Email Newsletter Marketing Is Alive and Well: The case for
continuing newsletter efforts
With the arrival of syndication or RSS technology, many claim
the email newsletter is dead. Not true. Newsletters continue to
offer companies a marketing tool that allows them to build and
retain relationships with their clients.
RSS complements, not replaces the email newsletter. Some readers
refuse to read email newsletters and only view content in RSS
feed readers. So cover your bases by offering both options.
The same thing applies to weblogs, also known as blogs. These
online journals are updated on a daily, weekly or whenever
basis. When you release a new issue, keep your bases covered by
linking to your newsletter and its feed in the blog.
By the numbers: email marketing prevails
In October 2004, the Online Publishers Association (OPA)
released the Internet Activity Index (IAI) stating users go
online for two primary reasons, content and communications -- 40
percent for each. Pew Internet and American Life Project's data
from November 2004 indicates 59 percent of adults have been
online and 92 percent send email. This data supports the idea
that email marketing is still the most effective use of the
Internet for marketing purposes today.
Web pages are static and require users to search for them. Once
found, the page must be bookmarked, or it will be lost again.
Email, however, lands directly in a user's inbox, avoiding spam
filters and must be actively deleted to be lost. If the email
also satisfies the second most common use by supplying valuable
information to the reader, then it has a greater impact.
Email marketing fuses email and research into a single channel
and provides marketers with a powerful, yet affordable, tool.
This type of marketing remains inexpensive, supple and easily
tailored for any given demographic. You might think that email
marketing reaches a small audience, and other more traditional
marketing channels will provide better saturation, but that is
rapidly changing.
Internet World Stats indicated 182 million users used the
Internet as of September 2004. About 25 percent sign on each
year, and in 2005, we'll reach one billion users. According to
Burst! Media, 60 percent of those connecting to the Internet
from business use it for email. The second reason is to check
the news, followed by looking up weather information.
It's the content, baby
When a newsletter full of valuable information arrives in the
user's inbox, it capitalizes on these two main uses: email and
information.
When applied in a business-to-business application, email
newsletter marketing has even more power. Almost 60 percent of
employed people have Internet access at work. Eighty percent of
professionals and managers use the Internet, and 70 percent of
those in sales, technical or administrative support positions
use it. Therefore, email newsletters in a B2B application miss
only a small percentage of your target market, the decision
makers. And even this small gap is rapidly closing.
Internet use in the workplace is growing at a vigorous 54
percent rate annually. Soon, email newsletters will saturate a
market as completely as direct mail, print, radio or television
advertising.
Not all email newsletters are effective, however, despite the
impressive demographic support. Here are tips on how to maximize
your capitalization on Americans' Internet use patterns.
Ask permission
An effective email newsletter gains a readers' permission before
putting them on the mailing list. Such marketing builds
communication and goodwill without annoying the reader.
We know about spam all too well and we don't want to put such
email in people's inboxes. Spam causes serious and expensive
overloads to both ISPs and individual recipients. Since it is
poorly targeted, it is ineffective. Therefore, build your
mailing list by asking people to opt-in to receive your
newsletter.
As you know, opt-in email asks users to agree to become part of
an email list, and they are not subscribed to the newsletter
unless they take action. Such lists are powerful because they
indicate every person on the list has given permission to have
their email addresses included in the marketer's database.
Content is king (or queen)
The second most important hallmark of an effective email
newsletter is its content. People will give permission to send
them your newsletter if you give them something in return, like
content that helps them in their lives. Newsletters distributed
with information that is relevant to the audience's lives are
anticipated and eagerly read.
Many marketers, whether professionals or otherwise, reflexively
want to tout their own company's achievements. They want to
climb onto the mountaintops and scream about how great they are,
how many sales their company made, the partnerships they are
forming, and how their product is the best thing to happen since
sliced bread.
The problem with this is these marketers are distributing
information that is important to them, not to their readers.
Select articles or other content that pass the following litmus
test: Does the content provide value to my customers, or is it
self-serving?
Once your newsletter is in tip-top shape, make the most of your
online marketing efforts by integrating all available options
including email newsletters, RSS feeds, blogs and a Web site.
It's a cheap and effective way to reach your prospects and
clients.