Building Email Marketing Trust Through Appearance (Part Two)

Jeannine Clontz — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:07:53 +0000

Last week we looked at building trust in our email marketing campaigns by creating a recognizable ‘from’ line to our messages; optimizing the copy that is viewed through the preview pane; and encouraging subscriber communication. This week we complete the process with three more tips to polish your email marketing appearance.

4. Include full contact details in your footer.

Publishing your company’s full contact information allows your subscribers to trust in what you have to say. People are more open to content from credible sources and showing that you are a real company (with a registered name, mailing address, and contact numbers) will enhance your credibility. Including these details in your footer also creates accountability for everything you say in your emails.

5. Match email design to your brand.

The design of your emails should be consistent with all other materials you use to promote your business online. While you don’t need to copy your website’s design and layout down to the last detail, it is best for you to match your emails to its theme, colors, and graphics. This will help extend the trust you’ve built through other promotional activities beyond your email marketing campaign.

Once you’ve created a design that suits your image, use it consistently in all your emails. Doing so will continue to build trust through branding and recognition. You may consider showing a sample email to new subscribers so that they become familiar with the look and know what to expect. Once they receive your email, they will be more likely to read through it.

6. Email design doesn’t need to be fancy.

Some email marketers get so caught up designing their emails that they forget to focus on functionality. While the use of fancy code can make your emails look flawless, they will appear far from perfect if not in good working order and will do nothing to gain respect from subscribers. They need to look professional and work properly for subscribers.

To produce a successful email marketing campaign and gain trust from subscribers, you need to make sure that the design you use will work and does not appear broken, leaving subscribers feeling you don’t really know what you’re doing.

For this reason, make sure your emails render properly in at least the major email clients. You should also make use of proper alt attributes (an alternative text description for images that displays before the image is loaded) in case the images get blocked.

Appearance plays a huge part in gaining trust from your subscribers. As long as you keep these tips in mind when planning your email marketing campaign, you should be able to establish your reputation as a trustworthy and credible source of relevant information.

Please share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment.

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s). For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?”, a 2-month trial in her Insider group coachingprogram, or 1-month trial of her coaching club visit: http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

Building Email Marketing Trust Through Appearance (Part Two) is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

What’s a Brand Got to Do With It?

Jeannine Clontz — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:09:03 +0000

One of the things I enjoy most about having my own business is the freedom to choose who I’ll do business with. Not that I’ve always enjoyed that luxury, but my business is at a point where I can be a bit picky about who I decide to partner with.

I just spoke to one of my clients in Florida recently, and he reminded me how enjoyable it is to do business together. He always seems to have fun projects that fit perfectly with my expertise and his positive outlook seems to extend from his business to his life!

This made me stop to think about my other clients, and they too have the same positive attitude, are fun to work with, and we share a mutual respect and appreciation for each other.

WOW, how cool is that? This all makes me wonder, how did I get here? How did this happen? Could it be the law of attraction?

I think that has a lot to do with it, as does my attitude, and the fact that many of my new clients come to me as referrals.

But I think it’s also something else; I think it’s the brand I’ve created for myself. I believe that along with the logo, website, tagline, etc., that creates my brand, so does my appearance, professional and personal image and ethical standards. And I want to do business with people who appreciate my expertise and with whom I can share a mutual respect. Don’t we all?

So I think my brand is also firmly grounded with me personally, even with my name, so to speak. If I’ve learned nothing over these past few years of re-invention, I’ve learned that it’s better to have a personal and professional brand that I can carry into any particular niche I may expand into as the VA industry continues to evolve.

Today’s real estate VA could be tomorrow’s shopping cart VA. If I spent all my branding on a professional ‘real estate’ focus, it could be difficult to transition any of that experience into the newly developed niche.

After being in business more than 11-years, I’m grateful for all the clients and colleagues who have helped make me such a great success; and helped me to establish such a personal, professional, and enjoyable brand. I wish you all the same!

Jeannine Clontz, owner of Accurate Business Services, a VA practice, is an author, writer, speaker and VA Business Coach specializing in providing professional business coaching to established and start-up virtual assistants (VA’s). For her FREE audio CD “What’s Holding Back my Business Success?” or a 2-month trial in her group coaching program visit: http://www.VAbizcoach.com; or contact her at: coach@VAbizcoach.com.

What’s a Brand Got to Do With It? is a post from: VA Business Coaching Blog

VA Business Coaching Blog » brand identity

Building Email Marketing Trust Through Appearance (Part Two)

What’s a Brand Got to Do With It?