GetResponse Understands Small Business Obstacles

Sometimes there's a disconnect between larger companies and small businesses. After all, how can the larger company understand the unique pains a small business experiences?

Email marketing provider GetResponse, however, understands those obstacles. It did, after all, start out as a small business in 1998. Simon Grabowski started GetResponse with the sole goal of creating a feature-packed email marketing solution that would be user-friendly and affordable for the small business market.

Mac Ossowski, GetResponse Director of Education says:

“We know and appreciate the effort small businesses need to make in order to mark their presence in the market. The obstacles such as small budget and limited marketing impact are more than familiar to us.”

Since 1998, GetResponse has been providing email marketing solutions to thousands of small and medium-sized businesses,  now boasting 250,000 customers. Because so many small businesses don't have internal marketing teams, GetResponse strives to provide simple and results-oriented tools that allow users to turn out professional-looking HTML emails, track opens and clicks, and increase subscribers to their email lists.

Something the company is proud of: users need no technical knowledge to use the email platform. This a boon for anyone who has struggled to use HTML and wasted countless hours in the process (ahem).

One unique feature about the email service is its Inbox Preview. Because emails tend to render differently, depending on what browser you're using, as well as whether you're on a laptop, desktop, tablet, or phone, marketers need reassurance that their emails will be received the way they were intended across the board. The Inbox Preview feature shows what an email would look like in most of the popular email programs, as well as Google and Android devices.

Free Education for All Customers

An important component to GetResponse's success is its Learning Center, which offers all manner of training and tools to help customers. Ossowski explains:

“We also put great emphasis on educating our Customers and helping them use the application more effectively. We provide them with video tutorials, constantly updated whitepaper library and regular webinars with GetResponse Experts.”

In addition to the whitepapers, videos, FAQs, live webinars, and manuals, GetResponse strives to maintain its 5-star customer service rating. To that end, the company's motto is CANI â€" Constant Never-Ending Improvement. Customer service and product quality are never perfect, only works in progress (a great tip for all companies!).

Staying in Line with Trends

As email marketing changes, GetResponse is ready with tools to take advantage of technological breakthroughs. As tools appeared in the marketplace to help non-technical folks get around using HTML, GetResponse was ready with its Email Creator, which requires no HTML skills to use. When social media became ingrained in everything we did, GetResponse had Social Sharing functionality in its emails. When businesses wanted to know who was opening their emails, GetResponse had its analytics in place.  The email marketing provider is one step ahead of whatever trend we're embracing.

While the company is close-lipped about what's in store this fall, Ossowski hints that there will be news. He also mentioned mobile email marketing as an important trend that GetResponse is working to incorporate in its services.

GetResponse's 250,000 active users come from 105 different countries. The brand delivers more than 10 billion permission-based emails a year.

This article is part of a series highlighting key players in the Small Business Influencer Awards. 

Effective Marketing Includes A Return On Influence

“We are on the cusp of a marketing revolution. And it's being led by YOU.” ~ Mark Schaefer, Return On Influence

I discovered Mark Schaefer's (@markwschaefer) latest book, Return On Influence: The Revolutionary Power of Klout, Social Scoring, and Influence Marketing, while glancing through my Twitter feed one day.

Mark is considered an authority on marketing and social media. Ironically, Mark also wrote the bestselling book, The Tao of Twitter (which has just been updated) so it's really not a surprise that I became acquainted with the book on Twitter.

The title of the book immediately grabbed my attention. So much so that I invited Mark to be a guest on my internet radio show and received a copy of the book through the publisher. After the show and talking with Mark, I realized even more so how important this book is for CEOs, presidents and business owners to read.

With the world and technology both changing so fast, business is changing too, right before our eyes. So fast we may not even realize how much or to what extent.

My advice to everyone running a company is: Don't get left behind. One way to do that is to read Mark Schaefer's book, Return On Influence.

How Influential Are You In Business?

The word, influence, is mentioned quite often lately. Have you noticed?

In the forward to the book, I learned that the idea of influence is rooted in astrology. Centuries ago, the Gauls started using the word influence to explain the actions of people saying that it “lay in the stars.” Fast forward to modern society and influence has taken on a whole new meaning with the phrase, “under the influence.”

Today due to the digital age we live in the word, influence, continues to make a transition in its meaning.  For three distinct reasons:

• the rise of the Internet.
• the rise of mobile devices.
• the rise of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Mark Schaefer refers to it as “influence marketing.” It brings fresh meaning to the classic Dale Carnegie book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. Now anyone can be influential as long there is relevance.

The Roots of Influence Marketing

The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 explores: The Roots of Influence. The chapters cover such topics as the rise of the citizen influencer â€" how it's the end of an era for mass marketing and the rise of a generation reclaiming their consumer voice. No longer is influence only for the politicians and celebrities. The Internet now gives us the opportunity to be “super-connectors” far beyond our circle of family, friends and work associates.

An especially interesting section in Part 1 of the book discusses the “weapons of influence” using Dr. Robert Cialdini's, “six weapons of influence” model as a basis to illustrate differences. The author contrasts the role of authority, likeability, consistency and scarcity in both the online and offline worlds.

Weapons of influence include social proof and reciprocity as well as “badges” for our information-dense society such as the number of Twitter followers. Schaefer names a seventh weapon which is content. As it states in the book:

“Content is the ammunition that powers influence on the social web.”

Yes, content is king if used properly within a marketing and social media strategy.

Do You Have Klout?

The rise of influence marketing includes “social influence scoring” which is beginning to permeate through business, human resources and our personal lives. Social scoring takes the traditional meaning of “having klout” to a whole new level.

This is what Schaefer examines in Part 2 of his book: The Social Scoring Revolution. He focuses especially on Klout.com â€" how it came to be, its controversies and benefits. For those who may not be familiar with Klout, it is considered the leader in social influence measurement.

I must admit that since reading this book and talking with Mark, I am much more aware of what my Klout score is. You should be too. Chapter 10 will tell you how to increase your Klout score.

The author talks about a revolution in marketing. This is it. Make sure your company is part of the revolution. Otherwise, customers may no longer view your company as relevant to their needs.

A Different Kind Of ROI

Mark Schaefer, according to his official bio, is among the top 5% of all “influencers” on Twitter, has done his homework in researching the book. He interviewed 50 experts and industry thought leaders including Influence author Robert Cialdini. There are more than a dozen marketing case studies in the book to reference. Plus practical, actionable tips to increase your own power and influence online

For years now the standard question in marketing to determine if a campaign is effective or not is often based on ROI â€" “return on investment.” Today, that is changing. Mark Schaefer's book is certainly proof of that. Meet the new definition of ROI. It's now “return on influence.”

Welcome to the future of marketing… it's already arrived.