a lot of junk emails, so it might be difficult to believe that there are actually emails that recipients look forward to receiving. To keep your subscribers interested in your emails, you’ve got to hold up your end of the bargain by consistently delivering meaningful content.

This “value” can be things like “insider” information, updates on trends that your subscribers can benefit from, discounts, or free offers.

2. Carefully Consider Your Email Provider

Small companies might be relying on Outlook or other in-house email systems to send their group emails.  Others may use their website hosting company to send emails.

The problem with this is that unless the email system is designed for bulk sending, you’ll risk being “blacklisted” by your provider and your emails will end up sitting in your recipients’ junk folders.

Also, smaller hosting plans usually have limits on email volumes or are just not robust enough to do you any good.

Choose a third-party email service provider to ensure your emails get through and that they look good when they get there.  Some of the most popular email providers include AWeber, MailChimp and Constant Contact.

3. Make it Easy and Attractive to Join Your Email List

These days, it goes without saying that your “join” form has to function well on all sorts of devices, including smart phones, tablets, and desktops.

Also, make sure to test your email’s appearance on mobile devices because that’s where the majority of your prospects and customers are likely to open them.

Most successful email campaigns also offer something of value to get the visitor to take an action, such as signing up for a newsletter.  This could be a discount coupon, a free eBook, or something else that’s relevant to their business.

You’ll have to balance the cost of whatever you offer against the value of a new subscriber, but a targeted offer will definitely increase your success rate.

You might also consider using other parts of your marketing platform to collect leads. For example, you can collect leads with Twitter Cards, Facebook, and YouTube videos.  (More on this in another post.)

4. Invest in Your List

You have to drive traffic to your lead forms to grow subscribers.  Make sure to test your forms and your offers for a period of time to see how they convert.

Don’t be afraid to tweak them after a couple of weeks. See if you can improve your conversions by regularly making small adjustments to your forms.

To get ideas on what works, check out some of your larger competitors to see how they are positioning their lead forms and take a cue from them if appropriate.

To increase your website traffic and see how your forms are performing, you can temporarily buy extra visitor traffic by using Pay-per-click ads or Facebook ads.

As you fine tune your offers and your forms, you should be able to reduce your cost per lead.

You can always continue buying traffic to grow your list faster or you can rely on organic traffic from your social media and search engines.  It takes longer to grow your visitor count this way but it is more affordable for limited budgets.

Let Us Help You Grow Your List and Profit From It

At DBC Digital, we’ve developed email campaigns with amazing conversion rates. Learn more about how we can help you develop a profitable email marketing campaign and then use it in a way that your customers will actually love.

Call one of our marketing consultants at (303) 357-5757 or toll free at (877) 432-2322 — whether you use our services or not, the consultation is FREE!

Greg Sherwood-DBC Digital Marketing

 

Categories : EMAIL CAMPAIGNS, Marketing
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Posted by DBC Digital on
 November 22, 2013

Tabbed Gmail: What it Means for Your Email Campaigns

When Google unveiled the new tabbed email organization to its Gmail users this summer, consumers had mixed reactions. Most people are resistant to change of any kind, and the tabbed email switch was a fairly radical move that seeks to reinvent how email inboxes are designed and used. A large portion of Gmail users have opted to keep the tabbed approach, and Google has since made it the default method of viewing your email in both its desktop browser inboxes and through its mobile apps.

The functionality is a boon for users, but it’s created a nightmare scenario for marketers. Because of this innovation, email marketing campaigns have had their effectiveness turned upside down. Marketers are scrambling to find alternate solutions and other ways to regain some of the campaign value that’s been lost thanks to Gmail’s tabbed inbox. But some businesses might not even realize the implications of a product innovation that, on the surface, seems to improve the user experience. Here’s a quick rundown of the change and what it means for your email campaigns.

Your Marketing Emails Are Being Diverted …

Gmail’s default tabbed inbox features three tabs: Primary, Social, and Promotions. Primary consists of personal email that is sent directly to you and does not fit any other categorizations. Social email relates to all emails sent from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other notifications you may be receiving in your email. Promotions, meanwhile, features daily deals emails, sales offers, and — unfortunately for email marketers — pretty much any other marketing content you might be receiving.

Only emails in the Primary inbox count as unread emails on your inbox counter, meaning there won’t be any reminders if consumers view a marketing email in the Promotions inbox but choose not to open it. And since the Promotions emails aren’t immediately visible when you access your email, there’s a reduced chance you will see these Promotions.

.. And There’s Not Much You Can Do About It

In the first days after the tabbed email was implemented, marketers tried a variety of tricks to try and subvert purgatory in the Promotions inbox. Unfortunately, none of those tricks were built to last. Gmail uses a sophisticated system when it evaluates emails and assigns them to inboxes, and though it might be tempting, it’s unlikely that email marketing can consistently arrive in the Primary inbox.

Email Open Rates Have Taken A Hit

The big way tabbed email cuts into email campaign values is probably obvious: If emails aren’t as visible — that is, if they’re easier to ignore or overlook — those emails won’t get opened as often. Less eyeballs on the emails means fewer opportunities to make website referrals and, ultimately, sales. For businesses that rely heavily on these emails to drive business and transactions, the hit to revenues can be considerable — and the value of the campaign is reduced in the process.

One study by MailChimp found that the open rates for such emails declined by a little less than 10 percent on the average week — not a huge drop, but enough to make a dent in revenues for any organization.

But You Don’t Need to Fret

Tabbed email may drive businesses and marketers to panic, but there’s plenty of reason not to overreact. First off, keep in mind that Gmail is only one email provider your customers use — the others haven’t followed suit by creating tabs of their own. And, while the return on your email marketing investment might be lower than you’re used to, the change isn’t severe enough to nullify email as a viable marketing channel altogether. You may need to get smarter about how you target through emails, but businesses are still driving business with emails.

Gmail’s new system stresses the importance of inbound marketing. Making sure you are delivering relevant, valuable content to your readers is the most important piece in making sure your email campaigns are read. No matter what tab your email falls under, if it’s information the reader wants to see (and opted into), they will still read your messages.

If you’re concerned about how to drive business through email or other platforms, don’t waste another day bleeding referrals and sales. Contact the best Denver inbound marketing firm, DBC Digital, to reclaim your campaign potential and get back on track to sustained sales growth.

Categories : EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
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