Interactive Marketing In the Weeds

We’ve all done it.  We’ve fantasized about celebrities and sports icons we’d take to dinner, have coffee with, or who knows what else.  Well, I’m no different, except that my focus would be on successful entrepreneurs or business leaders.  I would love to sit down with these 5 individuals at one table and have a discussion about business.  I would probe their minds for tidbits of wisdom about management, economics, staffing and life. 

All of these individuals have left an indelible mark on the business landscape.    So, without further delay and in no particular order, The Knights of the Hexagon Table!  Oh, the sixth side is a place for me to sit at the table!!!

5. Paul Tagliabue – Tagliabue served as Commissioner of the National Football League from 1989 to 2006.  During this period, the NFL experienced unprecedented growth, adding 6 new teams and bringing football back to Cleveland in 1999.  In my opinion, Tagliabue’s guidance of the league is the reason that people stop their lives at 1pm every Sunday from August to February.  And, lest we forget, that it was Tagliabue that guided the league through the horror that was 9-11-01.  Many lessons in labor relations and crisis communication could be learned from this man.

4.  Robert Kiyosaki – Kiyosaki has built an empire around the Rich Dad brand.  His focus, and I’m paraphrasing, is to raise the financial literacy of the under-educated.  This man, along with his wife, have built an empire around self-help books and speaking engagements worldwide.  Aside from learning more about how the financial world really works, Kiyosaki can teach a thing or two about building a brand!

3.  Henry Ford – Those who know me and my family’s history know that I am a devoted General Motors man.  My grandfather retired from GM, and that’s the only vehicle brand I’ve driven in my adult life.  But, Henry Ford was an innovator.  He developed the assembly line, which today includes robots and tons of automation.  I would love to see Ford’s face in one of his brain child’s plants.  Innovation and risk-taking lessons from a man that revolutionized the automobile industry.

2.  Warren Buffet – Who wouldn’t want the “Oracle of Omaha” and his mind at the dinner table?  Innovation?  He’s got it.  Financial IQ?  None higher.  Risk-taker?  Find me someone that will start a credit card business as part of an insurance company, and then a year later stop it and lay the blame for the flop squarely on his shoulders.  I’ll bet if I took a poll of business owners today, regardless of industry, better than 75% would respond that they would love to have 30 minutes with Buffett.  Sure he’s got a ton of cash.  Sure he’s built a behemoth of an empire in Berkshire-Hathaway.  But to hear the man speak in public, you’d never know that he’s the second richest man in the world.

1.  Chuck Stone – Who in the hell is Chuck Stone, and why is he on this list?  Chuck is my dad, and he makes this list because of one piece of advice he gave me when I started this business.  The faster you grow, the steeper the fall if you fail.  My dad’s a simple man.  He never finished his college education (he played 4 years of football at NC State) and has worked in the construction industry since he left the NFL at the ripe age of 23.  Growing up, his life wasn’t easy.  Raised in a broken home with a father that didn’t care and a mother that had psychological issues, my dad made the commitment to break the cycle.  He committed to raising his children with love, compassion and discipline.  He took time to teach my brother and I trades and skills that he learned.  He taught us how to be street smart.  He taught us to respect our elders, to hold the door for women and to never forget where you came from.  Dad’s simple outlook on life, and business for that matter, make him one of the 5 I’d like to have at the table.

Like it or hate it, these are the Knights of the Hexagon Table.  I would love to get your feedback.  Who would you sit at the table with for dinner? 

Check please!

2010.  Twenty-Ten.  010.  Whatever you call it, 2010 is a new year and new decade.  2009 was a great first year for Rock Solid Media in the business world.  Our growth was completely unexpected, but very welcome!  Ok, 2009 is history.

2010 has started with a BANG for Rock Solid Media.  Last week, we launched a completely new website that more accurately conveys the services and capabilities of the company.  We’ve certainly grown from a single offering of full-service email marketing!  With our expansion into working with public schools, we now have the capabilities of larger public relations and marketing firms.  Plus, we’ve added video production services to our quiver!  The new website also features links to connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Vimeo.  And, I would be remiss if I didn’t invite you to join our email list when you visit the website!

Along with launching the new website, we’ve also launched a new self-service email marketing platform:  RSMeMarketer!  This new platform offers businesses of any size the ability to manage their email marketing efforts from contact lists to reporting.  Our software is different in many ways, the biggest of which is the pricing.  Rather than paying a monthly fee for the service, you purchase email credit bundles.  This pricing structure is much more cost-effective for small businesses because the outlay of capital can be a one-time expenditure if estimated properly.  Contact Us to find out more about RSMeMarketer!  Keep an eye on our blog as we’ll be sharing tips, tactics, and best practices for self-service email marketing!

What’s next for Rock Solid Media?  Well, let’s just say that the future is bright!

Well, it’s been over 3 months since we’ve posted to the blog, and my what a trip it’s been!  There are many new things happening at Rock Solid Media.  Where to start?!?!?

The company is transforming as I write!  We’ve moved from providing strictly permission-based email marketing services to providing marketing consultation services.  One of our first clients, Fowler State Bank, engaged us to provide marketing consulting services.  Fowler is a community bank based in the Heartland of Western Indiana.  So far, so good!  We’re in the starting phase of a campaign to increase their subscriber database for their monthly E-News campaigns.  We’ve also brought them into the 21st century with online video.  Plus, we’re helping them develop their new website.  Are we building it?  Nope!  There are companies out there that can do it better.  Our job is to help them with content development, as well as website maintenance once the new site is launched.  Overall, I’m thrilled to be working with Fowler in this expanded capacity, and I really think we have an opportunity for growth in this market space.

We’ve also been engaged by the Bucyrus Area Community Foundation and the Crawford County Veterans Hall of Fame to provide public relations and marketing consulting services.  Non-profit is another space where tremendous growth potential exists!

Finally, the biggest news!  The Bucyrus City Schools engaged Rock Solid Media at the beginning of September to provide full-service public relations and marketing services on an annual basis.  Education is near and dear to our hearts, as we have family members that have dedicated significant portions of their personal and professional lives to educating young people.  Small school districts do not have the resources to employ a full-time communications professional.  However, we’re finding that districts are extremely receptive to the idea of working with a consultant to provide the much needed services and functions.  To date, we’ve conducted community and parent surveys, assisted in the dedication ceremonies of their new buildings, and written many press releases, feature stories and Facebook Fan Page and Twitter updates.

So, what’s in the future?  One word…GROWTH!  We’re very excited and pleased with the growth we’ve experienced in 2009.  Are we satisfied?  Never.  Our goal is to continue working with our clients that have engaged us for full service email marketing.  Our growth will come in the areas mentioned above.  Plus, we’ll have some more BIG news to announce at the start of 2010!

Stay alert as we stay in the weeds to help our clients achieve success…One Rock at a Time!

Eat your heart out David Letterman!  We’ve developed our Top 5 Benefits of Email Marketing.  For many of our clients, they’ve realized many of these benefits in their bottom-lines.  Which, at the end of the day, is the ultimate goal for any business that markets its products and services.  Ladies & Gentlemen, the Rock Solid Media Top 5 Benefits of Email Marketing.

5.  Increased Personal Relationships with Clients – Think about it.  Your clients are giving you their email address and asking you to keep in contact with them.  They want to hear from you.  This is your opportunity to relate to your clients on a personal level.

4.  Targeting with Pin-Point Accuracy – You’ve probably, at some point, spent money on traditional advertising mediums.  And you should, but not for the reasons you probably think.  Traditional advertising mediums (radio, TV, print, billboards) are great at driving traffic and building name awareness and brand recognition.  Used properly, these venues can support a effective email marketing strategy.  Drive people to your website, invite them sign up for your free e-newsletter.  And for God’s sake, give them something FREE for signing up.  Give them a certificate good for a $10 store credit to use with their next purchase.  A free bottle of carpet stain spot remover.  Something to get them in the store, or something to get them engaged with you.  Once they’re signed up, you can target them specifically based on their interest, which you asked them about on the sign up form on your website.

3.  Trackability – We now live in a world where everything is tracked.  You log on to your favorite website, your IP address is being recorded.  Email marketing gives you the ability to see who is opening your email, how many times they’ve opened the email, which links they’ve clicked on, and most importantly, bounces.  If you get a bounced email from a subscriber, you can use that as an opportunity to reach out and have a conversation with that client/customer.  Again, building a stronger personal relationship.

2.  Stronger Online Presence – If you don’t have a website, get one.  Everyone is turning to the internet to find products, services, phone numbers.  The days of opening the phonebook, especially for the younger generation, are slowing diminishing.  You need to have a website, and if you have a website, you NEED email marketing.  Again, it comes back to trackability.  You can see who’s visiting your website when they sign up for your e-newsletter.

And, the Number 1 Benefit of Email Marketing is…

1.  Cost Effective – I want to bring the traditional advertising back into focus for a minute.  Picture a funnel.  When you put a bunch of “stuff” in the funnel, the result is a slow stream coming out the bottom of the funnel.  Marketing, especially with traditional advertising, is much like a funnel.  You’ve got to put a ton of money in the top of the funnel before you start to see a return on your investment.  Remember what I said though.  You need to have traditional advertising as a part of your marketing mix, with the specific purpose of driving traffic to your website and your e-newsletter.  Now, turn the funnel upside down.  What happens?  You put a little bit of money into the top of the funnel (the narrow end), and what comes out at the bottom…an overflow of business.  That’s email marketing’s cost effectiveness at work for you.  Email marketing, when compared to other forms of marketing and advertising, is more cost effective and can bring you a greater return on investment.

So, you’re here.  At the bottom of the post.  Are you ready?  Ready to take control of your marketing future?  Ready to implement email marketing?  Contact us today and let us show you how email marketing can help your bottom line!

We work extensively with Send Labs, and wanted to share some of their great insights about email marketing.  In their most recent post, Josh Nason (an email marketing “ace”) discusses the importance of using a valid reply-to email address.  We’ll let Josh preach it!

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Email Marketing Best Practices, Hints and Tips by SendLabs

Email Marketing: Use A Valid Reply-To Email…Or Else!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 4:24 PM

We had a new client send through our system recently and after their first deployment, they asked why their send-from address got hit with some Out Of Office replies. After explaining how the process works, they asked if they could just use a fake address or a noreply@company.com address instead. While it’s their list and they can do what they want, I highly recommend against anyone using an invalid email as a best practice. Why?

It’s an easy interaction point with your recipients. Everyone knows how to reply to an email, so why take the opportunity to interact with someone away? The user has given you permission to correspond with their inbox, but now you’re going to put up an iron wall when they want to talk to you? C’mon now. If I told you the potential for someone to spend a lot of money with you was at stake, you’d find a way to make this work, right?

That’s how you have to think about it: money. If you’ll do whatever it takes to keep your existing clients and obtain new ones, this is a no-brainer and should be encouraged. If you have to, create a new email address specifically for this purpose. By using a non-valid email, you are essentially saying you’re about one-way communication and that’s all.

Too many people assume using a real email address when deploying campaigns is going to be too much hassle in sifting through emails from people wanting to interact. Heaven forbid! Take a look around today’s economic landscape. There are plenty of other companies that would LOVE to have that problem. Hire an intern, create a system or make this part of an existing employee’s workflow, but don’t shut off this opportunity to talk with your clients in a very familiar and friendly medium.

And if you ever want to email me, I’m josh [at] sendlabs [dot-com]!

Thanks to the gang at SendLabs!

Thought I would share a recent recommendation from one of our clients.  Metro CD Engineering, LLC is an engineering firm in Columbus, OH.  We’ve been working with them for approximately 7 months, preparing monthly newsletters about their business.  Michael Chow is the Managing Principal for the firm, and these are his words.

“My firm is an engineering consulting firm that utilizes Rock Solid Media, LLC for marketing e-mail newsletters.

We have been extremely pleased with the service Rock Solid Media has provided. Chris Stone, the Principal of Rock Solid Media, goes above and beyond to ensure our needs are met and our expectations are exceeded.

Chris prepares our newsletters including developing graphics as well as the text. The newsletters have been well-received by our existing clients and have helped us gain new clients.

The newsletters help us communicate to our clients projects we have completed, new services we offer, introducing new employees and ways for the clients to improve their bottom line. We are able to review statistics on each newsletter that show us which clients have read our newsletters.

In closing, we strongly recommend Chris Stone and Rock Solid Media, LLC for anyone interested in developing a highly effective marketing e-mail newsletter program.” – Michael Chow, Managing Principal, Metro CD Engineering LLC

Michael, we appreciate your business and thoroughly enjoy working with you and the team at Metro CD Engineering!

I had a great phone conversation with a banking client in Indiana this week. We were discussing their email marketing and what has worked well, and what hasn’t worked so well. From our discussion and review of their tracking reports, we found that pictures work EXTREMELY well!
Pictures, especially of your employees, work very well when you do a feature article about that individual. It gives your subscribers a chance to put a face with a name, before they come in to your business! In this era of “big box shops”, independently owned, local businesses need to take advantage of every avenue possible to build a strong relationship with current and potential customers. Great customer service should be the hallmark of every locally owned business, regardless of the products or services you sell! Being able to walk in and know a person’s face, name, and a little info about them makes that customer feel they’re a part of your family.

Based in Galion, Ohio, Rock Solid Media, LLC is an Interactive Marketing company specializing in Permission-based Email and Mobile Marketing for small to medium size business. We utilize state-of-the-art software to develop and deploy our clients’ campaigns. Custom template creation, keyword creation, database administration, and tracking analysis. We do it all!Our client list includes non-profit organizations, retail stores, community banks, municipalities, public school districts, and more! Our goal is to maximize our clients’ opportunities to build stronger relationships with current customers and stakeholders, and to build a “Rock Solid” foundation for strong relationships with potential customers.Thank you for taking time to visit our blog! Visit our website at www.rocksolidmediallc.com to learn more about our company!