SLMA Radio

Stop sending newsletters, send an email instead.

Email marketing campaigns start before you select your system of choice. Some of you don’t have a choice as you must use your CRM. Before you pull the trigger, make sure you have some basic drip pieces in place. It’s not about sending NEWSLETTERS. No one needs more newsletters. Think about these as sharing tips and items of interest with your contacts based on their interest and needs, rather than looking at it as a way to quickly cram your wares down their inbox. Wouldn’t it be great if the 2000 on your list each shared your helpful, well-written, concise email with 2 folks, and at least one of those also gave your their email because they love the offer you give them if they “subscribe?”
06:05 First things first – We asked Ely what he recommended before you even select which system may fit you best.
06:37 Put together some type of freebie that you can give to those who take action.
07:13 Freebies come in handy as a conversation starter.
07:50 Write 3 simple emails – no more than 10 lines each to get this started.
08:00 Some reason for people to GIVE you their email address.
08:35 Nobody wants another newsletter!
08:45 Yvi tips us to http://unsubscribe.com for those who have OVERSUBSCRIBED.
09:10 No one is going to your site to say, “Oh YAY! I want ANOTHER newsletter!”
09:33 What stops folks in getting started is the overwhelm to create NEWSLETTERS. Stop it. WRITE 3 emails 10 lines or fewer with a link to a “gift.”
10:30 There is no one correct call-to-action from your emails. Some may want a newsletter list, some may want people to subscribe to their YouTube channel.
11:10 Gating the checklist until they subscribe is a common tactic.
12:10 Nobody wants another newsletter!
12:24 ONE topic per email.
14:15 It’s a TIP H/T to Renee Christine and her great emails.
14:45 H/T to Dan Kennedy and his style of newsletter.
15:50 Fast Food mentality, Microwave compatible.
17:34 Started to talk about drip systems. 
18:25 What is drip system – Yvi prompted Ely to explain. GREAT explanation and examples given.
19:45 You can have multiple campaigns if you set up in a more elaborate system beyond MailChimp and Constant Contact.
21:00 Recap of the show and the two extremes.
21:50 Need the content to back up your emails. You want to drive them BACK to your site.
23:30 Open a conversation rather than just sending the email. Ask an OPEN ENDED question, ask for their opinion.
26:12 Yvi reminds us to provide a VALUE and not just shoving your wares at them.
26:20 The Marketing Booty Call
27:00 The wrap up and the checklist link.
Drip systems should be evergreen content. Revisit your drip messages and auto-responders. Are they still current? Do the links still work?
Link to the checklist gift from Ely, Susan & Yvi to help you get started before you spend too much time in the WRONG email marketing system for your company.
Guest Panelist: 
Ely Delaney is the Co Founder, Dean and Lead Trainer at Your Marketing University, a marketing education company designed specifically to help teach motivated entrepreneurs and business professionals how to take control of their marketing, online and offline. Ely has been in the marketing and multimedia design world since 1996 and is dedicated to helping businesses achieve their marketing goals without the need for expensive advertising agencies.
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Digital Marketing Commentator: high energy comments from Paul Salvaggio

Everything is eventually digital today and Paul Salvaggio from Backbone Media is bringing us some of his digital musing, rants or raves about digital marketing. Bring seatbelts. If you have a comment during the show the call in number is: 949-330-7762  The host is Jim Obermayer About Paul Salvaggio   Paul Salvaggio is the  VP …

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RSS: Your content generating SUPERPOWER!

The Geekspeak Guides, Susan Finch and Yvonne Heimann, are at it again giving you ideas of how to use your own site content, content from other sites and from venues such as Youtube, Pinterest and more to populate your site, your podcasting venues such as iTunes and Stitcher. These ideas will help create that fill in content for your social media posts to give you more time to REALLY engage with people in real conversations. This episode was recently featured on Blubrry as a valuable episode.

RSS (Rich Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is your simple pipeline of information. In a nutshell, it’s a properly formatted text file created dynamically by websites such as blogs and other content management systems. They don’t all create them, but most do. There are even tools you can use to create one on your own. THIS is the file you want so you can PUSH your content and reuse it, reshape it and share it better with MANY more venues including iTunes. You may use this superpower whether you are gathering content from your website, Pinterest, podcast or other online sites and services.

This video will give you several ideas and teach you how to find your RSS feed on your own site, and where you can use it.

Did you know that PINTEREST is actually a BLOG with CATEGORIES? That means that your entire Pinterest account and individual boards can all be treated as an RSS feed.

Google offers a great FREE tool to generate a feed post, allow subscribers, manage subscribers and allow you to bring in content from other sites into your own, share your content with others with just a few lines of code and it is all DYNAMIC using RSS.

Having a feed address gives you something very specific to submit to Google on one specific topic.

Podcasts use XML/RSS feeds, as well. It’s a text file with useful fields for these various venues. For a podcast, it knows to look for the associated media file, episode art and excerpt. Depending on the podcasting service you use such as Blubrry, Podbean, Lipsyn, you’ll be given different options before they send your fabulous content off to venues such as iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud and more.

This 20 minute show gives you some great ideas to use your content to generate more interest, more credibility, more leads and ultimately more sales. Trust us, we know this works.

3 Data Security Myths – Stop blaming IT

Highlights include: 02:50 Learn about Linda; what it takes to be a part of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and how she became a Certified Information Privacy Manager.05:25 In business is a security breach or possible breach the concern of the IT department only?
What other departments play a role in keeping personal information secure?
 

06:58 Why your sales department needs to understand privacy, security and what is considered confidential information.

08:00 Security Data Myth – Is hacking the number 1 way data is breached?

What is the number one way that security is breached at a company?
What percentage of company security breaches are actually caused by hackers?

09:02 Who caused the security breach at Morgan Stanley?

Can employees accidentally give out customer confidential information?

13:23 What is the number one type of information hackers are after?

Why do hackers want medical records?
Can an independent contractor be held liable for leaked private information?

19:42 What is social engineering and how does it play a role in information breaches?

Hear how hackers can ask “everyday” questions and use that info against you.

26:25 Where does the information leak start 40% of the time and what is the solution?

27:25 Examples of how information can be stolen by employees right in front of your face.

You can read it below, too. WOW! It can happen so easily through a “friendly” conversation. People want to reach out and connect to others. It’s human nature. That’s what the weasels prey on.

A gift from Linda to help you get started:

 
 
Linda Zimmer is a certified privacy manager by the International Association of Privacy Professionals. She is also the President of MarCom|Interactive – specialize in digital marketing
 
The biggest myth:
It’s all about technology and we have to be paranoid and pour a ton of resources into our it security.
 
Data breaches come from a lot of different areas within the business.
It’s a brand issue, a reputation issue and a financial issue.
 
The IAPP makes several certifications available. Linda encourages ANYONE wanting to embellish your career.
 
The certification she currently has is CIPM: Certified information privacy manager.
It is the foundation in data security concepts.
How do we operationalize security and privacy within our organizations?
This will help you develop the processes across the organization
It will create a culture of security and privacy throughout the organization.
 
It’s a big hit in the decision of how they shop and where they shop.
It isn’t just a marketing thing.
If marketing and sales don’t have at least a degree of this knowledge, it’s difficult to weave into your online plans, marketing strategies.
 
It gives you bird’s eye view of the organization.
 
Probably using CRM or SalesForce – very silo-ed, this is the information they own. BUT they may use it to transact and record financial transactions which means that credit card info resides within SalesForce or the CRM so there is overlap with finance and sales. 
 
Sales has the most access to the most important asset a company has: their customer database. It is all connected. Where does our data sit, where is it stored and what happens to it when it’s on the move.
 

Myth 1:

Hacking is the number one way data is breached.
 

Truth:

40% of all data breaches come from employee mistakes, stolen laptops, negligence with sign-ons, flash drives, external storage.
25% comes from hackers.

Myth 2

Data security is the job of IT
Be careful when you purchase data, Check the reputation, ask the security questions. 
 
Be careful when you do a friend a favor by sharing data. It may be with good intentions, but that data you share, may get commingled with other data and then possibly, that gets sold or hacked. Did you have the permission to SHARE that information with any other company? Do not betray your customers and lists.
 
Be aware of HIPA compliance. This is the number one thing hackers want: Medical Records for medical identity theft. If you work with a company who has to follow this compliance, you need to as well. They should require it of you, as well.
 
Consultants and marketing firms:
We can be held LIABLE for who we hire to handle data.
 
Takeaway:
Need to review the contracts you have with your vendors and be sure that your contact obligates them to follow all of the data and privacy laws. That will go a long with the regulators. The FTC is broadening their scope. There are about two dozen guidelines we have to all be compliant with.
 
Social engineering is the way our data is compromised most frequently.
Someone using known, easily available information to defeat your security systems and protocols.
 
Security analysts love to go into a company and say, “I can hack into your company.”
A security expert, Chris Hadnagy, comes in to pitch a CEO of a large firm. CEO is complacent and brags about how tough their IT dept. is on security, it’s all locked down, etc. Presenting guy accepts this with a wry smile. He leaves and proceeds to look up public information about the CEO. He finds out his favorite team, learns he’s a cancer survivor who promotes a specific charity and goes into action…
 
He calls the CEO pretending to be from that charity. He asks for a donation and says that for this campaign only, if he makes a donation they are giving donors pair of tickets to – get this – a game played by his favorite sports team! WOW ! How fortuitous… It gets better.
 
Then, the fake caller (sales guy demonstrating how easy it is to hack into their company) says he wants to send this CEO a flyer with the info. He want to make sure the CEO can view it in his version of Acrobat Reader and asks him which version. The CEO gives the information gladly and the fake charity guy emails him a PDF. The PDF when opened, launched malware that grabs all access to all network computers the CEO can access and all of his passwords since the fake charity guy knew which version of Acrobat – it told him which operating system, too.  He knew where to hunt for the digital keys to the company. 
 
This sales guy was making a point, but you can see how easy it is to get information through a seemingly innocent conversation. BE CAREFUL what you tell to strangers. A stranger is someone that you would not invite to your house for a BBQ. They are not an acquaintance. You don’t know them, their face, or if they are whom they say they are!
 
These are the NEFARIOUS folks. Don’t let them in. 
 

About Linda Zimmer:  LinkedIn | Google+ | Twitter

 

How Managing Leads for Independent sales channels brings big results!

LISTEN LIVE on SLMA Radio 12/18/2014 or to replays after that.
Managing sales leads has always gotten its biggest visibility for those organizations that have direct sales forces.  But there are advocates that say that managing leads for the independent channel can be just as fruitful and in many cases more so.  In this interview Jim LaBelle of LeadTrack software shares why the right software and the right management of leads for the independent channel can be tremendously productive.  The host for this program is Jim Obermayer.
 

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