The Do's and Don'ts of E-mail Marketing

What are effective marketing strategies? On one hand, it seems that it's best to get your name and information in front of every possible customer. On the other hand, strategic contacts will keep you from wasting time and money. A possible solution to this dilemma is e-mail marketing.

E-mail marketing is the extension and evolution of direct mail marketing. The underlying concept is to keep your customer base well informed of your actions, advancements and opportunities. E-mail marketing can be highly valuable, with the right attitude and knowledge. Without the right information, you'll become roadkill on the spam highway.

E-mail marketing has recently been viewed as an ineffective tool for network marketing. This is because of a lack of personalization and an overzealous marketing community. Many e-mail marketers don't know how to communicate to people. Whether this is a lack of people skills or just deficient education doesn't matter. E-mail accounts the world over are inundated with spam, and people are sick of it. The good thing is that if you know the keys to communication, you can still launch a successful network marketing campaign using e-mail marketing.

You need to make e-mails as personal as possible. No more statements begging for random strangers to look at your website. A great e-mail network marketing campaign inspires customers to ask themselves one simple question: What's in it for me? When you can get people to want or need your services, you have begun the task of launching a successful network marketing e-mail campaign.

If potential customers get e-mails that lead to sales pages that look tacky, they won't return. Make sure that your link leads people to enticing pages full of information, not pages full of questions. Give them important information about your business instead of phrases full of hype and false promises.

Also, consider the fact that spam penalties can seriously hurt your business and your reputation. The Can Spam Act requires you to clearly feature an opt-out option on all your commercial email, and you also have to include a valid physical address in every commercial e-mail you distribute.

When you are creating your e-mail campaign, consider the fact that deceptive subject lines and false or misleading headers are not just deceptive; they are also illegal. The penalties for such e-mail campaigns include cease and desist notices from the Federal Trade Commission or fines up to $11,000 per violation. In some instances, the worst offenders can even face jail time.

That being said, e-mail marketing can still be a viable and effective sales tool if it is used properly. Never send e-mail messages to a list of people you do not know that you purchased from someone else, for instance. If you use e-mail marketing to update current and previous customers on a new feature or benefit you offer, than your message is a welcome guest and your campaign stands a chance at success.

E-mail marketing is a strategy that must be fully understood before you venture into it. Once you know all the rules and regulations, you will be well on your way to informing your customers about the goods and services that you provide. A successful, informative and useful e-mail marketing campaign will certainly benefit your business if you execute it properly.

Network marketing and MLM home businesses can benefit from e-mail marketing when it is done properly.Erik Gifford,a network marketing internet attraction marketing coach has posted a free article at network marketing guidance

Guidelines For Writing Your Email Promotion

Email marketing takes on a prominent role in the face of online marketing. It is widely used by marketers wanting to succeed in their online businesses. The simple email is the mechanism by which marketers who are employing email marketing strategy will use to reach potential customers. Needless to say, before starting to write any email promotion, it is vital to sit down and plan the strategy for it.

Below are proven guidelines for writing your email promotion. The list is by no means exhaustive, but it can certainly contribute to your planning to roll out your email promotion confidently.

(1) What do you want your readers to do?

This is an important question that you must determine right from the start. What do you want your visitors to do? Sign up for your service? Subscribe to your newsletter? Purchase your product or service? You have to be distinctly clear on this, in order to get a definite and only one response to one request.

(2) What kind of benefits that your readers can get from responding?

Explain the benefits that readers can get from their responding to your call to action. In what ways can they fully benefit from their subscribing to your newsletter, their purchasing of your product or service, or their signing up for your service? Stressing the benefits is one of the vital guidelines for writing your email promotion effectively. Create good value and appeal in your offer that no reader can resist.

(3) How do you plan to create urgency in your offer?

The call to action statement should invoke readers to take immediate action. You can only achieve the desired result if there is urgency in your offer. Inclusion of urgency in your offer will definitely guide your readers to take action without any more delay. Examples would be : "The promotion will be available only for the next two days", "Free shipping only to the first 200 customers".

(4) What do you plan for the length of your copy to be?

The length of your copy should be decided only after you have listed and decided on what benefits to be included, and on which format you have decided for your presentation. A good effective copy is time-proven: it is usually written in letter-style, which appears more professional. If it is necessary to help deliver your message across, this is the length of your email. In ensuring that your emails do not look like ads, you have actually applied one of the important guidelines for writing email promotions.

(5) What do you plan to do with your links?

This area is of vital importance. Do not put the cart before the horse. You will have to present all the benefits and create the urgency in your offer first before you can put up your call to action (e.g "Click Here Now") with your link. Call to action and link should not appear too early in your email, unless you are thinking of offering free gifts.

(6) What sort of audience do you want to target?

This question relates to who do you want to write your email promotions to. Will you be writing only to customers who have purchased your product or service or to all of your customers? Or even to only those who subscribe to your newsletter? Providing a personalized touch through your letter is indeed one of the more important guidelines for writing your email promotion powerfully. This will bring you closer to your customers. For instance, you can write: "Tony, thanks for your subscription!".

(7) What do you plan to identify yourself in your email promotion?

In writing your emails, make known yourself. Readers need to know that they are reading the promotions as originating from the same writer throughout, and a real person for that matter. They tend to identify with the same writer. Therefore, it is vital to retain the same voice for all of your email promotions, and with a personal touch.

(8) How do you plan to arrange for interactive communication?

Readers and customers may want to reach you in case of need. What contact information should you give them? Do not risk your credibility. Always allow readers and customers to contact you easily by providing them with your email address and phone number. Additionally, it would be good to include a valid postal address, as this will avoid the issue of spamming.

(9) What plans have you made to include more benefits?

Your email promotion may have listed all the benefits, urgency created in the offer, and a call to action is being executed. Still it is a fact that readers may just scroll down to the last line to make their decisions there and then. One of the effective guidelines to writing your email promotions powerfully is to include a postscript that should preferably restate the main benefits of your offer or reveal a new and fantastic bonus benefit. This postscript must also include and emphasize your call to action.

Writing email promotions require some serious thinking on how to map out your offer. Always ensure that all required information and details about the offer that you intend to make has been sufficiently collected. This is in effect writing out the formula that will eventually bring success to your email promotion campaign.

For latest updates on how to increase traffic, raise page ranking, write effective articles and powerful squeeze pages, create explosive blog marketing system, learn about viral marketing, and bring in massive income from your internet marketing business, please Click here.

5 Ways to Safely Collect Email Addresses For Email Marketing Campaigns

5 Ways to Safely Collect Email Addresses for Email Marketing Campaigns

Email Marketing Campaigns is one of the low-cost and most effective ways to target an audience. Using email to target an already interested audience will not only drive your marketing costs, but can be done very quickly and easily.

Collecting Email Addresses

1. Passive Sheet Method - If you are hosting breakfast or luncheon, pass around a sheet with a few questions and politely ask for an email address for future contact. This works well because your audience would be very qualified to receive your newsletter and each person that signs up will feel like they have a "special connection."

2. Signup Box - This method works best for shops, stands, and restaurants. You need an offer to advertise to your customer that will get them to give you their email address. Recently, I saw an ice cream shop offering, "FREE Ice Cream for you and 5 friends." I actually signed up for this "contest," and though I did not win, I am now apart of the "Ice Cream Club" and I receive an email every 3-4 weeks with the shop's specials and ice cream news and facts.

3. Surveys - Collecting an email address through a survey is great, but getting people to do the survey can be very difficult. This is not my preferred method for email collections because it will not yield a high quantity of email addresses and is intensive. However, if you are already doing a survey; why not ask for their email address?

4. Email Newsletter Signup - This involves setting up an email signup box on your website, preferably on multiple pages, and using a snippet of code that your email delivery provider gives to collect email addresses. You can even segment your signups and then later target them based on what they have chosen to signup for. For example, if your user is interested in cruises and not hotels, then your will be able to target that person with a cruise newsletter and leave out hotels. Thus, effectively targeting what the user has pre-selected and potentially increasing your future open rates and conversions rates.
This is by far my favorite way for collecting email addresses. It is very cost effective, simple, and requires little to almost no maintenance.

5. Email Signup Button - This is similar to adding the Newsletter Signup on your website, except you incorporate the function into your email signature. This works well for companies that are always working with many new customers through email who might not visit your website, but also gives a chance for clients that are familiar with you, the added option of signing up.

Always using common sense when collecting email addresses and by taking the necessary steps will allow you to properly grow your email campaign list as well as your growing your email campaign. This will save time and money in the long run.

Dennis H.J. Miller

Search Marketing Specialist

Interactive Marketing & Advertising Solutions

http://www.ComMarketing.com

Email Marketing Secrets - 3 Secrets to Create Predictable Cash Windfalls!

Perhaps the number one reason why people fail in email marketing is because of a lack of proper coaching and training. You need the right information in this business to make real profits online.

If you are not creating success in your email marketing campaigns, then I urge you to read on. I'm about to reveal 3 secrets to creating predictable cash windfalls with your mailing list:

1) Create Free Reports. Send them to your list and give them distribution rights to distribute the report for free. Even better, give them re-brandable rights and allow them to re-brand the report with their own affiliate links. This will a viral traffic explosion that never stops and it helps build your list faster!

2) Send Valuable Content. This ties along with the first secret. You must send valuable content to your list regularly instead of constantly promoting the latest launch of the week. Articles, free reports (as above), free videos, free audios and free membership sites are just forms of high-value content you can give away to your subscribers to cultivate hyper responsiveness.

3) Promote High ROI Products. Promote products that give your subscribers a high return on investment. Only recommend products that will over-deliver for the price they sell at. If you do this, your subscribers will keep on snapping up anything you recommend! (of course, it has to be of a high quality). Also, you must keep the theme of the products in tune with the theme of your list to get the best response.

Fabian Tan is a well-known Internet Marketing expert and the author of the popular 45-page Report:

"Murder Your Job: How To Build Cash Sucking Autopilot Businesses In 30 Days Or Less!"

Head over to http://www.MurderYourJob.com to get your FREE copy now!

Also, quickly download his FREE "Explosive Traffic System" report that shows you how to generate 10,000+ targeted visitors per month at no cost! => http://www.ExplosiveTrafficSystem.com

10 Email Marketing Strategies to Dramatically Increase Your Sales

Email marketing is one of the most profitable strategies available to the online entrepreneur (and offline business owners, too).

Consider this: About 99% of your website visitors will leave without buying anything from you on their first visit. But by creating a great opt-in offer you can at least get their contact details -- and then use email marketing to follow up, build relationships, and turn them into paying customers.

And email marketing is by far the BEST and CHEAPEST way to stay in touch with your customers and build rock-solid relationships with them -- so they'll buy from you again and again! (This is called the "lifetime value" of your customers, and it's extremely profitable.)

Email marketing just plain works! Just take a look at these statistics from PostFuture:

• There are now more than 1 BILLION Internet users worldwide -- and 90% of them use email.
• 70% of users receive opt-in email from online businesses.
• 82% of online buyers have made at least one purchase in response to an email promotion.
• 32% have made an immediate online purchase in response to an email.

With numbers like these, you can understand why I'm always stunned to hear about a business that STILL hasn't started to take advantage of email marketing strategies.

If you're stuck for ideas on how to use email marketing to ramp up your profits, here are 10 proven email marketing strategies to get you started...

Email marketing strategy #1: Develop relationships and establish credibility by offering free information

Sending your subscribers valuable, free information -- such as an authoritative eBook -- will help them get to know and trust you. Once you've established your credibility, you dramatically increase your chances of converting subscribers into lifelong customers.

You can offer anything from a free report to a free trial version of software... whatever you think your subscribers would like!

Email marketing strategy #2: Encourage repeat visits by announcing regular specials

Once you've started collecting email addresses, you can send your customers and subscribers regular updates letting them know what your specials are. Sending regular discount offers is a great way to get your customers familiar with you and your site -- and turn them into regulars who will buy from you again and again.

Email marketing strategy #3: Host "Customer Only" events

Suppose you own a restaurant, and you've been collecting your customers' email addresses. You could send each of them an email invitation to an exclusive wine-tasting evening for regular diners only. Rewards like this are one of the best ways to capitalize on the lifetime value of your customers.

If you own an online business, you can set up a special page on your site that is accessible only to customers -- and then send them an email telling them how to take advantage of the specials you advertise on that page.

Email marketing strategy #4: Include promotions in appointment reminders

If you are running a service business, as opposed to a retail business, you can still capitalize on the power of email marketing by sending appointment reminders to your clients.

If you're a karate teacher, for example, you could send your new clients an email three days before their first lesson, reminding them where you are located and when they need to arrive. In that same message, you could include a coupon that offers them 25% off their lessons if they bring a friend to enroll as well!

Email marketing strategy #5: Follow up with your hottest leads

You can use email to follow up with people you have spoken with personally, but who have not made a purchase. Offer to answer any additional questions they may have, and let them know that you are available to speak with them at their convenience. This can dramatically increase your chances of closing a sale by providing your leads with extra information they're not expecting.

Email marketing strategy #6: Offer electronic "loyalty coupons"

This is a great way to get your existing customers to buy from you again and again. Simply send each of your customers a coupon that they can print and bring with them into your store or use on your website. It is always a good idea to make your coupons valid for a limited time only to motivate your customers to make a purchase from you as soon as possible.

Email marketing strategy #7: Send follow-up offers to your customers

Follow-up offers are one of the most powerful ways to build a profitable business. because they build on the trust you've established to close the initial sale -- and turn first-time buyers into regular customers.

How profitable can follow-up email be? My team once sent our customers a follow-up email introducing them to a product that we thought they might like. The entire process of writing the email and sending it out took about 20 minutes -- and the result was a direct profit of $74,000!

Email marketing strategy #8: Encourage "Send to a Friend" referrals

Email is a great way to encourage referrals because it's easy for people to forward messages to their families, friends, and coworkers. Make sure every newsletter, offer, or eBook you send to your subscribers reminds them that they can forward your message to anyone they think might be interested.

You could even run a promotion that gives your existing customers something for free every time they personally refer a new customer to you.

Email marketing strategy #9: Deliver your product electronically

Suppose you've written a book and you're currently selling paperback copies through your site for $29 each. By creating a digital version of your book -- which is WAY easier than you're probably thinking -- you can simply email it to your customers.

And since you won't have to worry about things like printing costs, warehousing, packaging, and delivery, you can DRAMATICALLY increase your profit margin!

Email marketing strategy #10: Use email to sell your knowledge and create recurring revenue

If you are an expert on a particular topic -- and just about everyone is -- then you've got a successful business based on a paid-subscription newsletter waiting to be born.

Of course there are tons of other email marketing strategies you can put to use. And once you realize just how easy it is to use it to drive sales, you'll be thinking of all kinds of new strategies yourself!

About the Author:

Derek Gehl, Internet Marketing Center CEO and author of the best-selling "Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet" course, helps entrepreneurs start and grow lucrative online businesses on a shoestring budget. Get his proven Internet and email marketing strategies today.

Email Blaster and Email Marketing Know How

Lets face it we have all heard the money is in the list. The list, the list, the list, thats all we ever hear. Well suppose you have a good list of opt-in subscribers or you have several thousand good leads you would like to send your information to. Without a good email blaster it's like sitting in a boat with no oars. Having all the opt-in leads in the world will not help you if you do not choose the right email blaster.

Not all email blasters are created the same. We're presuming you have permission to email these people, (meaning they have requested information from you or your affiliates at some point) Some email blasters will send your message to there spam box, and we all know allot of people do not even bother to looks in there spam folder.

There are many email blasters available, some even free. Choosing a free email blaster is often limited to the number of emails that you can send out, and Some free email blasters even put advertisement with the email you're sending out, so be careful when choosing and email blaster for your marketing needs. Read the fine print if you're going to choose a free email blaster, otherwise you may end up promoting someone elses program or offer along with yours.

Most of the time it is better to choose an email blaster that guarantees a deliverability rate of at least 90%, and there are several of them on the market to choose from. Most of these email blaster programs will require a monthly fee to use there service, and most of them will even handle you're opt out subscribers.

For More Information on picking the best email blaster programs for your email marketing needs Visit: http://email-blasters.blogspot.com

How Email Marketing Services Can Help Businesses

For any business to be up and running, communication with its customers is the most important part of its business strategy. The advent of the Internet has made it all the more simpler and convenient. Every business can now make use of email marketing services being provided by various advertising agencies to promote their products and services. These services can help develop business through websites.

Email marketing is an electronic communication with potential Internet users. It aims at creating a healthy and long lasting relation with a merchant's customers and also facilitating repeat business. It helps create new customers and persuading existing customers to buy products and avail services.

Email marketing services are being seen by all types of businesses as very productive and effective. It can be accomplished in three ways, including direct mail model, retention mail model, and through advertising in other persons' emails. Under direct mail strategy of email marketing services, a list of email addresses are rented from an email marketing company and commercial and promotional messages are sent on these mails.

Under retention mail model of email marketing services, newsletters are sent which have been among the most perfect promotional emails of the organization so far. Advertising using other persons' emails is another way of email marketing. Here, you use newsletters published by other companies to place your ads in the mails they transmit to their customers. You will have to reimburse them for this service.

Everything in email marketing can be easily automated as all is required is creating an automated mail service, which will take care of sending mails to your opt in list at an already decide time frame. You can also get a confirmation mail from those who have clicked on and read the email newsletter sent to them.

Well-managed email marketing services can thus help increase business sales and reduce costs. Some of the main features of these service may include HTML email support, advanced search options, export client list capability, and real time reporting concerning emails sent, email read and unread, email bounce backs, links opened and clicked.

Author:
Author is expert in email marketing, presently render her services to Rupiz Xpress that helps you in building email marketing campaign, Email Marketing services, email campaign, Customized Lead Generation.