http://www.melon.com.au/index.php/melon_blog/ en dain@melon.com.au Copyright 2008 2008-08-28T07:26:00+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/dont_reply_to_this_email/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/dont_reply_to_this_email/#When:06:26:00Z One of the strengths of email is that it is a medium that lends itself to both one way and two way communication. Why is it then that so many companies display something similar to the following message in their email newsletters? "Please do not respond to this email. If you would like to Contact Us, please click here for details." The above is an example from a Centrebet (insert link) email that I receive regularly.  Curiously if I click on the "click here for details" link, I get taken to a page with a list of email addresses - why not just let me hit reply? Business is about relationships - with your customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.  Anything that can help deepen this relationship is a GOOD thing..... Another example is wine.com. Their email newsletter has the following in the footer: "To contact our Customer Care department, please do not reply to this email. Visit our Customer Care Help Desk then use the Ask a Question section to contact us for assistance and/or read common questions and answers." Just to provide a further example (to indicate that we are not picking on the booze and gambling industry): The regular Target email newsletter footer states. "Please do not reply to this e-mail as we are not able to respond to messages sent to this address. You can find answers to your questions through our online Help department. To contact the sender of this e-mail, write to Target Guest Relations, Target Corporation, Mail Stop 1A-X, P.O. Box 9350, Minneapolis, MN 55440-9350." What are these organisations thinking? If a customer wants to hit reply to a newsletter and send a message through to the company why not allow them? Why not even ENCOURAGE them? These companies are merely making it difficult for people to do business with them. Receiving emails doesn't cost anything and there are a multitude of tools that can assist with customer service type inboxes. There really is no excuse to force people back to a website. In this real time commercial environment customers are too savvy to waste time with companies that are clunky about the way they engage with their customers. Smart companies today are making themselves available in ways that their customers prefer. Smart companies are finding out where their customers are spending their time online and building a presence there. Smart companies follow their customers and don't expect their customers to fit in with their plans. For example Deacons Australia (a large traditional law firm) has a twitter feed. Twitter is a "microblogging" service that allows people to "follow" multiple microblogs - it sounds more complex than it is. Delta Airlines has a Facebook page which allows for easy communication between the airline and its customers. Any organisation that is still part of the "Please don't reply to this email" school of thinking is at risk in getting left behind. By the way, my theory on why the "Please don't reply to this email" school of thought emerged: I think in many cases IT departments are given the responsibility of setting up newsletter broadcasts for the marketing departments. IT departments don't want to get involved with any client facing aspect of the business and want to push it back to the marketing department - which often have been set-up already as contacts via the website. What are your thoughts on the topic? Email Marketing Articles and Tips, General Online Marketing Articles and Tips 2008-08-28T06:26:00+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/twitter_in_plain_english/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/twitter_in_plain_english/#When:05:42:00Z Twitter is one of those web applications that is simple, elegant, growing incredibly fast yet difficult for some non industry people to understand conceptually. The video below does a great job of explaining just exactly what twitter is all about. You can follow our Twitter feed here. 2008-08-28T05:42:00+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/seo_basics_part_3_melon_interview_with_david_klein/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/seo_basics_part_3_melon_interview_with_david_klein/#When:05:39:01Z In part three of this series, Kevin continues his talk with David Klein from orangeline.com.au about the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). General Online Marketing Articles and Tips 2008-08-28T05:39:01+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/welcome_to_james_senior_developer/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/welcome_to_james_senior_developer/#When:04:52:01Z Just a short note to welcome James to the Melon Media & spellr.us family in the role of Senior Developer. James has had solid experience building web applications and websites. James will be working with Charl on spellr.us and other projects. Welcome James. Melon Media News 2008-08-28T04:52:01+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/bridge_the_gap_a_6_point_checklist_for_effective_website_implementation/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/bridge_the_gap_a_6_point_checklist_for_effective_website_implementation/#When:05:58:00Z In the previous edition of our newsletter I explored the issue relating to ”Minding The Gap” - the important task of determining whether there is a misalignment between your organisation’s online strategy and its broader strategy.  I noted that increasingly any organisation’s target market has high expectations of their online experience - an expectation that many organisations are falling short of. In this article I want to provide you with a practical six point checklist that will assist in reviewing your online strategy and help you to “bridge the gap”. Whilst every organisation is different and has its own unique requirements - there are some fundamental online elements that all organisations should consider. 1- Website Look & Feel Is your website's overall look & feel polished and does it accurately convey the quality of your organisation's products and services? Is the website of a high quality design that matches quality of other marketing material? Many organisations have high quality brochures and stylish offices but a clunky website - "clunky" was corporate in 1997 - pixel perfect and fresh is corporate in 2008. Useful Link: For some inspiration have a look at 35 professional high quality corporate websites here. 2- Website Useability Is your website easy to navigate? Have someone external to the organisation browse your site whilst you watch over their shoulder, you will quickly notice navigational problems. Is the website designed from the "users'" perspective? For example is your menu structure a reflection of internal department structure (eg board, management, product line 2, product 2) or does the structure reflect users' needs (eg how we can help you, why choose us, case studies) Most corporate marketing labours on too much about what the organisation would like their customers to care about as opposed to what their customers really care about. It is important to understand the difference between self indulgent narcissist marketing and empathetic marketing - ensure that your website reflects what customers really care about. Useful Link: Interview with Usability Guru, Jakob Nielsen 3- Google Friendly Can Google crawl your website? Has your website been built with the correct html structure? Google can only help you index your site if you give it what it wants. It is very common for design oriented web companies to build websites in a search engine unfriendly manner. Useful Link: Google Webmaster Tools: See how Google crawls and indexes your site and learn about specific problems they are having accessing it. 4- Publish a Corporate Blog. Search engines love blogs Blogs provide frequently updated and relevant content Blogs allow stakeholders to get a meaningful sense of your organisation beyond the marketing material. Useful Link: A list of Fortune 500 companies that publish blogs (with links to the relevant blogs) - includes Boeing, CISCO, Accenture, Marriott 5- Publish a Monthly Email Newsletter When last did your customers hear from you? Research shows that businesses WANT to hear from suppliers and other stakeholders. Just ensure that your content is high quality is not a glorified hard sell. Useful Link: Excellent resource for all email marketing - Email Marketing Reports 6- Utilise Audio and Video Audio Audio and video are easy and cost effective to implement. They can both have very high impact and allow the personality of an organisation to shine through. Useful Link: Hewlett Packard Video Portal 2008-07-31T05:58:00+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/wikis_in_plain_english/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/wikis_in_plain_english/#When:05:38:00Z A brilliant video explaining how wikis work. 2008-07-31T05:38:00+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/seo_basics_melon_interview_with_david_klein_from_orangline_part_2_of_3/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/seo_basics_melon_interview_with_david_klein_from_orangline_part_2_of_3/#When:05:26:00Z Part II of our interview with SEO Expert Dave Klein from OrangeLine. SEO and SEM Articles and Tips 2008-07-31T05:26:00+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/effective_website_implementation_vs_website_use/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/effective_website_implementation_vs_website_use/#When:03:00:00Z I recently met with a client and together we reviewed their email newsletter campaign initiatives. The client is a leading firm in their industry. The discussion progressed to websites and their use in customer acquisition, up selling and retention. The conversation went something like this: Client: "I guess our website is OK - it isn't really relevant for our company to have a better website though."   Me: "OK, let me ask you a question: When you research a supplier, look for industry information, perform a competitive analysis, where do you start?"   Client: "Hmm, the web I guess... but I tend to only use websites that look good, are easy to use, and have useful information and tools. "   Notice the obvious contradiction?   I don't mean to single out this client.   This is a conversation that I have time and time again.   In developed economies (and increasingly in other areas of the world too) the web and email are used by people to assist with almost all aspects of their life.   Yet strangely there seems to be a disconnect between the way people use the internet for their own use - and how they use the internet (email marketing, websites and other forms of online marketing) to achieve their own organisational goals.   Every organisation should consider the following questions: Do your prospects quickly (you only have about 1.5 seconds to grab attention online) get a sense of the quality of your work, the culture of your organisation, and a thorough understanding of your value proposition by looking at your website? Have you ever asked your prospective and existing clients how effective they find your site? Do you review the user statistics of your website regularly? (how many people look at your website? what pages are viewed the most? where are the common entry and exit points from your site? who is coming to your website from search engines? what keywords did they search for?) Do you understand how a corporate blog can assist your organisation? Many the leading organisations have extensive corporate blogs. For example Telstra have a range of General Online Marketing Articles and Tips 2008-06-30T03:00:00+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/michael_yardney_talks_with_kevin_about_his_property_update_e_newsletter/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/michael_yardney_talks_with_kevin_about_his_property_update_e_newsletter/#When:00:01:00Z In this interview Michael Yardney from Metropole talks with Kevin about marketing his fortnightly newsletter - Property Update. Email Marketing Articles and Tips 2008-06-27T00:01:00+10:00 http://www.melon.com.au/site/hip_hop_seo_an_unlikely_marriage/ http://www.melon.com.au/site/hip_hop_seo_an_unlikely_marriage/#When:03:44:00Z This video teaches us 2 things: All the fundamentals of SEO. How much easier it is to learn when material is presented in an interesting manner. SEO and SEM Articles and Tips 2008-06-23T03:44:00+10:00