Author Archive: Heather Dixon
5 questions for LUXE Design Group
- Meet Heather Shelby.
Heather Shelby runs online marketing agency LUXE Design Group out of Saint Joseph, Michigan. As the owner, principal and sole full-time employee, she relies on a handful of freelancers to help build and maintain websites for her clients. She’s been an Emma client for six years and is next in line for our 5 questions.
Tell me about LUXE Design Group and what sets you apart from your competition.
We’re an online marketing agency. My degree is in graphic design, so when that’s combined with programming talent, the website has the right look and functionality. We’re very strong with the visual part.
You found using Emma to be particularly helpful in driving online sales for a winery in your area. Tell me more about that.
We set up an e-commerce site for Round Barn Winery and doubled their online revenue in the first nine months. We used Emma to send a survey to customers and found out that people didn’t know you could make purchases on the site. We sent emails to let people know, and we regularly email the winery’s customer base, with Christmas and Thanksgiving having very successful online sales due to email marketing. Any time they don’t hit an online sales goal, it’s because we didn’t send an email.
What’s your secret for staying up-to-date on design trends and industry news?
I read and subscribe to a lot of email newsletters. I’ve got a folder called “examples” where I file them all away and look to them for inspiration. I loved a recent Qdoba email that promoted a Valentine’s Day special; they always do great work. I also look to other agencies for expertise, like Oneupweb.
As an agency owner, who do you turn to for advice on running your business?
I read the Entrepreneur newsletter and follow the work of David Baker and Blair Enns to help me run my business. I recommend David’s book, The Financial Management of a Marketing Firm. I was two chapters in and couldn’t help wishing I had had this book when I started my business eight years ago.
Tell me about your current brand crush.
I love Dave Ramsey. Everybody at that company is so in line with his philosophy. It’s an amazing company and what they do for people is amazing.
Also, Jeep. I am a Jeep Girl through and through. I have a Wrangler Sahara, and my husband has a Grand Cherokee. We even have Jeep power wheels for the kids! Jeep really gets to know their audience and actually talk to them. We went to Camp Jeep in the Poconos one year, and they have engineers there talking to owners about what they like, don’t like, want, etc. The Rubicon was actually created from talking to owners. It’s a very fun brand.
Things we love: A surprise discount
Imagine my surprise...
There are few things I like more than birthdays and surprises, which is why a recent “Happy 1/2 Birthday” message from Ben and Jerry’s literally had me applauding at my desk.
I’ve been a member of the company’s mailing list long enough to know that a coupon for a free scoop of ice cream will make its way to my inbox right around July 23 (go ahead, mark it on your calendar), but this is the first time I’ve received acknowledgment of my half birthday.
And this wish was accompanied by a coupon for a buy one, get one free discount coupon, nonetheless.
I love that the folks behind ChunkMail have taken the notion of a date-related trigger beyond the typical birthday and anniversary email campaigns and worked it to their advantage in a super fun, entirely unexpected way.
You can see more about triggers in action, too: how we used triggers recently, how companies are using welcome triggers effectively and even how to make the most of our recent trigger enhancement.
Are you using Emma’s date-based trigger in a new and surprising way? Comment to tell me about it.
Meet the Atlanta Falcons Football Club
We followed the Atlanta Falcons’ road to the NFL playoffs pretty closely, and not solely because of our Nashville office’s proximity to Atlanta (just shy of 300 miles, give or take a few Peachtree Road exits), nor because of our marketing team’s Cliff Corr and his penchant for sporting a tattered Falcons t-shirt during football season (although that didn’t hurt, either). We took special interest in the Falcons’ flight to playoff fame because they’re an Emma customer.
The Falcons use Emma to communicate with season ticket holders. Their red, distressed-style stationery design brings the energy of atlantafalcons.com — and the grit of the game — directly to the inbox. Messages range from administrative topics, like ticket renewal reminders, to player injury reports, pre-game primers and post-game wraps.
Using Emma's tools for a post-game wrap-up.
Post-game wraps like the one pictured deliver game summaries and stats to the fans who want them the most. The response rates on this campaign were outstanding, with a 39% open rate and an 18% click-through rate.
Nearly half of readers who clicked on a link clicked to watch the post-game reaction from head Coach Mike Smith. Even after a tough loss, when Falcons fans would be justified in drowning their sorrows in cheese fries at the Majestic, they’re checking their email for more information from the head coach. That’s good work out of Coach Smith and the team who designs the email campaigns.
The send-off, at a glance.
- Sent on Sunday, Jan 16 to 11,840 people
- Open rate: 39%
- Click-through rate: 18%
- Subject line: Your Post-game Wrap: Falcons vs. Packers, Divisional
- Created using an Upload Your Own HTML template
+++++
Cliff wasn’t the only Emma staffer to shed a few tears after the playoffs, which got me thinking. Who would we want to win if we could start the season all over again? Nothing against this year’s contenders, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, but there’s no harm in dreaming of what might have been for those of us who cheer for other teams, right? I polled my Emma colleagues and, unsurprisingly, the three teams with the most votes all have connections to Nashville, home to Emma’s biggest office:
- Hometown team the Tennessee Titans.
- The New England Patriots. Head coach Bill Belichick’s father once coached at Vanderbilt University, and Bill was born in Nashville, presumably sent home in a hooded, three-quarter-sleeved onesie.
- The Chicago Bears. Quarterback Jay Cutler was a Vanderbilt standout before he was drafted to the NFL in 2006.
Nonprofit uses new media to win old-school publicity
How a nonprofit used email and Twitter to inspire their supporters and win a full-page ad in USA Today.
The folks at To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) recently won a full-page ad in USA Today by using email and social media together in one simple, combined effort. By using Twitter to further their cause, the nonprofit — which helps people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide — found a way to inspire their supporters and score great publicity.
“What would we say to 4 million people?” began their April 15 campaign, referencing USA Today’s enviable readership numbers. The email then reminded everyone how important grassroots communication has been in the history of the organization, which Jamie Tworkowski founded back in 2006.
In the email campaign, Tworkowski asked readers to tweet a specific phrase to enter USA Today’s Twitter campaign for charity. The phrase? “Let’s bring hope and help to America. Please RT: #AmericaWants @TWLOHA to get a full-page ad in USA Today.”
One week later, TWLOHA sent a follow-up email campaign to share the good news — they won the contest.
“Right now, we simply want to say, ‘Thank You.’ Your support is indescribable. We have a voice because of yours. We are all in this together, this conversation about pain and hope,” Tworkowski wrote to his supporters. Continuing the spirit of collaboration, the campaign encourages readers to use Twitter to share their ideas for what message should be included in the ad.
It’s great to see nonprofits tap into the power of social networking as a way to extend their reach and find new people who also care about their mission. (By the way, Emma’s new social sharing feature makes it easier than ever to pair up your email campaigns with social networks — you can try it out now in Emma Preview, if you want to see how it all works.)
Key takeaway: Look to your email subscribers to help you spread the gospel of your organization using social media mediums like Twitter.
Emma customers helping Emma customers
There’s nothing like a rockin’ party for a worthy cause … except perhaps a rockin’ party for a worthy cause with an ice sculpture.
I just wanted to brag about one of our customers, Vaco, whose recent five-year celebration (cleverly dubbed Cinco de Vaco) was not just about recognizing its staff or all its success in the recruiting field. Or dancing to 80s music. Or admiring the ice sculptures (though they are lovely, aren’t they?). It was also about helping Safe Haven Family Shelter, a fabulous Nashville non-profit working to fight homelessness. By the end of the night, Cinco de Vaco guests had donated more than $2,000 for families working with Safe Haven. Muy bien!
Social responsibility points go to Vaco for taking what could be just another corporate party and turning it into a stylish party for a really great cause. And if you’re in the Nashville area and want to find out more about Safe Haven, you can subscribe to their email newsletter here. And yes, we’re proud to say they’re dear members of the Emma community – they joined us four years ago as an Emma 25 honoree during the program’s first year.
[tags]vaco, safe haven, emma 25, nonprofits, myemma.com[/tags]
Photo by Steve and Angela Purinton of Pure Photo
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