E- zines are one of the Best Viral Marketing Tools

E-zines are electronic magazines delivered by email. They provide subscribers interesting information while allowing the company to promote and sell their product(s).

Business to Business (B2B) marketing campaigns generally have some type of e-zine on their list of offerings. These are replacing trade magazines in some respects. But trade mags still have their importance as well as a captive audiences.

More marketing departments are using outside copywriters to write e-zines, in some cases on a continued basis. Making a company's e-zine successful will keep their clients, prospects, and potential buyers looking forward to getting the next issue. Companies do not have the staff, and possible expertise, to keep an active e-zine published and distributed.

Companies publishing an e-zine strengthens their status as experts in their market and potentially converting their readers to customers.

E-zines are distributed frequently to a subscriber's email In-Box monthly, bi-monthly, or weekly depending on the circulation.

A Company's E-zine subscribers list is very valuable to them. It is another avenue for potential sales, information sharing, product awareness, announcements, etc.

E-Zines are like newsletters with sections of content, graphics, and contact information including URL hot links to web sites for more information.

E-Zines can be upwards to 2,000+ words along with many pages of articles, stories, and features. Some can cover an entire web page.

E-zines are similar to magazines containing pictures, articles, graphics, how-to guides, and other interests the readers want and expect.

Depending on the E-zine, a graphic artist may be required for the layout and design of pictures, charts, graphs, or images.

E-zines can become as popular as blogs. To some companies they are a requirement and are better received than a blog from their clients and prospects.

But what do you think? Is an e-zine better than a Blog? A Blog better than an e-zine? Or are they both as equally powerful in the viral marketing messaging delivery? Let us know. Your comments are welcomed.

Time to go Viral

If your company, or even you, are not taking advantage of the social media and other methods of getting your sales messages out in a viral type campaign, you may be losing ground.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, eMarketing Association, B@B, and other market watchdogs, in 2010 companies are starting to budget and embrace the social media craze. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg, and others are now starting to see more products and sales messages on the links. YouTube, My Space, and others are seeing more product and sales video everyday being posted to these sites. This is an increase in this type of marketing communications strategies than the last few years. Why? It's cheaper and cost effective, especially in today's economy. Plus you can cover a lot more ground and territory.

More campaigns and how-to's are being developed to educate the members on these sites to do more than just post a picture and a profile. B2B Marketing Communications items now feature website content, SEO, and social media campaigns as their list of offerings for the sales force.

So how do you get started?
Start by signing up and building a presence on the social networking sites. Linked In is more business based, but do not rule out Facebook and Twitter. You can use your company name as your identity page and you can post your logo on your link.

Invite listed members to link in with you, be a friend on Facebook, follow you on Twitter, and all the other sites' methods like Digg, et al.

Build a video and post it to your company website using YouTube and MySpace, et al.

Write a Blog. Comment on other people's Blogs. Read the industry leaders' blogs in your line of business and comment on those. Add your link to your blog in your comments if allowed.

Write articles and post them to Article sites like Go Article. com. List these articles on your website and post them on other companies and clients' sites that may interest your line of business if there is a section for that.

Create an email sales campaign. Use your existing customers and clients list and keep them updated on changes and enhancements to your product line, company, and executives. Don't have a list? You can buy them from list builders like Edith Roman, et al., in your line of business. Then use email distributors like Constant Contact and iContact to start your email campaign.

In your own company marketing campaigns, get your products and company name out using webinars, teleseminars, and post the announcements and invites on the social media sites you are listed on. Use your email campaigns to do the same.

Bottom line, the age of doing face to face seminars, knocking on doors to get your sales procedures started, and sending out direct mail brochures to build interest in your company and products has not gone away. It is just now adding the social media marketing activities to the list.

You can do a whole blog on each one of the social media and viral campaigns that are now starting to grow. Want to know more about these, let me know. Your comments are welcomed.