E-Mail Marketing New Years Resolutions - Set the Trap - eMailchatr

It's that time of year again. Time to put away the holiday decorations, pitch the rest of the leftovers that are making it impossible to fit anything else in your refrigerator, and look forward to 2010. So...How does it look? A recent poll I read quoted "48% of Americans stated they were somewhat likely to make a New Year's resolution this year" What in the heck does "somewhat likely" mean? To me, it means that half of the people out there know they should make a change in some aspect of their life...lose weight, quit smoking, laugh more, spend more time with their kids, you name it. The problem is they don't have a trap holding them accountable to make the change. If the change were going to be that easy, they would already be doing it by now.

The same holds true in business. Most marketers fly out of the gates into a new year with a fresh look on their marketing plan and objectives. Many soon fall back into one of a few comfort modes...Hold down the fort, putting out fires, etc. It is easy to make a list of what you need to do in 2010 to take your e-mail marketing to the next level. Here are 9 critical components.

You MUST have e-mail marketing as a line item within your budget (don't bury it under "other marketing")
Make it easy for your recipients to share your content on their social networks
Integrate video into your e-mails, track who view the video and use that data effectively
Communicate differently with your highly engaged prospects than you do with your non-engaged prospects
Utilize e-coupons to entice recipients to take action
Inspect what you expect - Are you sure you are working to improve in the right areas? Survey a portion of your customers on a regular basis and find out what is important.
Create effective drip campaigns that allow your prospects to become engaged over a period of time
Master segments - shift from batch and blast over to a one-to-few communication style
Dial in and stay focused on the Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) that drive your marketing efforts forward

OK, nice list...now what? I want to take it a step further. I want to help you set traps in an effort to actually make the changes that you know are so important to your organization. Here are the steps I follow.

1. Have a "what if" conversation with your marketing and sales team. Ask the group "What if you were solely responsible for dramatically improving the e-mail communications for the company...what would you do." Once the ideas start flowing, capture these ideas in a flow diagram on the white-board. This activity helps you transition from the top 9 critical components over to a process that can give you the biggest bang for your buck. Challenge your team to think about all aspects of the business...

list growth suggestions
drive prospects to reach out and take action
re-engage prospects that went all the way to your shopping cart and did nothing
automatically drive up-sell opportunities to customers when they are most likely to need the suggested items
how to take customer service to a whole other level

2. Step back and think through the suggestions. Sit down with an E-mail Service Provider and walk through the newly-created vision. Ask about industry best practices and other recommendations on how to create and improve upon what the team dreamed up.

3. Commit to 4 things that you can implement in 2010 - It can be as easy as deciding on one improvement per quarter.

4. Set the TRAP (this is the key)

Publish your plan
Let the entire team know the 4 improvements that will be made in 2010 and when they will be made
Post the items and deadlines prominently in your office space
Tell your spouse about 4 dates. Come up with a family reward for each date successfully hit.
Schedule 4 meetings with your boss throughout the year. Make each meeting fall one day after your implementation deadline. Tell your boss you would like to give a brief update on the specific improvement at that meeting.
Come up with other traps...make it fun, but make it stick.

Ready, set, GO! Make it a great 2010 and drive results in your marketing efforts.

Scott Cramer | Sales & Business Development