June 2011 Newsletter

A very good day to you, welcome to the first of our new monthly newsletters. We've been helping people harness email marketing for a few years now and thought, it's time to practice what we preach!

We aim to be informative and thought provoking. Each month we'll have:

• Updates from equestrian PagePlay users.
• News from us and organisations who offer their members PagePlay discounts such as the BHS.
• Our guest guru - giving in-depth advice on an element of online marketing or equestrian business.

If anything has happened that you think others might like to read about, please drop me a line: liam@abbeyviewequine.com

Enjoy the read!

L

The latest equestrian business to benefit form a PagePlay site is Equiflick, a business designed to bring affordable video content to the equestrian industry. How does this work? Well, it’s quite simple, there are three options to choose from, and the price is reflected accordingly.

“Video is a huge thing at the moment, with the rise in the use of social media and the internet in general,” says Lawrence Freeman, owner of Equiflick. “Equiflick allows companies and individuals to either capture their own content and send it in for editing, send the product in for videoing, or organise a mutually convenient time for a member of the Equiflick team to come out and capture the footage required. The clips are then edited and sent over, ready to use.”

There’s no doubting that video content is a great addition to any website, and that Facebook pages and YouTube channels benefit from quality, current content. Equiflick helps video to be more accessible for companies, allowing them to make more of their sponsored riders, get behind the scenes, and share exclusive content with people, whether it’s about products, ranges, people or complementary content. For individuals, Equiflick can help create videos to support ‘for sale’ adverts, video blogs, and so on. Really, anything you think a video can show, Equiflick can help you realise it.

To find out more, see equiflick.co.uk and/or email info@equiflick.co.uk

We offer member benefits for a number of organisations - one of which is the British Horse Society. The BHS guys tell us about new developments to benefit the trade.

With over 73,000 members ranging from horse owners, riders, professionals and enthusiasts The BHS offers fantastic opportunities for businesses to reach a large and diverse quantity of the equestrian target audience. What is also exciting is that last year the BHS rebranded after 60 years to become more in line with people’s needs and aspirations of today. It has seen a huge amount of interest and new support on the back of this, along with increased membership, which means a bigger audience for businesses to reach.

There are many benefits to gain when joining the BHS, including the following:

• Website insertion into the BHS business directory

• Insertion on online mapping website EMAGIN. Emagin.org is a unique global database of everything equestrian geographically referenced. It utilises digital Ordnance Survey maps and illustrated images of Britain and Ireland displaying the National Bridleroute Network and all businesses

• Promotion in British Horse magazine

• Discounted rates to advertise in British Horse magazine

• One Adult Gold membership for the key trade member contact

• Trade member logo for use on all your business communications

There are also many sponsorship and advertising opportunities with the BHS, both large and small, which all help the BHS as the UK’s largest equine charity and help you further promote your organisation.

Call 02476 840 454 or visit bhs.org.uk for more information.

My piece may feel a little bit like the Matrix, an article on newsletters within a newsletter. Read it quick, before the internet breaks!

We all like to hear about our favourite brands and organisations so there's a case for every business to invite fans to sign up for a newsletter. The newsletter is an opportunity to communicate regularly and directly with your keenest customers – with the added bonus that you can pull them in to your current promotions and calls-to-action.

A proactive approach to online communications doesn't just mean sending continuous emails about special offers or competition season achievements. As depressing as it might sound upfront – even your most loyal customers are much less interested in an email from you than you expect. So the message needs to engage them quickly and then contribute to an ongoing story, in which each thrilling instalment enforces your key brand aims. You might want them to feel entertained, inspired or even a greater sense of belonging.

Whatever you want them to feel, there are some important email newsletter tips to keep in mind:

1. Be honest and direct. Consumers buy for many reasons – and it's not always about finding the cheapest option or even something actually unique. For most purchases consumers are led by deep emotions. As you build your brand story, you create something to satisfy these emotional needs. Think of the best brands you know – they all depend on your emotional involvement with them. So your messages should be about reinforcing this. Give them a sneak peek into your business, in which you reveal what it's like to live your brand. Think about why it will reassure, inspire or energise them. They're more likely to buy that bottle of show sheen from you rather than the guy down the road, without even realising – or being able to explain why.

2. Don't commit any cardinal email sins. If you're sending the messages from a normal workaday email application like Outlook – make sure you put the addresses in the BCC field. You wouldn't want to accidentally reveal all of your targets contact details. It's terribly unprofessional and a real breach of trust and privacy for the people who are supposed to mean so much to you. Check all of the links you include to ensure none of them are broken. Also, it's important to send to people who actually want to listen. Give readers an easy way to unsubscribe – and follow through on it. Your recipients should stay because they want to, not because they have to. No one loves a spammer!

3. Build your lists with good contacts at every opportunity. In your meetings and dealings with new contacts, if you think they might be interested, invite them to join your mailing list. You could send them a sample newsletter and invite them to subscribe for themselves.

4. The most important question is 'why?' What do you want your customers to think and/or do after reading your message? Be sure to include links to relevant online material and plan your calls-to-action. Good links in your email newsletter save your reader time and demonstrate your helpful and knowledgeable nature. If they are really useful, readers may even forward them on to others – giving you some free viral marketing. If you have a solid aim for the newsletter – make sure the customer's next step is clear. Make it easy for them to choose the option you would prefer, or they will simply delete and move on.

Investing in a quality email newsletter tool makes life a lot easier so you can focus on the important questions: what contribution to my brand story does this newsletter make and what am I trying to achieve for my customers by sending it?

The best email newsletter tools all offer these benefits:

1. Professionally branded newsletters ensuring visual continuity.
2. The ability to personally address emails to recipients, and create groups in order to segment the market and target contacts appropriately.
3. The ability to track recipient activity – who opened it, what did they look at and who's email address didn't work this time?

Increasingly consumers make use of an online 'touchpoint' for the brands they love. If you want to build a lasting and fulfilling relationship with your customers you need this touchpoint to be easy to find and to reinforce their impression of you. But – that's not enough! Proactive online communications are vital for keeping their attention and building that relationship. Whatever the content of your email newsletters – make sure you really try to connect with the hopes and desires of the audience. You're more likely to achieve your aims if you can convince them that you are doing the same for them.

As watchers, meddlers and lovers of all things social media we thought we'd impart some of our thoughts each month.

Think of your newsfeed as a high street or mall. They may not realise it, but consumers peruse their newsfeed in a similar way, looking out for things that catch their eye - not just a sale sign. Give them something that will make them pause for a moment and think.

We also want to know what you think - don't keep it to yourself.

Coming soon to PagePlay is the new Pure Feed Company site. We'll keep you posted - it's looking great!

On the 20th of June I will be speaking at the launch of the British Equestrian Federation's Introduction to East & East Midlands 'Hoof' workshop. If you run a business in the region and would like to attend, drop Sonia Birch a line: sonia.birch@bef.co.uk