Branded, high-touch, and interactive communications, an incredibly responsive analytics engine, amazingly powerful reporting, and simple enough for anyone to use. Packages aren't just the best app of its kind. It’s a whole new kind of sales application.
However, the way you utilize this amazing new tool is going to effect the results you'll have. We're dedicated to our client's success. So, we've gathered some basic 'best practices' information from our most successful clients to help you make the most out of your new capabilities and keep you out of trouble.
Take the 5 minutes you'll need to read this page. Three times. Then use this information.
First, Packages are not a spamming tool.
Packages is an amazing sales and marketing tool and can yield incredible results, but it's not a spamming tool. If you're just using Packages for 'spray and pray' marketing by sending them to large lists (email blasting), you'll be seen as spamming and your results will reflect it. (You'll also be in violation of Sendside's terms and risk having your account suspended.)
Packages really shine when there's already been a first touch and at least some sort of implied relationship with the recipient; They've requested more information from your website or been contacted by a sales rep.
How to use Packages
- Individual sales communications: Build Packages around your main products or services to provide your sales team with high-touch and interactive follow-up and reporting. Watch your sales cycle shorten.
- Incoming lead response & follow-up: Packages work fantastically well as an instant response tool for incoming leads from your web site. And of course, the're completely integrated with Sendside Capture, the World's first intelligent lead response engine.
- Existing client communications: Packages work really well to communicate with your existing clients. You can send valuable content to deepen your relationship, use them for up-selling and cross-selling, or replace your monthly newsletter. Just send an intro (Text Editor Tab) a specific post from your blog (Web Tab), some recent press (Web Tab) and you're done.
Don't send a cow. Send a steak.
You now have the capability of sending literally anything, or everything. Resist the temptation to pack your entire message into a single Package and cram it down the recipients throat. You'll be wasting your time and you'll see that much of your message goes unread. No one want's to receive a massive communication that they have to wade through to find what they want. Don't send a cow.
Instead, send a steak. Craft your message to address your recipient's needs and fill their specific needs and objectives. Serve it up with sizzle and ready to eat. Packages allow you to build your story and present it in the best possible light. Take advantage of this, but make sure you look at what you're receiving from the recipient's point of view.
How to limit Packages
- Limit the number of tabs: We allow you to send up to 8 tabs in a Package. Don't. Limit the number of tabs to 3 or 4 if you can, 5 at the very most. You'll see a drop-off in read activity with tabs past 3 and you'll be wasting valuable resources. Don't try to cram steps 1,2, and 3 into a single communication before you even know if the recipient's interested. (Note: Yes, I'm aware that this Package violates a few rules, but there's always an exception.)
- Match your business needs with specific Packages: It's great to start out with some general Packages (everybody does) but as you get more comfortable with Packages, build them to match your needs. If you have 5 products, build specific Package for each of them. If you're using Packages to communicate with existing clients, build a
How to design your Packages & content.
First, send a few Packages and get a feel for them. Your tendency may be to wait until you have all new marketing and sales material to begin sending. Don't get sucked in to 'analysis paralysis'.
That's wrong. The very best thing you can do is start using Packages right now with your existing materials... and only then start designing your new Packages to take advantage of the new information you're going to have to build killer content.
How to design Packages
- Start sending today. Don't wait for content: Did I say this before? I think so, but it's important enough to repeat. Don't sit on your thumbs waiting for perfect materials that will make the sale for you. Send something to your existing leads and clients. The very best thing you can do is start using Packages right now. Don't wait until you think you have a perfect communication crafted. Send your best monthly blog post as a tab to your existing clients. Send someone else's blog post. Send a positive review of your product, testimonials, press mentions and your existing whitepapers... Send what you have and then start improving on it.
- Start with your existing web site: You may hate it. It may not tell the story exactly the way you want, but hey... it's already up and it works. Start by using your existing content and work from there. Look at the File Tab in this Package. It's just a simple PDF that we've embedded as a tab. You already have a lot of content that you can use to start.
- Build a Packages content road map: Once you've started sending something, map out you strategic sales and marketing communication needs and match those needs to specific Packages that you're going to create. Those you need right now, and those you'll build later. Creating a strategy will help guide your content creation, and let you see where you can immediately get the biggest bang for the buck.
- Use a logical naming system to organize your Packages: Once you start building and sharing Packages you'll realize how important this is. Make sure that you have a logical naming structure so that a brand new sales rep or marketing director can find the Package they need without asking for any help. Add tags and descriptions to your Packages to help.
- Reuse what you can: Once you have your road map in place, you'll see that it's easy to reuse content efficiently across lots of different Packages.
- Build a specific Package for a single purpose: Things change. Design your Packages so that everyone is using the same Package for the same purpose. That way, if there's a problem with the content or message, you can change it in a single location. If you have 30 sales reps creating different Packages that are being used for the same purpose, you're not getting the most out of this technology and you're not controlling your message or story.
How to manage your content.
If you don't have the resources, you can manage your entire content library inside of your Sendside account. But if you're looking to leverage the technology to the max, you'll want to at least look at sending web content that's hosted. It may even be designed to host content specifically for Packages. (This page is actually hosted on Sendside's blog, but we've striped out the navigation for content we send inside Packages so that it's clean and without distractions.)
You've got the most advanced communication Platform, make sure that you're using it to it's fullest. You'll find that your communications are at least as important as your web site.
How to host your Packages and tabs
- Use a Content Management System (CMS) : When you're looking to start extending your Packages away from sending your existing content and create a system that's designed exclusively for Packages, you'll want to use a dedicated Content Management System (CMS) to host your Packages content. Software that's designed for blogging works perfectly and gives you the ability to grant anyone access to make changes or create content. The most popular (and free) CMS platform that works really well is probably Wordpress, but there are others you may prefer like Joomla, Drupal, or Squarespace. (If you don't have the expertise to set this up, don't worry, we can help.)
- Build a list or page of your hosted contents by URL. It's a list of the web pages (URLs) that you've created for Packages. This way, when you're creating a Package and looking for a video to embed, you'll know exactly where it is.
We can help. After all, we're the experts.
Don't let the length of this list intimidate you. Packages are actually incredibly easy to build and use.
However, if you'd like some help creating Package, installing content management systems or training your salesforce, we're here to help. We can do the work, or just point you in the right direction.
