We are delighted to be able to confirm a new GrowMyCharity.com is on the way in early 2012, as you can see from the YouTube video we made below.

If you want to know more then please add you email details to our newsletter signup and we’ll let you know more about it in early 2012.

3 eMail marketing top tips.

Use a decent email marketing system – my consultancy business GleaveMedia run and operate a very cost effective system with lots of inbuilt functionality included for FREE.  Does your email marketing system offer you a fully functioning solution and includes reports, who clicked what link, a to b split testing and custom integration to name but a few?

If the system you use doesn’t include all this or if the web agency you use charge you for all these addons it is definitely time to look elsewhere..

Do you know your subscribers? - categorizing of your data is so important, you need to have customers split from prospects for example, and if you can drill down into what those prospects are interested in and the same for customers. You basically want to send an email about something that the customer wants to receive, if not what is the point?

Be consistent – so if you send a regular email once a month, then send it once a month.  If you send from the email address of john@yourcompany dot com then do that – what i am trying to get across is that you need to keep the timing and information you send from the same or similar.

You may also want to read a post I wrote for my business blog titled – How to write great email subject lines - http://www.gleavemedia.co.uk/2011/08/02/how-to-write-great-email-marketing-subject-lines/

And while I am at it why not sign up to my regular email you can do this using the form below…

You may well have seen the adverts on TV for the Range with Ricky Tomlinson promoting their value and ‘range’.  Well pop into your local Range and you could be part of campaign.  This works as the image shows, you can stick your head through a gnome cutout take a photo and upload to the Facebook page…

All a bit of fun sure, but how many people did i see taking photos of wifes, kids, well loads with much hilarity.

You can see some of them here Range Facebook , and in case you wonder, no i didnt have my photo taken!

This is what Jackie and I are doing with GrowMyCharity.com – COLLABORATING.

It’s true meaning is “working together to achieve a goal” Jackie has added some extra words – “people from two different organisations working together to achieve a goal“. The impact of having people from different organisations, companies, charities, nations working together has great potential. Obviously there has to be an agreed goal and a common aim to ensure that people work well together, a meeting of minds if you like, but think what can be achieved. If you increase the amount of creative thought, energy and enthusiasm you put into a project it’s not unreasonable to expect great results.

Recently St Loyes Foundation and Exeter Drugs Project combined forces to jointly employ an HR Manager, neither organisation required a full-time person for their role and they had similar workforce issues. Their offices are only a couple of hundred yards apart! Obviously, this type of collaboration requires careful planning and a clear understanding of how the relationship is going to work for it to be successful.

Jackie and I are looking forward to collaborating with others in the charity sector to provide great services, exciting events, lively discussion and already we have Mark Tyler of SAV Media and Anita Newcombe of Anita Newcombe Public Relations on board to contribute to the site, others will follow.

Long live collaboration!

www.GrowMyCharity.com

Well think again – whether you want to communicate with your beneficiaries, your community or corporate supporters, volunteers or the general public at large, you will no doubt find the most of them have a presence on at least one social media site.

Find out where they might be and how you can engage with them and develop their support for your organisation.

Friday 13^th marks a new chapter in my life as an online marketing consultant with a presentation to a number of charity delegates in North Devon.  The venue of the keystone centre is owned by Torridge Training Services, an innovative and entrepreneurial charity keen to encourage other organisations to make use of this fantastic space.

This is being run with Jackie Dawkins on Shine Charity Recruitment and there are a few places left, further details and booking can be made here http://www.shinecharityrecruitment.co.uk/events.php

This post follows on from my free Google grants for Charities that can be found on my blog here.

If you are a Charity and want to use the power of YouTube to connect with your supports through this incredibly popular visual medium then YouTube can help through its non-profit program that over four distinct program benefits.

1. premium branding and increased upload capability
2. you will be listed on the not for profit channels and video pages on YouTube
3. you can add calls to action overlayed on the video, so you have space to add a message and YouTube encourage you to do just that.
4. finally you have the option to ask ‘the crowd’ so you could for instance asked an expert YouTuber to create a video just for your charity.

As with all YouTube content there are some basic rules to follow;

• Upload videos that get the viewers watching and talking, then ensure you answer any responses you get.
• Upload content regularly, much like your website don’t let it go stale.
• Don’t forget to embed the code for the video across other platform, news, blog and Twitter to name but three.
• And finally be yourself, if you are fake then you will be found out!

You can find out more on http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits

The question i always get asked is which one should i buy, well the Flip Video HD Camcorder comes in a number of different colours and 2 different memory sizes 4Gb and 8Gb for if you want to keep the videos on the camera – why i am not sure when you can really simply get them off the camera, but the facility is there.

Flip Video Ultra High Definition Camcorder With 8GB Memory – Black
Flip Video Ultra High Definition Camcorder With 8GB Memory – White

And if you are into watersports maybe and want to take it underwater or on the beach you need a Flip Video Underwater Case and then to keep your camera in good condition you should have a Flip Video Neoprene Soft Pouch

You could buy the none HD version with 4Gb in Pink if that appeals, Flip Video Ultra Camcorder – Fuchsia Pink.

Which one do i have? well i went for the standard 60mins Ultra and i love it, time for a HD upgrade i think….

The pictures that were chosen can be seen on my Flickr photostream here;

Saatchi Gallery, Paddington and London Heathrow Airport

The Schmap London Guide comes with dynamic London maps, useful links, playable tours, top picks, plus photos and reviews for hundreds of London hotels, restaurants, bars, sights and attractions, London shops, cinemas, theaters, museums… It’s FREE to download, get your copy here.

If you use an iPhone or iPod touch, then these links will take you directly to the photos in the iPhone version of the Schmap London guide. On a desktop computer, you can still see exactly how the photos are displayed and my credit in the iPhone version of the guide at:

Saatchi Gallery, Paddington and London Heathrow Airport

So get yourself a Flickr account, take some good and vaired photos and see where that takes you….

My Flickr photostream can be seen here, please connect with me and comment i would love to see your images.

My Fotolia photostream has some more commercial images you may be interested in.

VR images can be grouped together into Virtual Tours providing a great tool for showing people around establishments online from the comfort of their home, office or now even mobile devices. Virtual tours can also be displayed on interactive screens, kiosks, television panel’s etc…

A virtual tour can add a lot of value to online marketing and become a worthwhile investment. The average time spent viewing VR images is between 2 – 3 minutes, a virtual tour of 10 images can keep someone’s attention for up to 30 minutes. People enjoy interacting with virtual tours and often share them with friends and family.

These tours are a great tool when marketing property for sale or rental. Peter Stephens, a photographer based in Devon produces many of these images for estate agents, holiday homes, hotels etc… and they have proved to be of great benefit to his clients.

Good examples of virtual tours can be found here;

So with this in mind if you are one of those silent readers let me give you some benefits for YOU on leaving comments not just on this blog but on others.

• You are letting me and my guest authors know who you are

If you leave regular comments and feedback not only will I recognise you but so will all the other readers of this blog. And if you leave something really great – maybe you could guest blog for me at some stage?

Peter Stephens has with his post ‘The importance of quality photography for your Website’

Sue Haswell has with this post ‘Why we should all get emotional about our clients’

Why not drop me an email if you want to write a guest blog post here.

• The community grows

This community grows around its followers, readers etc, I am regularly out and about on the Exeter networking scene and you will be amazed how much that community grows. So even if you are just surfing in a spare 5 minutes, please make the effort and leave a comment, even if its short – I appreciate them all.

• You are connecting with others who read this blog

Maybe a potential client is searching in Google and finds this blog, maybe they find the link on Twitter or someone directed them here, either way they share a similar interest – doesn’t it make sense to show your interest to?

• Your site will get more traffic

Lots of people don’t realise that when you leave a comment you also leave a link to your website, which people can then click on to see more stuff about you.

Blogging isn’t just about me or any of the guest authors saying their piece it is also about us all joining the conversation when and where it is happening, about exposing yourself to new ideas and about leaving a comment not just on this blog but others you like, you never know you may get business out of it.

So get started leave a comment now and introduce yourself not just to me but everyone else who reads this blog.