I'm a Total Newbie, Tell Me About I-Contact and Tasty Tidbits

[Mama2bowbaby]

If there is a sticky or a thread that explains the two, please point me in the right direction. I'm sorry, I'm a new and eager consultant who is starting to become overwhelmed with the wealth of information from this site...I'm so grateful!

Tonight as I was browsing this forum I learned of Tasty Tidbits. I visited the site and requested a preview of the newsletter which I loved. Do you send both the Tasty Tidbits and the the PC newsletter?

It appears that when using a newsletter such as Tasty Tidbits, you all use I-contacts or a program similar. Since I'm just starting out, I can't see myself committing to the monthly cost of i-contact at this time.

Do you recommend the two and do you have any suggestions or pointers?

Thanks

 

[pcsharon1]

I wouldn't pay for I-contact until I had a good contact list for your newsletter. But I do love I-contact and what it can do for you. I have not even been in to view the newsletter offered through the website. I have been comfortable with Tasty Tidbits and I don't know if I want to change. it's something I'm planning to look into over the holidays and try to make the best decision for me.

 

[NooraK]

A newsletter is definitely something you'll want to have for your business. I would not go with both TT and the PWS newsletter, at least not for your monthly newsletter. TT does offer many other email templates such as the Weekly Dish, an outlet newsletter, a mid-month "Express" newsletter and others. Your PWS does have lots of templates as well, and I'd recommend browsing the options available there.

I definitely wouldn't pay for iContact right off the bat. I am currently using Email Marketing and Email List Manager | MailChimp for my newsletter which as a membership program called "Forever Free" which allows you to have a list of up to 1000 contacts and send up to 6000 emails per month. I did use iContact for a while, and I do think a few things on their website are just a tad more user friendly, but not enough to be worth the extra cost for me.

The email service providers give you reports of opens, clicks and so forth, but the PWS service does too. I don't know the difference though. With both, you can sort your contacts into groups like "Hosts" or "Recruit Leads" and then send emails to just those contacts. With MailChimp, I recently discovered a functionality where I can set an email to be sent based on certain parameters, like a birthday.

Since your PWS subscription includes the newsletter anyway, I'd say start with that. It won't cost you anything extra if you're going to have a website anyway. Once you start building your customer base a bit more, consider adding an expense like TT.

HTH!

 

[lesliec]

I started in March of this year. I joined TT and was sending it out on my own (when I remembered), but honestly like the PC one well enough and it goes out automatically each month. I use gmail for my PC email and can easily synch my contacts with my PC website and already have them there for the email to go out. I think TT is awesome, but as a newby I am so busy. It takes everything I have just to get my contacts put in.
That is just my 2 cents. There are many who have been around longer and have a system from before PC offered newsletters (that just started recently) and have tons of contacts to organize. Ultimately I say, do what works best for you.
I like that my director still sends out a different newsletter b/c I know that some of my friends are on her contact list so at least they get something different from me.

 

[lt1jane]

I use Electronic Connections for my newsletter. She has several different levels you can choose from and does not lock you into a subscription. I currently have the $5 a month newsletter which includes the Outlet subscription. If you want to use the PC newsletter, you can purchase the outlet only subscription for $2.50 a month. The choice is yours.

For mail "service" I don't have one. I downloaded Incredimail because it supports all the emoticons she uses. (She does have directions for many major e-mail carriers) I have 4 Newsletter groups that I sent out to. So, she sends me the generic newsletter, I personalize it the way I want, and I send it out 4 times to my four groups.

I don't have a problem remembering to send it out because the original comes to my e-mail inbox which is reminder enough for me.

 

[gailz2]

I use TT, and have kept all of my customers in a word file--note ideal, but it works for me and the limits of my computer software. I love Joy's Tasty Tidbits newsletters and all the other files she offers. The price is very reasonable.

 

[NooraK]

The benefits of a sending service come into play as your newsletter list grows. The sending services are "white listed" with the major ISPs, which means that they have agreements that they won't allow their subscribers to spam, so the ISPs will not block emails from them due to quantities. Many email services will have limits to how many contacts you can send to at a time, and if you send an email with too many recipients at a time, your email may be directed to Spam by the receiving ISP. The sending services will also automatically track your unsubscribes and bounced emails, and you can opt to not even be notified if you're not keen on seeing that stuff.

These may not be a big deal to handle on your own when your list consists of 50 contacts, but once you build up to 500, 1000, or 1500 it's a bit more to juggle. PC does have a sending service handling the newsletter for the PWS, so these things are covered with that option as well.

 

[Mama2bowbaby]

Thank you everyone for all of your insight! I think I will stick with the PWS newsletter for the time being, but I will conisder the TT more in the future.