By Melissa Rivas

To e-mail or not to e-mail, that is the question…

Broadcasting, print advertising, direct mail marketing… with so many marketing mediums why permission based e-mail marketing?

As a business owner, you know that it is important to stay in touch with your customers on a regular basis. E-mail marketing is an inexpensive and powerful way to stay in contact with your clients and build your business.

With all of the different marketing concepts that have become available throughout the Internet, e-mail marketing is often overlooked or simply dismissed. Many people also believe that generating money with e-mail marketing just does not work.

This is simply not true! Ask any one of the many real people who have successfully used e-mail marketing techniques to grow their business and generate profit. E-mail marketing is a great tool when used in conjunction with an overall marketing plan. Plus, it works for any industry and for any size business.

Let’s look at a few examples of successful e-mail marketing strategy campaigns:

A coffee house promotes its special coffee of the month; the focus however is on more than the sale item. The e-mail provides interesting information on the region or country where the coffee beans come from, the special method used in growing the beans, how it is roasted and why it is such a great new item to try. The coffee house also announces activities and local happenings that may interest subscribers: a local band, and open mic night and other exclusive events. A great way for the coffee house to promote its coffee business while providing additional benefits to their subscribers.

A restaurant promotes a great new local wine by providing a background on the vineyard, the vintage and how well it complements their delicious award winning Filet Mignon. This is a great way to promote its signature dish and a great way to promote a supplier.

A travel agent encourages clients to send in their travel experiences and their likes or dislikes. What goes on in Rio de Janeiro during Carnival? Where can you ski in July? These stories are then published, with the client’s permission, in its monthly newsletter. It’s a great way to promote a destination and the travel agency that will get you there.

E-mail marketing strategies will bring your business directly to your customer’s inbox. E-mail marketing has become a vital weapon for businesses all over the world. Its efficiency is beyond doubt. Its power is beyond compare. And the success it promises is too powerful to ignore.

There are, however, some very important things that a business should pay attention to when it comes to e-mail marketing. Success in these areas will result in a successful e-mail marketing campaign.

1. Perform your e-mail campaigns responsibly; why?

• To Keep your reputation intact
• To improve customer relationships

2. E-mail only to people who have subscribed to your e-mails, or where you can demonstrate their consent. What is consent? Here are two examples: A. You have a bowl in your premises asking people to drop in their business card to win a prize, and you have a notice on the bowl that e-mail addresses will be added to your mailing list to receive information from your business.

B. As part of the process of selling a product to a person, you ask for the customer’s e-mail address.

3. Send out information that is relevant to the recipient and associated with the purpose for which they requested the e-mail.

4. Be conscious of the volume of e-mails you send – don’t annoy your recipients, if you do, they will be less likely to recommend your company or services to someone else and less likely to purchase from you in the future.

5. Keep attachments small in size; no more than 300KB.

6. Always give the recipient the opportunity to unsubscribe. Use an un-subscriber service that will also ensure that you don’t accidentally send a later e-mail to the same email address*.

A few other things to ensure a successful e-mail marketing campaign:

• Deliverability rate: Some e-mails don’t even reach your subscribers’ inbox. The culprit - spam filters. These are security checks implemented by many e-mail services to spare their users from receiving unsolicited, promotional emails. Avoiding spam filters can be done by avoiding the usage of multiple exclamation points, upper case words or red flag words that will compel the filters to classify your e-mails as spam. Some of these red flag words are quite obvious: “free,” “dear friend,” “congratulations,” “guarantee,” “offer.”

• Open rate: Open rate refers to the number of subscribers who actually open the e-mails you will send. To ensure that your messages will be opened, use an interest-grabbing subject line, one that will arouse your recipient’s interest and pull them in.

• Readability rate: The readability rate refers to how many subscribers read your messages. Your message’s readability rate can be increased with fundamental copywriting techniques: a strong, interesting opening paragraph that shows how your message will benefit your readers will do the trick. Offering quality content is always the best policy. Information is a valuable commodity in this day and age, and savvy business people will never resist learning something new.

If you are the adventurous type, there are a number of do-it-yourself e-mail marketing services you can use. Or use a professional email marketing service such as Visage Connections that can design, manage and distribute your e-mail campaign.

Successful e-mail marketing requires consistency, continuity and integrity. Make sure to write so your customers and prospects look forward to receiving your e-news. This will build credibility and increase sales. Good Luck!

Written by; Melissa Rivas, Founder of Visage Connections a professional marketing firm that provides strategic planning and revenue generating services through web design and development, email marketing, ecommerce enabled solutions and direct mail marketing located in Smithtown, New York. Visage Connections - your complete marketing and sales solution.