How can E-marketing benefit you as a business owner? - Guest Blog by Sarah Jantsch

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We are inviting guests to blog with us in the ACT! by Sage Journal on occasion.  Our very first guest is Sara Jantsch with Swiftpage.  So here's Sara to share her thoughts on the new ACT! E-maketing integration in ACT! 2010.

By the way, the invitation to blog is open to all of our community members.  if you feel you have an interesting topic to share, anything from best practices, ACT! process tips, to sales and marketing tips, we'd love to hear from you. Learn more.

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E-marketing
By: Sara Jantsch, Swiftpage

You download the newest version of ACT! 2010.  Things look a bit different…and what is the envelop with the little cloud in your new toolbar?  

ACT! E-marketing is now integrated directly into ACT! 2010.  With the newest version, E-marketing will be automatically installed in the toolbar options.  Once you sign up, you will receive a free 60 day team trial of E-marketing.  Some of the features included in E-marketing include:

E-mail Marketing:
-    ACT! E-marketing helps you create, send and track your E-mail blasts
-    Send much larger quantities of E-mails then your standard E-mail provider
-    Easily design branded and editable E-mails with the E-mail Template Editor
-    Gather valuable information about your contacts interaction with your E-mails, such as who opened, what links they clicked, and more
-    Determine most interested contacts and what products they are interested in

How can E-marketing benefit you as a business owner?

• Monthly newsletter?  Track your clicks and opens to find out who your most interested clients are
• New product release?  Send all your loyal customers a special offer
• Event coming up soon?  Announce your event to the people who care the most
• New to Twitter?  Send out an email blast announcing your newest account

Surveys:
The best way to gather valuable information from your customers is by using a survey.  Have your customers fill out a short survey in exchange for a whitepaper, to help you get to know them better or after they purchased a product.  Work with your customers to improve your products, events and services.  

Benefits of Surveys:

• Update Your List
  • List updater is a very simple tool that can be sent out in an E-mail blast.  Once the customer fills out the survey, the information is recorded and uploaded into ACT!

• Grow Your List
  • List Builder is a simple tool that is placed on your website for visitors to fill out.  Once the survey is completed, the data is recorded and uploaded into ACT! and a new contact is automatically created.

Drip Marketing:
Welcome to the world of convenience and automation.  Don't know what it is like to set up an E-mail campaign and sit back and relax as your E-mails are automatically sent out to your clients?  Well now you do.  

Benefits of Drip Marketing:

• Automatic Delivery
  • Just sit back and watch the results flow in.

• Conditional Actions
  • If a customer signs up for your event, they can automatically be entered into a different campaign.
• Anchor, Calendar or Duration Campaign Types
  • Three different options to help you reach your customers in the most effective way possible. 

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Sara, thank you for your insights on E-marketing in ACT! 2010!

Erica Bassett

Message Edited by tmergel on 03-18-2010 11:48 AM

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I just posted some more thoughts about this as a reply to a pst in the LinkedIN ACT! Fanatics Group here:

http://www.linkedin.com/newsArticle?viewDiscussion=&articleID=60341394&gid=49896

Would be interested in your thought's also Sara.