So back in August last year I was curious about start ups and attended the Palmerston North Start Up Weekend at Ucol. I was fortunate to have a team that was truly dedicated to making a difference in the world and we all worked extremely hard over the weekend and walked away with a win.

Ok now I know you are thinking, back the truck up and tell me what Start Up Weekend is and how does it work?
Well it’s basically starting up a company in 54 hours with complete strangers who all have different skill sets that can take a business idea and make it a reality. So to make that happen, you pitch an idea to the crowd, see if it gains enough traction to form a team. The team then works their butts off to try to validate that there’s a market for your idea and build a presentation that you pitch in front of judges in a ‘Dragons Den’ style pitch and question and answer session. If the judges like what they see, there’s a chance of investment as there are usually some investors present. If your team is judged the best, your team gets resources and help to take that idea to market.

The weekend was a real eye opener for me to see exactly what can be achieved in such a short space of time. I am still working with this group and the idea. I got such a buzz out of the first one that 2 weeks later I headed off to Tauranga for another one. The goal being, to find out more about the lean canvas and learn more from the mentors so that I can apply to my own business. Again, the team I was in won. I thought I would do one last one and so headed off to Wellington in March. The goal this time was to see how the urban centres compared to the provincial towns. It didn’t start well. I was too busy talking to a business mentor from the Dunedin based incubator Upstart, that I did not actively go out and choose my team. I kind of fell into one. That quickly disbanded when we couldn’t move forward and I went and approached the team that I was really interested in. Again, that team won. Because of this win, I was invited to Dunedin to speak at their Start Up Weekend.

Each of these weekends have provided me more professional development than you could shake a stick at. But the best thing of all is the people you meet. Whether they are a team member a mentor or a volunteer, you walk away from these weekends having met some brilliant minds and learned a thing or two. There are so many willing to help and give advice. The tricks and tools the mentors give you to work through a problem are invaluable. These are highly experienced people and give you their time for free. The whole thing is run by volunteers. This truly is an MBA in a weekend and you’d do well to check one out. You have a choice of going to Hawkes Bay on the 28th June or Tauranga on the 5th July.

1. Put links to your landing pages in your email content

Landing pages are essential in the cycle of web marketing. The landing page should have a clear call to action for people to take once on the page. This could be to download something, sign up for something or to take some software for a testdrive. By putting links from your email to your landing page you are paving a clear path that is measurable and you can see the return on your investment.

2. Make your subject headline noticeable

Your subject headline is a great way to get people to notice your email in their inbox. If you have a compelling offer you want people to notice, then a headline such as “about our new widget” is as exciting as a wet dog. “50% off our new widget – introductory offer” is more enticing, and makes you more likely to want to pat the dog than shoo it away.

3. Make it snappy!

Short chunks of text are more likely to be read than a novel. People are busy and if they see screeds of text they can feel daunted and trash your email on the spot. Well presented short bursts of text that entice people through to your web page means that they are interested in your content and want to know more.

4. Timing your delivery

Try to avoid sending email campaigns on a Monday or a weekend and between 8am – 9am. People tend to prioritise their day and start by checking email, that’s true, but the common habit is to reduce clutter by throwing out anything deemed unimportant. After lunch seems like a much better time as people relax about their inboxes and have got the morning rush out of the way.

5. Spammy emails suck!

We all hate them don’t we? So to avoid your email from being marked as spam it has to have these key things:

• Be who you say you are.
  You must own the email address you send from and the domain name you send people to must be what you say it is.
• Don’t lie in your subject line
  Your subject line must not be misleading.  If you say you are giving a discount on shoes, then that’s what your email must contain.
• You need to have an actual physical address
  Somewhere in your email you must have a physical address that you can recieve communication via snail mail.
• Have a visible opt out/unsubscribe link and take people off your list if they unsubscribe.
  This cannot be an invisible link and is required by law.  You have 10 days to take people off your list if an unsubsribe request is made.

Follow these 5 key rules and reap the rewards of email marketing.