Canadian Small Business Women

Connection, Synergy, Community

8 Creative Ways to Build a Mailing List

Do you send a newsletter for your business? A newsletter can be an easy way to inform your customers and potential customers of a new product, a sale, an event or just another way to showcase your expertise. Here are 8 Creative ways to build your mailing list.

  1. Add it to your website or blog: Most mailing list generators (we use mail chimp) have a widget that you can easily add to your website. This has been the most popular way new visitors have subscribed to our mailing list.
  2. Host a giveaway or contest: Whether it’s online or at a trade show a giveaway or contest is a fun way to build your mailing list.
  3. Have a mailing list or guest book: At trade shows in particular have a mailing list or guest book in the corner of your table. Interested potential customers may add their name to learn more about you.
  4. Ask for it: While closing a sale ask the new customer for their email address. You can also use this to follow-up with your customer.
  5. Add it to your facebook page: An easy to use app can be added to your facebook fan pages.
  6. May I?: When a new customer inquires, it’s okay to ask them if you may add them to your mailing list.
  7. Post in on Facebook: Once in a while, pose the question on your facebook page – Have you subscribed to our mailing list (link)?
  8. Tweet about it: Tweet it – Have you subscribed to our mailing list (link)?

Jacqueline Hunter is the Director at Craftadian. In addition to hosting annual Craftadian Handmade Markets, Jacqueline is a resource for Handmade Business owners by offering online courses, work shops and support. She showcases, supports and promotes Canadian artists, artisans and designers.

Connect with Jacqueline

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Why small businesses NEED to tweet at events

Evelyn

I recently attended a networking event for small business owners in Toronto. The theme of the evening was digital marketing. Overall the event was well organized with informative speakers, good raffle prizes and a nice mix of marketers and small business owners.

But what surprised me was how few people were tweeting at the event. Perhaps it’s just that I’m used to going to events packed with social media managers and non-profit communicators, but I was a little disappointed by the lack of networking being done online.

For me, events are always played out on two fields: the action happening live in front of me and the commentary on that action online. Often I find this commentary as interesting, if not more so, then the speakers I’m there to see.

Live-tweeting events is a great way to give your business a boost online. Hashtags organize the conversations taking place, making it easy to follow the action. Plugging into hashtags makes new followers, mentions and retweets much more likely than your average day-to-day Twitter activity, especially if the event becomes popular and trends.

But there are a few things you need to do before you even arrive at the event to make sure that you get the most out of your live-tweeting experience.

Know the hashtag. This seems obvious to those more seasoned tweeters, but it’s important to mention anyways. The day of the event the organizers are probably promoting the event online. Visit their Twitter account to find out both the proper hashtag and their Twitter handle. Once you have that information do a search on Twitter and save the search so that you can access it easily later.

Follow the speakers. Find out who the speakers are going to be (event emails and websites usually have this information) and then find out if they are online. Make a note of their Twitter handles and be sure to follow them. Then at event time you won’t have to scramble to find them or worry about misspelling their names.

Prepare some tweets ahead of time. This is a great way to let people know that you will be at the event and gives them the opportunity to follow you. It also increases your visibility once the event starts. Tweet about your attendance on the day and days leading up to the event. Shout out to the speakers how much you are looking forward to their talks. On the day of you can prepare some tweets to be sent out during the event so that you have more time to actually enjoy it.

Know when to put the phone down. You need to balance the benefits of tweeting with real world networking. Send enough tweets and retweets to gain visibility and make a meaningful contribution to the conversation, but make sure that you also talk to people face-to-face. That’s the reason why you’re there!

Evelyn Senyi is the owner and chief marketer for Recurve Marketing, a Toronto-based digital marketing agency that offers creative, effective and affordable marketing strategies for Canadian small businesses and non-profit organizations. Follow Recurve on Twitter @recurve_ca and on Facebook www.facebook.com/recurvemarketing.ca.

How to unplug from social media for the holidays

Evelyn

The holidays are just around the corner and hopefully you’re planning some well deserved time off. Yet if you’re a small business owner it can be difficult to take the time you need to rest and rejuvenate for the New Year. Emails, phone calls and the ping of social media notifications can be hard to ignore. You also worry that your online presence might suffer from your absence. But it’s important to know how and when to unplug, without losing your spot on the social media hierarchy.

Schedule content ahead of time

If you’re not already using a social media dashboard such as Hootsuite or Buffer, now is the time to look into one. Dashboards make scheduling content easy and can act as an inbox for all those notifications. Schedule a tweet or post a day. That’s enough to stay alive online, but not so much that the responses become unmanageable.

Set a time limit

Set aside ten minutes a day to check the accounts; then shut it down and walk away. By setting a time limit you can reassure yourself that all is well, without taking up too much of your personal time. Check to make sure there are no emergencies but then shut off the notifications. If you use Hootsuite you can actually create “quiet time” where your notifications go silent. Better yet, turn off the phone.

Only answer urgent inquiries

Be smart about what you respond to. Is that question urgent? Is that issue an emergency? It’s easy to want to answer everything right away, but many of the queries you receive can wait a few days until you’re back at work. Only answer those questions that are truly urgent.

Allow yourself to let go

Too often we get caught up in the details. While one negative tweet might seem catastrophic at the time, in the overall big picture it’s not worth much worry. The same goes for checking the Facebook page and sending out that tweet. If you go silent for a few days, nothing terrible will happen. Your business will not fail and your customers will not desert you. In fact they’re probably not online either.

My past experience as a social media manager for a large charity taught me the importance of work-life balance when it comes to managing your online communications. While being online and listening is important, having the courage to turn it off and take time for yourself and your family is just as, if not more, important.

So this holiday, turn off the phone and enjoy the season. I promise your followers will still be there in January.

Happy Holidays.

 

Evelyn Senyi is the owner and chief marketer for Recurve Marketing, a Toronto-based digital marketing agency that offers creative, effective and affordable marketing strategies for Canadian small businesses and non-profit organizations. Follow Recurve on Twitter @recurve_ca and on Facebook www.facebook.com/recurvemarketing.ca.

Twitter Tips for Small Business

Kelly headshot (2)

It’s one thing to have a Twitter account, it’s another thing to ‘Tweet’. The world of networking on Twitter can seem like a new way of thinking about marketing your business and connecting with clients and colleagues in addition to learning a new language. As such, it’s important to take your time to get to know Twitter before taking the plunge into the world of Tweeting.

 

Maximize your profile

Use a profile picture and header picture consistent with your branding across other platforms, including your website, business cards, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Choose a generic background that enhances your header, or design your own background for your Twitter homepage.

Your bio line on Twitter also needs to comply with the 140 character rule, so choose your words carefully! Use keywords that make it easier for people to find you and include a link to your website.

 

Micro-Blogging at its best

Twitter is part of an emerging type of media called Micro-Blogging, and it’s important to keep your Tweets short and sweet! But, remember you can say a lot in 140 characters and a picture is worth a thousand words! Use link-shortening tools like bit.ly and HootSuite to save space in your tweets when you want to link to content outside of Twitter. Use #Hashtags like keywords to link to trending content on Twitter, or to #KeepItShortAndSweet.

 

Tweet with Karma

Nobody wants to be sold to online. We live in a world where creative marketing can take you further than direct advertising. Share content rather than soliciting business – if people like what they share, they will come back for more; use Twitter to build brand loyalty. Twitter is a great way to connect with your clients and other members of your industry. Build networks of like-minded Tweeters and remember the Karma of Twitter – retweet to be retweeted! Share others’ links and photos as much as you share your own. Twitter is an active network, and you won’t gain the business you’re looking for if your activity on Twitter is one-sided.

Twitter can be a lot of fun, and is an excellent way to get your message out there quickly and effectively. It is the fastest growing social network, so it pays to have a presence there. For more tips and Twitter advice, check out Teach Me Social individual tutorials and group workshops and connect with @TeachMeSocial on Twitter!

 

Kelly Farrell is the Founder and Chief Facilitator of Teach Me Social, a visionary company that has a mission to empower small business entrepreneurs to take control of their own online presence and manage it in-house to maintain an authentic voice for their brand. Teach Me Social has been providing valuable Social Media and online marketing support to small business owners for 2 years, while Kelly’s personal experience in the marketing and Social Media realm extends over 15 years.  Connect with Kelly via her WEBSITE,TWITTER, or FACEBOOK page. You can also email her at info@teachmesocial.ca