On Track: Trick or Trust?

October 2003

Hi,

"Tricks" are to Halloween what "Trust" is to e-marketing. So my advice is simple: save tricks for October 31st and build trust through effective e-marketing campaigns.

This month we're thrilled to introduce a series of articles featuring "Six Steps to Successful Newsletter Marketing" by Tamara Halbritter and Hank Stroll of InternetVIZ - two talented colleagues who share our passion for the space! They're also the author's of an e-book titled: A Marketer's Guide to e-Newsletter Publishing. To learn how trust goes beyond content, this month's article is a must-read.

Enjoy the read!

Carolyn Gardner
President, cardcommunications

PS - Doing anything after work tomorrow? Drop by and say hi to us at "Business After Hours", a Greater Ottawa Chamber of Commerce mini-trade show and reception featuring complimentary hors d'oeuvres, cash bar and terrific networking! Price of Admission: Your Business Card!


	Want to write email content that gets read? Above all, make sure you deliver valuable content that can be easily scanned. Try highlighting various topics of importance with sub-headings. Note how we do that for you in "On Track". :)


	A new study by Quris reports email users want to maintain an average of 16 email subscriptions at a time. So to gain access to this "inner circle", e-marketers need to "push somebody out" by offering emails that feature exceptionally valuable content.


	Approximately 580 million people worldwide now have Internet access. About 94% of the Internet populations use email. *Stats from Email Marketing Metrics Guide, Second Edition

By Brian O'Grady

Why most web sites 'suck'

Q: Our new site looks great and we all agree it's awesome. Now through our e-newsletter, we drive customers to the site...but customers say they can't find anything on it. How did this happen?

A: Ninety per cent of web sites don't work. Usually, the cause is a combination of three issues: it looks awesome but doesn't work, everyone can surf and therefore everyone can design, and the web is still a new medium. The last point is the most important. Read on...

"Six Steps to Successful Newsletter Marketing"
by Tamara Halbritter and Hank Stroll -

Online newsletters may not be as popular as God and country. But some days, it seems that they are close.

Enter "God" into a Google search box and 7,030,000 hits are returned. "Country" is even more popular with 10,100,000. "Newsletters" are just a notch below God with 5,040,000 hits.

Every online marketing guru and guru-in-training writes about how to produce, create, write, edit, distribute, manage, track, and delete newsletters. Newsletters have been glorified, vilified, amplified, beatified, and mystified. They can be modified, crucified, cut-and-dried, country-fried, city-fied, and--almost always--justified.

Want to get back to the basics? Keep reading...