Massmailsoftware Blog

Deborah Schultz has one of the best graphics I’ve ever seen up on her blog (courtesy of Brand Identity Guru), explaining the difference between marketing, branding, public relations and advertising far better than anything I’ve run across. This puts quite a few things into perspective: Notice several things…for example, marketing is represented as nothing more than a less-annoying version of advertising. However, the one thing that jumps out at me is this…notice how branding and marketing are very similar. The only difference is who holds the opinion. This goes back to what I’ve said before…lead your customers to form an […]

Too many times, marketers focus on the medium being used to transmit their message, instead of concentrating on the message itself. An effective marketing message will be effective no matter what medium is used to transmit it. The trick is to know how to construct an effective marketing message. Luckily, this doesn’t involve deals with the devil, mystic VooDoo rituals or ancient Chinese secrets. (Unless you want to base your chances of business success on Satan, a dead chicken and a fortune cookie, in which case have at it.) There’s one simple method that is present in all effective marketing: […]

While not right for everyone, there’s one method of marketing on the internet that is overlooked by many…affiliate marketing. One of the more prolific ( and most successful) affiliate marketing systems available today is the one from Amazon.com. In your travels around the web, I’m sure you’ve seen something like the bar to the right more than a few times. This has turned into a very successful marketing tool for Amazon, because the legions of people spending time, money and effort promoting and marketing their products only get paid when a sale is made. “Sure, Dave,” I hear you saying, […]

The car salesman sits behind his desk, fresh from yet another meeting with the sales manager. As he slides the “four-square” worksheet across his desk toward you, you have no interest in what’s written there, and tell him…for the twelfth time this hour. “Okay, what would it take to get you to buy today? Right now?” he asks. “Nothing. I told you I was just looking; I’ll be in the market in a few months, but there’s nothing you can do or say to get me to buy today.” “I’ll be right back,” he replies, standing up and starting for […]

If you had the opportunity to either tell ten people about your business or tell one million, which would you do? I’m really hoping you said “ten thousand”. Marketing is nothing more than telling people about your business while prompting them to take action. And while it’s true that marketing to ten pre-qualified targeted people will always give a higher percentage of conversions, they don’t let you pay your light bill with conversions. Sometimes, you have to put the marketing blowgun away and bring out the shotgun. Why? Simple…if 80% of those ten people make a purchase from you at […]

Your best potential customers are the ones you already have. Everyone knows that repeat business can be a big key to success, but there’s another aspect of your customers you need to keep in mind…the best marketing you can receive is a current customer recommending you to their friends, family and co-workers. I’m not talking about multi-level marketing…while many make a nice profit with that business model, talking your Great Aunt Mildred into buying her laundry detergent from you (no matter how much her clothes may smell) isn’t the point. What I am talking about is your customers selling your […]

Okay, I’ll give you a few moments to get those images out of your head, and we’ll continue. … Better? Okay. Now, let’s answer the question on your lips; (No, not “Have you flipped your gourd again, Dave?”) how is email marketing like sex? Sometimes, whether it works or not, and whether or not it’s good for everyone, is all about the timing. If you ask ten email marketing professionals when the best day of the week is to send your newsletter, you’re likely to get more than ten different answers. Of course, that’s understandable…every newsletter is unique. Your newsletter […]

Believe it or not, this isn’t a guide to the best print shops to have posters done to hang up at the bus stop. I mean a completely different kind of posters…forum posters. There are many ways to utilize internet forums to further your marketing goals, and many reasons why you should. The first (and easiest) method is to become a member of a forum that concerns your niché, and then become an active poster there. When doing so, make sure you link to your website or blog in your forum signature. In most cases, this is allowed by a […]

At some point, I’m sure you’ve heard of Google Pagerank (or PR). What you may not understand is why it matters to your website. Google is, of course, the leading search engine on the internet. As a result, once your website or blog is indexed, it will more than likely become the largest source of “natural” traffic. At least, if you play the game correctly. Pagerank is Google’s “grade” of your website, ranging from zero to ten. The higher the number, the better your PR. Google’s algorithms compute this score using a variety of measures, but general consensus is that […]

Obviously, there was no such thing as “online marketing” in the 17th century (probably due to incredibly low bandwidth), but you can still learn something from marketing methods in that time period…specifically the town crier. When someone takes their business online, and especially if they have an online-only business, the impulse is to promote it online. That’s an effective idea, but there’s something you may be forgetting about your customers. They’re not “traffic”, “hits” or “vistors”…they’re people. Your goal isn’t to get more “traffic” to your website, it’s to get more people to your website. And that’s who you need […]