Matthew

Is Email Marketing Worth the Effort?

With so many options available to business owner’s such as such as Constant Contact, Mail Chimp, and iContact one may ask themselves, “where do I start?” Well the good news is you’re not alone.

Email marketing is an excellent way to generate new business leads and increase company exposure. With the right audience, a well written email, and great products it has never been easier to prompt a sale. In fact with the growing popularity of mobile devices and the drastic changes in technology, nearly 48% percent of all emails are opened on a smart phone. Now what better way to increase company exposure and place your products in the hands of potential clients.

Email marketing services such as Mail Chimp, provide complete control of the messaging experience allowing you to tailor campaigns to specific behaviors and demographics, improving the likelihood that your prospects will act. In addition these services provide useful analytic tools which provide in depth information about how your marketing campaign is performing, from open rates to URL’s clicked and much more. These tools also allow you to trial different campaigns prior to launching, allowing you to maximize your audience interaction.

So we ask is email marketing worth the effort or just a waste of time and resources? Email marketing has a much higher conversion rate in comparison to traditional hard mail marketing and is still more effective than social media marketing. To answer the question, yes we think it’s definitely worth the effort and suggest that you try for yourself.

Here are A few tips to consider when creating your email campaign:

Subject Line – It’s important that the subject is relevant to your audience, this will help avoid your message coming off as SPAM. According to recent studies nearly 33% of recipients open emails based on subject alone. Creating a relevant and catchy subject line will peak the recipients curiosity increasing your chances that they will open your email.

Time of Day – Spend the time to researching your audience. When are your readers most active? Studies have shown sending emails in the morning have a greater chance of being opened. This doesn’t mean that all readers abide by this study so make sure you know the behaviors of your reader’s. For many this key factor can make or break the success of your campaign.

Email Frequency- It’s very important that you stay in contact with prospects and current clients but avoid sending too many emails. One of the main reasons a reader will unsubscribe from email notifications is they are receiving too many.

Format – As we previously stated many readers check their emails on a mobile device or tablet. It’s especially important that your emails are optimized to support these formats, failure to cater to these devices could lead to your email being overlooked, unopened, or marked as junk.

Template – Always keep things fresh, if your content is always delivered in the same template readers may become bored and your interaction will decline. We recommend having at least five to ten templates designed and create a rotation. This works great for monthly newsletters and holiday offers.

Special Offers – People who actively participate in email marketing are looking for value. Even in an industry such as insurance it’s important that we make our reader feel special. What sets you apart from the rest?

Call to Action – Creating a call to action is imperative if you’re looking to get anything out of your email campaign. Even if you’ve written excellent content for your readers without a call to action they may do just that, read and not act. Create something catchy and place it within the email, some even add a quick phrase at the end. Just be sure you don’t come off like an advertisement that is trying to push a product, readers and consumers want to feel like they have a choice not have a sale shoved down their throat.

Information Overload – In today’s society readers want information fast, no one has time to scroll through an email for the bits of information their interested in reading. Target the information you would like to share and make sure your email is geared to deliver those key points. Simply put, less is more so try and avoid the fluff.

No one launches a masterpiece on their first campaign so be patient and always remember the tips above. We would love to hear about your success and failures in email marketing so please share with us.

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In the Kitchen

It’s Turkey Time!

It’s that time of the year where family, friends, and neighbors come together to enjoy the festivities. Here at CityScape Insurance we use this day as an excuse to stuff ourselves to the point of exploding. We’ll pay for it in the gym the following weeks but it’s worth it.

Cooking turkey is an art and many ask the question, “How do I cook the perfect bird?” You’re not alone, every year we ask ourselves the same question. So what we’ve decided to do is share our favorite recipes and see what you think.

Oven Roasted Turkey

Ingredients

1 Turkey, any size
2 1/4 Cups of chicken or turkey broth
1-2 Sticks of melted butter (for basting)
1/2 Diced white onion
1 Can of Green Chili Peppers
Table Salt
Black pepper & garlic seasoning (whisk in with melted butter)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and position the racks to the bottom third of the oven.

2. Pull the turkey out of the fridge about an hour ahead of time. Be sure to clean and rinse the turkey prior to prepping. Rub down the entire bird with salt and butter. Place the turkey breast side down on the roast rack and let sit for an hour prior to placing in the oven.

3. Pour the 2 1/4 cups of broth into the roasting pan about 15 minutes after placing the turkey in the oven. We also suggest placing a 1/4 cup of broth inside the turkey. This makes the meat juicy inside and out

4. Rule of thumb for cooking a turkey is 12 – 15 minutes per pound. We generally cook an 18 lb turkey for 4-41/2 hours, depending on the internal temperature. Since we cook our turkey without the stuffing this can cause the turkey to cook much faster so be sure to check the temperature about half way through the cooking process and adjust the time accordingly.

5. Every 30-45 minutes it’s important that you pull the turkey out of the oven (be sure to shut the oven door to avoid losing too much heat) and baste it with the broth and juices collected at the bottom of the pan. In the last 45 minutes of cooking, baste the turkey with melted butter and green chili’s to give the skin a golden brown look and a nice little kick.

6. When you think the turkey is done cooking pull it out of the oven and check the temperature in both breasts and the inner thighs. If the temperature is 165°F then your good to go.

7. It is important that after you pull the turkey out of the oven you remove it from the pan. To do so lift the rack and turkey onto a cutting board, gently cover the turkey with aluminum foil trapping the heat and allow the turkey to sit for about 30 minutes. This allows the meat to firm up, making it easier to cut.

8. Now our favorite part, carve the turkey, serve, and enjoy.

Deep Fried Turkey

Ingredients

1 (10-14 lb) turkey
1 cup of salt
We call it our “Pub Seasoning”
- 1/4 cup of cajun seasoning
- 1/4 cup of black pepper
- 1/4 cup of garlic powder
- 2 1/2 TBS of onion powder
3 to 5 gallons peanut oil

It is very important not to over fill the pot with oil. Having too much oil can cause overflow and possibly a fire. The pot should not exceed 3/4 full. A useful tip to measure how much oil is needed, place the turkey in the pot and fill it until it tops the turkey. From there remove the turkey and either draw an imaginary line or use a wooden spoon to determine the level. (We use the spoon trick and mark it with masking tape, with as much going in the household it’s easy to forget the imaginary line.)

1. Pull the turkey out of the fridge about an hour ahead of time. Wash the turkey thoroughly prior to prepping, then rub down the entire bird with your mixed seasoning. Allow the bird to reach room temperature prior to cooking.

2. Heat the peanut oil to 350°F in a large stock pot. Once temperature has been reached slowly place the turkey in the pot (we recommend wearing hot mitts and suggest using tongs to avoid burning your self).

3. Rule of thumb for frying a turkey is roughly 3 – 4 minutes per pound if you are uncertain follow the 3 minute rule and add 5 minutes onto the end of your cook time.

4. Once the turkey is done cooking carefully remove it from the pot (again we recommend wearing hot mitts and using tongs), place the bird on a bed of paper towels to absorb the excess oil. The bird will be really hot so it’s important you give it at least 5-10 minutes to cool prior to serving.

5. There you have it, an absolutely delicious deep fried turkey.

We’re always looking for a better way to make Thanksgiving that much better so please share your favorite recipes for everyone to enjoy.