Cascade Valley Designs
Owner/Founder: Ann Marie Gill
Website: http://cascadevalleydesigns.com
Facebook | Twitter: @CascadeVDesigns
Ann Marie Gill of Cascade Valley Designs appeared on the Small Businesses Do It Better Show, episode 2 (watch the show on Ovaleye.tv) on Mobile and Email Marketing for Small Businesses.
Q) We see a big difference when we used a custom template for our email marketing. Can you tell our viewers why you offer Custom Email Newsletter Designs as a service?
Using an email service has many benefits! The can spam act requires inclusion of an address as well as an easy way for recipients to opt out of receiving these emails in the future; these are most often pre-set into email newsletter services. Custom email newsletter design is also very important, it can make all of the difference, bringing you more clicks, higher conversion and a more successful email campaign. Email services are also often white-listed, where if you mass mail from your own email address it may get put directly into the recipients spam email folder.
Q) What are the most important points of a newsletter or email marketing campaign? Do you have a example of how a newsletter should be laid out?
Grab recipients’ attention with a short subject line including action words – try to avoid spam words like “free”. Newsletters should be optimized for mobile reading too, not using too many images since these may not load on mobile devices or in some email programs. Pay attention to the white space in the layout, you want ample space with nothing overlapping and do not use only images or one big image.
Q) Say I want to start a newsletter today? Do you have suggestions? Constant Contact first? Do I contact you first?
You’ll want to setup an account with an email service, such as Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, iContact, etc. Some are free always, some offer a free trials and some are paid services. You can contact me anytime you have any questions or you are ready to get your campaign going!
Q) I read on your website that by 2014 mobile website viewing will takeover desktop usage. Explain why having a website optimized for mobile use is so important.
When your website is viewed on a mobile device you should ensure that the visitor is seeing all of your content, and in a well laid out, professional appearance. Optimizing for mobile devices can provide that all elements of your website can be seen correctly and aesthetically pleasing.
Q) What are some ways a website can be optimized for mobile viewing?
If you’re using Blogger or Weebly, your website is already optimized for mobile viewing. WordPress users have a variety of plug ins to select from, while anytime you can grab some coding and insert it into your website. There are many websites that offer mobile viewing customization that generate this code to put into your site.
Q) How can businesses use mobile marketing to their advantage to cast a wider net and bring in more customers?
Retail businesses should make sure they are on Google maps so you will come up in all local relevant mobile searches. QR codes are slowly on the rise and can be used creatively to market on your business cards, flyers, magazines and for promotions or contests. Another underutilized mobile marketing tool is text message marketing – this has a low cost and reaches so many people.
Watch the full episode of “Mobile and Email Marketing for Small Businesses” on the Small Businesses Do It Better Show, including all of the links and resources mentioned at watch the show here on Ovaleye.tv
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