For Best Marketing Results —
Put your eggs in more than one
basket
by Meryl
Evans, Editor, eNewsletter Journal
Stock
investors always say, "Diversify!" Imagine if you had all of your
stock in one company and it went bankrupt. This scenario is what happened after
the dot com crash.
Putting
all your eggs into one basket labeled "email newsletters" can also
spell disaster. The eggs might meet the same fate as Humpty Dumpty. But if we
split up the eggs into a few baskets and one falls, we still have two to fall
back on. Other kinds of baskets such as your Web site, blog, snail mailings and
feeds can support your newsletter and help you build better relationships with
prospects and clients.
Other online tools
We have a
diversity of options available for building relationships through Web sites
beyond the static sites that rarely change or get updated. Not all businesses
advertise or market on TV, radio, newspapers or billboards. Why not? Because those
vehicles may not be the best way to reach their target market.
While we
might think, "Online is online. Once you get there, you can do
everything." That's true, but as with kinds of egg dishes, people have
preferences, likes and dislikes. Here are the tools we can use to connect with
prospects and clients:
When
companies use tools like these to interact with the community, it makes them
more accessible, puts a face behind the company. These also help keep the site
regularly updated with fresh content, which is always a good thing, especially
with search engines.
Blogs invade businesses
Weblogs aren't
just for telling our sob or life stories anymore. Blogs, as Weblogs are better
known, can be online articles, essays, entries, diaries and journals. A typical
blog contains entries displayed in order from most recent entry on forward to
older entries.
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When a
blogger posts an entry, users can read and comment on them when that feature is
available. Most blogging applications come with comments, but the blogger might
choose not to use them, monitor them or leave it open for anyone to comment.
They can delete comments, especially when they're offensive or comment spam — comments
from spammers who post repeated comments with links to sites to increase their
search engine results.
CEOs,
CIOs, vice presidents and many others have joined the blogging revolution to
give a voice to their companies. Topics range from commentary on the industry,
insight into strategies and advice on general business practices, to name a
few.
While the
decision on whether or not to blog and who should blog for the company is an
article of its own, here are the basic requirements to meet when blogging:
-
Add a new entry at least
three times a week.
-
Discuss topics rather than
just linking to others.
-
Read other blogs.
-
Provide valuable information
to readers rather than just about your company.
While
successful blogs have broken these rules, they're not common. Whenever you
release a new issue of your email newsletter, blog it. It's an opportunity to
reach an audience that might not otherwise find out about the newsletter. You
can read more about business blogging in these books:
Feeding with feeds
Rather
than coming to the Web site and reading a blog, some people read the blog
through a news reader, feed reader or aggregator
application. Such applications can be downloaded and used on your computer,
like FeedDemon, or are Web-based, like Bloglines. News readers make it possible
to read all of your favorite blogs and online content in one place.
While news
feeds were originally associated with blog content, they can be available for
any online content. You may have seen the RSS or XML icons, text along the
lines of "Syndicate this site" or a button that says you can
subscribe with a specific feed reader service or application like Bloglines,
MSN Alerts, MyYahoo! and more.
(Editor's
note: If you'd like to know more about feeds, here's an earlier
feature.)
Next time
you go to a Web site, look for the feed. Any page on a Web site can be a feed,
but a feed isn’t appropriate for just any old content. The best kind of content
for creating a feed is regularly updated, including newsletters, like this one that
has an RSS icon in the upper right-hand corner.
Take
advantage of feeds and reference other content. If you have a feed for your
newsletter, in its contents, reference something new on the Web site or a new
article you've written.
The trick
to spreading your eggs out is to have all of your content point to each other, business
cards included. Business cards can have URLs to the Web site, newsletter and
anything else that's appropriate and fits on the small card. A long URL won't
go over well. Instead, use a URL
shortening service, as many don't cost anything.
Opening the doors with forums
Forums —
also known as bulletin boards, discussion boards, discussion groups and message
boards — offer an online meeting place where users can discuss topics. They
don't have to be logged into these forums at the same time. Forums typically
require registration to avoid abuse, but some let users post anonymously. To
use a forum, all a user needs is usually a Web browser, a sign on ID and a password.
To keep
things under control, forums might have moderators who have the ability to edit
or delete messages and remove user access. Unlike a blog, a forum allows anyone
to start a
new discussion. Only the bloggers can start a new topic in blogs, but most
blogs come with commenting features to involve the readers.
When an
interesting discussion occurs on a forum, reference it from within a newsletter
or a blog to get others involved. Many businesses use forums so users can help
each other with product problems and questions. Experts might also be assigned
to track the forums to help when no one else can.
Colleges
and universities with online classes might use forums so professors and
students can interact and discuss course-related materials and projects. Do a
search for "forums" and see the diversity of topics covered including
hobbies, business, careers, industries, games and more. Companies also use
forums so teams can collaborate or build a community among employees whom might
be near and far.
Wikis take collaboration a step
further
Wikis,
like forums, involve multiple users who can start a discussion or topic. But
unlike forums, wikis allow users to edit other people's content. A person could
create a new page, and another person — who has more information — can add onto
the original article and make changes.
While
anyone having the ability to edit anything sounds like a recipe for disaster,
it doesn't happen often. Wikis can be protected with a password to prevent
potential problems. Wikipedia is a giant
wiki thanks to its 13,000+ contributors who manage over 1,800,000 articles in
100+ languages. Over 960,000 of those articles are in English.
Pages in
a wiki connect to each other through links. Creating a link in a wiki depends
on the software used. A link could be created with a simple [This is a link]
(brackets around the item to be linked), *This is a link,* or some other way.
Working with a wiki resembles using a word processor.
These,
like forums, come in handy for team collaboration. A software development team
could use a wiki to document features and show how to use them. A marketing
team could track its projects and updates with a wiki. The options for
collaborating with a wiki are many.
Deciding on which tools to use
Blogs,
feeds, forums and wikis have many features that impact your decision on which
to use. Also, organizations that develop forum, blog and wiki software list the
application's features on their Web sites. You can check them out to help
figure out what you need.
Keep in
mind that content management systems (CMS) and communications management
systems come with these tools built in. Even if a CMS that best fits your needs
doesn't come with a tool you want, you can always add on with another product.
In any
case, you might find one, two or none of these communications tools works for
you. No matter which you chose, it's about seamlessly putting your information
into more than one basket and reaching as big an audience as possible.
Meryl K. Evans is the content maven behind
this newsletter. She's been blogging
since June 2000, and she’s available to take on your content needs and ensure
you get the best results from every carefully selected word.
[ PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION ]
