Another free download from MarketingSherpa: Dirty Dozen Email Newsletter Mistakes

MarketingSherpa is offering a free download, Dirty Dozen: Email Newsletter Mistakes Nearly Everyone Makes. Find it under Email Marketing Resources on this page, along with other free downloads.

My favorite mistakes (which I see all the time): Lame 'Welcome' Messages [see my ClickZ article from October 2001: Leveraging Your Confirmation Emails] and Ignoring Your Blackberry and Mobile Readers.

The free guide is but a small taste of what they offer in their annual door-stopper (328 pages): MarketingSherpa Email Marketing 2008 Benchmark Guide. I've reviewed these annual mega guides in the past (see 2006 review). They're chock full of charts and stats and really helpful if you're looking for metrics to gauge the success of your email programs.

P.S. Full disclosure

Yes, I'm a MarketingSherpa affiliate and receive a small commission if you order through my link above.

How and why I combined my e-newsletter with a blog

For months now, my Web designer Sarah Lewis and I have been pondering how to make the production of my e-newsletter, WordBiz Report, more efficient, more powerful and more blog-like. Why?

Too much time

For the past five years I have created each HTML issue myself using a Dreamweaver template. Publishing an HTML newsletter this way takes hours. I compose or write the articles as I'm creating the issue. This takes even more time.

I fuss with the lay-out; change headlines and sub-heads; revise the copy, etc. Tsk, tsk. I can't help it. That's the way I write (and I know just enough HTML coding to be dangerous). 

An email is not interactive

In addition, the old email-only version of my e-newsletter is passive. It's one way. Each issue is an orphan message dropped into readers' cluttered inboxes. To offer feedback, readers can email me directly (and hope I see their message).

With this new blog format, readers can click through and leave Comments on individual articles, just as they would on a blog entry. That way their feedback is published and becomes part of the issue. Everyone can see what everyone else is writing.

New! Blog-letter? Blog-a-zine? Blog-gram?

My solution? Turn the HTML e-newsletter into a blog-letter. A blog-a-zine? A blog-gram? Whatever you want to call it, Sarah and I have finally created it. (I also send out a short text-only version of WordBiz Report.) Click here to learn more about how Sarah did it technically, using WordPress.

You can read the new version on your PDA

An interesting side benefit: the new HTML version of WordBiz Report (created through WordPress) renders perfectly on my Treo. Simpler code that's PDA-compatible.

RSS or Web feed

And yes of course there is a new RSS feed specifically for WordBiz Report. Subscribe via FeedBurner.

You can still subscribe the old-fashioned way

Readers can still subscribe via email to WordBiz Report. In fact that's the whole point.

Sign up here (you get a free Tips guide on How to Write an Effective Business Blog). The newsletter will be delivered to your inbox, just like a regular email. When you click through to Continue reading on each article, you'll be on a blog page where you can add your two cents.

Try it here (takes you to an article in the current issue).

Current issue of WordBiz Report

We're at the inflection point for corporate blogging

As I noodle around with a number of presentations** I've got coming up (I've finally figured out Keynote for the Mac), I want to take a stand.

It's the end of marketing, advertising and corporate communications "as usual"

It's not enough to say that blogging is important or that social media tools are going mainstream.

Here's my little manifesto

I'm still noodling with it. Feel free to jump in and add something, help me clarify my thoughts or tell me to stuff it:

The Inflection Point of Corporate Blogging

- Blogs and other social media tools are here to stay

- Blogs are just next-generation Web sites

- Social media tools (RSS, blogs, podcasts, video, wikis, etc.) can be used by any company, large or small, B2C or B2B

- They symbolize community, conversation, mutual respect between users and an ethos of sharing

- These tools are more powerful at informing/influencing/persuading than traditional forms of marketing, advertising and corporate communications

- They help you get found online

- If you can't be found, you don't exist

Conclusion: This isn't optional

You gotta start using blogs, podcasts, online video (social media) today!

Defining an inflection point

Google's acquisition of YouTube yesterday for $1.65 billion is extremely significant. (Watch the CNN video with the announcement.)

Yes, it's a lot of money. Yes it's eerily like the dot com boom days when companies with no revenue were perceived to be hugely valuable.

But I see it as more than that. It's a tipping point (thanks to Malcolm Gladwell). Or an inflection point.

Intel's Andy Grove popularized "inflection point" as a business term. It's really a mathematical expression meaning a point on a curve at which the tangent crosses the curve itself. I don't pretend to understand calculus so don't ask me to explain.

Translated into business, it means something new is happening and there's no going back. No more "business as usual."

Read Andy's explanation here. It's an excerpt from his 1996 book, Only the Paranoid Survive:

"Strategic inflection points can be caused by technological change but they are more than technological change... They are full-scale changes in the way business is conducted, so that simply adopting new technology or fighting the competition as you used to may be insufficient. They build up force so insidiously that you may have a hard time even putting a finger on what has changed, yet you know that something has. Let's not mince words: A strategic inflection point can be deadly when unattended to." - Andy Grove, founder of Intel

** I'm speaking at a bunch of different venues over the next two weeks - both here in the U.S. and also in London (Oct. 18th and Oct. 25th) and at a private event in Paris! (Que j'adore Paris!)

Download a transcript of The Corporate Blogging Book Teleconference

Yesterday's teleconference for The Corporate Blogging Book was a lot of fun. There were nine participants, each of whom purchased five copies of my new book from 800-CEO-Read.

One caller, Cathy Chatfield-Taylor, was energetic enough to take really good notes. Inspired by her efforts, I added a few things (and corrected a few things). Then the 10 of us agreed to offer anyone who's interested the summary transcript as a PDF download.

Here are some of the questions we addressed. They were submitted by participants, an interesting mix of consultants, corporate marketers and non-profit advocacy professionals.

Questions (see PDF for answers)

- What blog platform to use?

- How do you transition a blog from being a content management system to a more engaging interactive communications format?

- What do you do if you've published an ill-conceived post? How do you take it back??

- How do you handle comments? Moderate? Not allow?

- How do you build readership?

- How do you help non-writers blog?

- How can a non-profit raise money with a blog?

- What should an executive think / do / feel after finishing the book?

- What’s not in the book?

Download a PDF transcript of The Corporate Blogging Book Teleconference.

Thanks to Conference Calls Unlimited for sponsoring the teleconference.

Why RSS has not supplanted email...

Fred Wilson nails it. Because RSS still isn't "brain dead simple." For non-geeks it's still too confusing to set up an RSS newsreader, to find - or aggregate - all the feeds you're interested in, to subscribe, etc.

The RSS vs. email discussion erupted again in response to the announcement several days ago that Yahoo and AOL will start charging senders 1/4 of a cent to a penny per message delivered. The idea is that the email or e-newsletter marketers who pay this premium will be guaranteed that their messages will reach intended recipients' inboxes.

Read Tris Hussey and Steve Rubel on the topic of the end of cost-effective email marketing. Read Dave Winer on why RSS is hard to use and Stowe Boyd on Reads, Not Feeds.

Oh, and don't misunderstand. RSS is in many ways a better solution for dispensing and receiving information online. But despite the proposed postage for email marketers, email isn't dead yet.

Seth Godin interviewed on "Internet marketing"

Read the Q.  & A. with Seth in E-consultancy.com's December 2005 briefing. As always, he boils it down. Real simple. Incisive. (Scroll to the bottom of the interview for a good explanation of Squidoo, Seth's new venture.) I like this sound bite:

Q. (Chris Lake) Should every business use the internet to communicate? What are the basics of an internet communications strategy?

A. (Seth Godin) You should only use the internet if you want your communications to be FAST and you want to reach LARGE NUMBERS with no intermediaries. If you can't handle that, though, you shouldn't try.

And this one (valid question, BTW, as Seth made his name as the king of permission marketing):

Q. You've written about permission marketing extensively, yet intrusion is still a big part of the average internet session. Does this frustrate you?

A. (Seth) Not any more. Like everyone else, I ignore it.

What a waste.

And this, perhaps the most profound thing Seth said. Think about it. If you send out an e-newsletter or publish a blog or offer a downloadable white paper, it's because you're expecting a response. Not a sale right away. But a tiny step, a forward movement, a conversation starter, the beginnings of a  relationship with that prospect. Or to get more tactical, if you're putting an AdSense ad in front of someone it's cuz you want them to click on it. Right?

Q. Does online advertising have to be purely about response? What about the brand benefits?

A. (Seth) There's zero evidence that you can build a brand with interruptions online that don't lead to action. Zero.

Speaking of Squidoo, Seth's new venture... It's out of beta. Go build a lens (start here) and fool around with it. Here are two of my lenses so far. They need lots more stuff in them: Debbie Weil and Yoga Vacations. I'm still figuring it out.

WOMMA masters the new marketing mix: site, blog, RSS, podcast, e-newsletter, etc.

Not surprisingly, WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) has mastered the new marketing mix when it comes to promoting their next conference: a site, a blog, RSS feeds, podcasts, email updates and a companion e-newsletter all rolled up into one at www.womma.org/wombat/. Looks like the only thing missing is a wiki [added: and more women speakers!]

Word of Mouth Basic Training is Jan. 19 - 20, 2006 in Orlando, FL. Sounds fun and they've got some great speakers lined up.

RSS & email are the How; blogs & ezines are the What

RSS expert Rok Hrastnik has penned a lucid explanation of the relationship between blogs, ezines, RSS and email. As he puts it:

"Blogs and e-zines or newsletters are "the what" --- what you publish online ... the content side.

RSS and e-mail are "the how" --- how you get that content or information to the reader ... the delivery side."

Read Rok's riff.

And online marketing pioneer Ralph F. Wilson has a few sage words on blogs vs. ezines and how they overlap.

As he puts it:

"... for those who don't follow your blog, send out a monthly newsletter made up of the most important or enduring blog entries, carefully edited, with URLs to other important entries in your blog. For news junkies, a blog provides frequent information. For less intense customers with whom you still want to retain top-of-mind status, send your e-mail newsletter."

Useful Link

Dirty secret of publishing a blog vs. an e-newsletter

Blog vs. e-newsletter debate continues

Here's a point counterpoint by Christopher Knight of Ezine-Tips and contributing writer Suzanne Falter-Barns. Chris says blogs won't replace e-newsletters. Suzanne offers 7 reasons why they will. The real answer? Yes and no. No, in the short term blogs won't replace e-newsletters (aka ezines). You gotta get people to your blog to read it. And if they're not using RSS (see my tutorial), sending them an email reminder is the obvious way to get their attention. But yes, it's much easier to publish a blog than produce and deliver an HTML newsletter.

Useful Link

Dirty secret of publishing a blog vs. an HTML newsletter

Blogging 101 Resources

Been collecting these for a week or so.

• Ran across this nifty page on Robert's Echo blog. Includes everything from the "origin" of blogs, stats on blog readership, recommended PR blogs, link to a Forrester Research executive summary, lists of internal and external corporate blogs and more.

• Another page with all things blog (including links to RSS tutorials and basic blog definitions) penned by the Singapore-based Rambling Librarian.

• Comprehensive list from Dave Taylor's Intuitive Life blog with links to other articles.

• 101 writing tips from Kari Chisholm on writing a thought leadership blog. (He writes a grassroots advocacy blog.)

Email April Fool's

The always clever MarketingSherpa has just published a selection of April Fool's "email cartoons." I love this one. Want to see more?  Click here for Sherpa's 7 Best Cartoons for Email Marketing.

And if you're serious about email marketing, consider attending MarketingSherpa's Email Summit in Chicago on April 20-21, 2006. (Yes, that's 2006!) Hands-down, this is the most informative, up-to-date conference you'll find on the topic.

P.S. ... and on the topic of e-newsletters vs. blogs, I suggest that publishing a blog has many advantages over composing and sending an HTML newsletter.

Dirty secret of publishing a blog vs. an HTML e-newsletter

If you're debating whether to launch a spiffy-looking HTML e-newsletter or start a blog... seriously consider the latter.

Here's why: once you have a blog template set up (quite simple to do if you use a hosted service like TypePad) it's the work of 15 minutes to write a short, pithy paragraph and publish it to your snazzy blog site.

In contrast, I maintain that you cannot produce and send a properly formatted HTML newsletter, no matter how short and pithy, in less than two hours.

You MUST check your links, send test copies and otherwise correctly configure your HTML template in whatever email service you are using. And once you publish, cross your figures and pray that your new issue will make its way through spam filters to your readers.

Yes, I am simplifying a complicated issue. An e-newsletter is pushed to your readers via the universally understood channel of email. A blog can also be pushed to your readers... but via the much less well understood - and adopted - channel of RSS.

And RSS, still new, has its problems: Will RSS simplify your life?

But if you add up writing, editing and production time, a blog wins hands down.  What's your take on publishing a blog vs. an e-newsletter? Click that Comments click and let 'er rip.

Useful resource
How HTML Code Affects E-mail Deliverability

4 disadvantages of blogging... according to Gerry McGovern

Web content expert Gerry McGovern has published a useful and authoritative e-newsletter every week (he's never missed a deadline, he told me) since 1996. It's a text-only email but almost always has a gem or two related to content management.  New Thinking archives here. I just ran across an article he published in August, 2004 on Blogs and blogging: advantages and disadvantages. He makes some excellent points about blogs and writing...