A Cost Effective Way to Advertise Online . . . Permission E-Mail
Marketing
We all hate e-mail spam, right? I even have the coolest
software program that will help you combat spam and actually
bounces the spam e-mail straight back to the user.
(http://www.mailwasher.net)
However, one thing that we often fail to admit (except in
private) is the importance of permission e-mail marketing, where
the members of your mailing list have given you permission to
contact them, or where they're past customers of yours.
Obviously, these e-mail lists are always opt-out, so if someone
chooses not to continue receiving information from you, they can
easily get removed from the list.
Many of you know that I write monthly articles for Planet Ocean
Publications, which (in my opinion) is one of the best sources
for up-to-date information in the search engine industry. Their
monthly online publication, Search Engine News, is second to
none, and if you don't subscribe to it, you're missing out on
tips and strategies that could make an amazing difference in
your search engine optimization work. For those of you who
aren't familiar with Planet Ocean, here's their URL.
http://www.searchenginehelp.com/moreinfo/
Stephen Mahaney is the editor of Planet Ocean, and he's easily
one of the top marketing guru's on the Internet. I spent several
hours on the phone with him recently, and he told me that Time
Magazine wrote an article in their November 3 edition that dealt
with the importance and impact of permission e-mail marketing.
There are a couple of quotes straight from the magazine:
"E-mail marketing is fast, effective and dirt cheap -- a godsend
for marketers in an economy that has crunched advertising
budgets."
". . . the humble medium of e-mail is blossoming while flashier
forms of Internet advertising are going the way of the Pets.com
sock puppet."
"Little wonder that old-line companies like Ford and Procter &
Gamble are joining early users of targeted e-mail pitches like
Amazon.com and J. Crew."
Can we trust Time Magazine? I do believe we can! They're a
highly trusted magazine and have been for years and years. Time
is clearly going on the record of saying that permission e-mail
marketing is one of the most valuable means of making sales on
the Internet, but only if done properly.
In the words of Stephen Mahaney, "If you have yet to 'correctly'
integrate 'permission email marketing' into your online business
plan, then you risk being thwarted by your competitors that do.
It's just that plain and simple."
So, while spam e-mail should always remain locked tightly in a
closet (NEVER to be let out), permission e-mail marketing is a
crucial way for you to keep in touch with your customers and
those interested in your products or services.
Let's look at five effective permission e-mail marketing
strategies, tips that many Webmasters fail to do, and they
ultimately lose business because of it.
1. If someone writes for information on your goods or services,
save those e-mail addresses! Remember that sales aren't always
made the first time someone hears of a service or product. One
trusted source told me that you have to hear about a product,
service, or company at least twenty times before you begin to
trust that company enough to do business with them.
2. Set up an online form where people can sign up with their
names and e-mail addresses to receive a copy of your monthly or
quarterly newsletter or updates to your site, or to ask you
questions. Have the information go straight into a database that
contains the e-mail addresses of everyone who has written to you
for information. Then, create a newsletter that is not just a
sales pitch for your products and services. Offer valuable tips
to your potential customers. Give the newsletter true value, and
those potential customers will begin to look forward to hearing
from you. Then, when it's time for them to purchase the types of
goods or services that you offer, who do you think they'll go
to? The company they can trust: you!
3. Respond to your e-mail or to the questions asked on the form
within 24 hours, if not sooner. When people go online looking
for something, they usually send e-mail out to 5-6 companies. If
your company is the first to respond, and if you've taken the
time to answer the questions professionally and thoughtfully,
you'll have a jump over those other companies, many of which
won't even answer the e-mail at all.
4. Always provide a way to "opt-out" of your e-mail list. Make
it very clear how your subscribers can choose not to receive the
newsletter or e-mail any longer, and then immediately
unsubscribe them when they write to you. Remember: having
permission to send the e-mail in the first place by only adding
those who have contacted you and expressed an interest in your
product, and giving those people a way to get off your mailing
list, will differentiate you from the millions of e-mail
spammers that have given e-mail marketing such a bad name.
5. Take time in creating your subject line for your e-mail
marketing campaign. Make sure it doesn't sound "spammy" in any
way. Including your name or company name is a possibility, as
well as describing the focus of the e-mail. With these new
e-mail programs that combat spam, if you use a subject line
like, "We've got GREAT news for you!" or "Hi, Friend!," you can
expect the e-mail to be deleted without ever making it to your
potential customer.
How can you learn effective permission e-mail marketing
strategies?
Stephen Mahaney attributes much of his online success to
effective permission e-mail marketing. He's even gone so far as
to write a course on the subject, which I've personally
reviewed. It offers a step-by-step approach on how to create an
effective permission e-mail marketing list and how to market to
that list. The course even comes packaged with a full version
software program for merging each message with the people on
your list so they'll each get a personalized e-mail.
So, with Time Magazine pushing the importance of e-mail
marketing to the forefront of marketing online, here's
information about Stephen's "Business Guide to Permission Email
Marketing" course and software:
http://www.email-solutions.com/moreinfo/
How effective is permission e-mail marketing?
Traditionally, permission e-mail marketing campaigns result in a
significantly higher response rate than traditional direct
marketing or other forms of online advertising, such as banner
ads. According to FindMoreBuyers.com, the response rate for a
typical permission e-mail marketing campaign is 4-12%, where as
the response rate for a banner ad is .5-1%. Quite a difference.
http://findmorebuyers.com/page.cfm/205
According to Emarketer.com, DoubleClick projects that e-mail
marketing budgets will increase by 17.0% in 2002, which is
nearly twice the rate of other types of online marketing, which
are expected to gain 9.0%. TV, print and radio budgets are all
expected to decrease. Not only that, DoubleClick reports that
61% of marketers plan to increase their e-mail marketing budget
in 2002.
Forrester Research estimates that the total spending for e-mail
marketing services in the United States will reach $2 billion by
the end of this year.
http://www.emarketer.com/products/report.php
?email_mktg&PHPSESSID=f564eda06be98116905028b857b834c4
So, hit while the iron is hot, and permission e-mail marketing
is certainly "hot" right now! Learn how to use it effectively,
and then watch those profits increase!
http://www.email-solutions.com/moreinfo/