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Why Email Marketing?

As we all know, email has dramatically changed our daily communications with friends, family, groups, and businesses associates.

Email Marketing has done the same for businesses who want to communicate information to people who have given their permission, and to clients. (Permission based is the verbiage, and the rules that all email marketing programs should adhere to. This is kind of like the Unsolicited FAX law. Basically, if they don’t want to receive your communications, don’t waste their time and yours sending them anything.)

With many company marketing plans, one goal is to be ‘top of mind’ when prospects and clients have problems the business can remedy. Email marketing can be an effective tool for this.

Periodic ‘touches’ by direct mail, phone calls, and email are all part of the process.

Email Marketing’s particular advantages include the following:

- Inexpensive and a Great Value - It’s a great return for the investment. Some companies charge by the number of subscribers, while others charge by the number of emails in a specified period of time. There are a number of good options available, so be sure to investigate several before proceeding with a commitment. Also, don’t make the mistake of making price the only criteria for your decision, because they are a number of other factors to consider including: features, reliability, ease of use, customer support and others.

- Effectiveness - It can bring measurable results. A well constructed program will turn prospects into customers and customers into loyal clients. It’s also a good tool for surveys, followups on service, announcing new products and services, directing recipients to on-line news stories about your company, etc.

- A Professional Image is projected because the html templates look, and ‘feel’ better than emails sent with just text.

- Immediate and Measurable - It generates an instant response. When the recipient receives, opens and clicks thru to other links, you’ll know who, when and how often they do this. Some services will show if your campaign was forwarded, when forwarded, and to whom it was sent. Campaigns can also be set up to go out weeks in advance, so planning a complete campaign can be very easy. Some services even offer ‘Auto Responders’ where the opening of the email or click of a particular link will trigger a series of emails based upon products and services where an interest was demonstrated.

- Simple to Use - Professional services provide templates and step-by-step instructions that make professional results possible without lots of work. Drag and drop, being adopted by more of the services, make it easier than ever to do yourself. If you prefer, most services offer, at additional charge, copy and layout help. Additionally, if you, or your designer has designed a campaign in html, it can also be used. Bottom Line: Lots of choices and flexibility!

- Multi-uses - Announce new products and services, new blog posting, drive traffic to your website and blog(s). Keep in touch and target those you want to contact for specific reasons.

I suggest to use a Professional Email Marketing Service for the above reasons and more:

- Join Our Email List Signup Boxes can be put on your web page(s). When someone clicks on specific items that interest them, a series of followup emails can be triggered, at pre-determined intervals, to keep ‘touching’ the prospect/client about things you offer that they’ve shown an interest in.

- The Visitor Sign up Form can be customized to your specifications. For instance, if you offer several products and services, they can be listed with check boxes so you can customize your marketing.

- Welcome Email Letters can be customized and sent to new contacts who signup using your visitor signup form, and for those indicating an interest in one or more of your offerings.

- Change of Interest Emails can be automated when a contact makes changes to their interests or profile. This means your messages will be aimed, and received by people who have shown an interest, vs. a ’shotgun’ approach.

- Reports can have their frequency automated and always keep you up-to-date on the effectiveness of your efforts. Having this information, and making adjustments as needed, will increase results.

- Web Based means they can be accessed and worked on from any terminal, anywhere. Your server, and your host are probably not able to carry the traffic a large campaign needs. Web based also secures the information and frees space on your own network. The software is always the latest the service offers.

Email Marketing should not be the only marketing you do, but done correctly, by targeting businesses specific interests and not overloading recipients with emails that have no value, can be a valuable tool for gaining and retaining clients.

I’ve heard that it takes 12 ‘touches’ to close a sale, and that most salespeople bail after 4.

Others to add to Email Marketing include: phone calls, personal visits, post cards and letters.