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Email
marketing has become a favored method of reaching consumers among U.S.
businesses. In a survey by the Direct Marketing Association, two-thirds
of companies say their sales increased in 2001 because of email
marketing, and sixty-three percent credit email as the most effective
way to retain customers. This isn't so surprising given that email is
the most popular activity among Internet users. This popularity, coupled
with email's cost-effectiveness as a marketing vehicle, make it an
important customer acquisition and retention tool. Before looking at the
various ways you can use email marketing, let's examine how to make your
campaigns more effective. Like other marketing methods, when using
email, you should pay attention to some basic rules of engagement.
1. Target Your
Message
Put your messages in front of people who are most likely to have an
interest in your product or service. Know who your product or service
will benefit and where these people can be found.
2. Offer Value
When people visit you by way of your promotions, create an environment
of value, which puts your visitors in a buying mode. That is... offer
irresistible benefits, make it effortless for people to see the
benefits, create an urgency in people to get the benefits from your
product, and make it easy to buy the benefits (your product or service).
3. Use Repetition
An integral part of successful marketing is your visibility in front of
potential buyers. Therefore, it's important to realize the necessity of
putting your message in front of people repeatedly.
4. Track Your Marketing Results
Another important consideration is the performance of your promotions.
Tracking allows you to test your promotions and zero in on things that
work. Here are some ways to evaluate the results of your marketing
efforts:
URL Tracking:
One of the easiest ways to track responses to your promotions is to code
your URL. Simply add a special code at the end of your link and then
look at your log files to view click-throughs. You can use any code you
like following the question mark. The coding will look similar to this:
http://www.yourdomain.com/?advert1
CGI Tracking:
Using your CGI directory you can accomplish many tracking tasks. CGI
scripts run on your server, so you should be versed in their
installation or be prepared to pay for installation from the supplier.
Tracking Services:
If you prefer not to work with scripts, you can hire a third party to
track your campaigns from their server. These services charge a monthly
fee, but are well worth it in terms of helping you pull the best results
from your advertising.
Six Effective Ways
To Market With Email
By targeting your market you bring in willing buyers. With an attention
to delivering value, you remove barriers that hinder sales. Through
repetition you're able to demand recognition, and with performance
tracking you are able to market with the greatest impact. Now you can
market with gusto! Here are six very effective methods:
1. Start an Opt-In Mailing List
This is a favored method of many email marketers, since those who opt-in
to your list have already shown an interest and are ripe to receive your
messages. Provide useful and free information people can really use, and
at the same time offer services or products which cater to their needs.
2. Offer an Email Course
There are a couple of ways this can work. The first is to offer a free
email course from your site. Over the period of a week or two you set up
an autoresponder to deliver your course by email. Make sure your
e-course provides information, which has real value to your visitor.
Alternately, you could offer a valuable freebie that requires your
visitor to leave their email address before claiming it. The delivery of
your e-course becomes a condition of claiming the freebie.
With tactful and casual grace, you can then introduce your subscriber to
your products and services within the context of the e-course. Just make
sure you are enhancing the information they first sought. Overall, the
idea is to create a relationship with people—a bond built on your expert
status and ability to deliver truly useful information.
3. Self-Submit Ads
to Ezines
You can save some money and place ads in your own handpicked e-zines.
There are literally thousands of e-zines looking for advertisers, and if
you've got the time to browse directories such as EzineAdAuction.com or
EzineLocater.com, you're bound to find many e-zines that target your
market. Placing classifieds is very cost effective and if you choose
well, you can see fantastic results.
4. Advertise in
Email Newsletter Networks
These services let you advertise in newsletters within their network.
The amount of time you'll save is worthwhile in itself, but the real
value comes from being able to profile your ad for specific target
groups.
5. Rent-a-List
You can promote your business with a rented list. Reputable companies
providing this service maintain only the email addresses of people who
have agreed to receive commercial email. Renting a list can be quite
expensive since you'll pay as much as 25 cents per address, however you
can get some great results with a highly targeted list. Safe list
sources include BulletMail.com, HTMail.com, PostMasterDirect.com, and
HipLists.com.
6. Write Articles and Get Published
Many e-zine publishers and site developers are hungry for good content.
Getting published in just one high-profile e-zine can give you exposure
to thousands of potential buyers. In conclusion, email is without a
doubt a very potent marketing tool. It should be an integral component
of your marketing plan if your goal is spectacular results. And what
business doesn't want that?
How To Promote Your Business Using An Opt-In Email List
By Kevin Sinclair, CPA
Most marketing experts agree that the development of an opt-in email
list is a key factor of business success.
Benefits Of Opt-In Email Lists
It is unusual for first time visitors to your web site to purchase your
products and services. Normally, your visitors need to develop trust in
you and what you are offering. An opt-in email list allows you to stay
in front of your prospects and customers encouraging repeat visits to
your site that will result in sales.
People receiving your message will not regard it as spam as they have
opted to join your mailing list. They have given you permission to send
them flyers, newsletters and messages. You have the opportunity to
develop trust and to demonstrate your expertise, credibility and how you
can benefit them.
Your list may become the most valuable asset that your business owns.
Not only does it allow you to reach people cost effectively who are
interested in your products and services, but also it can be a source of
advertising revenue and future profits for your business.
The larger the list you are able to develop of qualified prospects and
customers, the better off you will be. Ensure that you offer
subscription details in a prominent position on your main web pages.
Entice people to join the list by explaining the benefits they will
receive.
To avoid misunderstandings and high unsubscribe rates, ensure that your
potential subscribers know what they will be getting. Tell them how
often they will be receiving email from you. If you publish ads between
issues, tell them and give them the opportunity to choose the newsletter
and ads or just the newsletter.
A key way to let potential subscribers know what to expect is through a
privacy statement. Most people are concerned about what you will be
doing with their email address. Reassure them that you will only be
using it for your newsletter and not letting others have access to their
details. To help you develop your privacy statement, you can use these
online privacy statement generators:
http://www.truste.org/wizard/
http://www.the-dma.org/topframe/index7.html
Make subscription management easy for your subscribers. Always make it
clear how they can unsubscribe. When you receive unsubscribe requests,
act on these promptly. To do otherwise will not enhance your online
reputation or credibility.
Don't be too aggressive in obtaining email addresses as this can often
backfire. For example, I was visiting a site recently to download a free
e-book. Before I could download, I had to enter my email address. No
indication was given as to what my email address would be used for. I
chose not to give my address and not to download the e-book. That site
missed out on an opportunity because they did not provide me with
confidence as to how my email address would be used.
Another technique used is to add addresses obtained from people
requesting information via your autoresponders. In my opinion, it is
better to have a series of autoresponder follow up messages rather than
adding the names to an opt-in list. The ethical approach is only to add
those people who have specifically given permission to join your list.
Mailing To Your Opt-In Email List
Every time you mail to your list, you have an opportunity to establish
and maintain trust and credibility with your subscribers. Therefore,
ensure that each mailing contains content that your subscribers will
find useful. Don't overload your message with ads unless you are an ads
ezine.
Your list provides you with the opportunity to develop the image of your
business. Don't send out a message that does not live up to the image
that you are trying to cultivate. One bad issue can destroy a lot of the
good work you have been doing.
The frequency of mailing to your list should be determined by what will
not overload your subscribers and by the amount of time you have
available to do the job well. When starting out, concentrate on quality
rather than quantity. As you develop, you can increase the frequency if
it is necessary.
Each issue needs to contain basic information such as links back to your
site, how to unsubscribe, and a recommendation that the subscriber
forward the issue to their friends and colleagues. Subject to the aims
of your list, you can also include guest articles provided that they
provide useful information to your subscribers.
List Performance
A key measure of your list performance is the levels of unsubscribe
requests. This statistic is a strong indicator of how well you are
doing. People unsubscribe for a variety of reasons. However, high levels
of unsubscribe requests can indicate that you are failing to provide the
content that the subscriber was expecting or that you are inadequately
targeting the acquisition of new subscribers.
Try to find out the reasons people unsubscribe if the level is of
concern to you. Then act on the information you have discovered so you
can improve your ezine and retain the people still on your list.
List Promotion Resources
Don't solely rely on your web site to generate new subscribers for your
opt-in list. Register your list in the search engines, ezine
directories, and ezine announcement lists. A top resource to help you
with this is http://List-Universe.com/ The Email List Owner and Ezine
Publisher Resource Network.
Also, look to cultivate free ad swap with related publishers. Distribute
your articles to related publishers - this can be an excellent source of
free advertising and new subscribers. I use the Directory of Ezines to
identify article submission and ad swap opportunities.
Conclusion
The development of your own opt-in email list can be a key factor to the
success of your business. It’s key to treat it as your number one
business asset and to act in the interests of your subscribers.
Through doing this, you will develop a loyal list of people who will buy
from you again and again as well as refer you to their friends.
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