Permission-based email marketing can improve the ROI of all of your
marketing and lead generation programs!
How? It’s simple. When you send email newsletters, promotions or
announcements to your customers and prospects you begin a conversation
with them. They don’t have to be ready to buy your product or service (or
to join or donate if you are an association) but they can gain from your
communication with them. When they are ready, you are the trusted and
comfortable friend that they will look to.
The cost of this dialog is significantly lower than other vehicle –
including sales calls, direct mail and trade-shows. Self-service,
web-based email marketing solutions can cost less than a penny per
contact. When you add email marketing to your marketing mix, you can use
your higher cost sales team or other marketing efforts to focus on the
customers and prospects that need their attention, while email keeps you
in front of everyone else.
There’s more. Email marketing offers the quickest time to market and
fastest results of any marketing vehicle. You can create and send an email
in minutes and realize 90% of your results in 48 hours! You can even see
who clicked on each link in your email, and follow up with phone calls or
send additional, targeted emails based on your response.
There are three keys to implementing an inexpensive and effective email
marketing strategy:
Build your email database – make it a policy to collect email
addresses from everyone, everywhere:
- Trade shows: Ask booth visitors for their email address and
permission to send newsletters and announcements.
- At your retail store: Include email addresses in your mailing list
book.
- Sales, support and telemarketing calls: Add email address and
permission requests in your sales/service calls and telesales scripts.
- Your website: Add a “join my list” signup and collect valuable
information from site visitors.
Get Permission – and keep it! It is a privilege to provide
prospects and customers with timely and relevant information. Tell your
customers what they will receive, and give them an opportunity to opt-out
or unsubscribe in every email.
Use a (do-it-yourself) service – You’ll be surprised at how
inexpensive and easy email marketing can be. Find a provider who handles
list management and hygiene, including website signup, bounce-back
handling, subscribe/unsubscribe and interest selections. The best ones
provide customizable templates and instant reports on your campaign
results. Give the service a test drive. It should be intuitive and
easy-to-use.
Most importantly, start today! Add email to your marketing mix and
start an ongoing dialog with customers, leads and site visitors. You’ll
keep your business in front of them – and they will think of you when they
are ready to act.
Article provided by Constant Contact.
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