Copyright (c) 2008 Don R. Crawley

Legitimate email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your customers and prospects. It’s inexpensive, fast, efficient, and environmentally friendly. Email marketing allows you to target your customers and prospects by their particular interests, it allows you quickly announce special promotions (either planned promotions or impromptu promotions based on changing conditions). Email is the perfect way to send a monthly newsletter. Email marketing’s efficiency was underscored in a study by the Direct Marketing Association which found that in 2005 email marketing returned an amazing $57.25 in revenue per dollar spent on it!

How can you get started with email marketing? Start by collecting your customers’ email addresses. Even if you don’t currently do email marketing, gather your customers’ email addresses now so that, when you decide to start communicating with your customers via email, you’ll already have a good list. Have a sign-up sheet at each of your checkout counters or at your reception desk. Be sure to include a sign-up form on your website. Offer an incentive such as a monthly drawing from the collected email addresses. Be sure to include a privacy statement on your forms and sign-up sheets such as, “Privacy notice: We don’t share your information with anyone.” (Of course, that means you can’t share that information ever.) Remember, email addresses are free (or very inexpensive) to gather.

Now, the three secrets to making email marketing a winner for your business.

Secret number one: Do only “permission-based” email marketing. In other words, only send email to people who have requested your email messages and make it easy to opt-out of future emails. There is a slimy side to email marketing thanks to spammers. Obviously, you want to be associated with the reputable side of email marketing. If a customer, a prospect, or a site visitor willingly provides their email address, you’re not spamming. If you get it any other way, you’re spamming. A commonly used technique for dealing with subscription requests from your website is called a “double-opt-in”. A double-opt-in requires the individual to first request your email marketing, then a confirmation request is sent to their email address. They must click a link in the confirmation email or otherwise confirm their desire to receive your email before they’re added to your list. The rule is simple: If in doubt, don’t send it out.

Secret number two: Make your email marketing messages compelling for the reader. Keep them short and to-the-point and ensure that the recipient will see the value in whatever you’re saying. Increasingly, people are becoming distrustful of “hypie” messages that sound like they were written by an advertising copy writer. Make your message real, make it personal, and make it deliver a benefit from the readers’ perspective. If there’s nothing in it for them, they’ll just delete your message or possibly even report it as spam.

Secret number three: Be consistent. Whether you choose to send an email campaign every week, every month, or every quarter, be consistent. One very successful email marketer even includes these words at the top of every email he sends: “Sent the third Tuesday of every month…” Your consistency in your marketing efforts reflects your dependability as a company.

What about the mechanics of email marketing? Many very small businesses just use their regular email accounts. Such a solution can work, but it doesn’t scale well as your email list and business grow. It also requires you to manage your new subscribers and unsubscribe requests. A better solution is to use a commercial email marketing service. Such companies provide templates to make your messages look professional. They also provide tracking information on how many messages were actually opened and read, automatic opt-out links on your marketing messages, tutorials, assistance in complying with the CAN-SPAM act, and more. Costs start at about $10 per month and go up from there based on various criteria such as the size of your list and the frequency with which you send messages. Most such companies provide a free trial period so you can get familiar with their service. There are many email marketing companies, but here are three for you to consider: iContact (www.icontact.com), GetResponse (www.getresponse.com), and Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com).

Make sure you’re compliant with the CAN-SPAM act. Of course, this is not legal advice (I’m no lawyer!), but compliance means being honest in your subject lines about the content of the message, including an easy opt-out method in every message, and including your complete contact information in every message.

Regardless of how you decide to do your email marketing, now is the time to start gathering email addresses. Email marketing, done properly, is flexible, affordable, efficient, and potentially very profitable for your business.



By: Don R. Crawley

About the Author:

Email marketing is a type of marketing that uses email as the communication channel between the sender and the receiver. Broadly speaking, all emails sent to current or potential client for marketing a service/product can be considered email marketing. It is vital to understand two things, one – email marketing is the most effective online marketing tactic (second only to search marketing) and second – you cannot perform it manually.

You can, however, do it best using email marketing software also known as email advertising software or email generator. Email marketing software helps a user send a lot of emails simultaneously. Many companies are using these solutions to send bulk emails, follow-ups, offers, and newsletters to their current and prospective customers. Here are some strong reasons to try an email generator.



Performs email validation: Email generator validates an email address; if an email address is validated, then you can go ahead with sending a mail at that address, else you could edit or drop the email from the sending list.



Checks Spam Content: This feature identifies any spam content in your email. If any spam content is detected, you could drop that part from the email. If no spam is detected, then you could go ahead with sending the email without any worry. It is imperative to mention that the best check is in accordance with the spam-detection techniques of a mail filter.



Maintains a history of emails: This feature keeps a record of all emails sent and received. This proves helpful in cases where there is an ambiguity on the status of an email (sent or not sent yet).



Generates error messages: This feature helps you to track instances where an email was not received by the recipient due to some reason. This helps in ensuring that no one in missed.



Schedules e-mail sending: One of the best features, it allows you to schedule the sending of e-mails. Now, you can write an e-mail and schedule it to be sent later. When the scheduled time arrives, the email is sent automatically.



Allows for adding Dynamic data: This feature allows you to add a number of dynamic variables. More dynamic data means personalized emails and better results. Dynamic data may include First Name, Company, Address, Phone, or Fax Number.



This is not all; there are plenty of other features as well. All these features make your email advertising endeavor less time and effort consuming, all while generating better results. Try an email generator today!



By: Hamlin

About the Author:

Email marketing is one of the most profitable strategies available to the online entrepreneur (and offline business owners, too).

Consider this: About 99% of your website visitors will leave without buying anything from you on their first visit. But by creating a great opt-in offer you can at least get their contact details — and then use email marketing to follow up, build relationships, and turn them into paying customers.

And email marketing is by far the BEST and CHEAPEST way to stay in touch with your customers and build rock-solid relationships with them — so they’ll buy from you again and again! (This is called the “lifetime value” of your customers, and it’s extremely profitable.)

Email marketing just plain works! Just take a look at these statistics from PostFuture:

There are now more than 1 BILLION Internet users worldwide — and 90% of them use email. 70% of users receive opt-in email from online businesses. 82% of online buyers have made at least one purchase in response to an email promotion. 32% have made an immediate online purchase in response to an email.

With numbers like these, you can understand why I’m always stunned to hear about a business that STILL hasn’t started to take advantage of email marketing strategies.

If you’re stuck for ideas on how to use email marketing to ramp up your profits? Here are 10 proven email marketing strategies to get you started…

Email marketing strategy #1: Develop relationships and establish credibility by offering free information

Sending your subscribers valuable, free information — such as an authoritative eBook — will help them get to know and trust you. Once you’ve established your credibility, you dramatically increase your chances of converting subscribers into lifelong customers.

You can offer anything from a free report to a free trial version of software… whatever you think your subscribers would like!

Email marketing strategy 2: Encourage repeat visits by announcing regular specials

Once you’ve started collecting email addresses, you can send your customers and subscribers regular updates letting them know what your specials are. Sending regular discount offers is a great way to get your customers familiar with you and your site — and turn them into regulars who will buy from you again and again.

Email marketing strategy 3: Host “Customer Only” events

Suppose you own a restaurant, and you’ve been collecting your customers’ email addresses. You could send each of them an email invitation to an exclusive wine-tasting evening for regular diners only. Rewards like this are one of the best ways to capitalize on the lifetime value of your customers.

If you own an online business, you can set up a special page on your site that is accessible only to customers — and then send them an email telling them how to take advantage of the specials you advertise on that page.

Email marketing strategy 4: Include promotions in appointment reminders

If you are running a service business, as opposed to a retail business, you can still capitalize on the power of email marketing by sending appointment reminders to your clients.

If you’re a karate teacher, for example, you could send your new clients an email three days before their first lesson, reminding them where you are located and when they need to arrive. In that same message, you could include a coupon that offers them 25% off their lessons if they bring a friend to enroll as well!

Email marketing strategy 5: Follow up with your hottest leads

You can use email to follow up with people you have spoken with personally, but who have not made a purchase. Offer to answer any additional questions they may have, and let them know that you are available to speak with them at their convenience. This can dramatically increase your chances of closing a sale by providing your leads with extra information they’re not expecting.

Email marketing strategy 6: Offer electronic “loyalty coupons”

This is a great way to get your existing customers to buy from you again and again. Simply send each of your customers a coupon that they can print and bring with them into your store or use on your website. It is always a good idea to make your coupons valid for a limited time only to motivate your customers to make a purchase from you as soon as possible.

Email marketing strategy 7: Send follow-up offers to your customers

Follow-up offers are one of the most powerful ways to build a profitable business. because they build on the trust you’ve established to close the initial sale — and turn first-time buyers into regular customers.

How profitable can follow-up email be? My team once sent our customers a follow-up email introducing them to a product that we thought they might like. The entire process of writing the email and sending it out took about 20 minutes — and the result was a direct profit of $74,000!

Email marketing strategy 8: Encourage “Send to a Friend” referrals

Email is a great way to encourage referrals because it’s easy for people to forward messages to their families, friends, and coworkers. Make sure every newsletter, offer, or eBook you send to your subscribers reminds them that they can forward your message to anyone they think might be interested.

You could even run a promotion that gives your existing customers something for free every time they personally refer a new customer to you.

Email marketing strategy 9: Deliver your product electronically

Suppose you’ve written a book and you’re currently selling paperback copies through your site for $29 each. By creating a digital version of your book — which is WAY easier than you’re probably thinking — you can simply email it to your customers.

And since you won’t have to worry about things like printing costs, warehousing, packaging, and delivery, you can DRAMATICALLY increase your profit margin!

Email marketing strategy 10: Use email to sell your knowledge and create recurring revenue

If you are an expert on a particular topic — and just about everyone is — then you’ve got a successful business based on a paid-subscription newsletter waiting to be born.

Of course there are tons of other email marketing strategies you can put to use. And once you realize just how easy it is to use it to drive sales, you’ll be thinking of all kinds of new strategies yourself!



By: Derek Gehl

About the Author:

NOT ALL EMAIL MARKETING PROGRAMS ARE CREATED EQUAL

 

Contrary to what you may think, email marketing remains an effective and COST effective method of staying in touch with people who want to hear from you. Remember, we’re not talking about blasting out millions of emails to people who don’t know you from Adam. That’s considered SPAMMING. Effective email marketing is at the crux of RELATIONSHIP and PERMISSION marketing and is still effective when you email to people who volunteer to learn about what your business has to offer.

According to alternative marketing guru and Squidoo founder, Seth Godin, “By talking only to volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message,” he writes. “It serves both customers and marketers in a symbiotic exchange.”

This means that email marketing will INCREASE in effectiveness as a way to counter the growing ineffectiveness of more traditional methods of “intrusion” marketing.

But selecting the RIGHT email marketing tools is critical to both your success and your sanity. These are the email marketing companies and tools we recommend and those we don’t and why.

WHY YOU NEED TO USE A PROFESSIONAL EMAIL MARKETING TOOL

Well, it’s important to understand that if you’re going to engage in email marketing in any kind of a serious way, you need to sign-up with an email marketing company that will help you sign-up, grow and manage your list. While my company, Samson Media, develops the strategy and concepts for email marketing, even we use a third party company called iContact, to automate all the tedious but necessary tasks of managing a list of hundreds or even thousands of email addresses.

Professional email list hosting companies like iContact or the popular Constant Contact handle all of the imporatant tasks of growing and maintaining your list such as: Sign-ups Unsubscribes Duplicate management Deletes Undeliverables SPAM compliant Full reporting (deliverables, click-throughs, etc.) User-friendly email newsletter publishing tools and templates

A SHORT LIST OF EMAIL MARKETING COMPANIES — SIMILAR YET DIFFERENT

Most email marketing companies now charge by the size of your list and not how many times you use it (within reason). For instance, you can have 1,000 names on a list and pay less than someone who has 10,000 names on a list. And each one can send out once, twice or even 100 times in the same month and their costs are the same, fixed amount.

These email companies used to charge more the more you send but most have moved to al all-you-can-eat pricing structure based on list size. And when I said “within reason”, I think they actually do have a limit but it’s like one million. So if you have a lisy of a thousand or even ten thousand names and you’re anywhere close to sending them out a million times in a month —- well, you’re probably over doing it anyway and your days as an email marketer are numbered.

To that end, here are some of the main email marketing companies we know of and have some degree of first hand familiarity:

iContact (the service we now use) Constant Contact (very popular) Topica (we still use them but we hate it) Vertical Response (an industry stalwart) Emma (stylish and pricey) Elite Email (does it Old School — prefers to charge per email sent)

WHY WE USE iCONTACT

It’s All In The Details – Why Not Get As Many Included Features For One Low Price?

Granted, whether you choose Constant Contact, iContact, Topica, Vertical Response or the others,they all do the tasks listed above and are similarly priced (relatively speaking), but here’s what separates the men from the boys in my opinion:

THE WINNER IS…

The winner in terms of features, price and service is iContact hands down.

iContact has several features that the popular and more well-known Contact Contact does not offer, such as:

FREE ARCHIVING: Every newsletter you send out automatically gets posted on an iContact hosted page that’s unique to you and your business. As you begin sending out newsletters you’ll see how powerfiul this is. Because as you begin to build a history of newsletters, all you have to do is add a link to your webpage that says something like “CLICK HERE To Read Our Back Issues” and all of your past newsletters will be listed and viewable. Constant Contact offers this for an additional $5 a month, the others don’t offer it at all, and at iContact it’s free. You also get search engine traffic back to your own site from these archived newsletters – a double bonus!

AUTORESPONDERS: Constant Contact, amazingly does NOT offer autoresponders at all. Even if you don’t know what they are, trust me – you’ll want to have the ability to use them, especially if it’s included in the price. Autoresponders are a highly powerful email marketing tool that allows you to preset and pre-create an advanced email marketing strategy that allows you to offer multi-part reports and series. Topica also offers this feature but it’s not nearly as user-friendly.

TECH SUPPORT: All things considered, especially compared to Topica which I’ve used for over 10 years and still use today for older lists, iContact actually answers the phone. With a human being! Really!

So comparing, price, features and support, iContact is the email newsletter and hosting service champ!  But more importantly, which ever compnay you choose, definitely choose one.  Sending out hundreds of emails from your Outlook or desktop email client is not only ineffective and will get you labeled a spammer, but it’s a huge waste of your valuable time.

ll things considered, especially compared to Topica which I’ve used for over 10 years and still use today for older lists, iContact actually answers the phone. With a human being! Really!

So comparing, price, features and support, iContact is the email newsletter and hosting service champ!  But more importantly, which ever compnay you choose, definitely choose one.  Sending out hundreds of emails from your Outlook or desktop email client is not only ineffective and will get you labeled a spammer, but it’s a huge waste of your valuable time.



By: Gene Sower

About the Author:

If you have the products or services that you want to sell on the Internet, you’ll want to create a web site where you’ll advertise what you are offering and you’ll also want to spread a word about your products or services to the world. You can easily and quickly do it via email. Email marketing is certainly one of the most powerful strategies in internet marketing. It’s quick, cost effective – you do not have to pay a set price for every email that is sent out – and allows contact people in all parts of the world. So, you can get more purchasers and respectively more revenue for less investment of time and money.

How does one accomplish bulk email marketing campaign?

You can use online bulk emailing services, or you can pay a marketing firm to do your bulk email promotions, or you can use direct email marketing software to distribute your email campaigns sitting at your computer.

Using software can be the most cost-effective method if you have the time to manage your prospects list and accomplish your email campaigns with a constant frequency.

There is wide choice of direct email marketing software packages available on the Internet market. Some are even freeware programs that don’t require any investment. Although they don’t generally have the value-added features that come with software packages that you purchase; however, if you aren’t running a large email marketing campaign, they may suit your needs for accomplishing specific tasks just fine.

What is Drip Email Marketing?

The concept behind drip email marketing consists in sending periodic emails to prospects and clients hoping to bring them to your website and make them purchase products or services. It is an effective method to generate new purchasers from your prospects and keeping relationship with your existing clients.

Drip Email Marketing tactic results from the idea that nobody purchases online products or services instantly. A visitor can come to your web site a few times before he becomes a purchaser. Keeping this in mind, how are you going to stimulate your prospects’ interest to your site and keep them informed about your products and services? This is where a drip email marketing campaign is quite to the point.

Imagine that a prospect has just visited your site and left you the email address. It’s important to note that you should add a sign-in form to your web site to collect the prospects’ email addresses. It’s rather useful if your sign-in form asks the subscriber to provide some about additional and not only the email address. I’m not talking about private information. I’m talking about the subscriber’s area of interest, hobbies, specific needs, or at least the emails he prefers to receive, text or HTML. All this information will help you segment your prospects and send more relevant email messages to each group.

So, based on the subscribers’ preferences, you set up a drip email marketing campaign catered to their specific needs. Each message you send them give more information about their inquiries slightly hinting them at you and your products or services. It is an importunate way to stamp your name in their mind. Remember, you don’t sell anything yet. You just give an advice and information about their particular needs and wishes.

For your existing clients, a drip email marketing campaign is similar. You only need to tailor the emails so they are oriented to the client after purchase. Your email drips must contain relevant information that can help the customer with the products or services he purchased. The customer must be sure that you are always there to assist him. When your client believes that you are a faithful and reliable partner, he is ready to purchase again from you.

It may probably sound like you will need more than one tool to accomplish your drip email marketing campaign. But you can find many programs on the Internet that can handle your growing lists of prospective and present clients. Our email management software must be flexible enough to treat each client or prospect according to the routine of your drip email campaign.

The most important thing to remember about drip email marketing is that you must not send meaningless emails. Each message must have an informative content, a real reason to contact your prospects and clients, not just a note saying “Hi!” or “How are you?”.

If your drip marketing email cannot keep the client’s interest, it will be deleted immediately next time when they read the sender’s email address. We all are busy people and won’t spend our time for dull messages. If you are trying to build the relationship based on trust and faith, you cannot tolerate that they never open your emails. You can start directly from the subject line. The subject itself must grab people’s attention and make them want to read your message. This is the essential concept behind a drip email marketing campaign – to develop a trust and faithful relationship with your customer by sending valuable information. When the rapport of informative and useful emails is established, your clients and prospects will be looking forward for every email from you and they will even recommend your company and your products to others. Isn’t it exactly what you want for you business? I’m sure it is.



By: Julia Gulevich

About the Author:

Successful online business can’t be led without email marketing. Many people know that it is very important to have a web site but having a web site is only one step in creating successful online presence. You have to stay in touch with your clients and prospects. You need to have a two way communication with your clients and prospects and best way to do this is to have an email newsletter. To send emails to your customer you need the right email marketing software.

Choosing your email marketing software is one of the most important steps you have to take in e-business. What are those necessary steps in choosing email marketing software?

Free or fee-based

The first thing you will have to decide in choosing software for your email campaigns will be whether you want to use free or fee based software. Some people may say: “There is much free software on the Internet. Why would I pay for email marketing software?” This is because some people still don’t have a habit to buy things on the Internet, especially non-tangible items such are software and services. Many people still don’t realize the power of email marketing so they think that can be satisfied with a free service.

One of the most famous contemporary economists, a Nobel Prize winner Mr. Milton Friedman said that there is no such thing like free launch. And there is another statement that says “You get what you pay for”. I usually agree with these two statements. These have been proven on many examples, especially on the Internet.

You can choose to use free software for email marketing but you will be limited for some more advanced options. Some big portals offer free services for creating groups. This is OK, but in this case you will send your email messages without many important features like personalization, email tracking, sending SMS, using CSV files etc. I don’t have to mention that many “free” email marketing software providers will include their ads in your email newsletter. I guess that you don’t want that in your business email communication.

Some other free software like the free version of Group Mail will have limitation on the number of subscribers per one session. In this case you will be able to send your email newsletter to 100 subscribers at once and in paid version to unlimited number of subscribers and create unlimited number of lists.

It is recommended that you use fee-based email marketing software for your business email campaigns. However, you always have to look for a provider who offers a free trial, as well.

Important features

You have to check if your email service provider offers these several important features.

1)Personalization – personalization is one of the most important things that email marketing software has to provide. With good personalization you will have better open rates and click-thru rates. Some more advanced email marketing software like Group Mail paid version offers if-then personalization for users who want to get the maximum personalization.

2)Monitoring – email marketing is popular and useful because results can be measured very effectively. You have to ask your email service provider if their product offers ability for detailed reports for open rates, click-thru rates, deliverability…If their main product doesn’t offer that it is important that they offer additional service that can be easily integrated with their main product.

3)Scalability – one of the main features of modern software is scalability. At this moment you might need software that will be able to send 1,000 emails at once but in 3 years your membership base can be 5,000. Will your software be able to handle that?

4)Creating HTML newsletters – HTML newsletters have better response rates than email newsletters in plain-text format so this is also another thing you have to consider in choosing your email marketing software. Without sending your email newsletter in HTML you won’t be able to do email tracking.

5)Integration with existing applications and databases – your email marketing software has to offer you ability to import data from existing applications and databases like SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Access, FoxPro and Excel. Also, it is very useful that it can be integrated with popular email clients like MS Outlook.

6)International Character Support – Online businesses have to have a global focus so it is useful that email marketing software provides support for International Characters.

7)Plug-ins and updates – it is very important that the email service provider constantly works on creating useful plug-ins and updates in order to make your work easier and more effective.

8)Technical support -If you are an average Internet user without technical knowledge you will probably want to get support for your software. How good is your email service provider when it comes to technical support?

Desktop email software vs. Hosted ASP

Now when you know do you want free or fee-based software and what to look in your email marketing software you have to decide do you want to have desktop email marketing software or so called Hosted ASP. Both types have limitations and advantages. You have to choose the best option for you.

Desktop email software like Group Mail Plus, one of the leading desktop email marketing software, has several very big advantages. The most important is that details of your subscribers are kept private and secure on your own computer. Dot com crash is not so far behind us. Imagine that you have several thousand clients and use web based service from a company that will later go out of business. You can only imagine how that could affect your business and credibility! With Group Mail Plus you can manage an unlimited number of groups with unlimited number of recipients in each. You will have a larger initial investment than with Hosted ASP which charge a monthly fee, but you will a full control of your email campaigns and after some time of using your software you will repay it.

With Hosted ASP you will usually have a lower initial investment. You don’t have to buy hardware and software. However, price is usually determined by the number of emails you send so you will pay more how your membership base gets bigger so this option will be much more expensive than a desktop email marketing software option in the long run.

You can see that choosing the right email marketing software is very important. You have to bear in mind that the biggest investment is one that it is paid – twice. So, choose your email marketing software wisely



By: Dejan Bizinger

About the Author:

Email marketing is done with lots of email addresses with different categories and then sent to the email to specified region in bulk method. In Email marketing there are some points are important that are like reporting of bouncing email, conversion rate and delivered email also. For any good email marketing software this is very necessary to have proper specified collections of email, easy and good look and feel also. For any email marketing software look and feel and functionality of software make software to be top email marketing software. There are some email marketing software also.

ezMailFlash Software: This is broad category based email newsletter creator email marketing software. It support to users to make email marketing newsletter into both HTML based and text based also. For good email conversion ration, HTML based email newsletters are the better than text based. This software is good for small and medium business type.

Features:

Unlimited email compaign

Delivered and Bounce Rate reports.

Dynamically Newsletter Creator

Unlimited database support

HTML and text based support also

Real Time Support

Unlimited Subscriber Support

Lyris HQ Email Software: This software is one of good email marketing software. It has property to integrate with other internet marketing tools. It has good control over lots of database collection and easy to handle also. This is award winning software named formerly also EmailLabs. This is also good to target to specified user for any specification.

Features:

HTML and Text Based Support

Integration with other internet marketing tools

Email API

Segmentation and target

Triggers Message

Email Marketing Professional 2.0: This is free email marketing software. This is also support to HTML and Text based newsletter. Perfectness specification of this email software is real estate, non-profit organizations, mechanic, professional artist and retailers also.

Features:

HTML and Text Based Newsletter

Customize database of people

Import customer list

Subscriber and bounce handling

SMTP support server

e-Campaign Software: This is support to bulk email marketing with reliablites, easy to handle. It supports to email groups to email campaign with HTML, Flash based and Text based email newsletters.

Features:

HTML, flash, text and multipart support

Embedded image support in email

Job schduling

SMTP authentication support

Encrypted SMTP support

Email marketing software are available over internet as free software, demo and full version also. Lots of email marketing companies have good email marketing

services.

Visit website for email marketing software, email marketing companies

, email marketing services



By: Justin Mark

About the Author:

According to recent research, an email marketing strategy based on voluntary sign ups will lead to high conversion rates. Email marketing has come a long way over the years, and it has become something more than just a failed strategy for spammers. Just as long as the emails are sent out to potential leads that have shown interest in them, they can bring in a lot of success.

If you’ve been thinking about giving an email marketing strategy a try, you need to make sure you do it correctly. You can’t just spam to thousands or even millions of emails-you can get into a lot of trouble for that these days. It wouldn’t do you any good anyway, since it will just go to the spam filters rather than inbox.

Thanks to the invention of spam filters, though, the email marketing strategy is easier on the rest of us. Have a form on your website or blog for visitors to fill out so that they can request more information about your service or product. Send out regular emails to keep them updated. Make sure you give them the opportunity to opt-out anytime they wish.

However, if you make the emails very appealing and interesting, you won’t have to worry about anyone ever wanting to opt-out! Additionally, they may also tell all their friends about your business as well. Wouldn’t it defeat the purpose of having an email marketing strategy if subscribers end up unsubscribing?

If you want your email marketing strategy to work, then there are a few things you need to know.

• Presentation. The formatting and graphics need to be visually appealing. Your email marketing strategy won’t work at all if you send your members sloppy, hard to read emails. Also keep in mind that a lot of email providers are blocking out graphics in messages. You should therefore give your readers an option to sign up for text or html versions of your emails.

• Content. Give your subscribers something interesting to read. Tell them something that you think they would want to know. Since they voluntarily signed up for your email list, they must already have some interest. Make the subject line very catchy as well.

• Discounts, coupons, and freebies. Everyone loves good deals and freebies. One of the most surefire ways to get an email marketing strategy to work is to offer subscribers special deals. It won’t hurt to offer your readers a little discount or freebie. Let them know that you’ll only be offering the special to them. Hopefully, they’ll enjoy the freebie or sample and will come back for more.

• Try to get to know your readers. Provide surveys for them to fill out and offer prizes upon completion. Encourage them to leave comments and to give feedback. You can still remain professional while getting to know your potential customers a little bit. An email marketing strategy shouldn’t always be “strictly business”.

You can win at the game of email marketing strategies by following these tips. You don’t have to remain in the dark forever when it comes to email marketing. Even if you’ve tried in the past and failed, try these tips and start over again. A good email marketing strategy will bring a lot of leads and even sales. This has been proven time and time again, and you can bring your business plenty of success by sending your subscribers well put together, informative, and fun emails!



By: Matthew Henderson

About the Author:

When researching email marketing software, it’s important to know what to look for in the products you are looking up. Here are a few things to remember when looking for email marketing software for your business.

When evaluating email marketing software, it is important to know some buzz words, key words, and things to consider so that you are properly informed. As a small business owner, you will greatly benefit from email marketing, as it helps you stay in contact with your current or potential clients. It is an important service that can greatly increase sales. Therefore, it is important to be informed before making a choice on the email marketing solution you are choosing.

The following is a glossary of email marketing buzz words that you might come across, and what they mean to you and your business.

Email Authentication: These are various bits of information that identify the sender to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). It’s a kind of accountability for the messages that you are sending out.

The latest technologies in this field include Doman Keys, DKIM and SPF records. Any great email marketing software provider will take care of these technologies on your business’ behalf, so you don’t have to worry about it. If you speak to an email marketing account executive, make sure to ask if they’re taking care of email authentication for you, and inquire about which technologies they’re using.

Domain Keys (DK); Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM): Are signatures that are added to your emails to verify the sender (or domain) and the content within the message. This helps get your messages into your subscribers’ inbox, as it is information that spam bots/filters can identify. The best email marketing organizations have this in place, so that your emails have the best possible chances of landing in your subscribers inboxes.

Spam: Is the common term for unsolicited bulk-email. When an email is sent to an address that did not opt-in (or give direct permission) to receive the email, or is sent multiple times to the same address, it is considered Spam. The most respected email marketing companies will not take on customers who are planning to send Spam messages. In fact, the top companies will catch Spam messages before they go out, and prevent the sender from sending them.

Tracking – Once you send out a message, you can track opens, clicks, forwards, and bounces: The best email marketing companies will have a comprehensive tracking beacon allowing you to see which of your subscribers have opened clicked and forwarded your emails. You will also be able to take this information and use it for future campaigns.

It will provide you with a better understanding of your subscribers, and therefore allow you to develop a proper strategy to market to them accordingly. “Opens” relates to which of your subscribers have actually seen the content of your email, by clicking on it in their inbox.

“Clicks” are a list of subscribers that have pressed on one of the links in the email that you have set up. Look for an email marketing software that will give you information as to who, exactly who clicked on each link, and when they did it. “Forwards” lists the subscribers that have passed your message onto other interested parties.

“Bounces” are the emails that didn’t arrive to the intended reader, because either the subscriber’s mailbox was full, the address no longer exists, their server has timed out (meaning the end computer was not responding to the original computer’s message) or because the security features on the subscribers account are set extremely high.

Make sure that you know what you are looking for in an email marketing software, so that you campaign s will be as successful as can be. Look for the email marketing software companies that give you the best possible chances to get your email into the inbox of you subscribers.



By: Rudy Barell

About the Author:

Now is the time for email marketing solutions! As the owner and operator of a small, medium or enterprise-level business venture, you are required to sense the signs of the times and make sure that your business is prepared for the bumpy roads ahead. Sometimes this means cutting budgets. Scaling back your advertising budget doesn’t mean losing contact with your audience. In fact, Email marketing software is a cost effective alternative to big budget advertising.

Email marketing software uses a three point package in order to drive repeat business and help you to garner more business. Whether you are in retail, hospitality, or shipping, Email marketing software uses professional designs, data metrics tracking and comprehensive list management to target your audiences in the most efficient manner.

Your email design:

Online Email marketing software services provide you with hundreds of templates to choose from. As a bonus, they’re also very easy to use. The many varieties available give you options to match your marketing needs, whatever they may be.

If you need to showcase promotions involving various products, you can include images of these products to entice your audience to find out more or to purchase directly. In this case, it is imperative to ensure your digital images are premier in quality. Also, you will be able to link these images to your online sales pages so that interested parties can discover more about your products. This also ties into the effectiveness of the tracking beacon which will be explained later.

If you are sending out text based articles and newsletters, Email marketing software will help you to create different article sections complete with a table of contents, images and attention-grabbing headlines. Also, by adding a “read more” link at the bottom of the text, you will be able to track the results, such as the different people who are clicking on the article of interest to them in your email.

Having a professional design for you Email marketing software campaigns is easily accomplished. It is simply a matter of uploading your digital images and cutting and pasting content into the given fields, then sending it out.

Tracking:

As mentioned earlier, Email marketing software tracking and the design process, are interrelated. Together, these 2 features can really help you to determine your audience’s needs and wants. This is essential in establishing more targeted marketing campaigns, and therefore getting greater success out of your Email marketing software campaigns as you progress.

Email marketing software services provide you with detailed tracking on which of your subscribers have opened your email campaigns, clicked on the links (whether they are images or text), and who has forwarded your emails to other interested parties. This data is accessible through export features, so you can see your data in familiar programs like Excel. You will also be able to follow-up with your leads, as you will have real-time data on each subscriber, including their email address, as well as the time and date they interacted with or responded to your email.

The tracking features of Email marketing software campaign will give you valuable information on your potential clients’ interests. And, the better you know your clients, the better you can service their needs.

List Management:

The best Email marketing software programs will give you a highly comprehensive list manager. You will be able to ensure that you customize your subscriber list in any way, shape, or form that suits your needs.

Once you have data from your first campaigns, and have exported this data, you can now use the list manager to segment your audiences into their various interest groups.

Now the process begins again: recreate your campaigns specifically geared towards the needs and desires of your contact list, enticing them to purchase more and become loyal customers.

Some things to keep in mind about email marketing solutions:

Make sure that people who are visiting your website or entering your store location are adding their emails address to your contact list. Make sure that you are constantly making an effort to grow that contact list so that you can keep the cycle pumping.

Signing up for Email marketing software is really easy to do, and the better services offer you various payment options to suit your budget. The most common are the pre-paid, pay-as-you-go credit system and the monthly unlimited billing plan.

With the pre-paid plan, you purchase an amount of credits up front that suits your marketing strategy. And, because the credits never expire and there are no monthly costs, this method can save you money if your strategy involves sending out campaigns 1-2 times a month or less.

With the monthly unlimited sending, you get an unlimited amount of emails to send, and your fixed monthly cost is based on the size of your list. This works great if your marketing strategy involves sending out several times a month or more.

With these three components available through email marketing solutions, you can establish a cost-effective and targeted relationship with current and future customers. Due to the astronomical costs of big budget advertising and the need to scale back costs in this economic environment, now is the time to start using Email marketing software to drive your repeat business and make more money in tough economic times. Take back the control with email marketing solutions!



By: Rudy Barell

About the Author: