Consistency – WETONG Blog

Persuasion in Society: Giving What People Want

Michael Lee asked:

Persuasion in society has been existent since the very first relationships were built. Persuasion has had a huge role in forming groups and developing collective ideas and attitudes. Its role will continue to influence future societies, as well, based on the united understanding of individuals. Persuasion in society can make or break a group, so you need to know what people want.

Social Influence

Persuasion in society is a vital part of human life. People have been guided by others throughout centuries through persuasive attitudes, actions, signs, and thoughts. Basically, individuals in a given group will be persuaded if they feel change will be for the entire group’s advantage. You may be familiar with utilitarianism and how the advantages and disadvantages of one person can significantly affect the entire group as a whole.

The same goes with persuasion, in the sense that if you are able to show inequity, people will mostly adhere to a problem-solving means, instead of being forced into deciding.

Weapons of Influence in Society

All weapons of influence can be applied to modern society. Persuasion in society still requires a variety of strategies, techniques, and approaches, especially since you are dealing with several people at a time. This may make it harder for you because it is very likely for different individuals in a society to have varying perceptions and views.

The most common is authority, wherein people are influenced by those they look up to, like leaders, heroes, and government figures. Social proof is another, where people follow what others in the same group are doing or thinking. Liking is when people easily get persuaded if they see things attractive to them or are to their advantage.

Scarcity is when people adhere to influence if it seems rare or unique. There is also reciprocation, in which individuals will allow themselves to be persuaded to return a favor or end suffering. Commitment and consistency is an honored agreement that may initially come with a motivator.

Persuasion in society acts in a way that lets individuals comply with the so-called standards of the group they belong to. They are more likely to be persuaded if they find benefits and improvement in their environment, which makes them feel useful and vital to their community. This greatly gives them a sense of security, decisiveness, and belongingness.

Designing Your Nonprofit Organizations’ E-zine

Heidi Richards, Ms asked:

E-ZINES – The alternative of choice for many organizations are a great way to market yours. All you need is an e-mail account and permission from your stakeholders to send the e-zine. In fact, I have found e-zines to be so powerful that I write and produce five a month. They are:

Self-Marketing News – a marketing newsletter for small to mid sized businesses

PetalsNCents – a marketing newsletter for the floral industry

Creating A Legacy – a newsletter for the nonprofit community, and

Ramblin’ Rose – a newsletter for my retail customers.

WECommerce News – a newsletter for Women Who do Business on the web

The first thing you must do is collect your customers/clients e-mail addresses. We collect them when they call, visit my retail business, answer surveys, or enter our contests. We ask for an e-mail address every time we have interaction with them.

Formatting your E-zine

Keep it basically the same from issue to issue. Consistency in the format – can apply to many marketing strategies on the web. That includes keeping it consistent with the colors and look of your website to consistent categories in your newsletter. Consistency helps your stakeholders understand what is coming next – so they continue to look forward to receiving it.

Test new strategies with your newsletter – but you also need to keep certain things similar so that you do not confuse your stakeholders. This will decrease the amount of un-subscribes you will receive.

Length and frequency of delivery – Make it easy to read and brief. The length of your e-zine will depend on the frequency in which you publish. If you publish your e-zine once a month including two to three articles is the norm, however if you publish on a daily or weekly basis, then I recommend only one short article and or a tip. Too much or too little content will quickly drive readers away.

Subject Line – The subject line of your e-zine should be consistent. You can use the name of your e-zine, your organization or another catchy title. The main thing is to use the same subject line with each issue.

Table of Contents – “Table of Contents” or “In this Issue” should appear at the beginning of the e-zine. This to let people know what is in this issue. Most people scan the table of contents see if there is an article that interests them..

Categories – Should remain the same from issue to issue. They could include:

Editor’s or Executive Directors Remarks – A great place to welcome people and thank them for their support.

One to three articles – Lead with the most important or interesting article. This will get people to read the rest of your e-zine.

Volunteer recognition and Thank-you’s

What’s New in the organization – Such as events and happenings.

Resources – Things your readers would appreciate receiving such as complimentary reports, notices about upcoming seminars that would be of benefit to them as well as a book review or two are great items to put in the resource section of your e-zine.

Advertising and Sponsorship Support – Here’s where you thank your supporters of the organization and advertisers of your e-zine. Getting sponsors and advertisers to put ads in your e-zine can make it cost you virtually nothing to produce. One word of caution, follow the 80/20 rule so people won’t feel that all you are trying to do is sell them something – that means your e-zine should be 80 content and nor more than 20% advertising.

Questions, Comments, Reader feedback – A great place to answer stakeholders questions that other may also be interested in knowing, comments and by all means any testimonials you receive from your readers.

General Information – How to contact the organization, subscribe, unsubscribe, refer others to the organization, privacy statement and how to support the e-zine or organization.

Format

HTML e-mail – although HTML is not the preferred way for some readers, all of my e-zines are HTML format. They simply look better.

ASCII text – regular text email format, which includes up to 65 characters per line.

Web based – posting your e-zine on the web.

Font – use a generic font such as Arial, Times Roman, Courier, or Helvetica

When designing your e-zine, here are some things to keep in mind:

Use a Template – This provides consistency and you can make changes gradually over time.

Spell Check – Always. Period.

Proofread – Have someone else proofread. I have a professional editor read each issue. I read it over two or three times between edits and so does the editor.

Answer Every Email – When someone writes an email to your organization, there’s someone on the receiving end waiting for an answer. You owe it to your readers to respond.

Inform, Entertain, and Serve – People sign up for email newsletters to gain knowledge, information, to get involved, and to be entertained.

Cultivate contributors – Take your time, build interest, gain trust, then ask for money. Include links to giving pages. This allows supporters to make a contribution via credit card or a pledge. If your e-zine has what readers want, you will have a much higher likelihood of increased giving. An e-mail newsletter is an excellent tool for finding new donors online, and increasing its circle of stakeholders.

The technology you use to disseminate your e-zine must be secure and have the capabilities you either now need or will in the future.

One of the most important things we had to deal with was when our lists started growing (beyond 250); we were very limited in sending through our original e-mail account (AOL). They have rules and sometimes will freeze an account if you send too many at once. The format would also get botched sometimes. The lists became unmanageable when we had to remove the unsubscribes and duplicates. Finding the ones who wish to unsubscribe can be challenging. We switched to another service hoping they could send our newsletters and maintain our lists. It was a good service; however, we didn’t like the look of our newsletter. It had limited capabilities (no bold or italic). Since I’m the creative type, I didn’t want my ezines to look like everyone else’s. We have now found a program we are very happy with. There is no monthly fee, just a one-time purchase fee. It is called Group Mail Pro – Mailing List & Group Management Software. And it only costs $79.95 (and you own it). For more information visit Group Mail Pro or follow this link: (http://www.sellshareware.com/CustomView.asp?PrID=34362.&AfID=783 8&PageID=1)

Promotion

Have a subscription form on your website!

Have a sign up sheet at the office and at all events. If you speak before a group, make sure you mention your e-zine. Some people are bound to want to sign up.

Promote it with postcards in your monthly statements or on your business card.

Tell anyone you think might be interested. This includes current stakeholders, contributors and volunteers.

Offer a fr*ee report when people sign up. When people subscribe to Legacy they receive not one but two reports just for trying us out.

When you use e-mail for an outgoing message – to cultivate, to inform, to request action, to ask for money – you are creating public relations. Good things happen with E-zines; increased visibility, increased contributions and goodwill. If you plan your e-zine right, give it an interesting title and offer your stakeholders benefits, your e-zine will be a success! Happy Writing!

8 Common Mistakes of Internet Marketers

Internet Survival Guide asked:

If you wish to be a successful Internet marketer you will want to avoid these 8 mistakes:

1. Failure to prepare properly. Many Internet marketers are simply lazy and will not make the effort to prepare properly. Refrain from being overly anxious as if you’ll miss the boat if you do not market your website immediately. Use however many days it takes to setup all the appropriate advertising accounts and advertisements properly. This will make your administration more efficient and enable you to fly through your schedule tasks effortlessly each day. The net result is that your marketing efforts will be far more productive than if you were to take a haphazard approach.

2. Failure to implement an advertising strategy. You must have a plan with well defined goals if you wish to have positive marketing results. Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Do not try to recreate the wheel. Find out what successful people are doing and do the same. Regarding goals, write them down. When you achieve a goal mark it as “completed” and replace it with another. By doing this very simple step you can monitor your effectiveness and progress.

3. Failure to be professional. Some of the ads on the Internet are of embarrassingly poor quality. Be professional in your business approach and in the design of your ads. If you lack the ability to produce professional ads then find a resource that can. The quality of your website and advertisements is a reflection on you. Also, when dealing with customers always be courteous and professional even when they are not. If you are professional you will shine above the rest and earn customer confidence.

4. Failure to implement and adhere to a disciplined schedule. If you don’t have a realistic schedule in place then you will not be disciplined in marketing your ads properly. Consistency not volume is the key to success in marketing on the Internet. A schedule allows you to be consistent and also forces you to be disciplined. The Internet is not a “get rich quick” environment. It takes hours of dedicated and consistent work. You must be committed to putting in the time if you wish to have good marketing results.

5. Failure to utilize the right tools. There are some very innovative tools on the Internet to make the operation of your business more efficient. Many of them are very affordable and they will save you from having great frustration. Some marketers take the approach of being a “penny wise and a pound foolish.” In saving their pennies they are losing out on making the bigger dollars. Don’t ignore the many tools which are available.

6. Failure to build a downline. Your downline is the cornerstone of your business. A downline is your customer list or they can be referrals that join certain advetising programs through you serving as an affiliate. Verious advertising sites offer you some type of compensation for bringing them referrals. Don’t ignore the value of these referrals. Some Internet marketers are so anxious to advertise their product they fail to have an understanding of the bigger picture. A big downline can save you money in your advertising and enbable you to advertise more effectively. When soliciting always get the email address of your customer for future solicitations and sales.

7. Failure to track ads. Much time is wasted on unproductive sites and ads. If you’re not tracking them you will continually work in ignorance. You must have a measure of what is working and what is not. Is the program that you are participating in yielding the desired results? Are your ads well written and effective in drawing customers? You will never have the answers to these important questions unless you track your ads. You can waste a great deal of time on poor advertising programs and bad ads if you never track the results.

8. Failure to understand the advertising medium. You must understand how each type of advertising program works if you’re going to be an effective marketer. Whether you use pay-per-click advertising or membership driven sites like safelists, traffic exchanges and text ad exchanges all have their own personality. Not only do you need to understand the mechanics of each but also the general personality of their membership.