INSERTS
What are some tips for saving money on cooperative coupon mailings?
Bill Matthews, VP of franchise development at SuperCoups, replies, “When two or more companies can share a promotional coupon mailing to the same audience, they are able to reduce their marketing costs significantly, especially when it comes to postage and list rental savings.” His recommendations to coupon distributors: “Offer to distribute your fellow marketers’ coupons at your place of business in exchange for a discount on their offerings.
“Share the results of your coupon redemption with them as well,” Matthews adds. “If you’re coordinating your own mailing, be sure to ask how many envelopes were returned for invalid or outdated addresses in order to evaluate the mailing list, and use this information to your cost advantage the next time you participate in the cooperative mailing.”
E-MAIL
How can I increase the response rates of my e-mail campaigns?
“Benefit-driven, action-oriented subject lines are a key to having your e-mail get your audience’s attention while avoiding their junk mail folder,” answers George Krautzel, president and co-founder of IT toolbox. “Ensure that the entire line is visible without requiring the e-mail to be opened. Once opened, your e-mail should be brief and on-point: position your product or service as a solution in the first one or two sentences.”
Krautzel urges e-mailers to apply their prospects’ current challenges and/or relevant business scenarios to gain attention and to use multiple links to increase the chance of a click. “Leverage facts, statistics, and company testimonials to support your position,” he adds. “The goal is to keep the original e-mail communication short so that the reader gets to the trigger. Including a reply-by date will also help create a sense of immediacy for your target.”
SEARCH
How can I cost-effectively increase my Web ranking through SEO?
“There are some very simple methods you can use to attract more eyeballs to your site at little or no cost,” Sandeep Walia, president of Ignify, responds.
First, he says, place page content at the top. “When designing the page, ensure that your body content, instead of images and HTML links, is at the top of the page. The closer your keyword friendly content is to the top, the better your rankings.”
Walia urges site designers to have alternate tags for images. “Search engines crawl these as well, and they can greatly improve your search engine ranking,” he points out. “Have unique page titles and metatags for every page on the Web site, and use tools such as LinkFreeze to convert your dynamic, search engine-unfriendly page links to friendly ones. And,” he concludes, “get your Web team SEO trained.”
