A lot of small businesses are experiencing the constant struggle of having to compete with the major players in their industry. With doing so, there are so many questions that are asked: Are we reaching out to describers enough? Are we emailing too often? The list goes on and on…

Read some fun yet simple tips on how small businesses can make a big splash with email marketing.

KM has a great track record with working with everyone from express marketers to those on the enterprise level. Feel free to contact us to find out more about what we can do for you.

Plymouth, Minn., November 3, 2011— Knowledge Marketing (KM) an on-demand marketing software and services company, is pleased to announce that the company concluded 2011 with record growth. KM’s strong fourth quarter capped a year in which revenue grew 76% over 2010.

“We’d like to thank our clients for growing their business with us–we had impressive growth this year as we continue to expand in our strategic markets using our ECN™ marketing platform,” said Duane Crandall, Founder and CEO.

A few of the many highlights from 2011 include:
• Ranked among Fastest Growing Companies in North America on Deloitte’s 2011 Technology Fast 500
• Topping the Inc500|5000 list for the third consecutive year
• Instilling core values in a newly expanded office space
• Launch of new company website to serve key verticals
• Launch of GovLutions, marketing tools for government and public sector

In keeping with its focus on Multi-Channel Marketers, B2B Publishers, Government and Non Profits, KM welcomed many new clients, including Good Will Central AZ, Advanstar, United Publications, Savers and more.

About Knowledge Marketing
With nearly a decade-long tradition of expertise in email marketing and interactive marketing solutions, we’re paving the way for the next generation marketing software in the form of GovLutions, PubLutions, and Good Donor—a series of KM products focusing on cross-channel communication and interactions platform in those vertical markets served. With our commitment to permissions-based marketing and our customer success stories, we inspire and enable organizations of all sizes and industries to leverage and harness the power of the Internet.

Press contact:
Christina Belmont
Digital Marketing Specialist
christina.belmont@teamkm.com

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“Good Donor serves non-profits that want to minimize the costs of gathering donations of clothing and household goods by offering donors an online scheduler,” said Duane Crandall, CEO of Good Donor. “Generally, the organizations see an increase of 20 to 30 percent per month with the implementation of our services.”

Currently, Goodwill of Central Arizona operates 46 retail stores and eight stand-alone donation centers throughout central Arizona. Goodwill accepts community donations of housewares, clothing, furniture, electronics, toys, accessories and vehicles from over 1 million donors annually.

“Ninety cents of every dollar generated from Goodwill’s retail stores are channeled back into the community to help Arizonans prepare for and find work. Working with Good Donor will allow us to expand our outreach and better manage our donation pickup service, therefore further enriching our community,” said Jim Teter, President and CEO of Goodwill of Central Arizona.

Scheduling a pickup with Goodwill is a fast and convenient way to give back. Please visit www.GoodDonor.org for more information or to schedule a pickup.

About Good Donor
Good Donor is a unique and first of its kind Web-based technology that is designed specifically for household goods donation programs.Good Donor provides a suite of donor and donations management solutions, including truck routing, marketing and business management tools on a subscription basis to help thrift store operators better run their business. The Good Donor platform is simple, easy to use and can be up and running in less than five business days.

For more information about Knowledge Marketing’s Good Donor program please contact:

Christina Belmont
Digital Marketing Specialist
Email: christina.belmont@teamkm.com

It’s one thing get visitors to your social pages, but it’s a whole other game to create enough value to keep them coming back—and eventually converting them into a lead. Here are some ideas and guides on how to do just that:

1—Make sure your brand has strong presence
What is your company’s message? What is it you want users to know about you? Are you communicating that clearly through your posts? For the most part, people enjoy connecting with brands, and they enjoy interacting with those they can relate to or have an interest in. However, you need to make sure your social media presence is well branded—use your company colors, logos and slogans on your pages to ensure your page is a strong representation of your company and easily identifiable.

2—Use personality
Relateability goes a long way with people—we’re logically drawn to things that seem natural to us. Try using a tone in your messages that is quite conversational. Write as if you’re actually speaking to someone—loosen up and have a little fun with social media.

3—A little lesson on feedback
Users who respond to your posts, write comments and ask questions deserve feedback. They should receive a comment back or an answer to their question. Make time every day to give feedback to those who deserve it, which is everyone who took the time to give you feedback.

4—Search engines
Keep in mind that everything you blog and post on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all indexed by search engines. That means that it can all appear in search rankings from Google, Yahoo! or Bing—so always be sure to bring your “A” game. Anyone and anytime could stumble upon a blog post from the previous day, and that is one of the best ways to put yourself in front of prospects.

5—Help your business while helping a reporter
In an effort to gain exposure, companies should always be searching for new ways to get their name and expertise out there. At www.helpareporter.com, there are as many as 200 stories a day that journalists are looking to talk to experts about. SO why not throw your hat in the ring? Media exposure will help your company and brand in more ways than one!

6—Social media sharing via icons
We’ve all seen them—it’s practically impossible not to spot one on a daily basis. I’m talking about that small blue box with the white lowercase “f” in it. Yes, that universal symbol for Facebook. Icons like that are key for sharing your content. In fact, those little icons make sharing downright simple. You have a lot to lose by not making your content easy to share, so make sure you have a solid strategy in place.

7—Mix it up
Different things appeal to different people. While some visitors look for articles or top ten lists, others look for videos and some might enjoy reading a good white paper or case study. My point is is that it’s absolutely necessary to offer a variety of content—it would be a complete shame to lose out on a great prospect because you didn’t over a demo video or client testimonials.

8—Content is key
I feel like I can’t write a blog or article without mentioning this point, but I’ll do what I have to do drive this point home. High quality content is worth the investment of time. Your readers and prospects truly appreciate your best practices and expertise, but the search engines do too. Google Panda among other efforts have changed the way pages are indexed, and those changes are all geared toward providing high quality content.

9—What others think counts…
…at least in the world of word of mouth marketing. Social media actually promotes word of mouth marketing. Word of mouth has been, and continues to be, a top lead generation tool. Reputation is key, and buyers have the tendency to seek referrals from their peers. Because social media is an open forum, it enables people to share their experiences. Who isn’t looking for a way to build trust with potential clients?

10—Find relevant communities and groups
Find online communities that are relevant to your product or service. LinkedIn is an amazing source where you can join different groups to start conversations and ask questions. Many times you can stumble upon someone who is asking for recommendations on a product you offer—this is the perfect time to offer demo or give them more details. Use these communities to grow your network.

Please feel free to contact us to find out more about how we can help with your marketing needs.

Now that we’re about two weeks into the new year, I think it’s safe to say that all marketers are kicking it into high gear (if they haven’t already). It’s such a great time of year where things return to normal after the holidays, people are back in the office and there’s an entire new set of goals to accomplish for 2012! This particular piece covers the tactics that were used to achieve amazing email marketing results.

Learn exactly how a triggered alert program achieved such a high open rate!

KM has great email automation and email trigger features built right into our software. Feel free to contact us to find out more.

In case you haven’t heard, the New York Times made quite a gaffe last week when accidentally emailing 8.6 million people that their subscription had been cancelled. First, The New York Times said it was spam, then they said it was an error on their email marketing provider’s end, but in the end, they said that it was actually an error on their part. More complete details can be found here by clicking here. 

The point of posting this story was not to make fun or anything of the sort, we’re just hoping that this story serves as a cautionary tale. Sometimes we all need that small reminder that we need to stop and check all selections and campaign settings before hitting that send button. This goes beyond sending a simple test message.

Today’s email marketing platforms are incredibly robust with tons of advanced automated features including triggers, filters, ties social media forms and a lot more. And even though email marketing seems so common to most of us—some of us get hundreds of messages on a daily basis, we cannot forget that email marketing is an extremely powerful means of communication.

If you’re still in need of assistance with putting together your 2012 marketing plans, Knowledge Marketing is there to help! Feel free to contact us for more information.