Learn how to Automate Mobile + Email + Voice + Webinar Follow-up.

We’ll keep this one simple.  No fancy videos or design here.  Let’s just get right to the point…

Are you using a business building system that increases your client base and sales by integrating lead capture and follow-up across multiple channels?

If not, did you know…

• Most business owners and sales professionals are losing sales since they are not effectively capturing leads and following up with them.
• Over ½ of all leads are not followed up with after the first contact
• 80% of sales happen on or after the 5th contact!
• 78% of consumers use two or more channels when making a buying decision, according to Oracle’s 2011 survey.  If you’re limiting your business to just one, you’re losing sales.  It’s that simple.

Now, what if there were a system that allowed you or sales people to capture leads while speaking on stage, while on the showroom or tradeshow floor or while they were sleeping via voice, email, text or web?

…and what if there were a system that allowed you to follow-up automatically by voice, email, text message, direct mail and it also integrated event and webinar registration?  …and this follow-up could be done automatically before you or your sales person even left the stage, showroom or tradeshow floor …and you could see the social influence of each of the subscribers so you can directly contact those with influence in your market?

…and what if this business building system was all in one system and it was used by #1 New York Times best selling authors (Brendon Burchard and Tim Ferriss), top public figures (Tony Robbins, Harvey Mackay), and a variety of business from large companies to local businesses and non-profit organizations to affordably and effectively organize their lead capture and follow-up to be as successful as possible… and they’ve made millions of dollars from it.

Intrigued?   Try the live demo right now for free.

If you are specifically interested increasing leads and sales at trade shows, click here for the trade show demo and free video.  Otherwise, for all others…

All you need to do to is:

Text your first name and email address to 404-586-4200

That’s it. It’s simple. Send a text message to the number 404-586-4200 with your name and email address. International users, text to +1 (404) 586-4200.

Again, it’s free and no purchase of anything is required.

Also, when you do, you also receive instant access to an excerpt of The Map to Online Marketing Success.

This section (specifically pages 74-83 and 97-104 for those keeping track) includes step by step details on how to create or enhance your Facebook page, and how to promote it.  It includes a case study on how one company used strawberries to add 100,000 fans to their Facebook page in four days, which led to a double digit sales increase!

So, simply, text your first name and email address to 404-486-4200. When you do, you’ll see the first example of how this system works and you’ll access get access to the Facebook guide and case study, so you can apply the strategies to your business.

2011 went by in the blink of an eye.  James will be 5 next month!   Just yesterday it seemed Davidson was toddling around, but now he’s at full speed running after his big brother.

Despite the challenges of 2011 and dealing with the spirited attitudes of our two wild boys, we celebrate that they are healthy and that we have much to celebrate this holiday season.

Wherever you may be or go, go forth to light love and serve the world and live the life you have always imagined!

We love and miss our friends and family who we haven’t seen enough of this year, and we hope to see you soon in 2012.  Until then, keep the faith, love each other and enjoy the simple, wonderful parts of life that mean the most to you.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and may 2012 be your best year yet!

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Previous post: Cross Channel Marketing Webcast Summary,
Next Post: Is your follow-up the best it can be?

I was just blown away.  Truly. So I had to share this with you (and yes, it’s 2:30 am).  I just saw how a tool that I have been using transformed lives and businesses in success story after success story leading to over $1,000,000 in sales (more on that below).

As you may know, I’ve been doing what we call Social Video Marketing for our clients and our own ventures. In the process, we’ve been using some pretty cool tools, including one you may not have heard of called Instant Customer.

It’s cool because it integrates lead capture and follow-up in multiple channels (email, text, voice, postcards), and offers evergreen webinars, QR codes, ranks social influence scores of the prospects and much more.  Plus several of my favorite authors (Brendon Burchard, Tony Robbins, etc.) use this system.

…but I’d just used it for some of the more basic features.  Today, they had a webcast showing how other consultants, business owners, authors and marketing technologists have used it and it was filled with great ideas on how to use this powerful system.

That’s why I had to share this with you. So, I know this is late notice, but if you are interested in more leads and sales or helping others as a consultant, you really need to check this out now.  They’ve already released the free video series showing why cross-channel marketing is so important and how you can use it and they opened the doors to the system and training to go along with it.  Whether you’re interested in the system or not, I’d suggest you check this out just for the ideas and to see the latest in marketing technology.

Now, for more on those success stories from today – and yes, I know this will turn into a very long email, but really wanted to share these with you.  Hopefully, they’ll spark some ideas for you.

Success Story 1 – Ice Machine Manufacturer

• Client had list from years of collecting leads, but never much with it
• Consultant worked to build strategies to increase revenue and packaged it into a maintenance program to those existing customers who bought ice machines
• Set-up a campaign that combined email, text, voice and webinar automated follow-up.
• Sold $250,000 in 7 days and customer is trilled and aims to repeat quarterly

Success Story 2 – Window Manufacturing Dealer

• Dealer was $120,000 in the hole and about to be cut off by manufacturer
• Consultant put together a simple campaign: 1) set up lead capture page with info on how to get rebates from gov’t for energy savings & a coupon for 10% off, 2) set-up Google places listing, 3) set-up automated text and email follow-up campaign.
• 1 year later, he went from $120,000 in the hole to $200,000 cash on hand and is now one of the top dealers
• Client is trilled because saved job and business.

Success Story 3 – Trade Shows

• Client who sells grills going to a trade show and did not have a good way to capture leads or follow up.
• Consultant set-up a simple ‘text your name and number to win a grill’ program for client.
• They got over 1,000 leads in 2 days.
• Plus, SEVEN other businesses at the trade show asked what was going on and asked him to set-up a campaign on the spot.
• Plus, the event promoter asked what was going on and he wanted to set-up his own campaign for the whole event.  Then, other trade show promoters saw the benefit and partnered with the consultant as well.

Success Story 4 – Professional Services firms

• Consultant works with firms that have been around a long time (Financial services, insurance, consulting).
• They are firms who’s average new client is worth $10,000 to $100,000.
• He set-up a grand re-opening for the businesses that had existing large lists but had not used them to start a series of follow-ups via text, voice, email & webinar.
• Consultant charged them $5,000 set-up and $5,000 per month.  Clients have made more than 10x these fees by pulling in new customers from the campaign.

Success Story 5 – Solar Panel Installation Company

• They were previously profitable, but had started losing money
• They were paying two employees $60,000 per year to do telemarketing (and it wasn’t working anymore).
• Consultant came in and set-up a lead capture page with automated text voice and email follow-up with a webinar.
• Used text message “predicative messaging” quality customers.
• There sales boomed and they cut back on telemarketing

Success Story 6 – Sales Trainer / Speaker

• Professional Sales Trainer was doing well earning money at speaking events, but didn’t have a good way to capture leads or follow up at those events
• Consultant set-up ‘text name and email’ campaign for sales trainer to offer from the stage
• The automated follow-up sent a copy of the presentation, 2 more videos with good content & a webinar with a text message reminder the webinar was starting in 10 minutes.
• It then replied accordingly to those who did not attend, left early, watched but did not buy, bought
• Her sales when from $200,000 per year to $1,000,000 per year because she reached those who she was speaking to and followed up automatically.
• She was so trilled with it, and she now mentions this tool as part of her speaking events and that’s lead to over $100,000 in referrals for new business.

=========

So, again, sorry this got so long, but thought this could spur ideas in your own business or in helping others with their marketing.  The system comes with templates for all of the above mentioned success stories.

When you click on the links below, you’ll learn even more about the system:

— Update: The live training and webcasts are no longer available.  If you are interested in learning more, please contact us. —

1) They are providing more FREE training (with tons of great ideas) on their live webcasts.  The next live webcast times are Friday 2pm to 8pm EST and Saturday 3pm until midnight EST.
Go here for the webcasts: http://su.pr/AtjqzY

2) To see a summary on my blog with link to the FREE videos series on the why and how of Cross Channel Marketing, go here: http://revstreammarketing.com/cross-channel-marketing/

3) To cut right to the video where Mike shares what their program Cross Channel Mojo and Instant Customer are all about, go here: http://revstreammarketing.com/mojo-now/

Enjoy!

…and enjoy this festive holiday season!

Master the Next Wave of Marketing Technology and Reach More Customers Through Multiple Channels

In today’s fast-paced, new media-driven world, it can seem almost impossible to attract and keep the attention of your prospects and customers with all the potential distractions. What you need is to leverage the “Bernie the Barber” effect (more on that in a bit).

You know that using traditional marketing approaches are simply no longer working. Now, even using just one “new-media” marketing channel is not enough.

78% of consumers use two or more channels when making a buying decision, according to Oracle’s 2011 survey. If you’re limiting your business to just one, you’re losing sales.

…so what can you do about this and where can you learn how to start gaining influence and profit from using cross channel marketing?

Earlier this year, I created the Map to Online Marketing Success that showed the formula for reaching success using cross channel marketing. I’d planned on turning it into a training course, but the best in the business, Mike Koenigs, beat me to it. He’s actually offering a FREE video series. I’ve seen a lot of his videos over the years. This one is outstanding and shares a message that people need to see. Click on the video below to see his video series.

Cross Channel Mojo Video 1 Summary

Cross Channel Marketing is using one marketing channel, like direct mail or mobile marketing to support or promote another channel, like the Internet.

Using Cross Channel Marketing properly, you can gain more customers than the big companies. You just need a system that leverages the “Bernie the Barber” effect.

Bernie, Mike’s father, is a barber. He loves building quality relationships with people. This is how he reaches more people and allows his business to thrive. It’s all about the quality relationships.

You can use multiple channels to deliver your message, add value to the lives of your prospects and customers to reach more people (and thus develop your Cross Channel Mojo).

Mike is on a mission to create 1 million millionaires in the next 5 years, so he’s sharing what it takes to do it. It’s what worked for him, many of his clients and students and their clients, and it can work for you too.

Right now, there is a huge gap that needs to be filled between marketing and technology. Schools are simply not teaching how marketing and technology are – or at least should be – so inter-related.

Mary Meeker, Paul Dunay and many others are sharing the importance of bridging this gap, and it’s been referred to as The Rise of the Marketing Technologist.

“Marketers for the last few years have been closet techno geeks and it’s time for them to rise up – companies need digitally fluent marketers who can apply technologies to help make marketing more measurable and scientific.”

Marketing Technology is exploding and when bridging the gap properly, it can be hugely profitable for those that use the tools.

This can be used by…

1. Marketing Consultants to offer and provide cross channel marketing services to their clients;
2. Existing businesses, authors, speakers, coaches and experts can use it to properly promote their message;
3. Employees looking for high paying jobs as marketing technologists can use this in large companies

It’s the same strategies. It’s just that you need to change how you communicate. It’s bigger and more powerful than the Internet or social media alone.

Let’s say someone who wants to buy your stuff is called customer X.

The golden days of just sending Customer X an email and having them buy are pretty much over.

Now, your Customer X is literally like a moving target. They are mobile, updating their Facebook status, Digging this, Liking that, tweeting and texting all while on the go … they are just not sitting around waiting for your email to come in. They are also more likely to trust peer reviews and what others say about you.

Oracle’s Study, Cross-Channel Commerce: A Consumer Research Study March 2011, revealed social media and mobile commerce are increasingly important in shaping customer behavior.

Most significant, 78 percent of U.S. consumers regularly use two or more shopping channels – and 30 percent use three or more channels to complete transactions.

“In an extremely competitive environment with consumers leveraging multiple channels to make decisions and complete transactions, and often using more than one at the same time, a cohesive customer experience becomes a key differentiator,” explains Andrea Morgan-Vandome, vice president of strategy, Oracle Retail.

So the bottom line is, it’s a big problem if you are limiting yourself to a single marketing channel.

But whenever there are problems, there are opportunities and there’s a very big opportunity to leverage four marketing channels:

Email, Social Media, Direct Mail & Mobile Marketing

Plus, there’s really then a HUGE opportunity when those are enhanced with videos, QR codes, evergreen webinars, contests and prizes.

…and wouldn’t it be nice if there were a system to integrate all of these?

This is what Cross Channel Mojo is all about.

Mojo is defined as “a spell or magic” and Cross-Channel is a recent marketing buzzword.

The recent research and studies have provided the proof – when you communicate effectively across multiple channels, you get more prospects and customers.

The likelihood of converting a customer is THREE TIMES higher when using multiple channels.

So, let’s do an exercise. How many new customers to you gain each year? Is it 100? If so, how much are those 100 customers worth to you? Seriously, think about how many new customers you obtain and how much they are worth to you. Write down a number.

According to the research and studies, if you’ve been using only one channel, you should be able to double or triple what you are bringing in.

What would that be worth to you? Write it down.

That’s impressive, right? …and this is working. Successful marketers are using this. When the top online marketers were surveyed, 96% said they plan to use cross channel marketing in their marketing efforts in the coming year.

Big businesses are having great success with cross channel marketing as well. Isotoner, Outback and FedEx all have recently focused on Cross Channel Marketing and reaped the rewards.

For most small business, authors, speakers and experts who aim to reach and retain more customers, it all comes back to the “Bernie the Barber” effect … Gaining customers from building quality relationships with people.

Genuinely adding value to lives of your prospects and customers is what it’s all about. By connecting more personally and through multiple channels, you connect with them on a deeper level than the internet or email marketing alone allows you to do.

People using this are successful and still earning money. Many others ask, where’s all the money gone? Why are people camped out on Wall Street? Why are real estate values still so low? Why are there so many bail outs?

The answer is that the money has NOT disappeared, but the money IS in the relationships.

There’s been recent talk of the 1% and the 99%, but it’s the 1% that holds the quality relationships and quality reputation and the 99% that do not.

…and when you and/or your company secure and maintain quality relationships and reputation, that’s when you don’t have to worry about money ever again.

So, cultivate your relationships, make life better for those you reach and communicate with them across multiple channels…

“The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.”
- Tony Robbins

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Be sure to keep your eye out for the summary of the next video in this series.  Also, please leave a comment or ask any questions below and/or use the share icons below to share this with others who could benefit from learning more about cross channel marketing.

FREE online marketing video series + see below for examples of what’s worked!

How’s your website and online marketing working for you?

Could they use some updates?  If so, here’s the mid-summer gift you’ve been waiting for!

Want to learn how for FREE?

In celebration of the release of our new comprehensive training, The Map to Online Marketing Success, we’re offering a FREE video series so you can learn the steps and best online tools to grow your business!

Join our free info-packed video series by filling our the form in the upper right of this page, or click here to see the first free video on what it takes to succeed in marketing your business today!

In this video series, you will learn about our formula to online marketing success:

YouTube + Facebook + Google + Website (with lead capture and automated follow-up) = Traffic, Leads and Sales

Or, do you prefer to have the work done for you?

If so, Have you been paying too much? I had the fortune to start using overseas development centers in 1999, and 12 years later, I’ve fine tuned the process to have a truly outstanding team around the world.  In the past, I was paying five times as much for local contractors. Of course, we still use local talent for videography and writing, but now, with our system and virtual office, much of the work is completed by our overseas team and we pass the savings on to you!

There are thousands of online tools to boost your business, but keep it simple.  Look at the biggest ones that can bring you the most business in the fastest amount of time. Are you effectively using the simple formula shown above?

YouTube + Facebook + Google + Website (with lead capture and automated follow-up)
= Traffic, Leads and Sales

If not, here’s a few recent examples of how we’ve helped clients in these areas:

YouTube Marketing

You’ve no doubt tried to get your website ranked high in the search engines, but are you neglecting one?  YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world and its results show up on Google search results, so you could call it the largest search engine.  Plus, YouTube is already a wildly popular site and your website likely is not, so which has a better chance of ranking in search engines quickly – your website or a YouTube video?   Video.

YouTube Case Study: One of my clients runs an Atlanta pest control service business. They contacted me because they had acquired a company that was going to be a new division for them. Since they had not offered the service before, they of course were not found online for this keyword phase. This new division is a seasonal business so they wanted to get rankings in the search engines quickly since that season was coming up fast. We set-up the program and they hit the first page of results in less than a day, had multiple listings with 3 days and within a month, they ranked #1, 2, 3 and 6 on the 1st page of Google’s organic search results for the keyword phase in their local area with the top three all being from video!

Need high-end testimonial videos to show your prospects you do an outstanding job?  Here’s one for an Atlanta remodeler and custom home builder:

Or, want to build trust by helping your prospects by sharing what you know with very affordable videos?  We’re doing over 100 videos for a 5k Training coach.  The project is still in pre-launch, but you can see an example of a video below and see an example of the custom YouTube background we designed on the 5k Training YouTube channel.

Facebook Marketing

Are you using the world’s largest social network to promote your business?  You may have heard about putting up a business page for your business or may have done it, but are your visitors seeing what you want them to see?  Most all pages default to go to the wall for the Page, but this is not very compelling.  Instead, have you considered a custom welcome page?  Here’s an example we did for an Atlanta window blinds company

Google Marketing

The world’s largest search engine with hundreds of thousands of searches per day!  Your prospects are looking there.  Are you being found there?

If you are local business, you’ve likely seen the Google Maps results are dominating those for local searches. You can see the screen shot below where my dad’s company is coming up #1 in the Maps results … and those map results are now above the rest of the organic results.  If you’re a local business and aren’t doing Google Places optimization, you need to be.

Website

Websites in the past were put online to be like static brochures.  This is not the point of a website. Use it like your sales system.  Be sure it has a lead capture and follow-up system.

For example, to continue the Facebook example from above, the well established Atlanta Window Blinds company wanted to re-do their entire brand… new logo and new website to go along with their new Facebook Page.  All of this was created and online in a matter of weeks.

Is your online marketing system selling for you?

There is a great power in having your website sell for you.  Lead capture with automated lead follow-up allows your website sales system to sell for you 24/7.

For a college planner, in less than a week, we set-up a new Facebook Page and landing page with an automated lead capture (so prospects could request more information by sending a text message or e-mail) and a follow-up system to deliver the content via e-mail, text or voice mail messages.

In preparation to launch their business, they went to a speaking event and asked those interested in learning more to send a text message right then when they were most engaged.  The system we set up for them followed up to obtain their e-mail address and sent them the documents they requested.

The company added 30 new leads to their automated text and email follow-up system before they had even launched their complete website!

The possibilities are endless.  You just have to take action.

What are people saying?

We are thrilled to hear how our clients are pleased with our results.  This blog post has gotten a bit too long, so I’ll just share one here from a truly outstanding and inspiring person and coach who runs Philadelphia Basketball Camps:

Next steps?

Your turn.  Time to take action.  Either 1) Learn how to do it yourself and join the free webinar on Facebook or 2) Click the button below for a free quote.

Also, do you know anyone else who could benefit from this information?  If so, please use the share icons below to post on your social networks or share via e-mail, and let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.  Thanks and go forth to live the life you have always imagined!

Today’s video recounts a time when I hiked into the Grand Tetons with five great friends and had quite an adventure, and it shares the overview of the online marketing mind-map we’re using today in our online marketing efforts.  Click the play button on the video below to play the short video.  It’s less than 3 and 1/2 minutes long, but shares an important lesson and I’d love to hear your thoughts.  Please share them in the comments below.  Enjoy!

For those interested in knowing if and how online marketing could work for them, you can have a fully customized online marketing mind-map, like the one shown in this video, created for you.

It reveals the key strategies that turned failing businesses into thriving businesses, increasing sales an average of 18%.

Online Marketing Mind Map

The customized mind-map comes with a one hour consultation session to explain the details and can serve as the blueprint for an online marketing strategy.

We’re offering the online marketing mind-map and consultation at over 50% off for a limited time through this link.

If you know a business owner, sales professional, author, speaker, expert or coach that would benefit from this, please use the share icons below to share this with them or post to your social media profile.

Thank you and go forth to light, love and serve the world and make it an outstanding day!

This section talks about those who prefer do have others take care of it.  Enter Page 25 of The Truth in Online Marketing:

“Should I do all of this myself or turn it over to an individual, a team of individuals or a firm to take care of all of this for me?”

There are a tremendous amount of individuals and companies in the online marketing space. Smart business owners are starting to realize that they need to turn to experts in the space to assist in their online marketing. This is a good sign because it proves that this is a real medium for results and there is a strong need for its services, but it can also be a danger.

My father-in-law recently sent me an article from the New York Times, The Old Man and the Internet by Jay Goltz. This article is about a successful business man who employs more than 100 people at his five businesses. At a business group meeting, he came to a revelation that he had to become more “web-driven” and needed a “Web Director” as snippet of the article reads:

“I now understand that I am operating in a vastly different business environment, and I need to make some adjustments. The Internet, social media and whatever else I am missing are all changing fast, and I need to conquer them. Here is the problem: Business people like me do not know what is going on behind the curtain. Sometimes, we think we know, we want to know, we need to know, but how could we know?

No one who works for me has ever worked in a technology company. When I returned to the office and mentioned my business-group revelation that we needed to hire a director of Web, two of my key people said the same thing: we need to rethink our entire organizational structure.

I should have figured this out a year ago, but I was focused on moving my production facility and cutting costs. This illustrates the reality of today’s business environment. We are s-l-o-w-l-y coming out of a terrible recession, and we are all watching every dollar that we spend – but we should be spending more money on technology. Contrast that to one of these venture capital-fueled tech warehouses we’re always reading about, and you can see why established companies like mine are not just scratching their heads but holding them.

We are not experts, but in this new world, we need to be experts if we want to hit our potential. Given the number of sites we’re playing with, I always believed that it would be more cost-effective to do most of the work in-house. But after talking to people who seem to know what they are doing, I’m coming to accept that we will never be as effective as someone who does this for a living. The technology changes too fast.”

The first online response to this article by reader “George,” stated a concern of many business owners:

“The problem with web design and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) companies is the same as trying to find a reputable plumber or contractor. How do you know they are not just stealing your money and way way way overcharging you? I am also in a business group and almost every single one has had a bad experience with a SEO company.

Business people also need to understand the difference between website design and SEO. I explain it to people in my group like this. If Walt Disney built Disney Land but had no roads leading to it, it would never make a dime. Same thing with your website. It might be great but if it’s not SEO’ed, no one will find it.”

George makes an excellent SEO analogy here, but also shares a concern held by many business owners. How can you find a provider to trust?

Since technological change and advancements happen so fast, often businesses and organizations do not keep up with changes and rely on “experts” to provide the facts. This is where the danger comes. In some cases, companies capitalize on the market need for internet marketing services and the lack of understanding of business professionals. They create outstanding sales collateral and compelling presentations that sound very good, but are based more on hype and after locking clients into contracts, they do not give a high enough value or return on investment.

At one point, I too fell victim to the hype.  After falling for this hype, I vowed that never would again and set out on what became the greatest learning phase of my life over the next year. Yes, my Georgia Tech education was outstanding back in the 1990′s, but this new type of learning was more impactful. I was devoted to finding the best practices of what worked and how it worked. By directly learning from those who had success and then experimenting with and combining their results, I was truly proving what was giving value and what was not.

While The Truth in Online Marketing is a high-level, abridged summary of some of the findings, there are several important points I share that will help you avoid being ripped off in your decision of selecting your online marketing partner.  Again, please share your thoughts in the comments below and if you know someone who could benefit from this information, you scan use the share icons below to share this post.  Thanks and have an outstanding day!

The fastest, most affordable method of finding new customers and converting them into actual buyers is by leveraging the online marketing tools available today. While it’s great to have articles, videos and press releases about your company, as well as being on top of search engine results, those are just the tip of the iceberg- you have to do more than those things.

A typical website has a response rate of less than 1%. If you’ve gone to the work of getting people to your site, then the next step for you is to get them into your sales funnel.

The simplest way to accomplish this is by offering something of value to your users. For example, if you offer a free video series or a white paper or a blueprint to whatever it is you do (i.e. quality content that helps them), then it’s most likely that potential customers are going to sign up for a free newsletter, and share to you their email address and other personal information.

The next thing to do is to follow-up. This is the backbone of  what’s commonly known among internet marketers as online lead generation. Ask any successful sales trainer or business, and they’ll surely tell you that follow-up is the key to a successful sales conversion. Sadly, however, the truth is that majority of leads are never followed up with by most businesses because they’re not aware of how effective it is- even those who’ve been around for quite a long time now.

You really have to follow-up with a prospect through email. Sales are not made the first time someone sees you or your product, but they are made by the 5th, 6th or 7th follow-up. And if you’re trying to grow your business online, emails is one of the best ways to go. Use your email client or an online email marketing software to do it.

The disadvantage of using your own email program is that you are often limited by the number of messages you can send out and at one time (Outlook limits it to 50), you have to mail merge to add personal information. You also cannot set automated follow-up emails.

Therefore, if you have a lot of prospects to follow-up with, an online e-mail marketing software is your best solution. This allows you to send all the e-mails you like, you can set automatic follow-ups and the deliverability rates are typically over 99%. The disadvantage can be the cost since you have to pay a monthly fee. Still, it will be worth the investment to save your time and allow you to convert prospects to customers.

This post is continued in Best E-mail Marketing Options Aweber vs. MailChimp vs. 1ShoppingCart vs. Infusionsoft vs. MonsterFollowUp.

There are quite a few email marketing companies to choose from. These are Aweber, MailChimp, GetResponse, VerticalResponse, iContact and Constant Contact and those with a additional features include 1ShoppingCart, Infusionsoft and MonsterFollowUp (now called Instant Customer).

If you are just getting started as a small to mid-size business and want an affordable, quality email marketing program for sending out follow-up emails, a good option to explore is Aweber.  If you want to use API (or if have a low number of subscribers, want a free account and are not doing any affiliate marketing) checkout MailChimp.  If you are strictly selling products so want the follow-up to be in the same program as your shopping cart, look into 1ShoppingCart.  When you have a large list and want all the bells and whistles and want to incorporate your email marketing with your customer relationship management system (CRM),  Infusionsoft is an outstanding solution but can be cost-prohibitive for those who are just starting out.  When incorporating text, voice mail, webinars and more-MosterFollowUp (now Instant Customer) brings all these  together.

Here’s a bit more detail and quick review of the best:

1. Aweber

Aweber is used by a majority of internet marketing professionals.  Since it has been around for quite a while and is the most popular, it is incorporated into the vast majority of the online marketing tools (membership sites, shopping carts, etc.).  Its deliverability rate is outstanding.  I have used several email marketing softwares in the past, and I can say that this is one of the best out there.

Aweber Pricing

$1 for the first month and then $19 each month for up to 500 users.  Then, add the below fees for subscriptions over 500…

2. MailChimp

If you are a company that’s not doing any affiliate marketing and plan to heavily use API (to sync with CRM, Shopping Cart, etc.), then MailChimp could be for you.  Their API access is better than other programs.  It is also nice that it’s free for the first 500 subscribers. The downsides to using it, however, are its confusing interface and its incapability for affiliate marketing.  I have used MailChimp for myself and clients who’ve matched this criteria.  Note: with the free account, each email you send out will have their logo on it.  You can pay for an account to remove their logo.

MailChimp Pricing is below:

3. 1ShoppingCart.com

1ShoppingCart.com is an excellent tool for selling products online and it includes an autoresponder email system.  If you want your email marketing and shopping cart in the same place, 1ShoppingCart may be your answer.  I have used 1ShoppingCart.com for products and related email marketing.

1ShoppingCart Pricing

$3.95 the first month and then per the pricing below

4. Infusionsoft

Comparing Infusionsoft to those mentioned above is like comparing apples to oranges.  Infusionsoft allows you to incorporate your email marketing as part of a true customer relationship management (CRM) software and can include a shopping cart and affiliate tracking.  It is an outstanding all-in-one solution.  If you want everything under one roof, Infusionsoft could be a good option for you.

InfusionSoft Pricing

5. MonsterFollowUp

Update: Since this post was written, MonsterFollowUp is in the process is re-branded as Instant Customer.  We are loving this tool more and more – primarily due to the integration of so many follow-up methods.  When the re-brand is complete, we’ll update this post with the new pricing.  

MonsterFollowUp also takes follow-up to a whole new level.  It incorporates lead capture and response via email, text and voicemail and offers the option for simulated live webinars.  So if you have a need for versatility and communicating through multiple channels, then it would be worth looking into MonsterFollowUp.  The snapshot below shows a small portion of the options included in the package…

Hopefully this guide will assist in your decision of which software to use.  Overall, just getting comfortable with one may be the best way to go.  You can take advantage of the free or discounted trial periods to find which one you like best.

The important part is that you start using one – and use it properly to increase your leads and sales!

Again, we hope you found this to be a helpful guide.  If you did, or if you have any additional questions or comments on what you’d like to see on this blog, then go ahead and tell us by leaving a comment below.

One final note / disclaimer:  Some of the above links are affiliate links.  That means when you use these links to buy the product, we get paid a portion of that sale.  You are not paying any more for the product and in many cases, our links allows you to get a discount.  It’s part of how we pay the bills here, so thank you for using them.  If you are choosing to purchase one of these programs, we appreciate you using our link.

By the way, if all of this was overwhelming for you, part of what we do is set up and customize email marketing programs for clients.  It includes customized email templates, customized landing pages with opt-in boxes and training on how to best create the system.  In addition, if writing the emails and keeping up with the task of sending out the emails is beyond your interest, then we have professional writers and web support staff who can take care of that for you as well.

Viral marketing, according to world renowned marketer and techie entrepreneur Eric Ries, works on the idea that the marketing message is spread across different channels by user-generated content. This means that the more people publish or re-publish your content, or anything about your product for that matter, then the more people will get to notice your business. Revenue growth, though still unmeasurable at this phase, could be a “side-effect” of more people looking up and availing your product and the more they’re satisfied with your product then the more they’ll share it with their peers. Hence, acquisition and referral are the key factors here.

Viral marketing include any tool that can influence a customer’s decision to sign up or buy a product directly such as Facebook, Twitter, any mail client, or even paypal. For the uninformed, here are just some of the strategies or tools used by marketing firms that constitute a viral marketing campaign:

1. Consulting for viral advertising and promotion
2. Project management and creation viral content
3. Email marketing
4. Blog and Article marketing
5. Engaging with the Community/ Interaction with potential customers through social media websites and blog commenting
6. Web Analytics/ Monitoring Page Ranking
7. Submitting press releases to PR Websites

The debate with viral marketing, however, is whether it can generate long-term results for your business and clients.While viral marketing, in the form of viral video marketing, for example, could generate fat, six-figure paychecks for YouTubers hired by big-shot companies (e.g. GE, McDonald’s, Alka Setzer, Old Spice) to incorporate their products into the earlier’s video storylines, it’s not proven yet it if it could be long-term. There’s a fast turn-over in the status of being a viral video star, or being the hottest viral marketing expert out there for that matter, which is the reason some businesses are still having second thoughts about going onboard with the viral marketing bandwagon.

We’ve heard of people earning $5,000 a week at start-up who were able to increase their revenues to even a hundred or two hundred percent of their initial income, but were they able to sustain their growth? Some marketers say that everything lies in follow-up, but without follow-up, can initial viral marketing efforts stand on their own? Basic economics teaches us that satisfaction can be accomplished on the first use of a product, so what comes next after the need has been satiated? We’ll get down to the nitty-gritty of all of this in the next blog post.