How to Do Email Marketing, Effectively - Part 1

Email is not dead. As digital marketing technologies evolve, die off, and reinvent themselves, email remains a steady constant. It's not changed much over the years, with the exception of some minor additions to editing capabilities and formatting style options. It remains a useful medium for communication and information dissemination. It's also a strong method to drive visitors to other places on the internet.

I receive more and more emails from businesses. Some of them ones I have subscribed to (or "opted-in") and some are ones that mysteriously appear in my inbox. As a small business running an email marketing campaign, this is major no-no number one. Do not email anyone who has not opted-in, or agreed/subscribed/signed up in some fashion, to receive communication from your business. Blasting everyone in your address book is a quick way to kill your email marketing efforts. The people who are receiving emails from your business should be receiving them because they are interested, engaged, and willing. They should make the decision, not you.

Think about it--your personal email address is exactly that: personal. Your cell phone number, social security number, email address, snail mail address, etc. are not bits of information you want everyone to have--you guard these close to you and likely prefer the right to choose who and which organizations have them at any given time.

An effective email marketing campaign begins with the opt-in. This means you have to allow people to say, "Yes, I want to receive emails from your business." If they are opting-in, they likely have some familiarity with your business and an interest to learn more. Receiving emails from you out of the blue can be confusing, misleading, and ineffective. For instance, if you were to purchase a list of email addresses and then proceed to market to each of those people through their email addresses, you would be approaching them cold. It is no different than walking up to a stranger on the sidewalk and handing them a stack of literature on your business, bombarding them with information for something they know nothing about. The stranger would likely escape as quickly as possible and dump the literature in the nearest trash receptacle. Give people a change to know you and allow the development of a relationship by respecting their privacy. If they desire more information, let them tell you by giving their permission.

If you are a small business looking for assistance with your email marketing efforts, please feel free to contact me. I am happy to assist in the creation of email marketing strategy, campaign development, or management of campaigns. Don't dive into the deep end without a guide! :)