Category: Marketing Campaigns

Periodical and ongoing promotions to launch product specials during which results are measured.

Email Marketing Strategies That Work

Effective marketing via email

Email marketing has become one of the more popular methods by which to effectively promote and sell products and services, but the popularity of this marketing technique is by no means an indication that all business owners have the ability to run an effective email marketing campaign. The simple fact is that those who are well versed in the functions and nuances of email marketing, while having the experience in utilizing popular strategies effectively, are likely to gain a huge advantage over their competitors who do not possess these skills.

In this article we will provide information which we think will be useful for business owners who are looking to improve their sales or website traffic via effective email marketing. So if you don’t have a great deal of information about email marketing and do not fully understand the principles involved, one of the best ways to initiate and launch an effective email marketing campaign is to hire a consulting firm to assist you in your goals and objectives using this marketing technique; but keep in mind that the consultant should have a proven track record in promoting business through email marketing.

The consulting firm

The consulting firm strategy may well be the most expensive of any that will be discussed in this post, but it is quicker than educating yourself through trial and error or taking a course on the subject, and may prove less expensive than one or both of these alternatives when the time it takes to accomplish either is translated into loss revenue. But that’s a conversation for another time. The fact is that any business in need of additional revenue can incorporate email marketing into its overall marketing strategy by immediately starting a search for a consultant who is well versed in email marketing and, with his/her help, launching a campaign in as little as two weeks.

Similar to traditional marketing methods like radio, television and print media, those strategies known to be most popular within the email marketing community have been subject to constant change over the years and continue to evolve today. Such change suggests that enough time must be devoted to studying new trends, best practices and most effective techniques; and as a business owner you probably already have enough to deal with just trying to stay up to date on your basic business practices and may not have the time, energy or finances to stay up to date on the latest changes in email marketing also.

For this reason it is certainly worthwhile to hire a professional in the email marketing industry who can devote himself full time to keeping up to date with the most effective email marketing strategies and designing an email marketing campaign for your business to help you achieve your business related goals. However, selecting a consultant from the many options available can be downright overwhelming; because you should look for a consultant who has a great reputation a proven track record and credible experience, who will also listen to your questions carefully and explain concepts simply while making your project a priority.

The hands-on approach

There are those business owners who prefer a more hands-on approach in their business’ overall marketing strategy, and if you are among this group then you would probably be eager to learn the proven strategies pertaining to email marketing, including this popular strategy pursuant to which is to offer an email correspondence course on a subject closely related to your business (website) or the products/services you offer.

These correspondence courses should include a number of short segments, provide useful information, be of interest to your intended audience and help to promote your business in some way. The simplest way to promote your business without having your correspondence course deemed as spam is to use a soft sell approach subtly urging readers to make a purchase or visit your website for more information.




The digital newsletter

You might also consider publishing and distributing a digital newsletter (or eNewsletter if you like), which is another proven and very popular email marketing strategy that has been deemed to be highly effective. An digital newsletter is very similar to a newsletter which is printed and distributed using conventional methods such as USPS (snail) mail delivery. The bulk of a digital newsletter should be quality content in the form of featured articles and shorter articles which includes useful tips and/or product reviews.

The digital newsletter may also contain graphical elements which can simply be graphic designs, or they may be graphics that also serve as links which direct traffic to your website, product pages or other interesting and useful information. Finally, your digital newsletter should contain some type of soft-sell sales pitch, but make sure of the subtlety of your sales pitch because if it appears to be too blatant you run the risk of your digital newsletter being considered spam. Finally, the newsletter should contain a call to action urging readers to either make a purchase or visit your website for more information.

Test and evaluate

Regardless of the method of email marketing you prefer to utilize, one of the most important strategies is to evaluate the effectiveness of your email marketing on a regular basis. This is critical because elements of any email marketing campaign that are not working should be weeded out. Likewise elements of your marketing campaign which are generating a high degree of success should be utilized more often. For example if you notice there is a spike in sales or website traffic each time you issue a particular issue, it might be worthwhile to begin issuing digital newsletter more often. This type of evaluation and feedback can turn a moderate success into a huge success.

Build Your Subscriber List Quick and Easy

Woman in a neon triangle

Subscriber List: A thing of value

It would be quite understandable if you have looked at the title of this post and muttered to yourself something along the line of, this guy (meaning me, the writer) is crazy, there’s no such thing as “quick and easy” when building a subscriber list. You might express even more disbelief if you had started a subscriber list that did not work out as well as you had expected. So if this sounds familiar I’d ask that you don’t click away yet, and don’t give up on building your subscriber list yet either, because we may be able to help each other.

Of course, I’m assuming that a subscriber list is something you still value and would like to have; and if that is true then let me suggest that you make a fresh start by utilizing the suggestions outlined further down this page; but before we proceed it might be helpful to share some of our previous efforts to build a subscriber list, because it is important to recognize and separate methods that failed from those that work so we can avoid the former and utilize the latter.

If you’re like I was I discovered the subscriber list-building methods that really work, you probably have read countless articles and success stories of people creating small fortunes with subscriber lists and sought expert advice on how to create a subscriber list of your own. Then when you thought you knew everything there is to know about building subscriber lists and have followed their advice to the letter and still weren’t able to create a list you can make a profit with, you became upset and this led to disappointment and, ultimately surrender; and you stopped trying.

Proper research

Then you decided to invest your money in a different way by hiring professional email marketers, subscriber list builders and content writers to help you out, but quickly realized that the expenses you incurred, when compared to the very small percentage of your subscribers who actually bought anything from you, it was clear that you were still in an unprofitable position; especially after seeing the statistics and sales figures yielded by campaigns you launched with the help of those so-called professionals.

So you asked yourself, what could have gone wrong? Why have others succeeded where you have failed? Could it have been that you committed the common mistake of launching email marketing campaigns without the proper research? Or that you chose a topic you thought to be quite popular but it turned out not to be the case? One lesson which is learned from proper research is that list subscribers do not buy a product or service instantly simply based on their subscriber status or because the email marketer (you or I) sent them offers.

I’ve learned that the first and most important step you can take in order to build a profitable subscriber list is to get your potential customers to know, like and trust you after which they are more likely to take a chance on your products; because let’s face it, just launching an subscriber list would not make you an expert and a believable seller. You have to put some acquaintance work into the process by publishing a number of articles on your chosen topic, presumeably the subject you know best and feel most passionate about.

Consistency

If your chosen topic is not the one you know most about, then change it and write about the topic you know well, and make sure your overal website theme is based on the same topic so that your articles, blog posts and website theme conform to the same topic. This is known as consistency and it is the one element that helps to establish expertise and create trust between a website publisher and audience more than any other.

In addition to consistency of topic in your articles and website theme, it is certainly helpful to gain some knowledge about your website visitors; because knowing a little about their preferences, likes and dislikes will help you to create the kind of content that will more likely win them over. You can gain this insight by asking your visitors to complete a brief survey from time to time, or even at the end of each article or blog post you publish.

Similar information can be obtained through forums, in the sense that these sites allow you to provide expert advice as it pertains to the topic of your expertise. This is another instance in which the results will not come instantaneously, but rather in time as your participation is recognized as helpful, valuable and – in some cases – indispensable to other forum participants. The expert advice and opinions you provide at these forums should be as forthright and factual as those you provide in your blog posts and, as a result, forum members will follow you to your site and may end up being part of your customer base.

Highlighting value

At the point you feel that people trust you, you will then be able to start your own subscriber list which could consist of subscribers from various sources; and after that you can build a customer base from these same sources which could end up consisting of website visitors, forum participants, survey responders and even your own friends, who can usually be good customers once you let them know about your website. just email them a link to your site so that they will be able to see what your business is all about. It is important to understand that the money will only come in when consumers and subscribers know, like and trust you.

As for your product or service it is important to know and understand that most people looking to lay out their money to buy something is no different to you and I; they want a product or service that they believe will be a good exchange for their money. They are simply not going to buy something on your recommendation if they don’t know and trust you, but they also will not buy an item if it is not worth the money, so you need to find a product or service that people want and need.

You don’t have to be the product maker as long as you have researched and learned about it well and have determined that it is of high value. Invest your time, effort and money to learn what you can sell to the satisfaction of your customer and subscriber base, thereby keeping them happy and you in their good graces. Even if it is a product you don’t want (you don’t necessarily have to like it either), it may well be something your customers need, so do your research well and you would see the results can be very positive (and profitable). It often helps to provide your subscribers with promotional material that they could actually use and spread around, so a free ebook can get generate a lot of interest and positive results.

A profitable subscriber list

By now you’ve probably heard about the joint venture (JV) whereby subscriber list owners cross sell each other’s lists. This technique works only after you have built your own subscriber list; but it might be quite helpful to make friends with other subscriber list owners anyway. This can be most beneficial, especially if it is someone who has already launched a successful subscriber list and have the experience in this venture. Because – as they say – experience is still the best teacher. While there are many articles available on the Web for you to read and learn from, there is nothing like getting a first hand account from someone you trust, so if you’re going to pursue a joint venture it helps to know (and probably like) the other marketer as well.

Experienced subscriber list owners as joint venture partners will make sure you know what to do and what not to do since they also value their lists that they will be entrusting to you (your product and/or service) and therefore must make sure that you do nothing to tarnish their reputation with their subscribers. So while different situations occur for different people, the general concept can still be very helpful to you and them. There are many things to avoid and it is in the interest of your joint venture partners to tell you which ones are most critical.

Building a profitable subscriber list don’t just happen overnight. There is much preparation and effort involved in the process; and since a subscriber list should be built from scratch you will do well to diligently maintain the quality of your list as it grows; keep it organized, manageable and even if you have to get or hire help just make sure that your subscribers are happy and satisfied, and they will be willing to buy from you continuously.

Just for the record, “quick” as used in the title of thisd post is a relative term, so think of it in the context of a subscriber list that serves your purposes (profitable, well-maintained and consisting of list members who know, like and trust you, as opposed to continued failure and disappointing efforts which could go on forever. Hope this helps… Good luck!