Everybody’s emailing. If your business isn’t yet using the power of e-mail marketing, consider hopping on the bandwagon. There’s a reason why e-mail campaigns have become such a popular marketing tool. Actually, there are several reasons: e-mail campaigns are inexpensive, instantaneous, customizable, trackable, and testable. And if you already are using e-mail in your business, just make sure you’re careful to avoid joining the ranks of spammers. No one likes a spammer.
Well, neither one is inherently bad. Weeds are simply plants you don’t want in your garden. Likewise, spam is e-mail you don’t want in your inbox.
In the e-mail marketing messages you receive every day, which ones do you enjoy reading? Which ones do you think are doing it right? Throw away the spam, and analyze the welcomed e-mails. Their qualities can be applied to your own online marketing campaign. Creative Zumo recommends three basic guidelines:
- Good content – Provide interesting news, impart some of your expertise, or let customers know about deals and promotions. Whatever your content, get to the point quickly and memorably.
- Clean graphic design – Your readers are busy. An appealing, well-executed layout will make your e-mail easy to read while building your brand.
- Strategic timing – You want your clients to get used to hearing from you often with regular e-mails, but a constant barrage will have them shouting, “Enough!”
Underlying every good e-mail marketing campaign is a well-defined purpose. Do you want your campaign to drive traffic to your website? Should it attract people to your retail store or an event? Or are you just looking for a way to stay in touch? Once you’ve thought about your campaign’s purpose, your decisions about the content, the design, and the timing will become easier.
Another key element separates the welcomed e-mail messages from the spam in your inbox—namely, you never asked to receive the spam. Unwelcome e-mails aren’t limited to misspelled pharmaceutical offers or so-called Nigerian scams either. You may have traded business cards with someone once, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you want to be added to an e-mail list forever. (This can also run afoul of new anti-spam laws.)
So, when building your own e-mail marketing list, get permission from people through a check box on your website, a sign-up sheet in your store, or just by asking them one by one. And in each e-mail, give people a way to unsubscribe. This method means you’ll build your list more slowly and with more effort, but permission-based marketing is the most effective in the long run. Instead of being annoyed by your e-mails, your recipients will be glad to hear from you and will be receptive to your message.
Gaby had a healthy baby boy on February 27th. Mother and baby are doing well.
Annual reports are as appropriate for small businesses as they are for large ones. With good planning, you won’t have to reinvent the wheel each year.
