Make 2010 the year that you make your e-mail list:

1. easy to use
2. accurate and robust
3. bigger

Let’s go over these efforts one at a time:

1. Easy to use: Set up your contact list in a way that works for you (or your list manager). Listen to what people have to say about the systems they use, but keep in mind that you have your own unique work style and what works for one person won’t necessary work for another. A woman called me earlier this week and asked which version of Outlook to buy. I had to ask some questions to help her, and it turns out she already has a good contact management system, she just didn’t know it’s power. And she has a system in place that she likes. So, we talked some more and decided that she should just try to make her present system work better: keep all her business contact in one place (she’d had them in a couple different places), categorize them, and add information in the notes section that will help her make her communications more targeted.

There are a lot of contact management systems out there. Outlook, ACT, and SalesForce are just three. Ask around.

2. Accurate and robust. I think of this as polishing a diamond. I make sure when I hear some new contact information about my client that I go in and update their listing immediately. I can do it from my phone, so it’s a constant ongoing thing. Also, when I hear someone is leaving their company I send them an e-mail–often they’ll send me their personal e-mail address, so I can keep in contact with them, and possibly move with them into their next job. And, as my relationship changes—say, as that sales manager goes from being an acquaintance named Robert to a friend named Bob, I change that in my CMS, too, so that the personalized e-mail blasts I send out reflect our closeness.

Don’t let those business cards sit around. I find it’s a relaxing thing to do–enter in the information off the card, but also add in other useful information: the date and place I met them, the thing they were most concerned about (their daughter’s soccer scholarship, their Great Dane’s pregnancy, etc.). One thing I forget to do sometimes is enter the contact information for someone with whom I have an ongoing e-mail relationship. I can always find their phone number if I need it because it’s in their email signature–but they don’t make it to the contact management system and into my e-mail list. This year, I’m going to be mindful of that.

I’d also like to suggest that you weed out the people who have moved—or passed—on. I don’t like to do this; I often don’t want to lose the connection. This year, I’m going to have a new category; maybe a “no send.” But keeping them around is annoying and distorts your metrics when you are figuring out the success ratio of your e-mail blasts.

3. Bigger. Start now thinking of creative ways to grow your list. Be sure to have a form that captures e-mail addresses on your website and your blog. Offer something for free if they sign up. If you belong to a business group or organization, see if you can use that list. At the very least, you can get a list of members and then add the ones you know personally.

I’d love to hear some ideas on how to grow your e-mail list. I think it’s a whole blog post on it’s own. Send me some ideas! I’ll give you credit if I use them.

Your bright shiny list will give you confidence and peace of mind when it comes time to talk to your best clients. Treat it with care and you will get a return on the time you spend many times over.

I worked at an agency that created a Super Bowl commercial. We didn’t have much budget, but we did have an enormously creative director. The ad was funny and surprising and definitely better than a lot of them. Nothing boring about Paul Steven Stone. I am still proud that I worked with that kind of talent.

Since then, I like to keep a special eye out for work by smaller agencies, or for products or services that are new to me. Advertising Age has a post called “Who’s Buying What in the Super Bowl 2010” that has some intriguing possibilities.

Denny’s is back, and they are considering another giveaway like last year’s free Grand Slam breakfasts. I couldn’t find any info on the ROI on that, but Mark Chmiel, the Chief Marketing Officer that oversaw this campaign has left Denny’s. And Denny’s sales were way down in 2009. Makes you wonder. Still, it was a big splash.

Doritos is again offering cash prizes to amateur-made ads. Last year’s amateur ad scored highest in USA Today’s ad-meter contest–higher even than all the professionally produced ads. Innerestin’. The ad didn’t do it for me. Not into the violence. But, hey, most of the people watching are there to watch violence, so they were at least tuned into their demographic.

I’m looking forward to seeing the ad for HomeAway, an online vacation-rental service. Publicis also knows their demographic: they are doing a take off on “National Lampoon’s Vacation” movies, with Chevy Chase and Beverly d’Angelo. This could be good.

Also? Mars. Nobody knows what they are going to do, but I’ve been hearing a lot about Snickers bars and the Snacklish campaign, which came out on top as the most popular ad campaign on the web last year. Then again, there was the “Flirt” candy debacle that ticked some people off and nose-dived into oblivion.

And one more that looks interesting to a marketer: Dove has a new line for men. They are going to emphasize moisturizer. I think some men I know would actually like a product like this, but they are going to have to tread verrrry carefully. I’ll be taking a poll among my less-than-metrosexual friends.

I’m going to do it up right this year. Margaritas and nachos and all that stuff. ‘Cause nothing goes better with the overhype than melted cheese and tequila.

If you are wondering about past Super Bowl ads, USA Today has ‘em here.

And then, after working on the acceptance, I greeted this new life with gratitude. My new mantra: “A marketing emergency is nothing related to a brain surgery emergency.” I still wanted everything on schedule, I still showed up for meetings on time, but I realized it wasn’t that they were all wrong (d’oh!), it was just different priorities.

These days I’m dealing with a new version of that: I’ve got a client in Africa. And let me tell you, compared to Africa, Healdsburg is the bustling center of technology and marketing communications. The other night I was clucking around my office, trying to make a deadline, acting as my old self. I’d forgotten the brain surgery comparison.

Then I remembered. Time, priorities are different in Africa. Getting anything done is much harder there. I realized my clients were doing their best to get me what I needed to help them, but they were also trying to pull their village out of poverty, give the people hope and resources, and they were doing it while many of the people in the organization were suffering from malaria.

So the invitations to the fund-raiser are going out later than I’d planned. There are a lot worse emergencies than that.

So, after a weekend spent writing proposals, I wonder, Why do I do it? I’m sure I could write some boilerplate that I just copy and paste onto each one. And, in fact, I always plan on doing that. But it never works out because each client is unique. There is a slightly different goal, or reason. The brand personality is different, and so the emphasis is just a little different.

I also write them because it helps me understand the client better. I usually do some deeper research when I’m writing them. And I review my notes from our first meeting, remembering what they got excited about, what they were confused about. The last meeting I had, the owner of the company commented about a mutual acquaintance twice, “He’s a real nice guy.” That made me like the business owner better—he was a high-energy intense man with a little edge of anger, but this comment made me see that he appreciated kindness.

I also write them for clarity’s sake. Social network  marketing is new, and can be many things. Often, in our initial conversations, I’ll talk about what’s possible. But after I get a sense of my prospective client’s budget, I only recommend the tactics that will have the most impact. I like to explain those in detail, the way the process will work, what the schedule looks like, and what the results will be. “Manage expectations,” yes, but also tell the story of this process. I want them to finish the proposal with the sense that this is going to be fun, it’s not going to take a lot of their time, and everything will be explained to them.

I hope it inspires confidence. But they’ve probably already decided whether they’re going to buy or not.

We love working with them—my company designed the logo about six years ago. I’m always hoping that style will rub off on me.

We pitched an online marketing plan. It was pretty good. I really like my presentation, so I felt confident. And Robin asked all the smart questions. I sent her a proposal and she was, like, “Whoa Nelly!” And I was like, “Okay, what about this?” And she was like, “That’s more like it.” (In some circles, this is called negotiation.)

The Studio Home team and the Ardentio team met to hash out an online marketing plan. It was fun. We imagined her prospective clients—what they looked like, where they shopped, what kind of car they drove. Then we asked ourselves, What would they like to receive in their inbox from Studio Home? And we decided that they wanted unique, stylish, and affordable. Okay! We can do that. We created a one-year online marketing plan. It was so fun! It was so fun that the Studio Home team looked at the Ardentio team and said, “We are really excited now.” Which is all that the Ardentio team could ask for. Because money follows excitement.

And it did! We sent out an e-mail notice to the Studio Home list of interested parties (Can I just take a minute to point out how smart that Studio Home team was to keep the list up to date, and segmented in a relevant and helpful way? Way to go, Mara!) and voilà! People were coming in, interior designers were oohing and ahhing… and buying! Other people were e-mailing saying, Nice blast!

The upshot? Big purchases. Because, of course, once they saw the Studio Home collection they—like me—were enchanted, bewitched, suffused with longing. That’s really how it is in there. Don’t go unless you are prepared to confront your own yearning for charm and elegance and beauty.

So Ardentio can say something preposterous like, “Because of our online marketing, Studio Home had a 10,000% increase in sales.” Nobody would believe it. So I’m not going to say it. But I am going to spend some time jumping up and down. Because it works. It really works.

Wineries with a robust online marketing strategy…

1) ARE THEIR OWN BEST MEDIA.
How do you get people talking about your wine? Answer: incorporate online social networking into your traditional public relations strategy. This feeds the emotional connection customers have to your brand.

2) TALK DIRECTLY TO A HUGE AUDIENCE.
Approximately 64 million people in the United State use social networking websites. They’re baby boomers, they’re millennials. And they’re wine drinkers.

3) HAVE MORE EFFECTIVE PR AND MARKETING.
Social networking enhances and strengthens your current PR strategy by attracting real people who love to share their expertise and opinions about wine and wineries with others.

4) RANK HIGHER ON SEARCH ENGINES.
Google and other search engines are always looking for “new”—and that tweet you posted five minutes ago is the definition of new. That, plus your blog, plus your Facebook page, plus your media stories = top of the search results.

5) EXPAND THEIR REACH.
They get messages from a publication in Spain, from a wine bar in Dubai, and from a wine tasting event in Australia, places they probably would not (or could not) advertise.

6) BRING THEIR BRAND TO LIFE.
Your winery has a unique personality, one that will link you to your perfect customers. Help that customer find you by telling your winery story–in details, personally, with the wit and PASSION you and your team bring to the brand.

7) BUILD PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH CUSTOMERS.
Once a customer experiences that “aha!” moment, reinforce that connection with replies to their comments on your blog, responses by real people picking those grapes, testing that brix, designing those labels makes your customers feel connected to you.

NURTURE AND DELIGHT THEIR WINE CLUB COMMUNITY.
Social networking has proven to result in an average 150% upsell to loyal customers (like wine club members). So try multiplying your present member sales by 150%. Nice.

9) ARE GREENER.
Save trees, and keep that ink out of the environment, by printing fewer newsletters, postcards, etc. Those elusive millenial wine aficionados? They keep their cellar list on their computers (as do young sommeliers, and reporters). How thoughtful of you to send them an online newsletter about the wines in their shipment–right where they can use it to update their spreadsheets.

10) LET THEIR CUSTOMERS KNOW THEY CARE ABOUT THEM AND THEIR WORLD.
You contribute to community organizations, there’s no better way than a blog to make this known. It’s important information — consumers use it to make decisions. You get to decide how to talk about it, in a way that’s true to your brand.

This post was written in collaboration with the brilliant and very forward-thinking Maggie Zeman of The Barn Group.

I think I’ve walked 14 people through subscribing to an RSS feed in the last six months. It’s not hard—in fact, RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication— it’s just not intuitive. But once you have a feed reader, it will diminish that hyperventilating some people do when they think about all the blogs they need to read to stay up on their industry.

Rich Brooks has made my life easier with this video.

So enter each one of the numbered items below in your “to do” list, and then, when you are trying to not feel guilty for avoiding making a sales call, you can do one of these. Each will take about 15 minutes, and you will be doing your business a powerful service. So when that guilt voice comes on, you can say, “Shut up! I raised my ranking in Google!”

1. If you are a local business (and who isn’t?) go to GetListed.org and list your business on Google.

2. If you haven’t already, sign up for Twitter, and send a tweet about your business. Then send four about other businesses you like. It’s social, people.

3. If you don’t have a Facebook account, sign up for it now. If you are already signed up, update your Facebook page. Do it daily.

4. Are you the face of your business? Write a recommendation for someone on LinkedIn. It will make that someone’s day, and the activity will show up in the most unlikely places. Like Google search.

5. Claim your identity with a Google profile: This is so cool! Whenever anyone types your name into Google search, they get the same search results as always, but at the bottom of the page, there is the profile you created, with all the ways to contact you, a link to your business. Be sure to put in photos. People love photos.

6. Trade a Yelp review with a mutual fan. This is a little tricky, because you don’t want to game the system—it’s a great service. But if you are truly a fan of a business, go ahead and write them a review. If they thank you—and a business-owner is missing out on a real opportunity if they don’t respond to their reviews on Yelp—mention that you sure would like to get reviews on Yelp… And after you’ve got one, put the logo on your website with a link to your Yelp page, and let your friends and fans know that you love reviews.

One of the things I’ve learned about search is to be ubiquitous. I can’t believe the places that come up when I search for Ardentio, partly because I put my company name and description wherever I see an opportunity, but also because other people do it for me. Once you get out there in the social network, people will re-Tweet you, comment on your Facebook photos, and review you on Yelp! and the whole thing starts to multiply.

When you are looking at it from the outside, it looks as if the social media network has no bottom; but get inside and start connecting, and you’ll find a net to catch you!

Later this week: Write a compelling profile for your business AND How to monitor your online presence. Stay tuned!

Blogging is hard. Blogging on my own blog is really hard for me. Hence, the lack of blog posts on this blog site that is about blogging for business.

Barbara Swafford write “Who Said Blogging is Easy?” and that made me feel a little better. 

But blogging for my clients is actually not hard. It’s hard to toot your own horn in public; but it’s easy to sing the praises of products and services you believe in. I love visiting websites for my clients and commenting about them; tweeting about their latest innovative leaps; sending out e-mails to subscribers about the exciting steps they are taking to make the world a better place. And, to my surprise, I love the way these online steps result in great search engine placement.

But it’s important, it’s fun, and it’s my job for cripes sakes! So I’m starting today. I’m going to post one thing you can do that will help you find new customers—and increase the loyalty of the customers you do have—online. 

Today’s tip: Start blogging. Or hire someone to blog for your business!

But, you say, I don’t have time to write in a blog. And neither does my marketing team. You also know that starting a blog and letting it go stale is even worse than not having one at all. What’s a person to do?

Call Ardentio.