We Love Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo!

June was National Zoo and Aquarium Month, and in observation of that, we wanted to briefly talk about one of our newest customers at Magnolia Media! We wanted to post this in June, but it's been so busy that we're just now able to do that.

Last month, we welcomed the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo to our client family! We are maintaining their website by announcing the most current information and posting photos for all to see! We’ll be some of the first to know about upcoming events and new additions to the zoo! If you follow us on Facebook, we’ll be sharing their special news on our page, and we suggest you follow them too. (Links below.)

The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo is open every day of the year, except Thanksgiving, New Year’s Day and Christmas. The daily hours are 9 am to 4 pm. Special hours apply to those few holidays though. You can check their website for the admission rates, and annual memberships available.

The zoo opened in June 1989 as Zooland Animal Park, and has grown over these many years to be home to more than 290 animals! They have so many exciting animals like monkeys, tigers, peacocks, kangaroos, and emus…even a petting zoo, reptile house, aviary and daily animal shows during the summer that you can’t afford to miss!


The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo relies solely on admissions, memberships and contributions to remain in business. The local community and businesses have been generous in donating money, building supplies and services in years past. Substantial on-going funding through sponsorships, grants, and endowments from major corporations did not exist before 1998. These additional sources of revenue are now being actively pursued to ensure the zoo's longevity.


And YOU, too, can help with funding for the zoo’s new facilities! The Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo is moving to new facilities, which should be opening in 2011. The higher grounds of the new facility should prevent flooding that has been a problem in the past, which ensures more safety for each of the animals. Read more on their website about their new facilities and the rare Bengal cubs that will make the zoo very unique!

HOW CAN YOU HELP?! The zoo is offering brick pavers as tributes, gifts, and memorials to loved ones, children, grandchildren, and businesses. Pavers will be positioned in a place of honor and prominence to be seen by all who visit. 100% of each paver purchase will go to the new zoo construction and relocation. Here’s a brochure you can download for more information, and feel free to go ahead and fill it out if you’d like to be a part of the Higher Ground Zoo Move!

They (and we!) are all so very excited about the new facilities and are looking forward to seeing you all there in 2011! In the meantime, you can follow them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, or visit their website for the most current news!

To the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, thanks for choosing Magnolia Media for your future website maintenance! We look forward to working with you and growing our business relationship!

To Melanie, we appreciate your referral and hope for the best for you in years to come!

Email Marketing For Your Business

Ever considered email marketing for your business or organization? Many of people have, but just haven’t pursued it. Maybe that’s because they don’t have a list of email addresses to market to yet, or maybe they think it’s expensive, or that people will delete their emails.

If you’re in business during the 21st century, email marketing can be a very beneficial marketing tool for you. This applies to business-to-business corporations, family owned shops, or major service providers. If done correctly, email marketing can help you turn uninterested individual into prospects, turn prospects into customers, and first-time customers into repeat customers!

First of all, what comes to mind when you see the term “email marketing”? For the purpose of this article, we’ll define it as sending newsletters out via email, to a list of subscribers. We prefer to look at it as an opt-in list, whether the subscriber purchased from you previously, signed up for your newsletter on your website or in your store, etc. This helps to ensure the recipients of your email are interested in your news for some particular reason.

With competitive marketing, other companies are doing anything they can to get business in, which is pulling business away from you. If you are regularly placing your brand in front of your prospect or customer, you have a better chance of having a considerable relationship with that individual which improves your chances of beating the competition even if your price is higher. People like to buy from people they trust and have a relationship with. If you keep in touch with your subscriber list regularly, you will be the first that comes to mind when they need your product or service.

Providing helpful tips, coupons, or industry information to them through e-newsletters is a great way to encourage them to stay on your email list and read your newsletter each time they receive it. You have a higher chance at driving traffic to your website, and striking interest for new products you may offer. Providing industry-related news or tips will show that you are keeping up with the changes in your industry and that you are a good resource for information. Providing discounts or coupons will encourage a call to action. If you own a retail store and send out newsletters with a discount for the next week, you will probably see more customers in your store to take advantage of the offer than if you didn’t provide this perk.

Many email marketing programs provide click-through tracking so that you can see what is productive, how many of your subscribers are opening your newsletter, and how many are unsubscribing because of a loss of interest. This information is readily available in real-time tracking.

You probably know that most every business has a website, but not everyone is using effective email marketing techniques. Staying in front of your customers and prospects through email newsletters will help you keep your market share, and hopefully grow it too! Staying in front of your customers monthly, weekly, or however often works for your business, is very beneficial over time. The relationship that email marketing builds between your company and your customer is one that will prove valuable as compared to impersonal and traditional advertising.