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After speaking with us, many business owners become convinced
that they should be using email, but ask the natural question
– why don’t I just do this myself? While your personal
email system may be a good tool for keeping in touch with your
friends and family and maybe even individual customers, it simply
wasn’t designed for commercial use - communicating to
hundreds or thousands of customers by name with an individual
email to each.
There are also numerous inherent issues that come with managing
a large list of contacts that our powerful software handles
on your behalf. Handling personalization, individual delivery,
bounced mail, unsubscribe requests, new member additions,
and repeated delivery attempts are just a few items that you
would have to contend with. Your typical email program does
not offer the powerful personalization and delivery tools
for this use. It also doesn’t offer a way to collect
new names and email addresses from your website, or send a
“Welcome” or “Goodbye” letter to readers,
or offer a “sign up here” link used to acquire
new people when your email is forwarded to others.
Unless you have the time to become an email marketing expert,
you’ll likely consider our service to be a very smart
way to use email marketing for your firm.
Here are some specific features that Axis
24/7 Marketing offers from a business and technology perspective:
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Business Features:
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Service : First and foremost
is the understanding that Axis 24/7 Marketing offers a
professional service for a monthly fee so that you don’t
have to learn anything about the technology behind email
marketing – but can participate in its awesome results.
We handle everything from set up to delivery with you,
consulting you in the process when needed. We are responsive
and professional and always willing to help. It’s
very easy to get started, and you might be surprised at
how small of a financial commitment is required. For details
contact us.
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Experience : Since email marketing
is our specialty, you can take advantage of our experience
in creating a first rate campaign for your business without
having to hire a new employee and the costs that would
incur. We can help with all the tough decisions including
content ideas, frequency, length of messages, text vs.
HTML, etc. Our initial discussion is free and there is
no obligation so see what we can do for you today.
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Technology features:
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Personalization : Each
of your prospects or customers is important and deserves
to be called by name. It’s also the most important
thing you can add to an email to increase the chances
it will get read. Think about someone in a crowded room
yelling ‘hey you’ vs. calling you by name.
Which will more likely cause you to respond? Our software
allows you to insert the readers first, last, or full
name wherever it makes sense. You can even use it in your
subject line – assuring it gets the attention it
deserves. (I.e. Subject: Ken, here’s your Sitka
fishing report). This is the key to developing a loyal
customer and building a one-on-one relationship.
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Individual delivery :
Our powerful software system sends an email to each of
your list members one-at-a-time (really fast). This is
very important as sending a bulk email by using BCC (Blind
Carbon Copy) practically guarantees that your note will
be trapped by SPAM filters. Using BCC is a common practice
of novice spammers, and will get your email deleted at
the firewall, or automatically sent to the readers “junk
mail” folder. Sending bulk mail also means that
your note will not get personalized – one of the
most powerful features of our service.
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Bounce handling : Your email can
“bounce” for any number of reasons. It could
be that the email address is old, it could be that the
mailbox is temporarily full, it could be that the recipient’s
mail server is temporarily down. Axis 24/7 not only
gives your mail every chance to get through by re-trying
40 times over the next 24 hours, but actually tracks
undelivered mail. We can set a limit on the number of
times you want to send mail to a consistently “bouncing”
account before dropping it from your list. That way
you can keep an accurate count of how many “real”
email contacts you have.
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Subscribing and Unsubscribing : With
large lists, this can become a large task without our
powerful tools that delegate this task to your readers.
At the bottom of each email you send we can include
instructions on how to “unsubscribe” from
your list. The reader simply makes a single click, and
sends a blank email to a specific email address that
automatically deletes them. You can also include a link
for new people to add themselves to your list. One Axis
24/7 customer, Loni Rose, uses this feature successfully
because her fans will pass along her note encouraging
others to sign up on her list.
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Welcome and Goodbye Letters : When
new users add themselves to your list, our program can
immediately send them an email that you create. It can
be a “Welcome” letter that explains what you
will be communicating to them and how often. It’s
also a good chance to make a special offer so the person
becomes not just a contact, but an immediate customer.
A “Goodbye” letter is also a useful tool because
it immediately is sent upon a member “unsubscribing”
confirming that they have infact left you list and can
expect no further contact.
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Website Integration : Our customers
often use Axis 24/7 in their website to build their contact
list. Please see our customers The
Evening Hatch and Big
Blue Charters for two good examples. If you have a
website, but don’t have a good system for easily
capturing visitor information – this is reason enough
to get started with Axis.
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Autoresponders : Axis 24/7 can provide
auto responders for your particular needs. An autoresponder
is an email address that automatically responds with a
text document. You could build an auto responder called
specials@yourcompany.com and Axis would automatically
reply to any email with a list of specials that you wanted
to offer. This is a helpful tool for repeated tasks like
giving directions, requests for pricing, etc.
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Systems Integration : Our goal is to
become an integral part of your business and an important
business partner. We can integrate with your website and
even your back end systems to become virtual member of
your team. We can help automate these systems reducing
or eliminating any manual work around building your list.
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Reporting : Each week you will receive
a report with the number of people on your list, new members,
and recent unsubscribed members so you can keep track
of how you are doing.
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Multiple Lists : Axis
24/7 can provide you with multiple lists to target subsets
of your customers. Perhaps you want to have a list called
“Prospects” and one called “Customers”
because of the different content you want to send to each.
Or perhaps you have products for men and women, and want
to separate the two for a more targeted message.
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Here
are some common questions that might help you decide if
email marketing is right for you: |
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What if I don't have any email addresses?
Many organizations that don’t currently
use email may not have a database to start with. That’s
a shame because they are missing out – but there
is no time like the present to start collecting them.
You’ll be surprised that with a little effort, collecting
email addresses from your customers can be easy.Depending
on how aggressive you want to be in collecting email addresses,
you can take a passive or active approach, or design email
collection into your business practices. More..
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Who writes
the content?
Most of our clients enjoy
the process of writing the content for their customers
to read. They feel that they want to maintain control
of the “voice” of their organization, and
look forward to the task.
Other Axis clients have opted to have our
professional writers create content on their behalf.
Often times they are just too busy to worry about creating
content on a regular basis, or are not extremely comfortable
with their own writing skills. These clients consider
Axis writing staff an important reason for using a professional
service. For these clients we have an initial brainstorming
session on topics to be covered in their newsletter
and the “voice” that they want us to help
create for their note.
Our staff will assure that your newsletters get out
on time every time without any effort on your part.
We even give you an advanced copy so you can comment
or make suggested changes before it gets sent to out
to your list. If you are interested in pricing on this
option please contact us.
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Can Axis use HTML?
Axis absolutely supports the use of HTML
(Hypertext Markup Language – used for websites
to create graphics, pictures, and special fonts). If
you have an in-house designer that will be creating
your HTML content, they can email us the code for the
finished product and we will take over from there.
Also, Axis’s creative staff can design
an HTML template that reflects the “look and feel”
of your organization from scratch. We can incorporate
your logo, or pictures of your location or products,
and even help you design a brand from the ground up.
This service typically includes a reasonable one time
set-up fee for a template that will be used repeatedly.
We can also make changes on an hourly designer charge.
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Is HTML better than text?
HTML can be an effective way to increase the value of
your email. It can include graphics and pictures that
instantly convey a message or an emotion – increasing
the chance that your readers will take action. It’s
also an ideal way of bringing your website to your reader’s
inbox. Since an email can be designed to look exactly
like your website with links back to the actual site,
it’s easy for your readers to click a link that
interests them bringing them home to your website where
they can make an appointment or make a purchase. If
you don’t have a website that’s OK –
it’s definitely not required to use HTML. (By
the way, if you like our website and have interest in
getting your own contact us.)
Another thing to consider in using HTML is the advertising
notion of “impressions” which is the number
of times that a consumer sees your brand or logo. The
idea is that the more impressions you make with a customer,
the more mindshare you have with that person. When they
think of your industry, they automatically think of
your particular business first. That’s a good
position to be in – but it takes repeated images
and an ongoing campaign.
When I say “softdrink” what do you automatically
think of? That’s why you’ll see large companies
like Coca-Cola and Pepsi spending millions on keeping
their name “in your face.” HTML can be an
effective way to build your brand by increasing the
number of images your customers see.
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Plain
Text vs HTML?
While HTML offers some nice benefits, it is definitely
not a forgone conclusion that you should be using it.
Things to consider are commitment, experience, image,
price, speed, frequency, subject matter, and audience.
We can discuss what makes sense for you when you contact
us, but here’s some information on the topic.
If you are brand new to email marketing you might consider
using plain text to start. Many of our clients consider
this a way to “walk before they run.” If they
don’t have experience using HTML and try to learn
it on the fly they can become disenchanted rather quickly.
This can be mitigated by using Axis to design your HTML
campaign for you, but using text is as easy as writing
a paragraph. More..
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