This week in part four of our Online Advertising Series, I will explain some of the ways you can achieve the highest benefit from using Email marketing.

Email marketing is a fine way to add a personal touch to your marketing. You can compose the content to read in which ever voice you choose to best represent yourself and your business. Some choose to speak to the recipient in a factual, data based tone, and others choose the friendly, approachable tone. Many choose something with a little bit of both tones. It all depends on your personality, your services and the business you are marketing.

An Email marketing campaign serves several purposes:

• Keeping contact and relationships open with existing clients
• Introducing yourself to potential new clients
• Informative newsletters
• Developing an identity of an otherwise ‘faceless’ business provider

The beginning steps to building a well constructed email program are crucial for having successful results. Creating the gateway for interaction between you and your clients and potential clients will open the doors for business growth and more profits.

As you build your invitation to gather your mailing list information, there are 3 key things to remember:

Request only relevant information

• The goal is to get an email address not their whole life history. As you build the relationship, you will come to learn more about them and how you can best provide your services.

Tell them why

• Inform new subscribers of what they will be receiving from you after joining your mailing list. Newsletters, specials, updates etc., whatever you intend to do with your email marketing, let them know.

Respect Selections

• If you offer subscribers choices of specific content topic within the email, only send email with the content they selected. If you offer a choice of weekly, monthly or bi monthly emails, only send on the selected mailing schedule. The bottom line is, if you offer specific choices, adhere to the selections.

Once you are ready to begin your emailing campaign, you want to do all you can to ensure your content is delivered to the recipient’s inbox, not their spam filter.

Here are some guidelines to follow:

• A high text-to-image (actual file size) ratio is a must in order to get past spam filters. By providing a lot of text you will prove to your recipient’s inbox that you are sending a legitimate email.
• Be careful in crafting a subject line — percentages and the word ‘sale’ might be red flags. Look at your own spam content and study which words caused those mailings to be labeled as spam.
• Include prominent contact information and an unsubscribe link — make it obvious that you are a legitimate organization that does not mind being contacted by anyone that receives your mailing.

How to build your mailing list
In order for your campaign to be successful, you first need to invite the recipients to sign up. How do you do that? Utilize your social media network. Be sure to include a link to the sign up page on every social media network site you are involved in. Include an invitation in your blogging, and of course have an invite on your home site. Look at all avenues you have to direct folks to the sign up page and use them.

The Autoresponder
An autoresponder is the most powerful tool you need to manage your email campaign. Not only will the autoresponder handle your list management, it will also serve to follow any set mailing schedule you provide for each recipient and assist you in tracking the results and interest shown by each subscriber.

AWeber and GetResponse are two reasonably priced autoresponders with excellent features. Along with managing your lists, they provide the invaluable service of helping you track the success of your interaction. Both providers are simple to set up with a straightforward sign up process and easy to follow directions to set up your account.

Have fun with your email marketing campaign. Build your online presence and grow your business.

Our next topic in this series will be Affiliate Marketing. Be sure to check back next week.

photo credit: xJasonRogersx