What Our Core Values Mean to Us Posted on September 22, 2015June 12, 2018 by Jessica Lunk The leaders of Hatchbuck, Don and Jonathan, don’t have to work hard to promote the Hatchbuck values because we all embody them. We were hired because we are true Hatchbuckers. After reading an interview with Jonathan on our company culture, I wanted to know how the team felt, so I asked: Tell me about one of the core values and why it’s important to you. 1. Be yourself: Promoting authenticity allows every Hatchbucker to be the best version of themselves. It creates an environment of mutual respect and acceptance, allowing every team member to contribute without fear or hesitation. It also promotes an atmosphere of creativity and motivation to do the right thing without hesitation. We celebrate each other’s strengths and embrace our differences, that’s what makes us more than just a team- it makes us a family. I mean, if you can’t be yourself, who are you? – Tricia Be yourself: So cool that we have this as one of our core values. It really allows everyone to keep their individual identity. Customers definitely relate to this and really appreciate our authenticity. I love how Hatchbuck embodies that each one of their employees are special and unique in their own way. Great (and different minds) are powerful! – Lindsay The one that sticks out to me the most is “Be Yourself“. I love that I am given leeway and flexibility to come up with new ways to do my job better – new ways to delight my customers. There is never any blame if my new idea wasn’t successful and there is always praise if it is. I am also able to contribute outside my “role” in ways that use my talents and my passion – I am never pigeon-holed. That’s what I love about working here! – Katie I think my favorite core value is “Be Yourself.” It’s awesome to come to work everyday knowing that you can be authentic, you don’t have to put up a front when you walk in the door. Just makes life easy, which relates well to another core value, “Keep it Simple.” I love this core value, too. It permeates everything we do, whether it’s in the app, how we connect with our customers, or how our team is structured. I love it because it’s easy to complicate something. Keeping it simple can be a fun challenge. – Jessica #2 – Do the right thing. So many people overlook this and it is so simple. So many other companies might say ‘that’s not our job’ when asked for things by clients that are not in their job description, but if it’s something I can do and I know it’s going to help a client move forward and succeed then to me, that’s doing the right thing. Even if it adds to your workload a little, its always so worth it to help someone out. – Nicci “Do the right thing.” It is so important to me to work for a company that believes in this. My job is made easier when I am supported in making a decision based on what is right. So simple. When I sell Hatchbuck, I know that my clients will be supported 100% with this core value, and that makes me happy! – Tegan Man! If I have to pick one favorite core value, it would be #2, Do the Right Thing. I love that Hatchbuck isn’t about manuals and procedures, although these are both good at times. We aren’t about being rigid and sticking to a process. We are about treating our clients with respect and offering the absolute best service possible. We empower employees to do what it takes and go the extra mile just to put a smile on someone’s face. We apologize for honest mistakes and know that we can do what it takes to make that right and the rest of the team will back us up. We are focused on making our clients feel the way we would want to feel. I love working for a company where I’m not handcuffed to a manual and I can get creative and service our clients well. It just feels good to do that, and… it’s the right thing to do. – Erin “Keep it simple” is important to me because I feel it’s what sets Hatchbuck apart in the first place. I’m a technically-inclined guy, but when I log into some of the other CRMs out there, I have no idea what I’m doing. Nothing is intuitive, and I hate needing to spend hours reading documentation to accomplish something that should be easy. The simplicity in Hatchbuck generally has depth, because the more obvious solutions have been re-worked and re-engineered to make them simple in the first place. Striving for simplicity in a piece of software is like rewording a sentence until you deliver maximum articulation from a few simple words. – Sam Bill Gates once famously said, “I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” There are many interpretations to this quote, but for me, especially in regards to app-design and approaching new challenges, Gate’s message can be summed up by our third core value: Keep it simple! The best solution to a problem is almost always the simplest solution– one that adds the most value yet requires the least effort from invested parties. In app-design, often features are created on the mindset of “will the user use this?” But a better question to ask is actually “should the user use this”. Innovation is born out of a desire to simplify processes established by previous methods of operation. Technology hasn’t changed human nature– we still need, want, and do the same things; but what has changed is how we do things. In my opinion, the best innovations are the ones that improve access and ease, so for anyone who thinks they’ve got the next “big” thing… to that I say to you, “Keep it simple.” – Ben I love our values because they are straightforward. “Work hard and have fun” is that constant reminder for balance. If you work too hard, you’ll get burnt out. If you have too much fun, you’ll feel unfulfilled. It makes it easier to come to work on an off day because I know we have each other’s backs and there’s always something to laugh about. Plus, there’s nothing better than a pick-up basketball game, ping-pong tournament, or pinata party with people your proud to be on a team with. – Keely Make A Difference – It’s extremely important to me that at the end of the day I am helping to better the world I live in. Everyone here at Hatchbuck has the mentality “Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does” When a group of like minded individuals has a mission to help better the world, unbelievable things occur. Some of my favorite clients have been non-profits where Hatchbuck has been able to assist with their mission and helping them achieve their goals. – Lindsey Ever since I’ve been at Hatchbuck, I’ve never had a “bad” day. It really makes a difference for me to work in an environment filled with good people who are willing to help you out with any questions you have, or the will to assist in any tough issue thrown your way. Because everyone cares about the co-workers to their left and right here, I think our values naturally come into effect in the playing field and I think our clients see that. – Eric Thank you, Don and Jonathan. And Happy birthday, Don!! 🙂
Social Gone Small Part 2: Social Media Content Hacks Posted on September 22, 2015August 26, 2016 by Jessica Lunk In Part 1 of Social Gone Small, we explored the different social media platforms and the popular demographics found on each. Now, we’re going to dive into they type of content that will get your audience engaged with your brand. In Part 3, we’ll look at how you can grow a following of avid fans. Social media is different than other types of marketing in that you are promoting to a social channel. The keyword there is social, and you need to keep in mind that people are on each site to interact with their friends and acquaintances. The best way to get your audience to engage is to be genuinely social with them. Here are 8 social media content hacks to show your personality and get to know your followers: 1. The Rule of Thumb This rule of thumb hack is true of most social media sites. People will follow you if they are interested, and stop following if you are not sending them what entertains or educates them in some way. Therefore, you have to mix up your content. For every marketing-focused piece, you should post a few personal pieces. They can be about your employees. They can be about the current news. They can be funny videos that you find online. You can’t bombard followers with advertising. If you do, you will lose them. 2. Visual Content Is King Images are extremely important on all social media sites with added importance on sites such as Pinterest, Snapchat, and Instagram. Creating original images is an easy way to stand out from your competitors. Make sure you are posting the recommended sized image for each site. There are many great online photo editing tools out there such as Canva and PicMonkey that are affordable and easy to use. 3. Call-to-Action For most social media sites, you have the ability to add a call-to-action in the text area for each post. You can ask your followers to bookmark a post, save it for later or read the rest on your blog. 4. Post With Goals In Mind Make sure you have a strategy for each post. Most social media posts have one of three goals: Click to go to your site Share this item with your friends Respond with a like or comment You can survey followers, have them take a quiz or show them a video. Make it short and simple and know why you are posting. 5. Stand Out With Videos Videos are extremely popular and they don’t have to be long or professionally produced. A minute or less will get you the most views. You can post videos almost everywhere including Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. The best videos are recorded with a smartphone and posted online. Instead of worrying about production, get your video out there fast. The more you do it, the easier it will get as you develop your voice. 6. Share with Friends Ask your followers to share. Social media channels are all about sharing with other people. That is how they grow. If you are engaging the right audience for your products or services, you can ask your followers to share with their friends. If they like what you are posting, then their friends will too. 7. Shorten Those Links If you are not already using a link shortener, you should be. When you shorten links, you annoy people less AND you can track them. While you shouldn’t want to annoy your followers, tracking their behavior is something that can help you learn what is successful so you can repeat it. While some social media sites do provide analytics, most do not give you comprehensive information. 8. Be Picky Do not try to jump on every social media site that comes out. Do your research and work with two or three to start that have the right audience for your company. You need to be consistent or there is no point to being on a site at all. Want more insight into how to grow your social media strategy? Check back to learn how to grow an engaged following.
5 Keys to Effective Email Marketing Posted on September 21, 2015August 29, 2016 by Guest Author Email marketing is one of the easiest, most affordable ways to keep customers engaged with your brand. It can also be a great way to drive revenue. Almost half of all email recipients made a purchase last year based on a promotional email. But email marketing isn’t a guaranteed win. Without the right timing, targeting, and permission, even the best emails are often ignored or even marked as spam. And nobody wants to waste time shouting into a digital void. The good news is, people still read commercial emails: according to a recent email marketing study, 60 percent of consumers read emails they receive from businesses. It’s just that they’ve been blasted with such a deluge of spam and irrelevant content that they’re more selective about what they read. Your business needs a game plan for sending emails that not only make the cut, but also drive conversions and loyalty. Here are 5 tips for doing just that: 1) Send Targeted Content While email marketing is admittedly less personal than its close cousin lead nurturing, you can still send emails that align with the unique interests and buying stage of your prospects. One of the best ways to do this is through list segmentation. Use your marketing automation software to divide your contacts into smaller lists, grouped by common behavioral attributes or demographics information (for example, a list of adult males who live in the Southeast, or a list of customers that have made multiple purchases). You can also use custom rules to send emails based on time or action triggers (such as an oil change reminder 90 days after their last appointment). Oh, and don’t forget to address people by name. Personalized emails can produce up to six times more revenue than generic ones. No has ever been moved to action by the phrase, “Dear Valued Customer.” 2) Track Engagement Email marketing isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it solution. You should be constantly tracking campaign success by looking at specific engagement metrics like click-through rate, unsubscribes, and open rate. More importantly, use your findings to make adjustments to the campaign, as necessary. Most marketers also use A/B testing and engagement analytics as a kind of one-two punch. Try one email configuration, then measure engagement; try another, then compare results. If you haven’t chosen an email marketing solution, make sure to evaluate analytics and reporting features while you compare solutions and read marketing automation software reviews. 3) Get Permission Sending permission-based emails is crucial to deliverability, from a technical standpoint and emotional standpoint. If you don’t have permission to contact your prospects (e.g. you purchased a list from a third party), you can expect a lot of emails to be blocked by email servers or routed to the spam folder. The same is true if a prospect “opted in” but doesn’t remember opting in or doesn’t see the relevance of your emails. The safest approach is to use a double opt-in process. After the contact initially agrees to receive email (by completing a web form or downloading content) send them a welcome email with a request to confirm their subscription. This ensures that everyone getting your emails actually wants them. 4) Make Sure the Timing is Right Email isn’t an open line of communication. Although smartphones provide anytime access to the inbox (65 percent of emails are opened on a mobile device), most people read emails at certain times of the day. If you can calibrate your send schedule around these peak times, you’re more likely to catch readers’ attention, and see higher open and click-through rates. Most research points to weekday mornings (before lunch) as the best time for engagement, although some studies suggest late night emails are a strong contender. Run reports on some of your existing campaigns to see when most of your audience is attentive, and adjust accordingly. 5) Send Actionable Emails If you want to get measurable results from your marketing emails, you need to make prominent use of calls-to-action (CTAs). A CTA asks the reader to take some kind of action in response to the content they’ve received. This could be a purchase oriented action (“Proceed to checkout,” or “You might like these other items”), or an action that cements their relationship with your brand (“Like us on Facebook,” or “Sign up for our rewards program”). Just be sure the CTA is backed up by some kind of value-add on your end. CTAs are always more effective when they come after informative content. *** There are a lot of ingredients that go into effective email marketing, but the real proof is in what happens to the emails themselves. Do they land in the inbox? Do people open them? Are they useful and relevant? Do they generate click-throughs to your landing pages? It’s a delicate process, but the methodology is simple: get permission, treat people like people, give them a chance to take action, and constantly reassess your tactics. Marketing automation isn’t just a trendy new topic — it’s a set of technology and best practices set to revolutionize marketing as we know it. About the Author Aleksandr Peterson is a technology analyst at TechnologyAdvice. He covers marketing automation, CRMs, project management, and other emerging business technology. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
What Can Your Small Business Learn from the Google Rebrand? Posted on September 18, 2015June 27, 2016 by Jonathan Herrick The behemoth that is Google might seem about as far from a small business as you can get, but the company’s recent rebrand, which included a redesigned logo and name change, has a lot of valuable lessons for small businesses. So what can we learn from the Google rebrand? Be responsive to customer needs. All businesses today need to be accessible from the mobile web. Google’s new logo has softer colors and a new font–sans-serif–which is more modern than the old one but more importantly, works well on all screens, not just desktops. Sans-serif shrinks down to smaller sizes more easily than other fonts, which is better for smaller screens and lower resolutions. And Google’s new mobile logo is a 306-byte, four-color capital G—easy to load and easy to see. Now that consumers spend more of their media time on mobile devices than desktop computers, it’s more critical than ever that your business reach customers through mobile search and display. Make sure your business’ site is optimized for the mobile web—that means it loads quickly, is easy to navigate and makes it easy for customers to locate and contact you. Have a conversation with customers. Because Google is Google, it’s new logo and company name were covered extensively in the press. But the company also posted a blog post explaining what they were doing and why, and included two videos as well, one that gave the entire evolution of its logo and the other about the variety of offerings Google has had over the years. As a small business, your customer base may be smaller but you still want to communicate about changes to your brand and let customers use social media to give their feedback. Google’s blog post received nearly 9,600 comments from Google + users alone. It’s bigger than the logo. Google’s logo change isn’t just about changing the logo. Change gets consumers’ attention. A new logo is a way to draw attention to your company and news about changes you may be making and the reasons behind those changes. Case and point-when Google announced the new re-brand and direction, it was the #1 topic trending across all social media platforms. Be consistent across all your products and services. Sure, Google changed things up but they also kept some things the same. Google’s new parent company Alphabet has the same branding and look to its logo that’s rolling out across all of Google’s products. The company is also still using the same four colors it always has. Geoff Cook, a founding partner at the design firm Base Design told Wired magazine the new logo and rebranding is akin to a smart system. “Like an overarching visual language that really allows us, the users to connect the dots across their ecosystem from product to product,” said Cook. To help maintain strong recall and recognition of your brand with prospects and customers, make sure your brand identity and logo are consistent across all your products, services, websites and social media. Understanding before changing. Remember that before you embark on a rebrand, you should understand what a rebrand really means. It’s not just changing the business name and logo, but the brand’s identity. To understand what that identity is and means, you have to ask customers and prospective customers what they think, feel and expect when they interact with the business or its product/service, according to Tara Stoutenborough, a principal at marketing communications firm Strategies. “Those expectations are the brand,” she says. Ask yourself what qualities, characteristics and feelings you want people to think about when they envision your business’ name and logo and what you believe sets your business apart from its competition. Use the customer feedback Stoutenborough recommended to find out what’s working and what’s not working. Once you know that, you can change whatever part of the brand that isn’t connecting with your target market and create an authentic one that does. Rebranding can make a big impact on your small business. The recent Google rebrand gives you valuable insights into how to reshape your brand and the best way to engage prospective and current customers in the process.
11 Big Content Ideas on a Small Business Budget Posted on September 18, 2015November 15, 2016 by Jessica Lunk Creating engaging content for your business may seem like a daunting task, especially when trying to do it on a small business budget. It doesn’t have to be expensive nor daunting however, especially when you consider these 11 big content ideas on a small business budget. Use key personnel in creating content. Every business has key players who have interesting stories to tell. It doesn’t even have to be business related. Employees can talk about their backgrounds, hobbies and like and dislikes. This can help create a more personal feel for your organization and allow your prospects and customers to put faces with names. Use these same employees to brainstorm other ideas. Listen to your customers. The questions your customers are asking about your company are great fodder for content articles. Your customers may even have ideas on articles they would like to read about or may volunteer to submit a guest article. This also helps you stay interactive with them. Tell stories. You probably have an endless array of stories from being in business that are interesting, funny or that you learned great lessons from. Share them with your readers using your own voice and personality. Use trade publications. Obviously you don’t want to plagiarize, but something you read may give you a great spin-off idea of your own. It could be a good idea to give credit to the original writer. How can your readers make use of this idea? Use product history as broad subject. What is the history of the types of products your small business creates? If you operate in a smaller region, historical articles about that region may be interesting. What about your own company history? Use graphics and images. This will not only make your content more readable but it can fill space. Use photos to give a virtual tour of your small business, show employee celebrations, or non-profit activities. Talk about your products. What you sell may be your biggest source of content. You can create a wealth of content by describing your products quality, features and why it solves a problem. You could create weeks or even months of content, but be sure to sprinkle them in so your content stays of interest. Demonstrate new uses for your products. Most companies create products that are versatile. Share in your content how your customers are using these items in various ways. It may give them additional ideas and sell more products. Create lists. Lists are very popular on the internet and creating them can be relatively easy, based on your own experience. Think about ideas your readers would be interested in like “6 Innovative Ways to save Energy”, “Five Things You Can Do to Save on Your Business Insurance”. Exploit your advantages as a small business. Perhaps it’s customer service, personal attention, responsiveness or your guarantee. Write about what differentiates you from your bigger competitors and why you are a better choice. Recycle and repurpose your content. Save everything you create. As time goes by, something in the news may make the content relevant. This older content may be able to be massaged into fresher content. You can also use content in a variety of social media platforms. Many small businesses don’t get started in content marketing because they may believe they have to have the perfect plan befores starting. Small businesses should just go ahead and dig in, even if you fumble a bit along the way. Content marketing is too important to not get into the game. Besides, what you learn along the way will be valuable.
How Automation Has Revolutionized Small Business Marketing Posted on September 17, 2015June 18, 2018 by Don Breckenridge Marketing automation software—which is used to develop, execute and track marketing campaigns–has changed the landscape for companies of all sizes, but especially small businesses. Automating much of the communication and follow-up that used to be done manually allows small businesses, with their small staffs and limited resources, to shift priorities and use employees’ time more effectively. In fact nearly all—98%–of small business software buyers are shopping for marketing automation software, according to a new report by research firm Software Advice, a division of Gartner. This kind of software helps companies manage lead generation, allows marketers and sales people to build relationships with those leads, and lets management track and analyze the performance of campaigns. That automation can be a game-changer for small businesses, which are often overwhelmed with managing clients, contacts and leads, according to the Software Advice survey. Here’s how the right marketing automation platform can transform your small business: Eliminates a lot of the guesswork that goes into sales and marketing. Business owners will know for certain things they used to guess at, like which content gets the most traction and what is most relevant to different leads and how long to wait before sending a second email to a prospect. Reduces errors. Everyone makes mistakes, and that’s the reason why data entered into a CRM system manually almost always has erroneous information. Marketing automation software automatically populates web forms, greatly reducing errors. Hatchbuck’s tools add a new contact record every time someone fills out an online form, which not only helps with accuracy, it eliminates a lot of tedious data entry. Improves communication. One of the most important things marketing automation does is improve your communication with customers and prospects, and reduce the time it takes you to respond to their queries. A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that prospects are seven times more likely to buy from a company that responds to their inquiry within an hour. Personalizes communication. Messages that are personalized—and tailored to the recipient—will have a much bigger impact than generic ones. They are more likely to be read and create loyalty with your brand. Without an automated system to keep track of every customer and contact’s history and activity, this would be a herculean task. But with marketing automation, it’s efficient and effective. Lets you nurture leads over time. You can automate sending personalized emails to prospects, educating them about your product and familiarizing them with your company over time. Our tools, for example, allow you to do things like track email conversations and allow sales people to segment and organize their contacts in ways that make sense—by status, demographics or specific need. Leverages data. Marketing automation collects and harnesses an enormous amount of valuable data, tracking every interaction with customers and prospects and then analyzes it, allowing you to track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns so you can improve engagement and sales. Lets you compete with the big guys. It used to be only large companies had the resources for marketing automation software, but products specifically designed for small businesses—like Hatchbuck—make it affordable and easy to implement and allow the smallest businesses to market like the Fortune 500.
Social Gone Small Part 1: What Social Media Platforms Are Your Customers On Posted on September 16, 2015September 2, 2022 by Jessica Lunk Social media has become one of the most useful channels for small businesses to engage and interact with their customers. If you are ignoring this marketing channel, then you are missing out on one of the best ways to keep in touch with your customers and find new customers. This three-part series is going to explore how you can connect with your ideal customers, engage in personable conversations, and grow your social media following. In the first part of Social Gone Small, we’ll explore the popular social media platforms and who is on them so you can decide where to devote your time. In Part 2, we’ll look at a few content hacks to develop your social media voice that will best engage your ideal buyer. Finally, in Part 3, we’ll explore how you can grow a cult-like social media following. Which social media platforms are your customers on? Let’s see who’s talking and where they are meeting up. 1. Facebook According to Statistica.com, Facebook is the most used social media site in the U.S. by far. Over 45.6 percent of social media visits are on Facebook. Therefore, it is a good chance that your customers are spending significant time on this site. Facebook started out with college students using it primarily, but now it has become a mainstream site with users from age 16 to 65 and older spending time there in groups, chatting with friends and posting their activities. In fact, 45 percent of Internet users 65 and older use Facebook and make up 10% of Facebook’s user base. 2. YouTube Bet you didn’t even have YouTube on your list as a social media site, did you? YouTube comes in second on the list at 21.2 percent of social media visits. YouTube is also the second largest search engine after Google. And guess who owns it? That’s right, Google. If you are not taking advantage of the power of YouTube, you are surely missing opportunities to engage your prospects and customers. Videos can be embedded on your site, and they come up in search on Google as well as on YouTube. Videos are increasing in popularity as more people adopt mobile devices. 72 percent of U.S. Millennials, 58 percent of Gen X and 43 percent of Baby Boomers use YouTube. 3. Twitter Twitter is the third highest with only a mere 4.58 percent of visits. This site has morphed into a way to blast out quick messages including images and GIFs. On Twitter, you have 140 characters to get your message across. Similar to texting, Twitter acts as an announcement except that the messages can be shared, searched and broadcast. 4. LinkedIn With 187 million people actively logging into the platform each month, LinkedIn is an excellent option for connecting with a business-focused network. LinkedIn has become a content powerhouse for professionals, networking, and job hunting, allowing its users to become thought leaders in their field. It is widely used by B2B companies as well as business owners. 5. Reddit Reddit is a bookmarking site with a social media aspect. Reddit is a private company and much quieter than other social media sites such as Facebook. However, 3.92 percent of social media visits went to Reddit, not far behind Twitter. Reddit’s main demographic is 18 to 29 year old males. 6. Pinterest Pinterest begins the next group of social media sites that all range between 1.20 and 1.50 percent of social media visits. However, Pinterest’s success shows that 1.50 percent of visits are quite influential. Pinterest’s audience is 85 percent female with a concentration of users in the U.S. Pinterest pins are searchable on Google which helps make this site popular. Other social media sites that are in the top 10 are all in the same range as Pinterest for percentage of visits. These include Tumblr, LinkedIn, Reddit, Google+ and Instagram. Of this group, Instagram is the newest and growing fast. Tumblr is most popular with teens ages 13 to 17 and young adults ages 18 to 34. Instagram is almost exactly split between males and females. 90 percent of users are younger than 35. Google+ is used by 58 percent of U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 52 percent of U.S. charities and non-profits. Despite a lack of activity compared to the other platforms, Google+ makes a strong, positive impact on your SEO. These short facts will help point you in the right direction. Poke around in each network and search for relevant topics within your industry to find active communities. It will help you get a feel for each platform and allow you to make a better decision on where to focus your social media marketing efforts. Next, get more insights into how to engage with your audience in the Social Gone Small series.
Crafting The Perfect Subject Line Posted on September 15, 2015June 1, 2016 by Jessica Lunk Why is a subject line so important? If you have great content it shouldn’t really matter, right? WRONG! It’s usually the only information a reader has (besides the sender email address) to help them determine if they should open or toss. A captivating subject line can equate to a higher open rate, and can then result in a higher click-through rate. Your great content becomes insignificant if someone deletes it before they can read that fabulous text, or view your perfectly formatted images. Make a conscious effort of glancing through the unread emails in your inbox. What triggers you to immediately delete an email and what makes you interested enough to click and open? Your prospects are no different. They are sifting through numerous emails and trying to eyeball the select few that spark their interest. What to avoid? Words like free, savings, guaranteed, don’t wait, and last chance can not only put you in spam filters, they can turn prospects off. Your subject line is your teaser, think about enticing your readers. It is best to avoid ALL CAPS and excessive exclamations. People know immediately that you are trying to sell them, and they are turned off by this. Another common mistake is changing the day or date but leaving the rest of the subject line material the same. Have you ever seen this, “January Newsletter, February Newsletter, March Newsletter?” This doesn’t work. It isn’t original and people will start to grow tired of this. Instead, try highlighting an interesting snippet of the January Newsletter that will interest your prospects. Don’t take the easy way out and send out emails with one date or word changed in the subject line every month. You aren’t fooling anyone. What to use! Personalize your subject line using merge fields. First name, company name, or custom fields can be really beneficial here. You need to remember to speak to your audience individually, even if you are sending this as a mass e-blast. A personal tone helps your prospects feel important and trust your messaging because you have some sort of relationship with them. Ask prospects a question to peak their interest. A travel agency or resort might try, [First Name], when’s the last time you got away? Subject lines should be short and easy to read. Remember that prospects are often scanning their emails quickly and your wording needs to motivate the open after a brief glance. The subject line is one short quick blurb and nothing more. Testing is believing Use A/B testing to slightly tweak subject lines and see which has a higher open rate. Hatchbuck lets you do this easily by selecting multiple emails to send to your list and highlights the open rates in our reporting section. Look at your email statistics to see what subject lines yielded the highest opens. Take it from my personal email I’m currently decorating my living room, so I’ve been browsing products on various websites and signing up for their emails. I decided to examine what prompts me to open an email and what commonalities my deleted emails share. “Hurry! 20% OFF ends TODAY!!” went straight to my deleted folder. My eyes went straight to the words in caps because they stuck out like a sore thumb among other subject lines in my inbox. I wanted this cleaned out ASAP because I don’t deem this to be important. On the opposite end of the spectrum… I stumble upon this next email, “Lindsay, dare to drape. Curtains, blinds, and hardware in every style.” I’m imagining drapes and blinds that will tie my entire living room together. Even if I’m not ready to buy yet, I want to visualize my options. This retail company did a great job of segmenting me based on which pages of their website I visited. The actions associated with this email subject also helped me decide to open it. I just love the phrase, “dare to drape.” Why yes, I accept your dare. Sometimes looking internally at how you respond to different subject lines will help define how your customers might react. Remember to keep subject lines short and personalized and avoid lengthy, salesy jargon. Hatchbuck can really help segment prospects so that you can send subject lines that make sense to each individual recipient. No one has time to waste opening unwanted emails.
101 #MondayMotivation Quotes for Small Business Owners Posted on September 14, 2015September 9, 2020 by Jonathan Herrick Owning and leading a small business has its fair share of highs and lows. Some days it feels like you’re on top of the mountain. Other days, well…. everything seems to unravel. It’s healthy to take a step back and remember why you took that step of independence to be an owner, to drive your dream. Today may just be the day you need a little encouragement and a reminder to not give up and “keep on keeping on” (Joe Dirt). Accepting help when it’s offered is nothing to be ashamed of. Help can take many forms, too. It can be that small business CRM you’re using to help track your customers and prospects. Or, it can be in the form of some inspirational quotes you keep by your desk. In case you could use a few more, here are 101 of my #MondayMotivation quotes for small business: The most dangerous poison is the feeling of achievement. The antidote is to every evening think what can be done better tomorrow. – Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA founder The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow. – Seth Godin Please think about your legacy, because you’re writing it every day. – Gary Vaynerchuck Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. – Albert Einstein The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do. – Roy L. Smith Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once. – Drew Houston, Dropbox founder and CEO It’s not that we need new ideas, but we need to stop having old ideas. – Edwin Land, Polaroid co-founder You’ll never find your limits until you’ve gone too far. – Aron Ralston You must either modify your dreams or magnify your skills. – Jim Rohn We become what we think about. – Earl Nightingale It’s hard to do a really good job on anything you don’t think about in the shower. – Paul Graham, YCombinator co-founder To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted. – George Kneller You can’t make anything viral, but you can make something good. – Peter Shankman, HARO founder The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be. – Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart. – Sr. Thomas Watson It is never too late to be what you might have been. – George Eliot Whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you’re right. – Henry Ford Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me. – Arianna Huffington I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed. – Michael Jordan The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. – Ralph Waldo Emerson When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it. – Henry Ford Pain nourishes courage. You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you. – Mary Tyler Moore If you can’t feed a team with two pizzas, it’s too large. – Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO Chase the vision, not the money; the money will end up following you. – Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. – Steve Jobs The only way around is through. – Robert Frost The golden rule for every business man is this: Put yourself in your customer’s place. – Orison Swett Marden I can’t imagine a person becoming a success who doesn’t give this game of life everything he’s got. – Walter Cronkite It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it. – Arnold Toynbee Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. – Les Brown Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover. – Mark Twain There’s nothing wrong with staying small. You can do big things with a small team. – Jason Fried Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked. – Warren Buffett Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there. – Will Rogers The first one gets the oyster the second gets the shell. – Andrew Carnegie The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any. – Alice Walker Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is. – Seth Godin Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. – Benjamin Franklin If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. – Derek Bok Start today, not tomorrow. If anything, you should have started yesterday. – Emil Motycka If you think that you are going to love something, give it a try. You’re going to kick yourself in the butt for the rest of your life if you don’t. – Joe Penna On our own we are one drop. Together we are an ocean. Everyone has an invisible sign hanging from their neck saying, “make me feel important.” Never forget this message when working with people. – Mary Kay Ash Life’s a garden- Dig it. – Joe Dirt In every success story, you will find someone who has made a courageous decision. – Peter F. Drucker You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong. – Warren Buffett You can’t fall if you don’t climb. But there’s no joy in living your whole life on the ground. – Unknown Sheer persistence is the difference between success and failure. – Donald Trump You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. – Christopher Columbus People don’t believe what you tell them. They rarely believe what you show them. They often believe what their friends tell them. They always believe what they tell themselves. – Seth Godin Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. – Charles Swindoll There’s lots of bad reasons to start a company. But there’s only one good, legitimate reason, and I think you know what it is: it’s to change the world. – Phil Libin If I have seen anything .. it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. – Albert Einstein Failure is just a resting place. It is an opportunity to begin again more intelligently. – Henry Ford I made a resolve then that I was going to amount to something if I could. And no hours, nor amount of labor, nor amount of money would deter me from giving the best that there was in me. And I have done that ever since, and I win by it. I know. – Harland Sanders, KFC founder When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. – Helen Keller Either you run the day, or the day runs you. – Jim Rohn Success is about creating value. – Candice Carpenter The best use of life is to spend it on something that outlasts it. – William James A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts. – Richard Branson Live daringly, boldly, fearlessly. Taste the relish to be found in competition – in having put forth the best within you. – Henry J. Kaiser The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. – Mark Twain We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action. Fear is nature’s way of warning us to get busy. – Dr. Henry Link Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. – Thomas Edison Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. – Oprah Winfrey Ideas in secret die. They need light and air or they starve to death. – Seth Godin I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent. – Thomas Edison Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. – Albert Einstein People rarely buy what they need. They buy what they want. – Seth Godin I like thinking big. If you’re going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big. – Donald Trump Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games. – Babe Ruth If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. – Booker T. Washington Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny. – Chinese Proverb So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard. – Caterina Fake, Flickr co-founder Hire character. Train skill. – Peter Schutz Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. – Anais Nin Your time is precious, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. – Steve Jobs A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him. – David Brinkley There’s no shortage of remarkable ideas; what’s missing is the will to execute them. – Seth Godin If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced. – Vincent Van Gogh Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. – Theodore Roosevelt How you climb a mountain is more important than reaching the top. – Yvon Chouinard We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. – Aristotle Show me a person who never made a mistake, and I will show you a person who never did anything. – William Rosenberg If you fail let it be your fault – Don’t let someone else fail for you. – Joe Griffin (CEO of iAcquire) There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing. – Aristotle Your reputation is more important than your paycheck, and your integrity is worth more than your career. – Ryan Freitas Be undeniably good. No marketing effort or social media buzzword can be a substitute for that – Anthony Volodkin Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. – Jesus Inspiration exists, but it must find you working. – Pablo Picasso Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. – George Addair Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. – Arthur Ashe When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. – Lao Tzu Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. – Mary Kay Ash Waiting for perfect is never as smart as making progress. – Seth Godin, Author I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. – Tony Robbins It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. – Scott Belsky Before you dismiss a beginner’s work, remember how much you sucked when you started. You probably sucked worse, actually. – Jason Fried The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing. – Walt Disney Share your favorite Monday Motivation quotes with us on Twitter!