Jim Connolly Marketing

Too much information?

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email work

How much information do you ask people for, in order to subscribe to your newsletter?

I ask that question, following an experience I had yesterday after I discovered an interesting new blog and decided to subscribe to their newsletter. I clicked the ‘subscribe’ link and was taken to the sign up page. Here’s the information they required, in order to email me their newsletter.

They needed:

  1. My first name
  2. My surname
  3. My company name
  4. My profession
  5. My region or state
  6. My telephone number
  7. And finally, my email address

Slow down – I don’t even know you yet

I saw that pile of requirements and decided not to subscribe. It felt like too much information, just to have a newsletter emailed to me. As a new prospective subscriber, they had not earned my trust yet or developed any rapport with me, so it felt uncomfortable to be asked for more than my name and email address.

I have seen various statistics over the years, which suggest that after asking for a persons name and email address, every additional piece of information you request will lose you between 5 and 10 percent of potential newsletter subscribers. Regardless of the exact percentages, in an age where people are extremely busy and also very aware that some companies sell their data, the more information a newsletter provider requires, the fewer subscribers they are likely to attract.

As a result, there will be business owners out there today, who have lost hundreds or maybe thousands of subscribers, simply because they asked for more information up front, than a potential subscriber feels comfortable giving them.

Just what you need

If you are a newsletter provider, look at the information you currently require on your subscriber form and see how much of that data you really need. Think of what you want to achieve from your newsletter marketing and whether you can achieve those objectives, with people just giving you their email address or name and email address. If you need more information for some reason, make sure to ask for no more than absolutely necessary. Remember, if your marketing message is clear, those who subscribe to your newsletter will be targeted around your area of commercial interest, regardless.

In short: Ask only for the personal information you require, in order to provide a new subscriber with a great newsletter. Don’t risk losing thousands of prospective readers and future customers, by asking for too much information.

Do you own your words?

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If someone were to check you out online right now, would the image they build be an accurate reflection of you? Would your digital footprint show them who you are and what you stand for?

Whether we are blogging, social networking, contributing to a forum or adding our thoughts with a comment on a blog post, we need to be ourselves. We need to own our words.

One of your biggest assets

In a super noisy marketplace, one of the most valuable business assets we have, is our uniqueness. Everything we do to stifle our true voice forces us into the background.

The good news? You already have the tools you need, to attract the right kind of attention and connect with people:

  • You have a voice.
  • You have opinions.
  • You have a lifetime of experiences.
  • You have a unique mind.

Use your social media channels to share what makes you unique. It’s the best way I know, to earn peoples attention and connect with them.

9 Posts – 5 of which you probably missed!

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I received an email earlier, from a reader who wanted to know why I had only published a handful of posts over the past week.

The reason I found her email interesting, is that over the past 7 days, I have actually published a total of 7 blog posts and 2 articles.

As well as the 4 blog posts published here this week, I have also:

  • Published 3 new blog posts, over on JimConnolly.com.  I call that site a thunky and it’s very different to the material I share with you here on Jim’s Marketing Blog.
  • I published 2 articles on my Creative Thinking site. One is all about so-called ‘idea people’ and the other is about Raising the Bar on your potential. There are dozens of other articles on that site, written exclusively for those of you who are interested in developing your creativity.

So, I thought I’d put this brief post together, for anyone else who isn’t aware of my work on those other sites, in case you’d like to check them out.  I hope you find something useful.

What does your social media activity say about you?

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The world is full of mixed messages, and the world of business is no exception.

Photo: Jim Connolly

When someone spam emails us selling their SEO services, it sends us a mixed message. We wonder why they need to send us spam, if their SEO is supposed to be able to generate stacks of sales leads.

When a small business owner claims to offer a professional service, yet they operate behind an amateur or cheap looking website, it sends us a mixed message. We’re left wondering why they either can’t afford a professional site or why they believe quality doesn’t matter.

Mixed messages and confusion

Mixed messages cause confusion and as one of the oldest sayings in marketing assures us, a confused mind always says, ‘No!’ In other words, if a prospective client is confused about making a purchase, they opt for the status quo. Rather than risk making a mistake, they do nothing. This is why it’s vital for your marketing to be free of these toxic, mixed messages.

Thanks to the Internet, it has never been easier for us to show the congruency between what we claim and what we do.

For example:

  • Blogging allows us to share what we know, however, it also provides a way for us to demonstrate our ability to show up regularly, over a long period of time. It provides visible proof that we are knowledgeable, reliable and durable.
  • Then there are our social networking accounts. Facebook and Twitter etc, allow people to gain an insight into what we find useful or valuable. It’s hard to maintain a false front, when people can look back over months or years worth of your updates, as they can with your blog or Facebook.

What does your digital footprint look like?

I’d like you to think for a moment about your website, blog (you are blogging I hope) and your social networking accounts. Now consider the following questions:

  • How do they make you look, through the eyes of a prospective client?
  • If your marketing message is based around offering a professional, high quality service, is that how you look when a prospective client checks you out?
  • Is the general picture created by your online image, congruent with your marketing message or out of sync?

In short: Make sure that your marketing and online image avoids mixed messages, so you create the kind of positive impact your prospective clients need.

Video: Robert Scoble and Chris Brogan talk about Feeding The Blog Beast

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Here’s a great 16 minute video interview, where Chris Brogan talks to Robert Scoble about social media, content development and the value of being a curator, plus lots, lots more.

Enjoy!

If you can’t see the video above, click here.

For more information

You can get more from Robert Scoble via his blog, Twitter and Google+.

You can get more from Chris Brogan via his blog, Twitter and Google+.

Video credit: Robert Scoble / Rackspace

15 Reasons to start blogging!

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So, why bother blogging?

Here are just 15 reasons, why I recommend you add a business blog to your marketing mix:

  1. Blogging is the most powerful marketing tool I have ever seen, used or studied. Period.
  2. Considering all the benefits of blogging, the financial cost is tiny. A self-hosted WordPress site can cost less per week, than a latte at your local coffee shop.
  3. If you turn up and blog regularly, you will also show prospective clients that you are reliable. If you show up regularly for years, it shows you’re durable too. Think about that… before these people even speak with you, they will already know you’re reliable and durable. That’s a huge commercial advantage.
  4. Blogging makes you a better communicator. It causes you to think, really think, about your message. Through repeat practice, you learn how to get your message across with greater clarity too.
  5. New prospective clients will be able to discover you and your work, as your blog posts are all findable, via social networks and search engines. Think about it… hundreds, maybe thousands of prospective clients can find your work each day, at the exact point where they are looking for answers.
  6. If you like the idea of helping others, blogging is ideal. It allows you to reach and help people worldwide.
  7. Blogging gives you a wonderful creative outlet.
  8. There is no ceiling on what you can achieve from your blog. Blogs have changed hands for millions of dollars.
  9. … and many bloggers have gained a high profile within their profession, thanks to the success of their blogs.
  10. As a direct result of blogging you can meet amazing people and make a lot of great friends.
  11. To blog regularly with fresh ideas, you need to feed your mind with rich, mental protein. An active blogger is an active learner too.
  12. If you work hard enough, for long enough, you can become one of the most influential voices in your profession.
  13. If you are passionate about what you do, and you should be, your blog gives you a platform to share your passion.
  14. With thousands of people sharing content, for every one person creating content, useful blog posts can spread like crazy via social networks. There are millions of people on Facebook, Twitter and Google+, etc., eagerly looking for useful, interesting content to share with their friends.
  15. Blogging is also a lot of fun!