NP Marketing News Feed

Don’t be her.
Preview your e-newsletter in
different email programs.

Those new to the world of e-newsletter publishing are often surprised to learn that their email newsletters can look quite different to someone who is using Outlook versus someone using  Gmail or Thunderbird, not to mention what it looks like on a smartphone. That’s because email programs (called email clients) process HTML in different ways.

The only way to be sure that your email newsletter template is working well in all the major clients is to actually view it in all of the different programs.

While some email newsletter service providers make this easier than others, it’s not a standard service. But two companies do offer testing programs that will deliver screen shots of your newsletter in various email programs at reasonable prices, even if you don’t use them to send out your newsletter: Mail Chimp’s Inbox Inspector, powered by ReturnPath, (sign up for a free account, then buy three tests for $29) and Campaign Monitor’s Design and Spam Test (sign up for a free account, then pay $5 per test).

It’s well worth paying for the test services every now and then, especially when you make changes to your layout.

If you simply can’t pay, you can do it yourself, but the hassle factor is high. Start by getting free accounts at services like Gmail and Yahoo and installing multiple email programs on your computer (e.g. Outlook, Thunderbird). Beg friends with various ISPs (e.g. AOL, Roadrunner, Comcast) to do screen captures for you. Then run your own tests.

The goal isn’t necessarily to make your newsletter look exactly the same in every program. It’s to make sure that your newsletter is readable in every program and that there aren’t any wacky design shifts that are so distracting that the reader instantly hits delete.

I tweaked my Nonprofit Marketing Tips newsletter this week (go here to sign up, in the left sidebar, under the blue bar) and ran it through both services this morning. Here’s what I found.

To Run the Test: Set up a free account. Go to Create a Campaign > Inbox Inspector Test.  You’ll copy and paste your HTML, and add some other campaign details. Then you’ll pay $29 for 3 tests (nonprofits may get a better deal - I don’t know.). Within one minute, the results started to come in, but they changed after a few minutes, so I’d give it at least 15 minutes before even looking at it.

To Run the Test: Set up a free account. This email service specializes in serving designers who manage e-newsletters for multiple clients. Just pretend you are your own client. Click on the client name, then create a new campaign (you have to have the campaign ready to go before clicking on the “Run a Design and Spam Test” button). Instead of cutting and pasting your HTML, you have to upload the HTML file. When I got to the section about the mailing list, I stopped and clicked on Design and Spam Testing, and it asked for a $5 payment. Speed was about the same - some results quickly, but not worth looking at until about 15 minutes later.

If you are using another email newsletter provider rather than creating your own HTML, simply login to your account, open a newsletter, go the HTML tab and copy the code. Paste it into a plain text program like Notepad. Then you can copy/paste into these services.

Plain Text Versions: Both systems convert your HTML to plain text versions for you, although Campaign Monitor’s looked much cleaner than MailChimp’s. Campaign Monitor also showed me the recommended line length on the plain text message, which is nice, so you can add hard-returns if you want.

Spam Filter: My newsletter passed all of the Spam Filter tests in both systems,  although there were some non-lethal warnings. For example, apparently the McAfee Security Center spam filter considers these words somewhat spammish: source, way, focus, print, pass, accounts, really, others. It would be crazy to worry about such common words, so I’m not going to. Campaign Monitor said McAfee identified 25 words like this as warnings, where MailChimp said McAfee found 30 words. I guess they must be using different versions of McAfee in their testing.

MailChimp tested against eight different spam filters. Campaign Monitor tested against the same ones, plus the Norton 2008 spam filter, but after several hours, the Norton results aren’t available, so that’s a wash.

Content Assessment

MailChimp analyzes your HTML for you and suggests code fixes. I ran the “clean up HMTL” tool in Dreamweaver before running the tests, but MailChimp still found a few code errors. Fortunately nothing serious — just leaving the # sign off of some of the color codes. My heart did skip a beat when it said it found 47 content errors, however. Turns out they were all spelling errors, which weren’t really mistakes (it didn’t like my name, the way I hyphenated All-Acess Pass, etc.). Campaign Monitor doesn’t offer this service.

Email Client Screen Shots

This is what I really cared about.

MailChimp’s Inbox Inspector

Campaign Monitor’s Design and Spam Test

After about an hour, only half of the screen shots were back in both services, but by that point, they both produced some of the biggies, like Outlook, Gmail, Comcast, and AOL. I had simplified my design quite a bit, although I still use a table with two columns, so I wanted to make sure the text wasn’t flowing or overlapping in any strange ways. Fortunately, everything looked reasonably good across the various platforms, although neither one was able to come up with a screen shot from Yahoo! Mail today.

The screenshots did remind me to set all image borders to zero so a blue box doesn’t appear around them when a link is attached. The blue blox showed up in AOL and Comcast, but not Gmail and Earthlink. I’d rather not have it anywhere, so it’s worth adding the border setting in.

Overall, I like Campaign Monitor’s screen shots better. They let you toggle images on and off when those email clients offer that option to readers, so you get a clear picture of exactly what people are seeing. MailChimp lets you see the same thing, but in a less convenient way - you have to open the preview of images on and the preview of images off. Campaign Monitor also groups the screen shots by web-based email clients, desktop email clients, and mobile clients, which I found much easier to scan, where MailChimp groups them all together.  MailChimp does show several clients used in Europe, if that matters to you, that Campaign Monitor doesn’t.

What’s Missing

It would be really nice if these services included screen shots of what your email looks like in different web-based email programs in different web browsers. That’s where you can see some real differences.

Look at the these three screen captures of my newsletter in my Gmail inbox viewed in Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome. Though I prefer Firefox as a user, my newsletter looks the worst in this browser. The text at the top is wrapping oddly so that my name and organization are below the logo instead of beside it like in the others. Firefox and Chrome both remove padding within the table, so the columns butt up against each other, where Explorer keeps the nice white space. Chrome doesn’t include the ALT text on the images in the sidebar, so those are just blank boxes, while the others give you some of the text.

None of these differences are earth-shattering for this particular newsletter, but they could make a real difference depending on your layout and how important your pictures are.

In Mozilla Firefox 3.0.5

In Windows Internet Explorer 7

In Google Chrome 1.0.154.36

My Bottom-Line Recommendation

I prefer Campaign Monitor’s service, and it’s the more affordable option too (always a nice result!). If you really want that extra code check or send lots of email to Europe, then I’d take another look at MailChimp. In addition, be sure to preview the HTML file in different web browsers to make sure there aren’t any differences you can’t tolerate. If you pasted your code into Notepad, just open the browser and go to File, then Open to view your HTML - it doesn’t need to be online to be previewed.

P.S. Get more email newsletter tips during tomorrow’s webinar on E-Newsletter Essentials (1/7/09).

Affordable Nonprofit Marketing Training for Your Staff, Volunteers, and Board. The Nonprofit Marketing Guide Webinar Series gives you the real-world, practical tips you need at a price you can afford. Review the Upcoming Schedule Now.

I just read this testimonial on the NYU Child Study Center site. Nothing could convince me more strongly that the Center makes a real difference in kids' lives, and is likely to be the right place for my child, should she ever need it:

"First, I want to make it clear that I am just a regular kid.

For many years, my teachers labeled me as the "troublemaker" or the "hyper" one, but what they never realized was that I was doing my best to be normal and to meet the expectations that were set. Two years ago, I made my first trip to the Child Study Center, and for the first time my daydreaming was seen as creativity, and my uniqueness my blessing.

Testimonials are more powerful than ever, now that we've seen some of the things we've thought were forever fall apart. But someone's individual experience -- especially someone willing to share his name -- feels reliable.

Make sure you ask your base (supporters, program participants, staff too) to describe their experience with your org, at the time of. Then use those testimonials everywhere.

P.S. Follow these 7 easy steps to harness powerful testimonials for your organization.

Several weeks ago, BusinessWeek columnist Jon Fine shared a term in one of his predictions for 2009 that was intriguing because of how it describes a growing phenomenon in media today … the rise of the shadow media. The shadow media are the professional journalists, writers, editors and thought leaders who have been displaced either by choice or necessity as part of the upheaval that traditional media has been going through over the past few years. While before, these content creators may have just moved to a new role within traditional media (as Josh Quittner did when Business2.0 magazine folded) - but today more and more they are branching out on their own.

The result is a big trend that may start to redefine social media as we currently see it: namely that blogs, social networks and other forms of “new media” aren’t just for amateurs anymore. For some time now, respected journalists like Om Malik, Kara Swisher, Erick Schonfeld and dozens of others have been actively blogging. Engadget is the official media source for the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show, and arguably will be the defacto media source of coverage for the event though there are many traditional publications attending as well.

It may seem like a stretch to refer to all of this as “shadow media” - and indeed some of these classifications are artificial to start with. But regardless of what you call these new sources of news and information, the indisputable fact is that in 2009 there will be many social media examples to point to where the quality is as good if not better than traditional media sources. So if you’re working in a communications role and you’re not yet focusing on social media … consider the shadow media phenomenon your wake up call to start in 2009.

NOTE: This blog post is reposted from the original on Ogilvy's 360 Digital Influence blog.

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Hold a Testimonial Gathering Party

Gathering and utilizing authentic customer testimonials is a great way to a) get closer to your customers and b) offer proof that your company delivers. People can be very motivated by the comments of their peers.

I often find that while most business owners understand the power of testimonials, they don’t always know the best way to acquire them.

So, here’s an idea that I think works on a number of levels. (I actually got this from a participant in a workshop I did for Apple Specialists attending Macworld.)

Why not create an event around gathering testimonials. Invite your best customers for a networking social happy hour. Promote the event as a chance to network, swap stories and star in the creation of new marketing materials for your company. Give it a Hollywood theme. (This probably isn’t something you would do large scale, this is for those customers that are advocates already.)

Hire a videographer and photographer and then throughout the course of the evening, let your customers cycle through the video seat to tell their story of success with your firm. Most people enjoy being on camera once they do it and the whole group will be entertained by the event and feed off of each other’s energy. (This is something you should be doing anyway so why not do it all at one time.)

Yes, this is a bit of a self-serving event on the surface, so I do believe you need to be very selective about invitees and keep it very light and fun - participation in the testimonial part is completely voluntary. But, I think you will find that your customers think this is great too. (Wine helps)

Another way to motivate your customers to participate is to offer to allow them to also create a quick video overview of their company while at the event that they can use in their own marketing efforts.

Once you capture the video, audio and still photos from the event, you’ve got a testimonial and success story library that could infuse your marketing materials, broadcast and print ads for years. And, you’ve created a customer loyalty and community building event that just may become next year’s hottest party to crash!

With the conclusion of the year, holiday stress, and economic pendulum swings, it is very easy to self-sabotage. Statistics prove that internal stress is the key factor in self-sabotage. More important, we sabotage because we focus on negative aspects; we focus on failure.

I’m starting a new feature in 2009 - website(s) of the week.  This week’s have nothing to do with marketing - they have to do with urination and travel!  Because I want to make your life easier not just as a marketer but also as a fellow human being.  In the future, I promise to sometimes feature content relevant to marketing.

This week’s winners:

Check out MizPee to find the nearest clean toilet to where you are now.  Ratings available - measured by little toilet paper roll icons.  (I read about this in today’s Wall Street Journal.) I’ve always been too intimidated to rate anything at Zagat’s but this I could do.

Check out TripIt for your next journey.  When you get all your confirmations from airlines, hotels, etc., just hit forward to their email address and they assemble a nifty little itinerary for you!  They’ll even tell you the weather!  I learned about it from TechCrunch, natch.

Here are some of the things I did today in addition to working all day, doing carpool and writing sixth grade school applications:

I removed gum from my older daughter’s hair (mayonnaise works).  She has “no idea” how this happened. 

I listened to my five year old read her first book start to finish.  Wow.

I found out a $100 gift card I sent my dad never arrived so I tried to call customer service at the company but they’re not open.

I worried about my bank account post-holiday.

All of this unfolded to the musical accompaniment of an iDog playing Rihanna.

So what’s my point here? 

This is daily life.  Doing an Internet search for gum removal, smearing Hellman’s on a child’s hair, handling the daily inconveniences, watching a child cross a massive developmental milestone, listening to your preteen’s music selections, thinking about what’s important and (unfortunately) about what’s not important.

Your audience is living daily life.

They are NOT sitting in an empty white room with no stimulation whatsoever awaiting your message.

I know this sounds obvious but maybe it isn’t.

Look at whatever you were about to say to your audience.  Would it have gotten through to me while I was doing any of the above?  Does it break through all the exciting and distracting and incredible things unfolding around the average person?

Or would it only work if I was seated alone in a blank space awaiting your message with bated breath?

If the answer to the second question is yes, start over.

Remember: people have lives.  Make them want you as part of that life.  Work hard to do that.  You have to.  Because dried up gum, sadly, is more pressing than the direct mail sitting on my table.

Happy New Year!
I’ll be available to answer your questions live on my blog this Friday, January 9, from 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific). Just come to the blog homepage and you’ll see a live chat window where you can enter your questions.

To encourage more conversation on do-it-yourself nonprofit marketing this year, I’m going to prioritize answering your nonprofit marketing questions via this blog or social networking sites like Facebook. I get a lot of questions via private email, and while I like helping out individual people and organizations as much as I can, I believe there is much greater value when I answer questions in a more public forum, so that others can benefit from our conversation and join in with their thoughts too.

With this in mind, here are the best ways to ask your questions and get free advice. This list is now included in my blog sidebar too, but I’m posting it as well for those of you reading via RSS. Keep all those great nonprofit marketing questions coming, just send them to me in ways other than private email, if at all possible.

- Live Office Hours on Fridays - Most Fridays, from 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. ET, you can either call in your question to Magic Keys Radio or chat with me live on this blog’s homepage. Check the calendar for details.

- See Your Q&A on the Blog - I’ll post your question and my reply on this blog and/or in my e-newsletter when you submit your question at Ask Kivi.com.

- Post It on Facebook - Post your question to the bulletin board of the - Do-It-Yourself Nonprofit Marketing Facebook Group or the Nonprofit Marketing Guide Facebook Page.
I manage both.

- Ask on Twitter - Tweet me @kivilm.

- Ask on LinkedIn - Start a discussion within Nancy Schwartz’s - Getting Attention LinkedIn Group for Nonprofit Communicators, where I participate.

- For Webinar Participants Only - Ask a question in advance of the live webinar and see what others are curious about too (coming soon!)

- Email Me Directly - Last resort for general questions, and probably the slowest, because I’m putting priority on answering questions in the places above first. Here’s the contact form.

For questions about webinars, coaching or consulting, please feel free to email me or to call me at 336-499-5816 anytime and I’ll get back to you promptly.

Get All of Our Webinars & E-Courses for $97. With the All-Access Pass, you can attend all of our live webinars, watch recordings, and take on-demand courses whenever you want for 12 weeks. Get the details.

This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Get Closer to Your Customers Now

What the heck, the phone’s not ringing like it was this time last year, something must be up. In good times it’s easy to get lazy and one of the first things to go is that genuine, I really appreciate your business and want to see how I can make your life better, approach to serving customers.

Okay, so customers are getting a little pickier with how they spend their money. Now is the time to reach out and get closer to those customers and let them know you are in it with them right now.

We all know we should be doing this kind of action systematically, good times and bad, so take your renewed customer focus and set-up processes that make sure you never lose it again.

Call 5/day and thank them

Go through your customer list and call 5 per day and thank them for their business. Get in the habit of calling customers and asking what more you could do - send hand-written notes. Apologize for ignoring them if you have!

Admit you’re slower

Address the slow-down in business and openly talk about ways to create win-win buying situations and offers.

Segment them

Not all customers are created equal, so treat them that way. Your most profitable, referring customers should get VIP treatment. You don’t have to downgrade anyone, just make sure your best customers know who they are.

Bring them together

Often your customers are peers and might enjoy the opportunity to commiserate with a group of peers, or at least network, over lunch.

Create a marketing board

Your best customers are probably advocates for your business, whether you know it or not. Create an informal board of your most involved customers and ask for their input and accountability in the development of your marketing strategies and tactics.

Get out from behind the computer and go out there in your customer’s world and get a better understanding of what they are going through and you can create loyalty that will bond you beyond price shopping.

I'm a big fan of a Canadian television show called the Dragon's Den. The premise of the show has budding entrepreneurs pitch their product or business idea to five venture capitalists who then decide if they are willing to offer funding.