Email marketing can be a cost-effective marketing strategy for small business owners and sales professionals. You can develop an email marketing strategy for about $40.00 a month. I helped one of my clients develop an email campaign for less than $100.00 and it generated over $3,437.00 in sales.

Unfortunately, the spammers have given legitimate email marketers a bad name. We all get tons of emails everyday and in most cases it’s from companies that we have no relationship with and we have no interest in what they are selling.

Because of this, you probably haven’t taken a serious look at how you can use email marketing in your overall marketing strategy. My recommendation is that you  investigate how you can use email marketing to help you communicate your marketing message.

So how do you go about setting up an email marketing program?
I suggest you do some research and then develop a written plan. Things to consider are: who do you want to email? Maybe your current customers and potential customers? How often are you going to send them an email? What message or offer are you going to communicate in your emails? It’s important that you send information that will bring value and provide relevant content to your target audience.

How will you send out your emails?
You can use an email program like Outlook because it’s free, but I don’t recommend it. To start with, Outlook will only allow you to send out about 60-80 emails at a time, this can be a real pain if you have hundreds of email addresses. I’ve been down that road, it’s very inefficient and time consuming. I recommend you subscribe to an email marketing service like I use to send out this newsletter. There are hundreds of them, go online, do your research, the investment is well worth it.

How to you build your email database?
Building your email database is critical. You should build your own “Opt-in” email list. Opt–in basically means building your list with people who give you their permission to send them your marketing message by email. If you have a list of your current customers/clients, you probably have their email addresses. If you do, ask them if it’s ok for you to communicate your marketing messages via email. Give them an incentive to say yes to your request. (i.e. a gift, discount) I recently completed a Valentine’s Day promotion for a client that netted 83 email addresses in three weeks.

Implement some kind of strategy to encourage visitors to your website to voluntarily leave their email address before they leave. An ethical bribe in the form of a free newsletter has proven to be effective in many cases. Contests and sweepstakes would work too. It’s important that you assure people that you will not sell, rent or share their contact information with anyone and follow through on your promise. You’re trying to build trust with your customers and prospects and breaking your promise is not a good way to start.
 

How do you send out your offers or marketing messages?
The newsletter route is definitely a good way to go. Make sure you give specific, compelling

reasons why people should subscribe to your newsletter. Tell them what they will receive when they subscribe. And give them the opportunity to unsubscribe when ever they want. E-flyers, e-postcards, e-coupons and sales letters are all options that you can implement for a reasonable cost. Remember to communicate offers and messages that are relevant to your target market.  Educational information, informative articles work well. Anything less will be ineffective and your emails will be ignored.

Email marketing is effective at building relationships, keeping in touch with your current

customers or clients and converting your prospects to paying customers. The cost is so reasonable that every business owner and sales professional should look into adding email marketing to their marketing mix. If you need some help setting up your email marketing program, give me a call with all of  your questions.

Your comments and questions are always welcomed, send me your feedback.