Visible Strategy: Autoresponders Rolodex

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What is an autoresponder? Where do autoresponders fit in?

You absolutely need none of this unless you have a small business. So go do something else if you are just interested in internet things but don't want to make money by offering what you know about online.

Autoresponders have replaced advertising for small business today.?

This new field is the equivalent of all the advertising you are familiar with in the past: print, television, radio, that was my business for years. So email marketing is where I need to direct my own expert skills - like you, learning the new "platforms" (internet work spaces) and all the ins and outs of what and how to get the word out about your business.

The days of print, tv and radio have turned into email marketing and social media and something called SEO (how people find you online). Phew! Like you, I have had? a lot of learning to do!

Like you, I am still and constantly learning, because just as the new field of online webpresence and email marketing was exploding, and just after I had helped some of the big players today develop their message to the public and how to convey what they did online, I took time off for a different aspect of my life. Maternity leave? Well, not exactly. I took leave to regroup and reinvent myself after empty nest, and did other things, far from internet marketing!

So back to autoresponders.

This is the ABC of how you return email or "respond" to me, automatically, when I am interested in what you have to say. Or how you capture my interest, if you like, when I am not sure I am even interested!

Imagine if television ads played once or had only one "spot". You would forget about the message! So this is the importance of telling people more than once, in little one minute bursts, that you are there with something for them.

The good news is that all this is inexpensive compared to the old days of advertising. The bad news is that you HAVE to learn about it, something about it, yourself if you are in business.

Yes, you can delegate. But the more you know, the less expensive to delegate.

NEWSLETTERS

?This is the choice of 'vehicles' on the market right now - changing next week, possibly. For newsletters - which are losing their value - the traditional players are Constant Contact, Mail Chimp.

What can you do with them? You get an account, load in your email addresses, and create beautiful newsletters that you send out in mass mailings, personalized.

What is personalized? That means they all say Dear Wanda, or Dear Michael. You can send hundreds at once, and they all arrive as though just directed to the one person.

These are called "Campaigns" - meaning you create the message, load the list (or select the list of people from your contacts) - and then send at a specified time.

AUTORESPONDERS

Autoresponse means that a specific response is generated when an action is performed. Stimulus - response, in the internet world.? This refers to a series of email messages, not just a monthly newsletter.

You want this.

Why do I say that like this? Because you do not want to respond to people, you want your system to respond to people, that's why. So when I indicate I like what you have, and want to hear more, you go off to Tahiti and the email marketing system does the rest.

Here's what you can do:

• say howdy back and thanks, I'll get back to you with great stuff soon.?
• create a mini free course, delivered twice a week, in someone's inbox, leading them to like and trust you and your information.?
• create a series of something else, not quite so structured, like quote of the week or other tidbit of information.?
• advertise your special offers.?

The difference between a typewriter and a computer keyboard are enormous; so is the difference between a single email and an autoresponder.

Imagine backspacing over every letter when you change your mind or make a mistake? That's what one email at a time is like when you can send out thousands....

Think lazy, really lazy! Think I want to do the minimum and then go off to Bali. How can I do that and have my business support me? What can I do faster, easier, in batches, automatically? That is the world of the computer.
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Remember this field is evolving so quickly that this information changes every week!?

Now that is enough to digest for today. Oh, wait! Would you like the names of autoresponders you can investigate? Here they are: Constant Contact and Mail Chimp (again, with limitations), Aweber and Active Campaign (better) and Infusionsoft (for big players, expensive).

You start free or less than $20 per month for your list under 1000 names. More about building lists another time.

Wishing you infinite support for your holistic small business,

Susan Rose

Source: http://visiblestrategy.blogspot.com/2013/02/autoresponders-rolodex.html

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