E-mail versus Social Media

Which is more effective? E-mail or social media?

More and more people are saying e-mail is old and not worth using, but Hubspot pointed out in a recent post that the two are good partners in keeping customers active. This is why it is so essential to MAKE CUSTOMERS AWARE OF YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS. In addition to using e-mail newsletters to promote your events and products, use e-mail to promote your accounts. I can't emphasize this enough. And you can always use your social media accounts to promote your e-mail list, as well.

What are the most important elements for a successful e-newsletter?

Excitement is key to success

Harmony Wheeler would like to share a passage fromBreaking the Fifth Wall: Rethinking Arts Marketing for the 21st Century "People connect emotionally with what you do because arts organizations fuel their passions. Approach them with this in mind. Your appeal to get them to sign up should be, "We're so excited about our upcoming events and we want to share this information with you on a regular basis."

Why promoting events is important

Harmony Wheeler would like to share a passage from Breaking the Fifth Wall: Rethinking Arts Marketing for the 21st Century "Since arts organizations are generally event-driven, it makes sense to dedicate significant resources to tools that can target your marketing effort to reach patrons around your event schedule"

Capitalizing on Your Product and Promoting it at the Same Time: Disney ElecTRONica

Disney California Adventure's summer Glow Fest didn't go over well with most Disney fans. Disney hired an outside contractor to create it. Personally I liked it, and it must have had some success because Disney is now bringing something new inspired by Glow Fest that capitalizes on its upcoming film "TRON: Legacy." You can view a preview of this light fest below, images taken from the Disney blog.

Looks like it'll be entertaining and promote TRON at the same time. Disney is very good at that. Last year, they had a Showboat Jubilee show to promote "The Princess and the Frog," which went over very well. Princess Tiana still performs near the Rivers of America every day near her conveniently placed merchandise. But, no worries, if you go to her show, you can get free Mardi Gras necklaces.

How can you take advantage of your product and give it legs through various campaigns? What have you done?

Create an Event, Attract Customers

A college acquaintance of mine is marketing a game called "Keep It Real." She arranged for it to be a part of a special event at Borders (happening tonight). I thought I'd share the event with you to spark a few ideas.

"Do You Have Game," the event taking place at the Borders in Columbus Circle, will feature a night of fun and games, games like "Keep It Real."

In your marketing, try to think of a creative event like this one, an event that can take place at a recognizable location and can involve something that will attract customers, such as a free product demonstration. In this case, anyone who goes to the well-known, well-placed Borders in Columbus Circle in NYC can play the game "Keep It Real" for free.

And always remember to put your event out for everyone to see. My friend put the game night on Facebook as an event and invited her many friends. She also created a video ad and put it on YouTube.

What are you doing to give customers a fun time? What kind of events do you plan for your business? Is it appropriate and useful to give away free products or to allow customers to experiment with products?