While waiting for my 15-year-old daughter to exhaust the rest of her allowance at the mall (with the help of a friend), I sat in the café area at Borders reading the September issue of Entrepreneur. I was pleased to come across an article entitled “The Twittering Class,” about the use of social media tools, but was flabbergasted by how far the article missed the mark.

How many experts out there, much less regular business people, are simply missing the point of Twitter as it relates to business?

The author, Mikal E. Belicove, is a consultant, who according to the magazine byline, specializes in Web site usability and business blogging.  I’m sure he knows his stuff, but his cursory, shallow evaluation of Twitter demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of not only the potential, but also the purpose of the microblogging tool.

Belicove writes that because tweets (Twitter posts of 140 characters or fewer) have a short shelf life, they cannot replace Web sites or blogs in driving sales (half true – they can drive sales, but not in the same way).

He then says this: “Twitter is better for company announcements, spotting trends, conducting polls and posting on new products, services and in-the-moment specials…remember to include strong calls to action in your tweets.”

What? While Twitter certainly is useful for trend spotting, that advice is the fastest way to get yourself unfollowed by just about everyone. Twitter is not a sales flier. It is not a bulletin board on which to post your latest “Everything Must Go” sales event. It is not even a place to describe your services and then close with a strong call to action.

Twitter is a place to develop relationships. To contribute to the conversation. To share ideas. To be encouraged. To be social. And yes, to share with others what you do – in the mix of a conversation – just like you would do face to face.

Do you walk into a room and immediately start telling every person you see about how great your business is or how they can save 20 percent this Saturday? If you do, you shouldn’t, and if you don’t, you should show your Twitter followers the same courtesy.

The sales will most likely come if you let it happen naturally. People want to do business with people they know – not a salesman who happened to gain access to them. Give it time, listen and be a real person first, and then Twitter really can be a great tool in your sales arsenal. 

Dave Fiore is the founder and CEO of davemail.

I spend a lot of time talking about why davemail is a great alternative to online, do-it-yourself email marketing services. Lost in my enthusiasm, however, is the simple truth that there may be one or two of you out there who are not yet sold on the value of an email newsletter in the first place.

So I am putting away the sales hat and speaking from the heart. Whether you do it yourself, assign it to a competent staff member or outsource it to a highly trained, experienced, creative, dependable writing and design team (let’s call them davemail for purposes of illustration), email newsletters are worth a look.

Here are my top nine reasons why:

9. Let’s start strong. Email newsletters can save you tons of money over traditional printing and mailing. Tons.

8. Speaking on tonnage, sending 100,000 emails instead of printing traditional newsletters saves more than 2 tons of paper (and a lot gas and postage-stamp glue).

7. It is more important than ever to strengthen relationships with existing clients, customers or members, and regular communication is the key to building those bonds.

6. Legitimate email newsletters are a form of permission-based marketing, which means you send only to people who want to receive them. Spam is always a no-no.

5. Email newsletters are timely and interactive, allowing instant feedback and action.

4. Well-written email newsletters provide a good balance of useful, reader-centric content (80%) and appropriate sales-based information (20%).

3. Professionally designed email newsletters provide seamless branding and cohesive elements that drive readers to action.

2. Senders can track results, with access to detailed reports on cool stuff such as open rates and click-throughs.

1. With davemail, you don’t have to worry about any of it. We can do it all for you. Seriously.

Ever notice how many things seem like they should be fun until you actually do them? What is really sad is that we have done most of those things before – and we should know better.

For me, many of those misguided notions of fun involve shopping of some kind. Going to the mall sounds appealing every six months or so, and even yard sales have a certain pull until the reality of sifting through piles of outdated electronics and battered sports equipment while sweating through your shirt sets in.

For me, though, it is the call of the mega-bookstore that snags me most often. Now, I like bookstores, and I like browsing through “my” sections and the magazines. And since I generally only go into bookstores when I am with my wife, I like that part of it, too.

The problem lies in the innocent-looking but soul-sucking rows of bargain tables offering $2 and $3 books on every subject imaginable. Books-A-Million, in particular, has more linear feet of bargain books than anyplace I have ever seen.

It is not the bargains that bother me, but rather the overwhelming pull they possess to attract my wife to start at one end and shuffle ever so slowly down the line — combing through the piles with great intensity and expectation.

She loves it. Me? Not so much. But I dutifully follow for a while until my repeated sighing causes her to insist that I check out the business magazines.

It really does amaze me how patient and determined she is to find just one or two deals that will save us money and serve a significant purpose. Unless you own a bookstore, however, it is highly unlikely that your customers are going to be that patient.

We need to do a better job of communicating the benefit of what we offer right up front. Make it obvious from the first few seconds they enter your store, visit your Web site or encounter you at the coffee shop. Our 30-second elevator speech should not just be about what we do, but rather focus on how we can help.

Most potential customers are not going to spend an hour inching their way through your business looking for the thing they can’t live without. It is our job to point it out to them right away.

What role can SMS messaging play in a marketing campaign? 

SMS (short message service) messages are text messages delivered to mobile phones much in the same way email newsletters are delivered to inboxes.

Each text can be up to 160 characters and is sent to a list of mobile phone numbers.

They are especially effective for urgent communications such as breaking legislative news (the committee is voting in an hour, call your rep right now) or a large conference (the keynote speaker starts in 15 minutes - don’t miss it).  

They are much more intrusive than email, because in some cases, they can cost the recipient money. So BE SURE you have permission to send SMS before you do it. Otherwise, you could be fined, or even worse, lose a potential client and create some very bad buzz about your business.  

They also are a little more expensive to send than newsletters, so use them wisely. Saved for the right moments, and sent to the right people,  SMS messages can move a lot of people in a very short amount of time, producing big results.

Your email newsletters can be cool, flashy and colorful – with lots of links and social media gadgets – but none of that matters if we are not giving them something useful to read. With apologies to Elvis and LeBron James, content is king – at least in the world of effective communications.

While the davemail writing team is here to help (a lot), the ideas for your newsletter articles are generally going to come from you. So where are the best places to find good, usable content that will compel your readers and help build stronger relationships? Here are five places to start looking:

1. Stuff you already have. Your Web site, brochure or other materials that tell your story will provide great nuggets for short newsletter articles.
2. Web sites that serve as resources for good info on subjects of interest to your readers. (Note: You can link to online content only when you grab a snippet and link to the original source. You can not use someone else’s work without permission.)
3. Online news stories on subjects related to your industry. You can sign up for Google Alerts on any subject and you will receive relevant news links in your inbox every day.
4. Blogs written by industry experts or people who care about the same things your readers do.
5. Your brain. Write something original, or jot down some bullet points and let the davemail team polish it up a bit.

Always put yourself in your readers’ shoes.  Would you want to read what you are sending out? If the answer is not yes, then we have some work to do!

Have other ideas? Please share.

Why can’t I send my email newsletter to anyone I want – like I can with direct-mail cards?

Like it or not, we in the legitimate email marketing business are forced by law to play by different rules. Again, it comes back to permission. As marketing icon Seth Godin says, almost all forms of traditional advertising and marketing are based on interrupting our daily lives with messages we didn’t ask for. Television, radio, newspapers and magazines - and even Web sites - are trying to get our attention away from what we came to get and attract us to what their advertisers want us to see and/or hear. Those forms of communication are important, but legitimate email marketing is different - and so are the laws.

We must get permission to deliver a message into an inbox, which opens the door to build real relationships - and the obvious benefits that result from earning and keeping our recipients’ trust.  Instead of a liability, think of it as an opportunity to reach your audience in a new and powerful way.

So, resist the temptation to buy or rent a list, we don’t need spam (or the fines that go along with getting caught) to be successful. We’re better than that.

Strengthening relationships with current customers is the easiest and most effective way to increase your sales. The old adage that it is five times more expensive to gain a new client than retain a current client may be difficult for you to quantify, but it is certainly true in principle.

It just makes sense. Is it harder to convince a new person that you are worthy of their trust or remind a former customer of the positive experience they had even years earlier? Not only are current customers more likely to come back for more, they also are your best sales reps. The longer a person has used your services or purchased your products, the greater their loyalty and motivation to tells others about you.

People like referring their friends to people they have done business with. It makes us feel good to share a great tree guy or IT specialist and for our friends to also have a positive experience with them. Everybody looks good, and that kind of networking can gain serious momentum – especially if it enters the digital realm.

So while advertising for new customers is always important, don’t forget to pay special attention to the group that holds the greatest potential of all – the people you already know, and more importantly, already know you.