The first piece of the puzzle, list building, is a pretty scientific endeavor these days. There are tested strategies to get the mails of your customers and fans into a list, from simply asking at the register to clean opt-in forms on your internet site.
Where I see a lot businesses struggle more often is what to do with the list once they have it. I’d have liked to walk through 3 different systems of email marketing and point the pros of cons of each. No company needs to fasten themselves in to just one type, but they should think through the all to find the ones right for them and of more importance right for their audience. So let’s jump in.
1. Bad Relative System This one falls squarely in the avoid class and yet is common. Should we use these formulas at our own risk? To find answer to the question go to resource article. You ask your fans for their trusted email. They give it to you, hoping for something awe-inspiring. And you never call. You never write. But 7 months later when Christmas comes round, you get on it and email out to your list. Or a new sale is coming up, you remember those mails you have been collecting, and you shoot your list a rare and sudden note.
Just like the bad relative that you see at holidays and when they require money, your clients will ignore you or unsubscribe from you in hordes if they only hear from you 1 or 2 months apart. This is not a strategy, this is a last minute addition. Be sure to have a plan.
2. Newsletter The email newsletter is the catchall of e-mail promoting. It often includes multiple kinds of content that we are going to touch on, for good or bad. Pros: Newsletter can be great for maintaining a relationship existing patrons and your largest fans. If done well (see Chris Penn or DJ Waldow ) fans will get value from them, get updated on your business, and look forward to the next installment. These work really well when your company culture is clear and excretes across the e-mail.
Cons: The chance of a newsletter is boring your fans to death. If you chuck in your last reports, new hires, latest clients employed, and you leave out personality, culture, and useful content, tediousness and disinterest ensue. Your ezine becomes a duvet of grey and is ignored. Newsletters are difficult sometimes because of too much content. The more items you add in the less focus for the reader. Often I’d advise fewer options and making them count.
3. Blog Post Feed This strategy needs you have a blog. So get a blog if you do not have one.
When a person asks me what RSS is, I tell them it’s a way for geeks to read a lot of blogs and content easier. RSS subscribers traditionally are a small club, the adoption rates are very low amongst Internet users. What works better is taking your blog content (through RSS) and having folks to sign up to it thru email. Feedburner, a Google product, even makes this quite simple to do if your e-mail service provider (ESP) does not offer this feature.
Pros: The giant benefit here, if your blog content is interesting, is it is a high worth way to join with your audience. Providing handy and hopefully interesting blog articles to your fans and shoppers on a regular basis, straight to their email mailbox, can build a great fan loop of shareholders for you, waiting to support your next product, event, and so on. This system is also really beneficial because you are reusing or distributing existing content, so there’s not much added work. Social Fresh concentrates on this tactic because we’re a publisher. Many blogs do. Copyblogger is another good example here.
Cons: As I pointed out this e-mail campaign requires that you have a blog. It also, here is where it becomes complex, demands that you have a good and instantly updated blog. If you do, this method is gold. Sadly blogging is really tough to get right and most enterprises do not blog or don’t blog well. So this strategy can easily become the Bad Relative sort of e-mail campaign.
To be informed about the topic go to the website. Visit author’s site to find more exciting things on online jobs from home.. Check here for free reprint license: 5 Little-Known Facts On Email Marketing For Your Company.
Comment