Debbie LaChusa

Today marks the first in a series of posts taking a deeper look at popular marketing techniques and asking the tough question: Does it really work?

There are many marketing and business advisors sharing advice on how to grow your business, make more sales, get more clients ... I know, because when it comes to Internet Marketing, an area I only ventured into 2-1/2 years ago, I have probably tried most of the ebooks, courses and teleseminars available.

Today I'm posing a question about what I guess could be considered a "tried and true" online marketing method: Email Marketing. You know, ezines, e-newsletters, permission-based, opt-in email marketing. All of the Internet marketing gurus recommend it, saying "to be successful, you've got to build your list."

I've been using Email Marketing consistently for the past 2 years. In that time, I have seen my opt-in rates bounce around from 9% to 59%. I have tested a squeeze page vs. a standard home page to see which garners the highest opt-in rates (after a year of testing, the jury is STILL out!). I've had to do more and more marketing to build my list and it's still not anywhere near the volume I'd like it to be.

I've watched my deliverability rates go down, down, down and the spam filters get tighter and tighter. I've watched the open rates, for my double-opt-in list (that means my subscribers say they WANT my email) go down consistently from well over 50% to about 20%.

This begs the question ... Is Email Marketing Dead?

Is there just too much of it out there? Are people overloaded with free information? Are all the spammers ruining it for the legitimate email marketers? Is it time to bury Email Marketing and replace it with RSS, blogs and other forms of information delivery?

I'd love to hear what you think, or hear about your experiences with Email Marketing. Please post a comment and share your thoughts.

I just finished reading an article about how several big name Super Bowl advertisers (Doritos and the NFL) have put their trust in consumer-produced spots. These companies are paying $2.6 million for a 30-second spot during the big game (that's $86,667 a minute!) and they're letting their customers create their commercials. Last year 90.1 million people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl. That's a lot of viewers to take a chance on.

Why are they doing it? It's all based on a movement in the marketing and advertising industry called consumer- or user-generated content. Blogs are one example of user-generated content. You Tube is another. Just check out YouTube and you'll find that consumers are already creating their own ads for the brands they love, or hate. Big brands are simply tapping into what's already occurring as a natural phenomenon. Fearing they've lost touch with their audience, they are turning over the reins to their marketing campaigns to their audience. Their hope? To reconnect. To engage. To build brand loyalty.

Will it work? Or, will it backfire? I guess no one really knows for sure until Super Bowl Sunday comes and goes. And the Monday morning quarterbacks start assessing the success of not only the big game, but the widely anticipated commercials as well.

What do you think? Do you think consumer-generated content is more than a passing fad? Is it the future of marketing and advertising? Post a comment and share your thoughts.

I was speaking to a group awhile back and one of the first questions I posed to the audience was, "Do you have a marketing plan?" About 10 hands went up, rather tentatively. When I asked a woman in the front row, who had raised her hand, "What IS a marketing plan?" she replied nervously and with a bit of uncertainty, "Isn't it what you plan to do to market your business?"

Well, certainly that IS an umbrella answer. But what does that really mean?

At that point it became very clear to me that many solo professionals and small business owners don't really know what a marketing plan is. Yes, they may understand that it is what they plan to do to market their business, but what does that really mean?

I could say I plan to advertise, or I plan to use public relations, or I plan to create a website. Those are all things I plan to do to market my business, yet they do not equal a "marketing plan."

In addition to outlining the marketing activities you plan to use (that's what advertising, PR and a website are - they are not the plan itself, but rather ONE STEP in your plan), your marketing plan should establish the foundation for all of your marketing.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be discussing what some of those important foundation steps are.

In the meantime, if you'd like to share your response to the question, "What is a Marketing Plan?" feel free to post a comment.

Staying on top of the Internet world and all the ways it can help us access the vast amounts of information available to us can be an overwhelming task. We start hearing terms like Web 2.0 and RSS and wonder, what the heck do they mean?

I've had many clients ask me these questions. So when I bumped into this video that does a great job of explaining what the heck an RSS feed is, in a simple, low-tech manner, I felt compelled to share it with you. I hope you enjoy it and that it helps you better understand what RSS is, so you can put the power of it to work for you. And, if you want to sign up for my RSS feed, you can do so at http://www.10stepmarketingConnection.com