I was forced into my best marketing tool by problems with reliably getting my email through. As more and more ISPs, and more and more individuals, heavily filtered their email, I wondered if my subscribers were getting issues of my ezine.
Actually,
I had subscribers to a number of my lists email me and ask to be
added BACK to my lists. Upon checking, they were often still on
the lists. That pointed out a real problem. How could I stay in
touch with my clients if they had no control over what email they
were allowed to receive.
I
looked at a number of different solutions... to include a program
called Newsmon, that bypasses email altogether. Newsmon allows me
to upload an issue of my ezine to my server, and then a desktop
application on my subscriber's computer checks every
so often for new updates posted on my server. If there are changes
since the last time Newsmon was queried, the program pulls down
the updates from my server to my clients' desktops.
I looked at a number of other technologies too. The problem with all of them was that it required my clients to learn to use something new or different. I didn't want to force them to do that.
That's when a friend suggested the simplest of all solutions. It was a somewhat old fashioned solution. He suggested that I simply get a conference line and communicate with my clients in group calls. In addition to sending out a regular newsletter, I could also hold regular conference calls and even discuss the same topics as in my ezine.
Desperate for a reliable way to keep in touch with my clients and continue building our relationships, I check out a number of conference line providers. These ranged in price from fre-e to over $500 a month.
I tried out several of the fr-ee ones, but decided against all that I tried because they had a tendency to over-schedule or over-load the trunk lines. I was on several calls where the call just DIED. By the time the moderator and a few callers got back through, IF they got back through, the momentum of the call was gone. These calls also had to leave a negative impression in the minds of the callers... they had to appear very unprofessional. They made the hosts of the calls look cheap.
Having
decided to go with a paid bridge line provider, I tested several
and settled upon one call e-teleconferencing. They are at:
http://therealsecrets.com/teleconferencing/
For
less than $1.40 per day I could get a bridge line capable of handling
up to 200 callers. This is the monthly rate. This company had a
range of plans offering from 50 line up to 200+ lines on
a monthly basis, which is what I went with. You can also use the
lines on a one-time basis and even get a complimentary trial.
I
went with the monthly plan because, as I said, that came out to
less than $1.40 per day. These were my lines to use 24/7. I could
use them as many times as I wanted. That meant that I could
share my brilliant idea with friends if I wanted and we could all
have an incredible resource that allowed us to stay in touch with
out clients. I could even record my calls and then have people dial
in later to listen to the recordings.
This turned out to be a brilliant idea, with amazing results!
I
started hosting a fr-e-e weekly brainstorming and networking session
with my subscribers and clients. Within 3 weeks of me starting this
the word had gotten out enough to where I was getting callers from
Germany, Korea, England, Australia, and all
over the U.S. and Canada.
My format for the calls was to allow my clients to email in questions prior to the call for us to discuss. I also chose 2-3 sites for us to review during each weekly session. Callers could try to squeeze in questions during the 1-2 hour calls, but if they emailed them in, they were assured of being addressed.
The
net effect of this was that my online community is more connected,
more responsive, and more targeted than it has ever been. Hearing
live voices on the phone has taken my entire online business to
a whole new level! While the audience on these calls
is much smaller than my ezine subscriber base, I know that these
clients are hearing my message. Not only that but it's a 2-way communication
stream.
One of the biggest let-downs about publishing an ezine is when you send out an issue and then get so little feedback that you wonder if anyone is reading it. With networking phone calls, you don't have that problem. Instead, the problem becomes who gets the chance to give you, or other subscribers/clients feedback.
If you are fed up with email problems, consider the teleconference solution. My friends at e-teleconferencing will even let you try out the service fr-ee. Just visit them at: http://therealsecrets.com/teleconferencing/ Be sure to tell them I sent you and ask for $10 back just for knowing me :-)
If you'd like to see what a "live ezine' sounds like, join me on one of our weekly calls. To get the call-in details, just send a blank email to my autoresponder at: willie3-56875@autocontactor.com
Feel free to copy my idea. Maybe I'll join one of your calls :-)
Copyright 2004 by Willie Crawford