The cost of a postage stamp keeps going up. Effectiveness of snail mail keeps going down. And still the small business owner continues to beat his head against the wall with traditional letters and postcards. I guess the reason is that other than the cost mailing is painless. There is no rejection like selling on the telephone. No one will hang up on you or say no to you. The average mailing campaign gets less tha a 1/2 of 1% response rate. That means that if your are frugal enough to get a letter or postcard out for $1.00 per piece and you send out 1,000 mailers if you are successful you might get 50 responses. That is not new accounts that is 50 prospective leads. Some people might be impressed by that. I think it's sickening.
When you stop to think that you can send 100,000 emails for less than the cost of the 1,000 letters you sent thats what makes me naucious. Then you realize you didn't have to move from your desk to get the email done. I often ask myself why haven't more people started a pro-active email campaign?
Most business owners tell me they've been meaning to get around to it, or they don't have the time. I empathize with them. Starting an email campaign is easy and inexpensive. We already know it's effective. So If you're interested in creating your own email campaign how do you get started?
Getting Started
First you need to start collecting email addresses. You must have permission to email people or it is considered spamming. Spamming is against the law so you people to sign up to be on your email list. The form you see above this can be left on a retail counter or anywhere your customers gather. Encourage them to leave a name and email address. You can also put an empty bowl out on your counter to collect business cards for a giveaway. Make sure you let people know that you are putting them on your email list. They will be happy to give you their email for specials, promotions or for information they find valuable. If you are a successful networker you may go to social functions and collect business cards. When doing so let people know you would like to add them to youe email newsletter. If they say yes then mark the card or fold it so you know you can add them to your email list. Once you have a list of email addresses you are ready to get started.
You can mail from your own email system if your list is small. If you have a list larger than 50 people you might want to us an email marketing account like Constant Contact or I Contact. Our company resells email marketing programs and can guide you to the right solution if you need help. These solutions offer eye appealing templates for you to use to help give your email an identity and brand so that it's recognizable and memorable. Our company also offers custom templates to match your website or logos if needed. Most programs offer a trial and a $15.00 per month cost that tiers up with number of emails or recipients. If you started an email campaign to 500 prospects for $15.00 per month compared to postage alone the savings is huge, considering that most email companies offer unlimited emails to the same users. (read your agreement carefully)
Once you have picked an email marketing company, you can pick a template you like. Write a welcome letter along with the reason for the email. You can include a special offer to bring people back to your business. You may write a paragraph or two of interesting news. If you have a website you can include links to specific pages on your website to educate and enlighten. The purpose of your email should be decided upon before writing your fist email. Do you want to educate, build relationships, create a following. These are all great reasons to start a campaign. Your goal may be to sell a product or service , but that decision has to be made by the consumer. Hard selling emails don't work well. They get sent to the spam folder. You must finesse the sale through a series of informative emails. You must develop a relationship based on knowledge and trust. Forging relationships in this manner is the solid foundation to a thriving marketing campaign.
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