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Marketing has always come down to reach or what Mark Schaefer, Chieftain of the blog {grow}, calls “reliable reach”. Before the digital age, this was easier and far more expensive. And most definitely not DIY.

Email Marketing Works!

Just today I finished designing, writing and publishing a Mailchimp newsletter for a local landscape lighting client that generated immediate and amazing results! Within 24 hours, Harold had closed on three new customers. Now that’s REACH for you, with conversion! Read on …
Back To The Old Days and Comparisons

Prefer direct mail? Start by purchasing lists targeting those zip codes you need to reach for mailing your brochure, which is another expense (plus stamps).
How about television advertising? The most expensive media, it works when your goals are to reach a lot of people and build awareness with a budget to match.
Long-lived newspaper advertising can reach a large number of aging people who are 45+ at a cost based on frequency where frequency is key.
Then there is local topic-based magazine advertising that can be most efficient in reaching a select highly interested audience.
In this day and age of Everyman’s Marketing Universe, content channels which build your galaxy of credibility have replaced paid-for media for all small businesses. They are deceptively “free of charge” … except, of course, for the time and effort required for success.
But content marketing in the first half of the 21st century remains the best way to reliably reach your best customers.
So what are the best content channels?
Ranked in order of success, here is that list (What are the most reliable content channels to connect with customers?):

1. eMail
2. Pinterest
3. Blog and video communities
4. Podcast subscribers
5. Print subscribers
6. LinkedIn connections
7. Streaming video
8. Instagram
9. Facebook

There is a reason email is #1 and my experience with Harold’s newsletter says it all. A warm audience (opt-in), immediacy, intimacy, frequency; above all, an audience primed to purchase.
There is a reason Facebook is #9! Facebook customers now see nearly 2,000 stories in their news feeds each day. So Facebook has no choice but to ratchet back on the reach, beginning with our businesses.
Surprises in this list? Pinterest at #2 and Google+ excluded.
Pinterest is a major, little known traffic driver, particularly for eCommerce sites and B2C products. Google+ is dumped by Mark Schaefer as he views the platform as only having SEO value.
Resources
A solution to the content marketing measurement puzzle
Need More Customers? 5 Ways to Get Them to Know, Like, and Trust You
What are the most reliable content channels to connect with customers?
– By Marcia Coffey
Find Marcia on Google+
Call Marcia at 561.906.3436

Most of you spend less than 4% of your revenue on marketing. So what to do with a shoestring budget like that?
Get a newsletter. Create, design and write it on Mail Chimp. Free of charge for up to 2,000 contacts.

By all measures newsletters fit the bill for small businesses. They are affordable, they are immediate, they grab attention and they convert.
:: Email is actually the preferred communication channel for marketing messages for most consumers.
:: Email is almost 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined in helping a business acquire new customers.
:: Most email is opened on a mobile device, so email marketing really takes advantage of this popular and dominating technology.
:: Email is fabulous for customer retention.
:: Email warms up your warm market or existing customer base because people do business with people they know, like and trust.
:: Email gets immediate results. When running a small business, every sale, order, or appointment can have a significant impact. With email, you’re able to get the results you’re looking for right away.
Can’t be bothered to custom design and write your own newsletter? Let me do it for you. See if you can do better than Harold!
– By Marcia Coffey
Find Marcia on Google+
Call Marcia at 561.906.3436