I have been co-hosting a weekly podcast called The Bella Buzz with the CEO of Bella Web Design, Desiree Scales.  We have good conversations about topics related to online marketing.  Thought it would be a good time to start replicating the programs here for the Overflow audience.  This is episode 37.

It is time to talk about Email Marketing as a topic on The Bella Buzz podcast. We take a look at the rationale for adding this distribution channel into the marketing strategy, some of the vendors who can provide the services, and even have a direct example of what email marketing can achieve.

We take a look at email marketing as another form of getting creative content in front of the intended audience.  There have been numerous occasions when we have focused on the ability to consistently generate new pieces of information that will attract an audience, no matter how you might want to define audience ie. customers, new business, fans, etc.. It must be considered that different people will consume content in different ways, so it is imperative for any business to deliver content via numerous channels.  We have discussed content published on a blog where the intention is to attract traffic to the site via SEO and PPC tactics.  We have discussed having blog content available via RSS subscription where a visitor to the site can receive items in a feed reader. Finally, it is time to take a look at how email can be another way of delivering content to a target instead of the target having to navigate to the point of origin.

Email marketing has become more sophisticated as technologies have improved, development costs have been amortized and the CAN-Spam Act has been enacted. Using a software program like Outlook is not sufficient for complying with these regulations, nor does it provide analytics to help make a more successful email campaign.

Bella Web Design uses Constant Contact as the vendor of choice for distributing email newsletters, and recommends them to clients.  In Atlanta they have a local rep, Pamela Adams, who attends conferences and assists in training aspects.

Some of the new features Constant Contact has added to the platform include an events module where invitations, RSVP, and followup are all managed from within the system.  There is also a survey program that can be integrated into the web site and emails through the system.

At Fluid Media we use a service called AWeber.  The dynamic form generation for collecting emails and the send message scheduling features are very attractive features.

One other company that we know of worth considering when researching for the most appropriate vendor is MailChimp.

In case anyone is thinking that email newsletters are yesterday’s method of distribution, many of the “thought leaders” in the online space have reverted back to using email as the preferred format.  Concerns about comment spam, a lack of intimacy with an audience, and inability to generate a dialogue have driven some to take a second look at email efforts.  An email can easily be replied to, allowing for opening a conversation and it can easily be forwarded, helping to spread the information.

Some who have moved towards using email include Jason Calacanis founder of Silicon Alley Reporter, Weblogs, Inc., and Mahalo.com. Chris Brogan author of Trust Agents and Social Media consultant, and Christopher S. Penn co-host of Marketing Over Coffee podcast.

Desiree shares with us a response to the most recent email newsletter that arrived in her inbox as we were recording the podcast! It really brings the point home to our viewers that email marketing can be a very powerful communication tool.

Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

I have been co-hosting a weekly podcast called The Bella Buzz with the CEO of Bella Web Design, Desiree Scales.  We have good conversations about topics related to online marketing.  Thought it would be a good time to start replicating the programs here for the Overflow audience.  This is episode 33.

We have a lot of fun on this week’s edition of the Bella Buzz podcast, as Desiree and Joe roll out their predictions for 2010.  We take a look at things we may be speaking about at this time next year, simply as a way to keep the radar up for things we should be following.

We spoke about these predictions in no particular order, so come with us as we gaze into our crystal ball for the coming year: 

1) Twitter will change and evolve into something else. Twitter will get bought out by someone and turn into a completely different entity.  Desiree believes it might be Google or Microsoft swooping in to pick up the users. The key to this prediction will be keeping the ecosystem around the firehose intact as it goes through any type of transition.

Google is taking a hard look at figuring out how to incorporate real time searches into the SERPs now,  since microblogging services are taking away a large volume of searches that used to go to Google.

2) 2010 will be the year of location based, mobile device applications.  A service such as FourSquare will get over the hurdle of early adopters and become a part of the mainstream marketing toolkit for destinations and locations.  There has been some early pushback as we get used to having our locations published to the general populace, but will soon be overcome as these applications become more prevalent. (There are now over 100,000 users of FourSquare. Is your restaurant or chain listed? If not, they should be!)

Using a restaurant as an example; mobile applications will allow direct couponing, instant feedback  .. and then adding the next layer of augmented reality which takes advantage of the optical capabilities of the phone, presents the available meta data, including things such as Yelp reviews.

3) Facebook will begin the process of doing an IPO.

The game developers who are writing programs for the platform, things such as Farmville, are making extraordinary amounts of revenue based upon the popularity of their applications. That popularity has grown the Farmville App to numbers of users greater than Twitter.

This Facebook IPO will generate a little Tech Bubble as these app companies will ride the coattails of this major financial deal. How much will it be?  Google raised $1.67 Billion during it’s IPO exactly five years ago.  It was only five years ago!! Today the company valuation stands at $140 Billion.

Will Facebook’s valuation be similar.  Currently based upon private stock transactions the valuation is at $9.5 Billion.

4) According to Forrester Research 59% of all US Marketers expect to pull funds from traditional marketing and putting it towards digital marketing. Self marketing, social media and crowd sourcing are getting significant attention.

Share the Happiness by Coke and Pepsi’s Mountain Dew promotions are examples of this type of new direction.

5) Merchants will accept payments via iPhone. There is now a device that can be attached to the iPhone that will allow you to accept credit card payments.  One of the founders of Twitter, Jack Dorsey has created a company called Square Payment Systems.  This device will allow vendors to accept payments via an iPhone plugin.  This will also start us down the road of payment transactions available through our phones.  It is an established functionality in Asia, and needs to start getting through the red tape here to advance.

6) We may get to the stage of customizable phone manufacturing similar to the way Dell produces desktop computers to spec.

The equipment would have a low base price using an open source operating system such as Android. Then you would have customizable options:

Do you want a keyboard?  That will cost a little bit more.  Or how about an upgraded camera?  Add some more to the price.  Think about all of the variety of features that could become a la carte, and this concept makes a lot of sense.

If Micheal Dell had not figured out how to make the just in time manufacturing process work during a peak PC market, this can be accomplished as well.

7) Finally, this global, free agent economy provides for more opportunity for collaboration. Connecting and creating the resources necessary to conduct efficient business will be a better, more flexible way to operate, rather than large corporations.

What do you think?  Do you have any predictions for what might be happening in 2010?  Please share them in the comments.

Theme music for The Bella Buzz is Fallen by Digital Chemistry, available for download at the Podsafe Music Network.

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