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High-Voltage Newsletter

High Voltage 2015.01-A

All of us at MarketVolt wish you great success and happiness in 2015.

We thank you for your patronage, friendship and support. 

Happy New Year!

Are You Missing People Who Reach Out to You Online? When you put a “contact us” form on your web site, make sure you have a process to monitor and respond to submissions. That may seem like a no-brainer, but you may be surprised how often businesses let online visitors slip through the cracks. 

We share such a story on our blog,  along with tips about how you can monitor and respond to online contacts so you never miss an opportunity. 
Is Your Marketing Too Pitchy?
If you sell to small businesses and you haven’t been closing the sale, you might be pitching too hard. So says a survey of 401 small businesses from The Alternative Board that asked, “When evaluating a new product or service for your business, what is your biggest criticism of the information that you receive directly from the vendor?” 

Click here to read more
World Exclusive
Aliens Visit MarketVolt HQ and Reveal Marketing Secrets

Sorry… We’re just kidding about the aliens, but we wanted to get your attention with a headline inspired by the National Enquirer. Why? Because the Enquirer can reveal marketing secrets that might surprise you and help you grow your business.  

In this blog postwe share marketing lessons from the National Enquirer.
Feeling Lucky?
Our friends (and clients) at the Chesterfield Chamber of Commerce invite you to their third annual Casino and Game Night. Try your hand at blackjack or spend time in the arcade. Enjoy food, drink and networking. Have fun!

Where: Amini’s Home Rugs and Game Room
17377 Chesterfield Airport Road 
Chesterfield, MO 63005

When:
 Friday, February 6 @ 6 PM

More event details here.
Free Business-Building Advice (Quickly Delivered)
Have you resolved to grow your business this year? If so, our 5in25 webinar series can help. We reveal five powerful, proven marketing tips in just 25 minutes — for free. 

Check out 5in25.com for details.
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High-Voltage Newsletter

High Voltage 2014 Late December

The MarketVolt team wishes you a Happy Holiday Season. We hope you enjoy quality time with family and friends and take this time to reflect on the new year to come. 

See you next year!


Does Length Really Matter? In Subject Lines, Yes!A subject line can make or break your email marketing campaign. Write a good one, and more people open your email. Write a bad one, and all that great email content goes unseen.

We often get asked, “What’s the best subject line length to maximize open rates?”

Read the answer here
Poorly Targeted Pitches Will Backfire
We recently received a targeted email from a restaurant trying to pitch catering. It was a nice email, except it was targeted directly to healthcare companies (that’s not us). If a recipient gets your email and thinks, “Hmm… You must have the wrong person,” you need target practice.  

Click here for targeted email tips
ExxonMobil’s Egg-citing Ad Offers Branding Lessons for All
Sorry for the cheesy pun, but we couldn’t resist after seeing an egg-cellent (oops) ad from ExxonMobil. Every marketer can learn something about branding and messaging by watching.

We share the ad and write about the lessons you can learn from it in this this blog post.
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High-Voltage Newsletter

High-Voltage 2014.12.05

Want to Grow Your List? See J.Crew’s Super Signup Form‘Tis the season to see how successful businesses use online marketing to grow. J.Crew gets it right with the signup form on its web site. 

This form has hidden lessons that you can follow to grow your business.

We reveal those lessons on our blog

Free Advice…
We’ll Review Your Signup Form and Offer Suggestions

If you think your email signup form on your web site is a perfectly tuned, list-building machine, please skip to the next message. If you would like some constructive feedback that will help you attract more subscribers, it’s your lucky day.

Just click here to request our feedback.

We’ll visit your site, review the form and then email you with constructive suggestions. 
The Truth About Animations in Email
Should you include or avoid animated images in your emails?

We used to say no way, but now we say OK. We explain why animated images can improve your emails and offer tips on how to use them and create them…

Read more on our blog
Why We Build Web Sites With WordPress
When we build websites, we love to use WordPress. It’s an easy-to-use but powerful content management system that won’t break the bank.

We share the love on our blog with: 
Five Reasons We Love WordPress
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High-Voltage Newsletter

High Voltage November

Happy Thanksgiving
The entire MarketVolt team wishes you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. We are thankful for so many things — especially you, our friends and clients. 

Our office is located just a few miles from Ferguson, MO so we also celebrate this year with a heavy heart. While we reflect on the events in our community, we are inspired by words shared with us by our friend Cathy Sexton in a note she sent: 

​Be thankful for the difficult times. 
During those times you grow. 
Be thankful for your limitations, 
because they give you opportunities for improvement. 
Be thankful for each new challenge, 
because it will build your strength and character.


Happy Holidays!
How Much Text Do Your Emails Need to Improve Deliverability?
It won’t matter how pretty your mailing is if people can’t see it. Using one solid image in your mailing can trigger a spam filter. Simply adding some text will help.

What is the right combination of text and images to get your messages delivered? With help from our friends at Email on Acid, we answer that question in this post on our blog
Time Wasting Tactics to Avoid
With the approaching holidays, now is the perfect time to evaluate your marketing tactics to ensure you are marketing productively.

Here we share the simple plan to maximize your efforts. This is a must-read for anyone serious about improving marketing ROI.

Join us for a Holiday Happy HourCheck out this great email invitation for a Holiday Happy Hour hosted by the American Marketing Association. Even if you can’t attend, click here to see the invitation to see a great example of strong email design and good copy writing humor. 

Here are the event details…

When: Wednesday, December 03, @ 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM

Where
: Fifth Floor of 911 Washington Ave 
St. Louis, MO 63101Click here for more details and to RSVP!

Marketing Lessons from An Email That Stokes Fears
Some marketers hesitate to write copy that addresses readers’ fears. They say they don’t want to be “fear mongers.” 

But we think it’s OK to stoke fears, especially if you offer an honest solution.

Here’s a great example: An email from a financial services firm that asks “Who Will Pay for Mom’s or Dad’s Nursing Home Bill?”

In this post on our blog, we analyze this email and outline the marketing lessons from it that you can apply in your business. 

Read more
Coming Soon: Better Ways to Schedule Your MailingsOur development team is hard at work on an easier-to-use mailing delivery system that also includes these new features:Recurring delivery: Set your mailing to go out on a regular schedule, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.One-off delivery: Send your mailing to addresses that are not already grouped (or even in your account) right at the time of delivery.Edit a scheduled mailing: No need to cancel a delivery to edit the mailing. Mailings will be editable right up until the time of delivery.These are just a few of the changes we’ll be implementing to improve the MarketVolt experience. Watch for an announcement of all the changes coming soon.
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High-Voltage Newsletter

Monthly Newsletter

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High-Voltage Newsletter

High Voltage 2014.10.31

Marketing Lessons from The Scene
Where Larry David Tries to Kiss Kate Hudson
In the HBO movie Clear History, the main character, Nathan Flomm, mistakes a beautiful woman’s friendliness for love. When Nathan (played by Larry David) kisses Rhonda (played by Kate Hudson), she pushes him away and screams, “Are you crazy!?” Nathan can’t believe it. He was sure she wanted him. How humiliating!

All of us who market small businesses have a little bit of Nathan Flomm inside of us. At one time or another, all of us misread the signals and try to close the deal too quickly with someone who is not yet qualified or interested.

In this post on our blog, we dig deeper into the marketing lessons from Nathan’s romantic failures. 

Read more
Check Out Our New Web SIte
We’re exited to announce that we’ve given our website a makeover! We decided to make things easier on you — better navigation, fewer words, more mobile-friendly, and lots of other improvements.

We’ll be adding more content soon, including case studies. So check it out on your desktop computer and on your mobile devices. Then come back often to see what’s new. 

Click here to take a peak! 

If you have any comments and suggestions, please reply to this email. We’d be happy to hear from you. 

Closing Business with Zombies
Happy Halloween! In the spirit of the holiday, we’d like to share with you an unorthodox marketing strategy that got some attention.

Through a personalized video and a zombie apocalypse survival kit sent to the offices of decision makers, an IT company was able to win over more business. This direct marketing tactic targeted those who were in the late stages of the buying cycle. The marketing director revealed that their success was attributed to smart content marketing built on intense research, analysis and creativity.

Read More

Want to Learn More About Digital Marketing?PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) – St. Louis is having their annual Digital Communications Summit. The agenda includes a lineup of experts who will enlighten you with their knowledge of online marketing tactics that work. Our VP of Sales, Pat Hawn, is a featured speaker at 10:30 AM. Hear him talk about how to leverage online resources to get desired outcomes for your business!

When: Friday, November 07, @ 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Where
: University of Missouri–St. Louis (Map)

Registration is Required!
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High-Voltage Newsletter

High Voltage end of October

New Website
We’re exited to announce that we’ve given our website a makeover! We decided to make things easier on you, and made a mobile- friendly scrolling look.

Click here to take a peak! 
Generating Leads
One of the best ways to engage your email subscribers is to give them content that they will get only in their inbox. By offering email-only exclusives, you give subscribers a reason to remain on your list, anticipate future emails, and open those emails when they arrive.

Here’s a great example: The organizers of LouFest — an annual two-day music festival in St. Louis — recently sent an email to the subscriber list with the subject line “Lineup Announcement.” Anyone who is interested in LouFest wants to know what bands will be appearing so I suspect that subject line generated an excellent open rate.

Read more on our blog
Personalize Your Messages for Better Results!
Our good friends at The Flesh Company once struggled to save time and be more efficient with email marketing. Roger Buck, Director of Marketing at the Flesh Company said, “early in the process of developing our email marketing we wanted the ability to drive our sales representative brand as well as the company brand.” MarketVolt has helped with a simple solution to connect with prospects and customers on a personal level.

Read more on our blog about how to create effective personalized messages…

Want to Learn More About Digital Marketing?PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) – St. Louis is having their annual Digital Communications Summit. The agenda includes a lineup of experts who will enlighten you with their knowledge of online marketing tactics that work. Our VP of Sales, Pat Hawn, is a featured speaker at 10:30 AM. Hear him talk about how to leverage online resources to get desired outcomes for your business!

When: Friday, November 07, @ 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Where
: University of Missouri–St. Louis (Map)

Registration is Required!

Closing Business with Zombies
Happy Halloween! In the spirit of the holiday, we’d like to share with you an unorthodox marketing strategy that got some attention.

Through a personalized video and a zombie apocalypse survival kit sent to the offices of decision makers, an IT company was able to win over more business. This direct marketing tactic targeted those who were in the late stages of the buying cycle. The marketing director revealed that their success was attributed to smart content marketing built on intense research, analysis and creativity.

Read More

Free Marketing Webinars 

Attend one of our free webinars to learn more about marketing straight from your desktop! Learn how to build your email list, create the perfect newsletter, and how to use email for your B2B business, B2C, or non profit.

Go to 5in25.com for the list of upcoming webinars.  Register Now
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High-Voltage Newsletter

2014.10.10 High-Voltage

Automate Key Marketing Tasks with MarketVolt Integrations
We’re exited to announce we’ve joined forces with Zapier so you can automate marketing processes by integrating MarketVolt with other applications.

Zapier is a bridge that allows you to connect MarketVolt with customer relationship management (CRM) programs like Salesforce or Zoho, event management programs like EventBrite, survey tools like Survey Monkey, office suites like Google docs, and more.

What’s the point? Save time. Save money. And get better results.

Learn more about MarketVolt integration, applications with which we connect and reasons why our approach is better than all-in-one marketing automation applications. 
Speaking of Marketing Automation…
…that’s exactly what MarketVolt President Tom Ruwitch will be doing at the St. Louis Business Expo on Wednesday, October 22, 12:30 – 1:20 p.m. 

The topic: Reduce Costs and Increase Revenue by Automating Key Marketing Tasks

You don’t need to invest in an expensive, difficult-to-use “marketing automation” system to automate key marketing processes. You can save time and generate more revenue using simple, low-cost tools you may already have at your disposal. Tom will show you how MarketVolt automates its own marketing tasks and also share examples from MarketVolt clients.

If you can’t attend the expo, don’t worry! Click here and we’ll send you a link to watch the presentation at your convenience.

Speaking of the St. Louis Business Expo…This not-to-be-missed event is for small businesses in the area. We’re proud to be a sponsor again, and we’ll be there with a booth. Please visit us to discuss interactive marketing, learn more about MarketVolt and — most importantly — grab a piece of candy! 

Last year we had the scariest booth with the best candy!

When: Wednesday, October 22, @ 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Where
: St. Charles Convention Center (Map)

Admission: Free. Registration required. 

Unlock Your Email Potential
Do you feel like you’re doing the same old things with email? There are still ways to innovate your email marketing style to get better results. Open communication to your audience might be the key you’re missing.

We found a great article on Marketing Profs that explores ways you can improve your email marketing by creating a campaign that triggers an ongoing conversation with the reader.

Read More

Free Marketing Webinars 

Attend one of our free webinars to learn more about marketing straight from your desktop! Learn how to build your email list, create the perfect newsletter, and how to use email for your B2B business, B2C, or non profit.

Go to 5in25.com for the list of upcoming webinars.  Register Now
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High-Voltage Newsletter

2014.09.18 High-Voltage

Use Email Stats to Rescue RelationshipsDo you dedicate time to ensure that your customers are happy and want to stay with you? If not, your retention rate might slip and your profits may fall. You can use email marketing to spot at-risk-relationships so you can then take steps to rescue them.

In a new post on our blog, we describe how we use our own email newsletter to identify at-risk clients. It’s an approach you can use to improve customer retention and increase profits.
 Read more
Do You Want to Attend the Largest Networking Event of the Year?
MarketVolt is a proud sponsor of the Big Bash hosted by Yellow-Tie. Join us for an evening of conversation, drinks, and most importantly – new connections! You don’t want to miss this networking opportunity!

When: Thursday, October 16 @ 5:30 PM 
Where: 
Logan University Purser Center
1851 Schoettler Road
Chesterfield, MO 63017

 REGISTER NOW

Don’t Treat All Emails the Same
What’s the difference between an email newsletter and an email sales piece? If you don’t know the answer, your marketing may not be as effective as it could be.

Our friends at the Valuable Content blog wrote a great post that explores the difference between newsletters and sales emails and explains why the differences matter. 

 Read more
Set Your Own Time Zone in MarketVolt
We’re happy to announce a new feature that allows you to set user-level passwords. Someone logging in from New York? Set the time zone for that user to eastern time. In LA? Set the time zone to Pacific.

MarketVolt has always been one of the only email services to allow unique logins and permissions for multiple (unlimited) users. But until now, there was just one time zone set for the entire account.

With this new feature, you can set a default time zone for your account, but then override that default setting with different time zones for individual users. 

If you’re a MarketVolt client and want more info on how to use this feature, click here or email helpdesk@marketvolt.com

Free Marketing Webinars 

Five powerful marketing tips in just 25 minutes without leaving your desk. What a deal! That’s what you get with MarketVolt’s 5in25 Webinar Series. Different webinars for B2B, B2C and nonprofits. New webinars added each week.

Go to 5in25.com for the list of upcoming webinars.  Register Now
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High-Voltage Newsletter

2014.09-1 High-Voltage

How an Association Quickly Expanded its Volunteer Ranks Using Email Marketing
The St. Louis chapter of the American Marketing Association, a MarketVolt client, struggled to enlist volunteers — until it employed a simple tactic using MarketVolt emails and link tracking. 

We share the story in our blog and share tips that you can apply to your business.

 Read more

Lessons Learned from the Ice Bucket ChallengeThe ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has taken the social media world by storm and created a tidal wave of donations.

We discuss the marketing lessons learned from this campaign in our blog.

 Read more
Does your marketing fizzle? Try tactics for selling with sizzle!
Come have lunch at the St. Charles County Chamber of Commerce and hear Pat Hawn, our VP of Sales at MarketVolt, speak with other professionals about how to ensure your marketing strategies are effective.

When: September 9, 2014 @ 11:00 AM
Where: 
Stegton Regency Banquet Center  
1450 Wall Street St. Charles, MO 63303

 REGISTER NOW
Email Marketing ROI
Most of our clients know that we specialize in email marketing because the return on investment is significant for every dollar you spend. This article tells just how beneficial email marketing is and how to get the most out of it…

Free Marketing Webinars 

We’re offering free weekly webinars with 5 powerful marketing ideas in 25 minutes. These strategies are proven, and can be used for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Visit 5in25.com for the full list of current webinars and registration information.  Register Now

Does Your Website Need a Makeover?Have you visited your own website lately? Entrepreneur on Fire, a resource for business owners, features some great insights about upgrading your website to better communicate with your audience and reach business goals.

One of our favorite tips is having a call to action. The article says, “A great example is an opt-in offer: you create something your audience wants, and then give it to them in exchange for their email address.” We strongly agree that incentives in exchange for an email address will capture those who visit your website but don’t become customers right away.  Read more website tips