5 Rules to Make a Smashing Small Business Press Release

Content is hard to conceive and it is very common to have writer’s block. With all the new in the world, such as social, listacles, and more.

Sometimes going old school can be a good thing. However, the when it comes to your small business public relations strategy, and the traditional press release is advantageous for your business and brand.

Back in the day, news was only delivered through the early morning newspaper. Fast forward today, the vast majority of people obtain their news either through a Twitter headline, what’s trending on Instagram, or what is being shared on Facebook.

What Is a Press Release / News Release?

A Press Release helps to build meaningful news that can help your small business stand out in Malaysia and build confidence of your customers over time.

A press release is an official announcement (written or recorded) that an organization issues to the news media and beyond.

Whether it’s called a "press release," a "press statement," a "news release," or a "media release," we're always talking about the same basic thing.

While the heading should contain action verbs, the first paragraph should answer the "who," "what," "why," and "where." The press release should also contain understandable language and a quote.

Most press releases are short at just a page long -- two pages, at its maximum. 

The goal is for your small business to ultimately, provide enough information that news outlets or any reader have sufficient material to gather information about your activities for publishing.

It may be tempting to craft a press release tht twists the facts, but remember this is a piece of information that is published to the public domain live for others to see. As it would be positive for your small business, but on the flipside it could also be detrimental.

So instead of taking the press release as a way to earn short-term news coverage, think of it as a long term marketing strategy for your Malaysian small business.

Rule 1: Make your headline irresistible.

Just like writing any article the title, sets up your press release for success. It can’t be stressed that starting with a great headline, is extremely important.

Although this seems like a daunting task, but consider the diction carefully, and you would be creating a highly captivating headline.

Use action verbs, clear, understandable language, and keep your headline simple and short -- fortune (and search engines) reward the brief, so keep your title to one line to clearly focus people's attention on your topline message.

Most importantly, make it interesting: Keep in mind that reporters get dozens, if not hundreds, of releases each day, so invest the time to write a compelling headline. It's worth the time and effort on your part.

Rule 2: Convey the value.

For anyone reading to be inclined to share your announcement, you have to tell them upfront why they should care.

The first paragraph of your release should cover the who, what, why, where, and how of your new launch, update, or development. People don't have time to sift through details and fluffy background information.

There shouldn't be any new, crucial information covered after this section that the reader could potentially miss.

Rule 3: Offer a tempting quote.

It's time to bring your details to life with a quote that reporters can use for context around your announcement and help paint a picture of how your news effect.

Ideally, quotes will be from key stakeholders in your company including your executive team, project leads, or those directly impacted by your announcement.

Quoting key figures and authorities underlines the importance of your development. The chosen quote should shape your narrative and emphasize the core of the announcement.

Rule 4: Provide valuable background information

In this last paragraph, keep in mind that the reader already has all of the important information.

It can be tempting to provide superfluous facts and tidbits about your company or the development of your announcement.

Offer details here that strengthen your narrative, like creative or noteworthy ways your company developed the project or announcement at hand.

Rule 5: Summarize the "who" and the "what" in a boilerplate.

Make your press release incredibly easy to reference.

Describe what your company does in clear, plain English, include a link to your company's homepage early on, and make your boilerplate succinct and straightforward.

To keep yourself honest, ask a friend or colleague to read the press release without context and ask if they can easily and readily explain why the announcement matters.

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5 Ways to Boost Your Christmas Email Campaigns

Hey there small businesses! Make sure you plan a for this, because planning a great Christmas email campaign is crucial to your shop’s holiday success.

There’s the hype and although social media marketing might seem like the trendy thing to do at the moment (and it is worth investing in if you do it right), email marketing campaigns are inexpensive and can actually be very effective

In this post we’ll look at some strategies on the how-tos for running a successful Christmas email campaign.

1. Timing

Timing is important, as with most things. Timing is always a tricky thing in life, isn’t it?

Email marketing is no exception too, especially when it comes to Christmas sales.

With businesses trying to stay one step ahead of the competition during the holiday season, it seems that Black Friday will be a thing of the past soon (or at least not as relevant as in previous years).

This is where you have to be careful. If you’re a B2B business, it might very well make sense to begin your marketing campaigns in early October, as your consumers will need to prepare their own campaigns for the end users. However, if you’re a B2C company and you start sending your Christmas emails out too early, you run the risk of Christmas banner blindness. Your messages might get ignored or, even worse, you might irritate your customers.

Here’s a schedule that we recommend to prepare. It’s a sequence of emails that you should send and your workflow should look like this:

Warm up: inform your audience of the upcoming sale and what they can expect
Reminder: let them know that the sale is beginning very soon
Wake up: remind them that the sale has begun
Follow up: let them know any relevant information for a post-Christmas sale, etc.q
Of course, this isn’t set in stone and it all depends on your offers and your strategy. For example, you might have a “last-minute” sales email in this workflow to advertise your printable gift cards.
All in all, remember, it’s never too early to start planning your Christmas campaigns, but it can be too early to start sending them out.

2. Bring to the front important information.

A lot of companies are going to be holding Christmas sales, so you’re going to do your best to differentiate your offer. The last thing you want is for your customers to miss the benefits of buying from you. If you have a gift guide section on your website, make sure they know. I

3. Design

With all the deals you’ll be offering, you might forget that it is Christmas – and what’s Christmas without decorations? Your emails should reflect this as well. You have a lot different routes to choose from here:  the clean, white Christmas look or the colorful lights.

For B2B companies, perhaps you’ll want to go with a clean, white Christmas look, or include a Christmas greeting in the footer of your email.

A bonus tip for B2B companies, could be to include a Christmas signature.

4. Texts

Again, don’t forget that it’s Christmas time! Sure, it can be a bit stressful at times at home and at work (that might be the understatement of the year), but it’s supposed to be fun, too! “Fun” is the feeling that the email should give your readers.

Make sure you reach deep down inside and get that inner “soul” to make your best Christmas puns. Don’t be afraid to dabble in some cheesy word-play either.

5. Have the correct landing page

It’s hard enough getting people to open your email. The next goal is for them to click on button. In this day and age, two-clicks really is asking a lot from people.

However, if you’ve managed to grab their attention with your email, that means you’re doing something right! The last thing you want to do is guide them to a page that doesn’t show them the information they want to see.

If these potential customers have given you their attention, make sure you hold their attention by guiding them to a landing page that matches your email in style and content. 

The journey this customer takes after that first click should be completely smooth and cause no confusion. For example, if you’ve caught their attention by showcasing your gift guide, then the landing page should take them directly there, not to the homepage.

Don’t waste this opportunity!

Discover how you can send emails that get through with Everworks’s business email hosting here.

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6 Fantastic VR Marketing Examples for Your Business

The importance of virtual reality (VR) shouldn't be taken lightly, as the Internet was once a debate. This is the future and we should learn from past experiences with the Internet.

 Here you will find 9 Fantastic Ideas on how to apply VR to your business. It is estimated that by 2020, the economic impact of virtual and augmented reality is predicted to reach $29.5 billion.

By the end of 2017, the number of shipped units of VR software and hardware from Sony, Oculus, HTC, and others totaled $2.4 million, up from $1.7 million in 2016.

By 2020, the number of VR headsets sold is predicted to reach 82 million -- a 1,507% increase from 2017 predicted totals.

 It's evident that VR is being adopted in the marketplace at a rapid pace, and adding this capability to your existing portfolio of marketing channels is something you must consider to stay current in the ever changing ever growing competitive space for business.

 What Is VR VR, is short for virtual reality, is a form of interactive software that immerses users in a three-dimensional environment to simulate a real experience (This is achieved with the help of some hardware). Ideally, VR allows people to simulate the experience in 360 degrees.

 Numerous industries are now finding uses for VR. Some examples include the transport people to places they might otherwise have to travel to, or simply imagine.

While movie companies, for example, are giving audiences the opportunity to experience the movie as if they're the actual character in the scene, and conventional businesses are now using VR to demonstrate and promote their products to potential customers to give them a more immersive experience and a more vivid illustration on what they intend to communicate.

 Before we dive into some of the businesses that have found success injecting their marketing with a dose of VR, it's worth noting that virtual reality has a few key differences from another term you might've heard before: augmented reality.

Both are working in the virtual space, however, there are differences:

 Let's dive into the 9 fantastic ideas on how to apply VR to your business below:

 1. Key Technology: VERYX Food Sortixd d. 0g

 

 As a designer and manufacturer of food processing systems, Key Technology created a VR demo system that would allow any attendee to experience a more detailed, hands-on look at how the company's VERYX digital food sorting platform works and how it will help them.

 2. Defy Ventures and Within: Step To The Line

 

 Another great VR initiative we recommend is Step To The Line: A short film (that was immersively viewed on a VR headset) documenting the lives of inmates at California maximum-security prisons. Created by Within, a VR storytelling production company, in partnership with Defy Ventures, an entrepreneurship and development program for men, women, and youth who are currently or were formerly incarcerated.

The objective of this viewing experience is to help viewers to uniquely see what life is like within the walls of these correctional facilities, from the yard, to the cells, to the conversations that take place there.

3. Limbic Life: Project VITALICS

 

There is knowledge that For far too many people, injuries, age, and disease can diminish mobility and equilibrium to the point where walking is extremely painful to nearly impossible.

 Pairing this special chair with a Gear VR headset allows users to more intuitively move their bodies (thanks to the chair's combined neuroscience-based and ergonomic design) while virtually experiencing day-to-day experiences with a rehabilitative use of their hands and legs.

 Dr. Patrik Künzler mentioned, "Patients enjoy being in the chair and the freedom of movement it allows. They enjoy VR a lot, especially the flying games," he told Samsung Business Insights. And not only can the VR technology help them physically heal, but it also contributes to emotional rehabilitation. "When they get up from the chair," Künzler said, "they’re in a good mood and feel happy.”

4. Lowe's: Holoroom How To

 

 IT is more often than not for any first-time buyer. Even if you know of the unfathomable power of paperwork and finances to undermine the fun of designing or decorating a new home. That is, until you walk into one of 19 Lowe's stores that features the Holoroom How To VR experience.

 Some homeowners are lucky enough to pay a professional to renovate their home when it needs to be. For others -- Lowe's core buyer -- the next stop is the world of do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement, which comes with its own hefty dose of stress.

 That's why Lowe's decided to step in and help out homeowners -- or recreational DIY enthusiasts -- with a virtual skills-training clinic that uses HTC Vive headsets that guides participants through a visual, educational experience on the how-to of home improvement.

5. Boursin: The Sensorium

 

We discovered that the cheese brand Boursin once created a VR experience to take users on a multi-sensory journey through a refrigerator to shed light on its products' flavor profiles, food pairings, and recipe ideas.

 The goal: to raise awareness among U.K. consumers of Boursin's distinct taste and product selection. While the VR installment was part of a live experiential marketing campaign, the rest of us can get a taste -- pun intended -- of the virtual experience via this YouTube video.

 6. Adidas: Delicatessen

 

 In 2017, Adidas partnered with Somewhere Else, an emerging tech marketing agency, to follow the mountain-climbing journey of two extreme athletes sponsored by TERREX (a division of Adidas). And what good is mountain climbing to an audience if you can't give them a 360-degree view of the journey?

Viewers were able to follow the climbers, literally rock for rock and climb along with them. You heard that right -- Using a VR headset and holding two sensory remote controls in each hand, viewers could actually scale the mountain of Delicatessen right alongside Rueck and Miller.

This VR campaign, according to Somewhere Else, served to "find an unforgettable way to market TERREX, [Adidas's] line of outdoor apparel & accessories." What the company also did, however, was introduce viewers to an activity they might have never tried otherwise. Instill an interest in the experience first, and the product is suddenly more appealing to the user.

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5 Tips On How You Can Use Email To Your Advantage

It is widely known that email marketing is one of the best channels for engaging subscribers and nurturing leads.

Below are 5 Tips on How you can use email to your advantage

1.  Make use of interactive content

As Social metrics have noted that interactive content is the best way of garnering a subscriber’s attention. It doesn’t only make the emails more accurate and simpler but also brings out its fun elements and informative side. For example, you can include embeded links which show GIFs.

2.  Subscribe to an email savvy brand

Good emails pave avenues for a successful email marketing campaign.

However, finding emails that stand out on a regular basis is a tough task. So, to get hold of some creative email ideas, subscribe to a brand that’s email savvy.

How I organise this in my inbox is to create a custom email filter which sorts these emails into folders for easy reference in future.

3.  Watch on your competitors’ email campaigns

Apart from subscribing to an email savvy brand, keeping an eye on your competitor’s email campaign is also a great idea to get a competitive edge over them. See what strategies they are implementing to capture the subscriber’s attention.

Pay attention to how they write their content, design their email templates, and layout their email campaign and how they include their Call-to-Action.

4.  Make use of professional images

Nothing grabs a subscriber’s attention more than a high-end, professional image.

It doesn’t only help in breaking long walls of text but, also gives you the option to include something attention-grabbing.

A great resource is Pexels.com

5.  Go the automation way

Another sure-fire way of keeping your email marketing top-notch is by opting for automation.

From welcome emails to drip and triggered campaigns, email automation helps you do it all instantly. This is the reason

Although this reduces your workload, you shouldn’t skimp at the opportunity to personalise whenever possible. While it sends welcome emails automatically to help establish a connection with your new subscriber, it uses drip campaigns to send unique content at regular interval and keep the customers involved.

Learn more about how you can host and access professional business email from Everworks here.

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10 Common Email Mistakes to Avoid

People are social by nature and we set ourselves apart from other animals through the way we communicate and present ourselves.
Similarly your business is unique to other competitors in the way it builds and portrays itself (the brand) to its customers and prospects.

And out of the many channels of communications available, email is the only one where the conversation can be personalised depending on which point of entry the customer chooses to interact with your brand.

Here are some common mistakes that most email marketers make:

1. No welcome email

Almost every subscriber expects some sort of a welcome email when they subscribe to any email list. It is confirmation that they have performed an action and it is reciprocated in a manner in which they expect.

It’s as good as meeting a someone and not greeting that person and not even making yourself known. The first impression is extremely important, but not making the effort to present yourself with the opportunity to make that first impression is equally damaging.

A welcome email, is triggered immediately after a prospect has agreed to exchange time to receive your emails.

2. Not asking for permission.

Don’t assume that your prospects want to receive everything at any time. Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes. What would you do if you received email from a brand that you do not recognise? Would you continue to subscribe or even purchase? I don’t think you would.

3. Don’t hardsell. It’s as good as saying, “Thanks for joining, the solution costs you RM x.”

A visitor subscribes to your email newsletter hoping that your brand can help solve their problems.

Somtimes email marketers forget this and tend to sell their products under the pretext that it is providing a solution.

4. Not fixing on a sending schedule

Don’t forget the importance of time. Consider when you are sending your readers emails. The likelihood of them not reading your email is high if the majority of your customers are based in Malaysia, but your email is being sent after 12 midnight.

5. No personalisation

This is a very common mistake. Imagine sending out an email to a guy about the latest dress discount your store is having right now.

It doesn’t make sense, and it doesn’t add any value to the subscriber.

Always make sure you segment your list before sending out your email, even though it is done through an email service provider.

6. Multiple emails sent together

There are many email marketers that set overlapping automated email lists. While they may contain different messages the subscriber in short gets spammed.

7. Stopping subscribers from leaving

You can’t win over everyone. And sometimes somethings aren’t meant to be. If a subscriber wishes to unsubscribe a marketer should readily offer this.

Not giving subscribers this option might prompt them to report your email as spam to stop receiving emails and this will lower your sender reputation (means the likelihood of your future emails being in spam is higher)

8. Improper punctuations & grammar

Regardless of any business, there is no excuse for poor grammar. Especially punctuations.

The grammar used is a reflection of your image and professionalism.

9. Improper email tone

A spell-checked email copy is useless if it conveys the wrong tone. The prime areas where marketers tend to miss their footing in setting email tone is improper salutation, wrong choice of words or even how they sign off.

10. “Ciao, Mr. Shawn”

Addressing your subscriber with wrong personalization is one of the common mistakes that email marketers tend to commit. The root cause of the error exists in wrong list entry, wrong personalization tag or even the lack of a tag.

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Your email is a reflection of you. Don’t make these mistakes as it will only does the brand’s personality get dented, but you also weaken the relation between you and your subscriber.

Did we forget any other mistakes? Share your views in the comment section below.

Learn how you can integrate email marketing into your business here.

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Marketing Agencies Don't Want You To Know This (Email Marketing Secrets for Small Business)

The Internet presents opportunity for any sized business. The Internet also connects everyone so long as they have a connection to the digital domain.

People use the internet to communicate, shop, date and transact, while marketers target their prospective audiences over the internet, making it the foundation of a peaceful online shopping ecosystem.

Here are some statistics that prove why Email Marketing is such an important tool and should not be missed.

It’s common for most business owners (especially those in Malaysia) to be an  owner of a brick-and-mortar shop. Having an online presence reduces the restrictions on your target audience. For example, you are not tied down to an audience that is conveniently located around you only.

It is proven that the best way to communicate with your customers is through email.

Learn how email marketing can help your small business.

1. It helps to Build credibility

Building relationships is the foundation of any business. You can do more with email marketing, as you are able to build trust and recognition among your subscribers by sending helpful and educational information.

2. Increase and Build visibility beyond your location

Irrespective of their geographic location, you will be able to send emails to your target audience with just an email ID and this will help improve the visibility of your business.

3. Cheaper alternative to most physical forms of advertising

Assuming you are sending an email to an email list of 1000 subscribers, you may be spending < RM10. Research shows that you can earn up to RM34 for every RM1 you spend on your email campaign, you will find out that emails are the most profitable marketing channel.

4. Increase awareness about your business. Increase traffic visits (online and offline). 

A successful email is the one that manages to make the subscriber click and get redirected to a relevant landing page (for omnichannel businesses) or your storefront.

5. Market with a personal touch 

Connect personally with your customers, by segmenting the information that they want to receive. By tracking the customer journey, you can personalize the email copy to building a meaningful relationship.

6. Turn one-time sale into a repeat order / Help patrons stay connected with new updates

Anyone who purchases from you may lose contact as they step out. By having them in your mailing list, you can keep in touch with them. This will enable them to shop from you time and time again.

What your business needs to implement email marketing?

An Email Service Platform (ESP)

Email inbox services such Gmail, Hotmail or Outlook cannot be used to send bulk emails owing to restrictions placed to avoid spamming. You need to invest in a professional email service provider to send emails in bulk.

Some provide services for zero to nominal fees for emailing less than 2,000 subscribers, while others charge you based on the mailing list strength. If you are starting out, you can choose MailerLite, MadMimi ReachMail or MailChimp. We conducted a review for MailChimp. You can read about it here.

Templates are readily available, but it is good to have a customer outsourced professional to help you with this. However, sometimes you need to design a custom email template for providing a good user experience.

Tips to start your Email Marketing

Build your mailing list both offline and online

To start out, you can talk to your existing customers to share their email addresses to get information about your business. Some of the ways to create excitement are:

1. Coupons and Sales Promotions
2. Loyalty or Rewards Programs
3. Company News and Updates
4. Contests and Sweepstakes
5. Free Content like E-Books
6. Products or Service Information
7. Exclusive Peeks at New Products

What emails would you send?

Newsletters

For prospects / customers to exchange their email and time to read your emails, be prepared to send them valuable information. Do not sell to them as they would associate this with spam, and you would lose email authority.

In addition to newsletter you should also send:

1. Transactional emails like order receipts, upsell & cross-sell emails, re-order reminder emails that are associated with building relation post-purchase.
2. Promotional emails to inform your customers about special or limited stock events and promotions
3. Holiday and seasonal emails for the brands who conduct special campaigns during holidays.
4. Customer loyalty emails for existing patrons to show how valuable they are to your brand.
5. Separate your mailing list as per preference and hit Send
6. No two customers will have same interests. You need to learn / understand their preferences and what products they are interested and segment the email list accordingly. This ensures that the customer receives the information that interests them.

Learn more about Everworks email here. You’d be surprised what email can do for your business.

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Tips on How To Not Make the Mistake of Choosing the Wrong Email Service Provider

Email marketing is the bread and butter for most marketers as it draws the most ROI compared to other marketing channels.

Every brand is now implementing inbound methodology, marketers are choosing email marketing as the best way to build trust and increase sales.

The idea is to capture a prospect’s brief approach to you with a problem and subscribes to your emails with a hope to be educated and finding a solution to his problems.

During this critical moment, your catch to these prospects is that they will lose out on a valuable aspect of information that wouldn’t be otherwise available unless they subscribe to your email.

There is a large chance that this isn’t even presented to your prospects when they need it most.

And this fault is likely to be due to your Email Service Provider ("ESP"), as your message would have ended in spam.

If you wondering what an ESP is or if you are facing troubles with your current one, this article is for you.

The role of the Email Service Provider ("ESP")

To send emails to a customer you need an ESP. They help you to deliver your email to your customers in bulk. Yes there is the ever present popular options such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and more, but these are only good for sending individual cold emails to individuals.

ESPs have other features built into them, which make them the first choice for any email marketer such as:

1. Database and App API integration
2. Email list segmentation and management tools
3. Automated email sending

How to choose an ESP

Setting up an ESP from scratch requires time and money, so the best option is to choose one that already has a set amount of features and service offerings that fit your needs:

1. Costing: 

In the realm of ESPs, there is one for every type of budget. There are free-to-use ESPs like Mailchimp who offer user-friendly email editor, premium looking email template library, email automation workflows and email campaign analytics for almost nothing provided that you send out less than 2,000 emails monthly. While it seems like a sweet deal, the email template is not yours and the footer will carry Mailchimp banner. Plus, you can send only 10 campaigns every month. This is an excellent option for someone who has just started out or on a tight budget.

2. Deliverability Standards: 

Any emails you send are scanned by an Internet Service Provider at the user-end before being delivered. If the IP that you send your emails is blacklisted, the ISP filter will not allow your emails to pass through. Since you shall be using an ESP to send your emails, you need to ensure that they provide you with good deliverability. Enquire about the different kinds of reputation support such as white listing.

3. API integration support: 

Sending emails is a process that is constantly improved upon based on previous campaign performances (this is dependant on whether you really need this or not)

4. Scalability: 

Since you have a mailing list of < 2,000 subscribers, you decide to choose the free model of the ESP. Will your ESP have the capability to send emails when your mailing list explodes to >20,000 subscribers? Does it support adding more users in your plan?

5. Customer Support: 

Imagine you scheduled an email to be sent early morning but owing to ESP server downtime, the campaign could not be delivered. Does your email service provider cater to customer support at odd hours?

6. Ease-to-use: 

Are the specified features easy to use? Is the FAQ section easily accessible? How quickly does customer support respond? Do you require any technical knowledge to operate the platform?

Tips to keep in mind:

1. Metrics you measure: 

Email campaign metrics such as open rates, click rates, unsubscribes are provided by all ESPs, but you need to identify other metrics that you wish to measure such as heatmap, optimum open rate, last email opened etc.

2. Plans for improving interactivity: 

You need to check whether you plan to send emails with innovations to boost user engagement. This is important since most ESPs don’t support CSS interactivity.

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Although choosing or switching ESPs is like making a life-long commitment. You may choose to change. BUT beware as it would mean a waste of resources.

You can learn more about our email services here.

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