How to Create a Product Launch Email

There are very few times that are more exciting in a company than during a product launch. Anticipation brews and a sense of optimism emerges around the prospect of growth in market share.  Still, a question always arises when a new product launches: do enough people know about this launch for it to be successful?  There are multiple avenues to communicate through during a product launch — ads, social media, PR, and blog promotion, to name a few. Yet, one of the most underrated and effective communication methods to alert internal and external stakeholders is a product launch email.

Internal Product Launch Email

With this email, you'll want to turn all of the employees at your company into an enthusiastic, well-informed, word-of-mouth marketing team

• The subject line and preview text - Keep the subject line at or under 12 words
• Greeting and tl;dr - employees at your company are busy, so capture their attention with a quick hello and a 1-2 sentence overview on the product launch.
• What is it? - Give your readers the very basic info on your product, like what it's called, what it does, when it's available to the public, and how much it costs. 
• Why it matters - Why should your employees be excited about this launch? You can go a little more in-depth here, so explain what void this product fills in the market and what opportunity you're seizing on to expand your market share, delight more users, and expand your customer base.
• How it works - give a brief overview of the steps required to get or use this product/feature. How do your customers sign up? Are there any usage limitations? Anticipate frequently asked questions — particularly from salespeople, marketers, account managers, and support reps — and try to reduce confusion upfront.
• Who it's for - who the intended audience for this product is, or if any users will automatically see this new feature. This section is particularly important for regional or language-specific products.
• where to go with questions - Provide the contact info and name of the person or people who are best equipped to answer any questions about the product, its launch, or its promotion.
• Lazy copy - You'll want to make it as simple as possible for employees to share the product launch over email or social media. Provide sample text and URLs that can be copied and pasted.

External Product launch email

Share your exciting new product with the world.  If you have an established list of loyal contacts in your CRM, create a list of recipients you think would benefit from the product launch email. While you can send out a mass email to all of your contacts, it makes sense to group your contacts together by their lifecycle stage or their interests so that you're prioritizing customers who would be most interested or ready for your new product.

It's similar to the Internal Product Launch, but with key differences noted below;

Overview of the product (instead of what is it, why it matters, how it works and who it's for)

Provide a high-level summary of what the product is, why it was made, and what it does.

Key features (instead of where to go with questions)

List the key features or benefits of this offer. If you have a product demo video, you may want to link to it here.

Call to action (instead of Lazy Copy)

Leave your contacts with an actionable next step. Do you want them to reply to you with questions? Sign up for a demo? Check out the new product page on your website? Whatever your desired next step is, make it abundantly clear with a link or by bolding the action.

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5 Steps on How to Gain Your First (or Next) 1,000 Instagram Followers

It's no secret that business opportunities are continuing to grow on Instagram. 

But here's the deal: Unless you're famous, it's really hard to amass a huge following on Instagram without some hard work.  Luckily, there are a few things you can do right away to collect at least 1,000 quality followers for your personal or professional Instagram account. It's all about knowing where to invest your time and effort.  In this post, we'll discuss a few strategies that will help you gain those followers, from creating a follow-worthy Instagram profile to using contests, to staying true to your brand.

1. Create and optimize your profile

Customize your Instagram profile to make it look good. Tell your potential followers who you are, and give them a reason to follow you.

2. Designate a content creator

Just like there should be one (maybe two) people managing your other social media accounts, there should only be one or two people managing your Instagram account.  If possible, choose someone with experience on the platform who will "get" it — and be sure they stay updated on all new features Instagram has to offer from Reels to IGTV.

3. Follow photography and editing best practices

On Instagram, post quality matters. A lot. Your Twitter followers might forgive a few bad tweets, but a bad photo on Instagram is a big no-no.

4. Set a regular posting schedule

It's a good idea to have a solid number of great posts up – maybe 15 or so – before you start engaging people and working down this list. That way, when people visit your profile, they'll see a full screen of photos and will know you'll post great content regularly.  To start posting on Instagram, download this social media content calendar template first and plan out your posts. It's best to build a backlog of content ready a few days or weeks ahead of the publishing date.  This will ensure you always have content during holidays, vacations, and even creative blocks.

5. Allow outside contributors to curate your content

Although it's best to have only one or two people manning your account, one or two people can't be everywhere at once taking photos. What about that fun sushi night the engineers had last night? Or the event your head of sales spoke at earlier this week?  There's a whole breadth of content you'll want to post to Instagram, and more often than not, one person won't be able to keep track of it all.  One solution? Create a system where you can curate photos and content from members of your team.  

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Top 5 Best SEO Tools for Auditing & Monitoring Your Website in 2022

There's nothing quite like a sudden Google algorithm update to leave you feeling equal parts confused and concerned. It seems as though search engines like Google wait for you to get all of your ducks in a row and then unleash an update that makes your efforts instantly obsolete.  Plus, there's still some secrecy behind how Google evaluates websites and determines which sites appear — and how they appear — on the search engine results page (SERPs) for different queries.

Here are the Top 5 Best SEO Tools for Auditing & Monitoring Your Website in 2022

1. Google Search Console

Google Search Console has a number of tools available to help you appear in the SERPs for the search terms and phrases your target audience is looking for.  If you’re the owner of a business or an SEO on your marketing team, Search Console can help you conduct an initial SEO analysis from scratch or update your existing SEO strategy with fresh keywords. Google Search Console monitors, debugs, and optimizes your website — and you don't need to know how to code to benefit from this tool.

2. Google Analytics

Although Google Analytics has a paid version, the free version of the product can help you manage your website’s SEO — this is especially true if you pair Google Analytics with Google Search Console. In doing so, all of your website’s SEO data will be centrally located and compiled, and you can use queries to identify areas for improvement with the keywords and phrases that you want your website and web pages to rank for.

3. UpCity Free SEO Report Card

The Free SEO Report Card by UpCity lets you analyze your website to determine how it stacks up against the competition.  In exchange for your email address and a few data points, SEO Report Card will serve up a report

4. Internet Marketing Ninjas

Internet Marketing Ninjas is an SEO-focused company with a variety of free tools you can use to compare your website against the competition, optimize web pages for certain keywords, generate meta tags, and increase organic traffic to your website.

5. Bing Webmaster

Microsoft Bing Webmaster gives you access to many tools that offer insight into your website such as reporting, diagnostic, and SEO tools. The SEO tools that you can use for free have the power to help you analyze your website, manage backlinks, and review keywords to ensure your site is well-optimized for organic search.

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We've all been there. The struggle of not having any fresh topic ideas. This can continue for days, weeks, or even months. This is the start of your flat.

A big part of building a strong content strategy is experimenting with new types of content. Your audience may love your podcasts, but that doesn't mean that's the only thing you should create. Fresh content types can expand your reach and attract more, and possibly even better leads.  To help you shake up your content balance, here are 10 things you can put behind a landing page to help you collect new leads -- and ways you can optimize your landing page for each type.

10 Types of Lead Generation Content to Put Behind Your Landing Pages

1. Ebooks

Ebooks are a popular type of offer used to generate leads, educate customers and prospects, and gain credibility in your industry. But they can take time to become a reality, so be sure to choose a topic that will help a prospect go from downloading your ebook to having a productive conversation with a member of your sales team.

2. Courses

Your audience may also be excited to fill out a form in exchange for a video course or tutorial. It's up to you whether to produce, shoot, and edit the video in-house or hire a professional. You can hold the course live, or post a recording. Either way, ask participants to share their email address in exchange for the tutorial, so you can send them an email with the video recording that they can access forever.

3. Trials

Trials aren't just limited to things like courses. Sometimes, your prospects will want to try out your product or service before deciding whether they're a good fit. That's a good thing -- you want to grow a base of customers that are convinced and loyal, and that can take a little more work than trying to sell your stuff to everyone who will listen.  That's why it can be helpful to provide a free trial of your product or service with no risk, no obligation, and no credit card required -- the only thing the prospect needs to do is fill out a form.

4. Demos

If visitors are ready to learn more about your product or service, make it easy for them to schedule a demo with your team. You can place demo calls-to-action on key pages of your website, including your home page.  If visitors are ready to learn more about your product or service, make it easy for them to schedule a demo with your team. You can place demo calls-to-action on key pages of your website, including your home page.

5. Contests

People love contests. They can teach you a lot about your audience while engaging them, growing your reach, driving traffic to your website, and -- drum roll, please -- generating leads. You can run contests on your website, or on pretty much any social media platform, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. They can be as simple as you'd like.

6. Cheat Sheets

Cheat sheets are a type of short, concise offer that someone might bookmark for future reference. Think of them as comprehensive guides to terms, commands, symbols, or other things. They should be formatted for quick reference, which means clear headers and not too much detail. And the more visual, the better.

7. Checklists

Checklists are another type of short offer that you could put behind a landing page, which readers can print out or download to their desktops. Include clear headers, a colorful design, and keep copy brief.

8. Email Series

An email series is a multi-part series of emails sent to an individual who specifically opted in to receive them. It's different from an email subscription -- it has a finite number of emails sent.

9. Business Blogging

Business blogging not only drives more traffic to your website, it also can become a major source for lead generation down the road. But how do you convert blog readers into leads?

10. Guides

Guides come in many shapes and sizes. There are "ultimate guides," which are long, in-depth, and usually include detailed explanations, screenshots, and step-by-step instructions. Then, there are "simple guides," which are shorter and much more concise. There are also tactical guides, pocket guides, introductory guides and advanced guides. The list goes on.

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5 Steps on How to Identify Your Marketing Message

You know it is important it is to have a marketing strategy — but have you thought about the impact your marketing message can make in it?

Your strategy has to align with your audiences’ needs and interests, and understand the required approach for each channel you use

But how do you bridge the gap between this strategy and the content itself? What you need is a marketing message, and it’s just as important as your overall strategy.

What is a marketing message?

Your marketing message is the ability to craft your marketing message with care, specifically for the audiences you’re trying to reach. It should also address their pain points and present your business as a solution.

Your message is extremely influential in helping you meet your business goals, as it can be the difference between a new acquisition or sending a customer on to your competitor.

Because a marketing message is the words you use to communicate with your audience to convince them to do business with you.

What does messaging mean for marketing?

Messaging in marketing is how a brand communicates what customers want to know about your brand. It goes beyond just sharing information about the product or service available; it builds your brand identity through the “why” of your company; its mission, vision, and values.

Some Examples

1. Nike

Nike’s marketing message is “Where All Athletes Belong,” and it speaks to its target audience and lets them know that they have something for everyone —from professional athletes to first-time players.

2. Chipotle

Chipotle’s marketing message, shown in the image below, reads “Find your plant power.” The brand is speaking directly to those with diverse needs, inviting them to try its expanded menu with plant-based options and letting them know that they recognize the gap in the market for their needs.

3. Zoom

Zoom markets to an audience who wants to continue having fulfilling conversations, regardless of their physical location: “Meet OnZoom. A marketplace for immersive experiences.”

How to Craft a Marketing Message

Step 1: Know your target audience

Begin creating your marketing message without identifying your target audience. When you know who they are, you’re not marketing to customers you think are interested in you, but rather to those you know are interested in you.

Step 2: Understand your audience's pain points

our persona research should tell you about your audience’s pain points and challenges.  As a refresher, pain points are issues that affect your target audience’s day-to-day routines, business tasks, or general life desires. These challenges are typically things that your audience is actively seeking solutions for.

Step 3: Define Value Propositions

When creating your message, present your product or service as a cure for their pain points, and prove it. Continuing with the eco-friendly business example, you can specifically mention that your clothing is locally produced, separating you from the competition that mass produces its goods abroad.

It clearly says why they should do business with you instead of a competitor, and that is precisely the point of a marketing message.

Step 4: Clarity

Customers should read your message and find answers to their questions without needing to overanalyze your statements. Prioritize being clear, concise, and easily understood, as you want your words to speak for themselves. To reiterate, get to the point.

Step 5: Use conversational and familiar language

Even though your customers are in your industry, you shouldn’t assume that they know or understand the technical jargon related to what you sell. Therefore, it’s important to sound conversational and use familiar and palatable language to most audiences. Your message copy should be simple, straightforward, and not require an industry-specific dictionary.

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5 Tips for Writing an Effective and Compelling Email

Have you ever had to hype yourself up to send an email? Because, same.  There’s something that feels monumental about sending an email that you don’t always get with other forms of communication. And if you’re a non-native English speaker, that task can seem even more daunting.  This article will provide some helpful tips to help you improve the overall quality of your emails, no matter your perspective.

1. Have a compelling subject line.

Subject lines can make or break your email’s success. Unfortunately, this is a struggle for most people with the subject lines being the deciding factor on whether someone will open your email or not.

Even if you’re sending emails internally at your company, it still pays to write a great subject line so your recipient has an idea of what to expect. Like any busy person, your teammates receive a ton of emails every day, and would certainly appreciate the extra effort of a descriptive subject line.

2. Start with an appropriate greeting

Start the email with the right greeting. There are 2 components to it, generally the salutation and the opening sentence.

You can go a long way with just the right salutation. For example in a societal rich country like Malaysia, knowing when to write "Dear [X]" compared to "Hi [X]" will make all of the difference.

3. Have a strong attention grabber.

Having the salutation done and out of your way. It's time to start your email. It's where the meat is. 

This is where you start to build rapport and show that you're not sending a generic email to multiple people.

4. Keep your messages short and concise.

We spend a lot of time reading emails. And because of this, many people simply scan emails to get the essence of the message and move on to the next.

5. Be consistent with your font

Emails can be fun. You can add images, GIFs, and colours. However, there’s a way to do it that’s not too jarring or distracting.  Do not use several fonts used in the email, different font sizes along with different colours. As a result, the eye doesn’t know where to go and it’s a bit overwhelming.  Furthermore, the message gets lost, as your recipient is too distracted by all these elements fighting for their attention.  So, as a rule of thumb: Stick to one font. If you want to use a secondary one, use it sparingly. Follow the same rule for colour.

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7 Types of Advertising Brands Are Investing In This Year

As marketers begin to map out their 2022 marketing plans, it's the perfect time to dust off the crystal ball and predict what will shape the industry over the coming year.

There's certainly a lot to consider — the continuing impact of the global pandemic, the massive shift to digital advertising, and the rise of platforms like TikTok — to name a few. Simply put, what worked for your marketing strategy in the past might not fly in 2022.

1. Video Ads

As marketers look for innovative ways to engage audiences, video has become an integral part of the conversation. Video advertising uses videos to promote products and services, educate or entertain consumers, and reach new audiences in an engaging way.

2. Social Media Ads

Social media advertising serves paid ads to your target audience on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Aside from its reach, it also offers a wealth of opportunities to boost brand awareness, generate and convert leads, and foster customer relationships.

3. Mobile Ads

Digital advertising is all about meeting people where they are, and more often than not, they're on their phones. In fact, as of July 2021, 56% of all web traffic came from mobile phones. If we jump back to 2011, this number was just over 6%.

4. Display Ads

Display advertisements are mostly found along the top or sides of third-party websites. And due to their flashy style and placement, they aren't exactly subtle.

5. Print Ads

When I think of print advertising, I picture the infamous poster of Rosie the Riveter, recruiting women for defense industries in World War II. While the ad industry has evolved since the 40s, print is still an effective and universally-used medium. It's now migrated to the digital space, encompassing digital magazines, newspapers, and brochures, among others.

6. Broadcast Ads

Broadcast advertising uses TV and radio to promote products and services. TV ads, in particular, have a broad reach and can provide a more engaging, multi-sensory experience. But, these ads are expensive and the audience may avoid them (by clicking to another channel).

7. Native Ads

Have you ever seen an advertisement on Instagram that looks exactly like a normal post from someone you’re following? That's one example of native advertising.

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