During May 2014 I attended a wonderful Book Marketing
Challenge, and I have come up with ideas to make Mili Fay Art better, and to
have it run smoother. As promised, in
this blog I will share the ideas I'm implementing.
According to experts who guided us in the challenge, the
best way to make an impact online is by growing our e-mail list. Social Media is great, but only a true fan
will hand over their e-mail address so they can be sure they do not miss any of
your work or news. These are the people
who may actually purchase something from you, and may help your business stay
afloat by clicking those Likes and Sharing the information with their friends.
Reading this, I nodded in agreement. I have a small loyal following on my e-mail list. I appreciate them, and they appreciate my
e-mails. So, I figured I could check
this item off my colossal to-do list. However, just as I was reaching for my
pen, I got hit with information that I should have an e-mali service account,
such as MailChimp or AWeber.
E-Mail service
account? Why can't I use my beloved
GMail as I have done in the past?
The experts went on to explain that an e-mail service lets
you create those beautiful HTML e-mails top professionals send out clogging
your Junk Mail folder.
Well, GMail can add
pictures, links, and formatting, why should I not use GMail to create my
e-mail?
Because GMail is not obsessed with keeping track of who
opens your e-mails, reads them, and actually clicks on the links you so
carefully created to guide the people on your list to services, gifts, and
other things they should not miss.
After listening to the pros and cons of e-mail marketing, I
added signing up for an e-mail service on my to-do list.
There are many people who were more than willing to help me take
initial steps in the Facebook Gold Member Group. Sandra Beckwith had a blog article where she
listed several
emailing services. After
collecting suggestions from members and from Beckwith's blog, I went through
each service carefully. I have already
heard of MailChimp, so I decided to leave that one for last, hoping that other
services would provide more service for my buck.
Of course, in the end I signed up with MailChimp.
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| My saved MailChimp Template. |
I'm very visual, and I found MailChimp's
interface appealed to me more than any of the other services I looked
into. Also, I love that they allow you
to have a free e-mail account until you grow your list to over 2000 people, and
that you can send upto 12000/month absolutely FREE for life! It is a wonderful plan for someone who has
just started a business and does not have lots of cash to throw around. Of course, there are services such as
Auto-Responders that are only available to paying accounts, but if you are just
looking to send e-mails to your list MailChimp is great (besides you can add a
link to your sign-up auto responder)!
If you are a programmer (which I'm not, though I was forced
to learn a bit of HTML), you can program your own e-mail templates.
Otherwise, you can choose from a selection of templates
available to you. If you can copy and
paste, you can make a beautiful HTML e-mail using your own photographs and
art. For those people on your list who
do not like (or do not have room) to receive HTML e-mails, there is an option
for just a basic text e-mail (the one that looks like a MS Notepad document
with no links). I wish MailChimp had an
option to turn your HTML e-mail into plain text e-mail, but they do not. You have to recreate your HTML e-mail into a
plain text e-mail, or as MailChimp likes to call them
"Campaigns". (That word makes
me feel like a sleazy politician, but what can one do.)
After you are done creating your "Campaign" you
can save the look of the e-mail as a template and use it in the future, so that
you would not have to worry about formatting ever again, I also love the check
list option that walks you through the process so that you know you are doing
everything right.
So far, these features are more or less matched by GMail;
where an e-mail service superiority shows is with regards to what happens AFTER
you mail your "Campaign".
MailChimp tracks e-mails that bounce and eventually automatically deletes the people who are
not receiving or opening your e-mails!
If you do not want MailChimp to delete those e-mails, you
will have to go in there and tell it not to, but if the people are not
receiving them, what is the point of having them clog up your e-mail list? If you have other ways of contacting them, you
can check to see if they may have cancelled their account, but I only request
an e-mail and a name (doesn't even have to be real) for my e-mail lists.
MailChimp also tells you who reads your e-mails and who
clicks on the links in your e-mails. If
people do not open your e-mail, eventually they too are deleted and you do not
have to worry about keeping track of them either. What's great about this is that MailChimp ensures that only the people who are your true fans stay on your e-mail list.
MailChimp also has a simple Unsubscribe Link at the bottom
of every e-mail. With GMail a person
would have to send me an e-mail for me to delete them from my list. Here, they click on the link and I get
notified that I have lost a subscriber; a sad thing for every business, but if
I do not provide the service/information they need, why should they have my
e-mails clog up their mail box?
Sign-up form!
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| Sign-up form found on this blog. |
This is
my favourite feature of MailChimp (and other e-mail services). With GMail I had to collect every e-mail by
pen and paper and add them to my account.
Now, if people like my work all they need to do is fill out a simple
form: name, e-mail, choose if they want to receive an HTML or PlainText e-mail,
and if they want to be a member of my Fan Club and/or Review Club. Their e-mails are added to my account, and
their preferences are sorted in something MailChimp calls Groups. So many times I was not able to read someone's
handwriting and those people never got to hear from me or to receive their
welcome gift. Now if they find me though
social media, they can just add themselves if they so wished. (I gift my fans once a month FYI.)
Using MailChimp Groups, you can also create Segments, which
allow you to send e-mails only to people who are interested in a particular service
rather than the whole list.
So there you have it.
The reason why you should get yourself an e-mail service over your GMail, Outlook, etc. personal account.
I'm still keeping my GMail for personal use, but for sharing the news
about my business, events, and services, it will be MailChimp from now on.
If you have any questions, you know what to do! ;-D
If your list numbers less than 2000, why not give MailChimp
a try. It really is easy to use, and it
is FREEEEEEE!
P.S. In June a new
anti-Spam law was passed in Canada. If you are going to send an e-mail to a stranger, just make sure you have their written permission. :-)
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Mili Fay, a
Toronto-based artist, classical animator, illustrator, writer, and singer, is
an award winning graduate of Sheridan College and Art Instruction Schools. In November of 2011 she created Mili Fay Art
determined to support the world one artwork at a time.
Her latest published work is
Animals In My Hair; a
story about a boy who goes for his first haircut only to find endangered
animals falling out of his hair.
Recently chosen for the
INSPIRE! Toronto International Book Fair’s
Programming (November 13
th – 16
th, 2014) out of 700+
submissions,
Animals In My Hair, is
the world’s first ever
Artwork Book;
a new type of picture book that seamlessly combines the best features of fine
art, picture books, activity books, and educational books. In accordance with Mili Fay Art’s vision, 30%
of all profits from
Animals In My Hair
book and merchandise will be donated to wildlife conservation.
To find out more about
Animals
In My Hair, and/or to purchase the few remaining FIRST EDITION copies of
the initial print run, visit:
http://bit.ly/AnimalsInMyHair
Mili Fay Art: “Together we support the world one artwork at
a time.”
