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The basic concept

Sometimes the benefits of email marketing are quite different than anticipated. Most Web marketers understand the basic concept of email marketing which is to email promotional materials to a large group of Internet users in an effort to promote interest in particular products or services. This concept is easy for many to understand, but we will attempt to describe and, perhaps, elaborate on a few of the more beneficial aspects of email marketing.

In the following paragraphs we discuss the basics of email marketing, but we will also explain how – sometimes – email marketing can encompass much more than originally planned. This additional reach can be either a positive or negative influence depending on the quality of original emails and the reactions of subscriber list recipients.

Simple & cost effective

Email marketing is a very simple concept which can also be extremely cost effective; but the general idea behind email marketing can be narrowed down to this simple characterization: An email is sent to an email subscription (or distribution) list with the single purpose of creating an interest in the products or services being offered by the originator of that email. In theory this concept could not be simpler but email marketing can get significantly more complicated when being implemented.

One of the biggest complicating factors is the potential for emails used in a marketing campaign occur when one or more of those emails are misinterpreted as spam, either recipient of such emails or a spam filter provided by the Internet service provider. This potential alone creates a major complication because Web marketers have to make a significant effort to ensure that their messages are not trapped by a spam filter or immediately deleted by the recipients for appearing to be spam.

After clearing initial hurdle

Once the misinterpretation hurdle is cleared and email messages get through to recipients, they have a small window of opportunity to make a positive impression on those recipients and influence them to make a purchase or at least visit the business owner’s website. One effective method of getting such a result is to provide quality content while keeping advertising subtle and at a minimum while making sure to feature a clear call to action. These are all factors which have been proven to help get the message across and entice potential customers to make a purchase or at least visit a website to get a closer look at those products and services.

As previously stated the goal of an email marketing campaign is to subtlely persuade email recipients to either make a purchase or visit a particular website for more detailed information; and when an email recipient performs either of these actions, it is considered a huge success. However, thanks to the power of a forward button, email marketing can actually be much more successful than even the business owner intended.

Better than word-of-mouth

One of the great aspects of email marketing becomes evident when email recipients receive an email that they think is worthwhile and are likely to make a purchase, but may also forward the same information on to a friend or family member they believe may also be interested in learning more about the particular product or service. This ability to forward email messages can be compared to satisfied customers in the offline world using word of mouth to tout the quality of products or services they have bought and like.

However, the ability to forward a worthwhile email message is exponentially more effective than using word of mouth to spread the word; because with just a few clicks of the mouse the original email recipient can forward any message to several of his/her friends simultaneously. This can result in significantly better results than the business owner had originally expected with no additional effort and time being exerted or money being spent.

Marketing basics applied

In theory email marketing is not any different to other types of marketing, simply because basic principles of marketing which are applied to most other types of marketing apply to your email marketing efforts as well. One of these most important principles is the importance of reaching a designated or “target” audience; because the ability to reach an audience you have designated as your target audience and convince them to make a purchase cannot be underestimated. In this post we will discuss a few approaches that Web marketers can use to effectively reach their target audience(s).

The simplest way to reach your target audience is to allow existing customers as well as potential customers to register on your website and decide whether or not they want to receive emails with additional information and advertisements. When the users register they should be required to enter a name and email address and, as a result of this registration process, you will be able to compile a list of names and email addresses from each potential customer who expressed an interest in receiving additional information.

Sending your email marketing materials to members of this subscriber list is much more effective than sending out a mass email to recipients whose email addresses you purchased simply because the group of email addresses you compiled all have an interest in the products/services you offer while there is no information on the other set of email addresses to indicate whether or not those list members will even have the slightest interest in the products or services you offer.

Capturing their interest

There are a number of tips published on the Web for reaching a target audience, and one of the most important of those is to do adequate research to determine how you should communicate with members of your target audience. Such communication may include changing the language of your emails to suit the preferences of target audience members, designing the layout and colors of the email so that it can be appealing to them and tailoring the emails to include content which is of interest to members of the target audience. This type of research can really pay off because it will make your emails significantly more effective.

Still another tip for reaching your target audience via email marketing is to keep your message simple in the sense that being subtle is important so your email does not seem like a blatant sales pitch, but it is also important to present your message in a clear and concise manner which can be easily understood by the members of your target audience.

If you have any doubts your target audience will be able to understand your message, you can certainly leave information for the email recipients to contact you with your questions. This interaction can prove to be extremely useful because it is only through communication that you can learn about the needs of your target audience and how you can better tailor your email marketing strategy to meet these needs.

In conclusion

Finally, it is important to solicit feedback from the members of your target audience to ensure you are meeting their needs with your email marketing campaign. This should be done on a continual basis as the needs of your target audience may change over time. However, when you solicit feedback from your target audience you must be sure to ask specific questions which require answers that can easily be interpreted, especially because the ease with which these answers are interpreted will greatly impact your ability to further refine your email marketing efforts to conform with the expectations of your target audience members.