Have you ever received an email and found the attachment is not there, all the images are at the bottom – it just looks higgledy piggledy.There’s a number of factors that cause emails to break, and its not always down to the email client.

Litmus has put together this infographic to explain the journey emails take before they reach your inbox, so next time you’ll know why your marketing doesn’t look right in Gmail even though it renders perfectly in your version of Outlook. Many people still try and use Outlook for bulk email with attachments – these areoften stripped, over 50 emails in one hit will be treated as spam by many ISP’s. Do you know if ;your email is even opened, delivered or forwarded to a friend. Outlook has no reporting tools.

This infographic gives you some idea of the complexity of sending bulk emails.

This article talks about the changes at Gmail re Spam. Google recently made a few enhancements to their Spam folder in Gmail, providing end-users with information on why messages land there.  It is a very complex area. Good email marketing software companies are monitoring this all the time.

For most of you, just using email marketing software will make a big difference.

When it comes to marketing your small business and generating awareness of your brand, content is king. For many businesses you  no longer can afford or want to buy people’s attention with advertising; you have to earn their attention by creating original content that is educational, entertaining. There is no point just making me ‘noise”.  Your content has to add value.

Why content?

Content provides value to web visitors and builds trust in your business from your potential customers and retains your exisiting  ones. A recent survey of B2B marketing conducted by MarketingProfs shows that brand awareness, customer retention and lead generation are the top reasons for content marketing. It also is vital if you want your site to be found by Google. Google likes fresh content.

What is content?

For businesses, content typically includes reports, books, blog posts, webinars, presentations, videos, case studies and more. These can then be repurposed and used in email and social media. Without content you have nothing to talk about.

Some content will be be lead-generation focused, like a report or video about common problems that your target audience has, along with a solution. For example, say you develop and sell slimline water tanks for urban areas You could feature a report on your website called Retention and Detention Tanks. When someone downloads the report, your marketing automation system sends a sequence of emails that speaks to the issues of harvesting water and meeting council requirements. This drives them to pick up the phone to speak to an expert.

Other types of content focus more on brand awareness and are purely informative. In this case, the topic is one your target audience thinks about within the sphere of their role—which serves to substantiate your thought leadership position in the industry

In this case, you could have a blog post titled “Rain Gardens – other way to harvest your water.” This content is more for brand awareness since this is not about the water tanks but shows the commitment to sustainability and rain water use which is key to the brand. It’s a topic that’s important to your target audience of people who want to harvest their own water. You’ll see traffic increase as it attracts people to your sales funnel and, more importantly, the quality of your leads will improve because those who are educating themselves and consuming your content are more interested and knowledgeable about what you offer.

How do I create content?

Once you know why you need content, the next question is “how.” It’s no surprise that producing engaging content is a challenge. Many people do not have the time or ability to do this and outsource it. At The Connector we provide content generation services.

Your content needs to be timely and relevant to your target audience, while at the same time supporting the position you want in the minds of your target market. A good rule of thumb is to think about the type of information your audience is most likely to consume and which channel is best to showcase it.

Want to do it yourself? It’s best to start and thenbuild your library one piece at a time. Before you know it, you’ll have built a body of work that raises your brand awareness and trust among target audiences. This will generate leads and leep our existing customers loyal..

Jason Kemp and his team are now up to their fourth annual conference for New Zealand WordPress users, designers and developers. Fantastic effort as this is all done on a voluntary basis.

I like the way Word Camp combines interesting approachable presentations as well as exposure to the latest developments in the WordPress world. There is a day for Advanced Tech users on Sunday.

The attendee and speaker list is looking interesting and impressive  - leading developers and users of WordPress in New Zealand, graphic designers, content creators, bloggers , online community managers and marketing folk. Sounds like fun. BTW the coffee sounds perfect and after party well, who knows…

WordCamp continues to grow from its first event in  August ’09 in Wellington with just a 100 attendees. Impressively, one of the founders of WordPress – Matt Mullenweg gave a keynote talk. In 2010 Word Camp was hosted by Unitech in Auckland . In Feb 2011 WordCamp moved back to Wellington with interesting guest speakers including NZ’s own Richard MacManus of Read. Write, Web.

Who uses WordPress?

WordPress is used by organisations all over the world.  WordPress powers websites for The Financial Times, Reuters, CNN and Wall Street Journal.

In New Zealand a number of businesses use WordPress- New Zealand Stock Exchange Humans, BrightMinds Labs, Slamxhype,  TheWire. Techsploder, Amcham,  Brian Edwards have WordPress sites.  The Journalism Schools at AUT and Wellington – Whitireia Journalism School and Victoria University student newspaper Salient and Pundit (daily online current affairs and culture magazine—entirely Kiwi-made) all use Word Press.

I have found WordPress to be perfect for both business and community groups, my own GreyLynn2030, Grey Lynn Community Centre, The New Zealand Rose Society. Creative businesses like Spacific Films, Topp Twins, Version Productions and MokoInk use WordPress.

Take a look at some small businesses  -  The Connector, State of Grace, Tanksalot and this Government Department, Crown Fibre (who are responsible for the Ultra Fast Broadband roll out for New Zealand) which Jason and I worked on

Commentators like Andrew Dubber,  Diversity (Ben Kepes), Bill Bennett,   Lance Wiggs, Miraz Jordan , Gareth Renowden with Hot Topic , Steve Price on Media Law and Nat Torkington who all use WordPress as their platform. New Zealand techpreneur Rod Drury blogged at his personal site for 5+ years and can now be found at Xero.

So come along . WordCamp NZ  is to be held on the Saturday of 21st April 2012

Hey and if there are any other great New Zealand WordPress sites out there, please let me know.

Tempted to get an iPad but wondering if you really can justify it for business? They are cool, your kids want one, (actually you want one…) Is the iPad just another gadget or is it a game changer? The new iPad 3 is now out and with that, a reduction in the price of the iPad 2 in New Zealand.

For most of you, we can’t see any real business advantage of getting the new iPad 3 and presently there are some great bargains to be had on iPad 2’s. The iPad 3 has new features but our view is only people who have had an iPad2 already would appreciate them.

Reading Apple’s iPad marketing makes it all sound very tempting.

As a business tool, you definitely want to “Streamline your daily business tasks with apps that eliminate paper-based processes, give you real‑time information, and improve efficiency of common office activities. Explore the tasks below to learn how iPad can change the way you work”. Which, so far for us at Get IT Here, it has.

At The Connector we think you should consider an iPad for business use if you:

• Travel for work and take material to read
• Need to present portfolios over coffee.
• If you don’t already have a smart phone and need to be able check your mail, calendar, contacts. The iPad easily syncs your email, contacts and calendars in real time (that means right now, over 3G)
• Have a desktop but no laptop
• Have to show customers products on-line - printed presentations will be a thing of the past, saving paper, ink and ultimately money.
• Have a new shop, and need a till for eftpos transactions and inventory.
• Find lugging around a laptop cumbersome and heavy.
• You take notes at meetings and conferences.
• If your company brand is about innovation.
• Like to use Skype but hate being chained to the chair.
• Attend online meeting but hate being chained to the chair.
• Need a quick way to translate text between languages when travelling.

Why not just use my laptop and smart phone?

• Long battery life
• Light, portable, easy to have with you all the time
• iPad makes text easier to read than with a smart phone. If you have poor eye site the beautiful backlit screen an ease of making text larger will not having you struggling to see
• Go paperless – Reading documents on the iPad is pleasant and not awkward like on a laptop
• Multipurpose – kids, home, work but that’s another story.
• Your laptop doesn’t make you look cool when you pull it out in a cafe.

Finally, if you’re not completely sold on your tablet being an iPad, you can save a lot of money buying other brands. There are now excellent and affordable competitors at the high end. If you’re looking for a tablet that can be used for e-mail, Web browsing, and can do without the Apple logo there are plenty of other options.

Data Quality: How good is your data?

The quality of your data is critical to the success of your online marketing. An email address is vital.

Often we are are given a client list and on the first email out to the database more than half of the emails bounce.

We see this as an opportunity, no need to hit the delete button!

It’s time to get on with improving your data. 

The fact that a contact is in your database means that there is already some connection and knowledge. We believe it is better to update the data rather than delete the person. There are free online tools that let you play detective.

• Use LinkedIn and other search tools to find where the contact has moved to
• Use LinkedIn and the phone to find out who replaced your contact in an organisation
• Find a tool to do some basic deduping and merging

LinkedIn can be used for:

• Building brand awareness.
• Establish people in your company as industry experts.
• Connecting with prospects, customers, vendors, suppliers and peers.
• Generating leads and sales
• Advertising jobs
• Building a company profile
• Applying for jobs

Having spent plenty of time on LinkedIn, I see most people do not use LinkedIn well. You have to get the basics right first in LinkedIn with your profile and linking to your existing contacts.  This is easy to do this by letting LinkedIn access your email address book. All your existing contacts that you have an email address for, will show up if they are in LinkedIn. But hold on, before you get carried away with this there are a few steps to get ready:

Improve your Personal Profile: It is remarkable how many people in business are poorly represented in LinkedIn. A sloppy profile says so much.As LinkedIn is a person to person medium your profile must be well written, current and relevant profile. I like Guy Kawasaki’s Linked In Makeover advice.

Set up a company profile - As LinkedIn is so highly optimised your company can show up higher in Google if you have a good company profile. Many companies are keen to have a profile on Facebook which is relevant if you are a consumer based business but neglect to put themselves on LinkedIn.

Get Active!: At the risk of sounding like your GP, get active for results. Post frequently, join Linked In Groups, answer questions, ask questions. Be genuine, helpful and do not just send out a sales pitch. People want to link to somebody who sounds interesting and knowledgeable.

Create a LinkedIn Group:  Set up a group that is relevant to the clients you want to talk to

LinkedIn Cheat Sheet:  Follow these ideas from LinkedIn for Dummies

Learn how to Search in LinkedIn:  There are many modules on line to teach you how to use the Advanced Search Feature on LinkedIn.

While this is effective, it takes some time and effort.

Finding it all too time consuming? Use Hootsuite to manage your Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and Linked In Profiles

Once you have become a good user of LinkedIn, we can then move to the next steps of:

• Build your personal or corporate brand
• Improving your recruiting
• Expanding your networks
• Increase your business development and referrals
• Become a thought leader
• Gain insight and intelligence from your contacts
• Get to know more people in your sector

Each company person needs to do this differently.  Don’t forget to link to me Suzanne Kendrick and I can help you get more out of LinkedIn.

Being on Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook is not a social media strategy. They are merely tools and channels for you to distributeyour content. Presence and content mean little to your customers, unless you can really engage with them.

Plenty of social media is same old, same old. The action in the social space is marketing and advertising using the same thinking with new technology. The essence of all things social marketing is relationships. Marketers often use social media as mediums for traditional marketing.

A relationship strategy differs from a  marketing strategy in that it recognises the long-term value of  forming lasting relations, as opposed to “intrusion” marketing strategies.  Old marketing strategies focus upon acquisition of new clients by targeting demographics based upon prospective target lists. Wouldn’t it be better to have your existing customers talk to their friends?

A relationship strategy requires understanding the needs, attitudes and intents of customers.  Once understood then it is a process of fine tuning tactics, images and communications that attract buyers. Noticing, listening and hearing your customers only happens if somebody is watching closely.

Clearly social media is already having an impact on customer relationships.  Customers are opting to follow on Twitter, join communiies, opt in to blog, or “Like” you on Facebook – they are signaling they are opting in to some sort of communication with you, a relationship.  They see a chance to engage. Don’t wreck it!

Much has been written about being customer focused marketing. What is funny is that customer focused strategies are often always phrased in terms of the benefits to the company. And here is the difference…Previously customer focus is about the benefit to the business. The customer is treated as an object, a means to the companies ends. Yes, organisations want to serve customers better—but for their own sake. Then businesses are surprised when customers don’t rush to their initiatives.

Do companies people understand what the term “relationship” means to a buyer?
The term “relationship” has been hijacked – mostly it a one way conversation. When you say, “follow us on Twitter, join our Facebook Like page are you actually going to talk to people? Are your “join and follow” are going to be quickly revealed as the usual one-sided barrage

A relationship strategy built on working with and listening to your customers is a good strategy to follow.  Your customers by in large, want you to do well, they want to be surprised and delighted.

A relationship strategy begins with having the right philosophy. How are we going to really get to know our customers?  How are we going to talk and listen?

Customers just want to be heard. They are not going to slam the door and walk out. They just want you to do better. To hear what their experience has been.

We all want to be heard. It’s gratifying, empowering, and makes us feel valued. And in a difference of opinion, we want our side to be represented. We want others to understand who we are, to hear our valid arguments, even if they don’t agree with us–though, of course, we’d like that to happen as well.

A company should see and understand that -listening to your customer – having a willingness to try has a huge effect.