Email Marketing Tips
How to get the best results with the least amount of money
By Kevin Six
What is Marketing?
To understand where Email Marketing fits into the big picture, we first must understand marketing. The first marketers would brand their work or mark it. They didn’t consider themselves marketers (or mark-it-ers) but rather artisans who made particular tools, implements, dinner wear, etc. The mark became a calling card and people came to look for a certain artisan’s mark, which ensures quality.
The mark these ancient artisans put on their work is still called a brand. From a hieroglyph on an ancient tool to a marked cow to Coca Cola, just about everything you purchase has been branded. Email Marketing is just another in a long line of tools used to make sure people know about your product or service – your brand.
All marketing is about collecting customers. First we collect prospects, and then we give them compelling reasons to purchase our products and services. After prospects become customers, we aim to keep them by occasionally communicating and offering something special because of their loyalty to our brand. Sometimes we want them to buy from us but other times we want them to feel good about our products and services – our brand. Sometimes we just want to thank them for being customers.
There are various ways to get the word out to prospects and customers. Traditional marketing includes print advertising in local or national publications; electronic media marketing is via radio and television; outdoor marketing includes billboards, signs and ads on busses; guerilla marketing includes posters, flyers, sandwich boards and the ubiquitous sign spinners; and direct marketing is all about calling or mailing clients at their home or place of business.
The dawning of the Internet Age brings new marketing techniques like web pages, E-commerce, pay-per-click, viral marketing and, of course, Email Marketing. But is it really new? Except for the obvious benefits to the trees, isn’t E-commerce like having a store and isn’t viral marketing like guerilla marketing? Your web page is nothing more than a billboard on the Information Superhighway. And of course, E-mail Marketing is the best, cheapest and most effective way to do direct marketing. You also get to know a lot more about your customers and – unlike any other marketing on the planet – about those who choose not to be customers and why.
Summary
• All marketing is branding
• There are many kinds of marketing
• Though the names have changed, the process haven’t
• The Internet Age brought new old technologies
• Email Marketing is like Direct Mail but better
• Email Marketing also saves trees
What is Email Marketing?
Email Marketing is direct mail without the mail. If done improperly, Email Marketing can turn into Spam but, with the right products (and sometimes services), you can actually make people glad they got an Email from you. See more on Spam below, but for now, let’s look at a cost comparison between traditional direct mail and Email.
You want to tell as many people about your products so you hire a telemarketing firm to call your prospects and turn them into customers. Or, you hire a telemarketing manager to hire a room-full of telemarketers. Either way, you’re paying for people, rooms, telephones, leads and commissions. Telemarketing works but the costs are high and with Caller ID, the Do Not Call List and cell phones, the numbers aren’t as great as they were in the golden days of telemarketing. Plus you’re calling a lot of people at home during dinnertime.
Instead, a less intrusive way is to send a postcard, a brochure or some other nice sales piece – even a personal letter. So you have to hire a designer, a printer, a mail house and pay for design, printing, processing and postage. A brochure could cost as much as $1 per unit of you go high end. A postcard could cost as little as half that.
Now, what if you could send something as pretty as a brochure at about 2% of the cost of a postcard? And what if that postcard had a lot of cool things that a piece of paper is simply aren’t capable of? Like what, you ask? Like this.
A piece of paper can’t keep delivering itself until it makes it to your house, you only get one shot. A piece of paper can’t bring people to your store or even your warehouse. A piece of paper, no matter how pretty, can’t tell you who read it, how much time people spent reading it, or how many of those people went on to purchase something because of it. But something a piece of paper will never be able to do is this: it can’t tell you who is almost ready to purchase and just needs a phone call or another Email to get them to commit to your company. One other thing paper can’t do is ask a person to save both parties the trouble and expense of communicating by having the prospect Opt-Out.
You know who’s not receiving your cards and letters because you pay for each one; the mail man to return them, the clerk to delete the addresses and the recycling firm to take them away. With E-mail Marketing, this and many other tasks are automated and each step saves you money.
All this can be done without making the receiver of Email Marketing think ill of you. In other words, by not creating spam.
Summary
• Email Marketing is a way to send several types of marketing pieces
• Email Marketing costs pennies per Email, much less than Snail Mail
• There are a lot of things that paper can’t do that Email
• Some Email Programs can tell me who reads my Email
• Email Marketing Programs keep me from sending Spam.
What is Spam?
It’s important to understand how Spam works so you can avoid it in your Email Marketing efforts. So here goes… Spam was developed during World War II to get the most out of animal products as most of the meat was going to serve the troupes. Canned meat became popular because it could last longer, tasted pretty good and no one knew what was in it, really. It is this icky-not-knowing-what’s-in-it feeling some people have about Spam the product that gave Spam the bad Email its name.
In other words, Spam is associated with marginal products that have been delivered without regard to who may get them. The odd thing about Spam (and circulars in your mail box too) is that if they didn’t work you wouldn’t get them. So even though you won’t consume pills, personal aides, titillating websites and off-shore gambling websites, someone does. But because the costs are so low, a very low return rate still makes Spam profitable for the sender. But Spam should be avoided and there are several ways to do this.
Your very own Email program is the best Spam producer in the world. Because your Email program works both ways, and doesn’t want you receiving scatter-gunned Emails, it has smart and powerful filters to only give you what you want to read. If you send Email to more than 15 or so of your friends, even if you Blind Copy them, most Spam Filters will dump the entire load of emails to your senders’ Spam Folders. This is why no one reads your Emails – it’s not you, it’s how you communicate.
Blind copying is a way for Emailers to hide the recipients of Emails. This is good if you don’t your recipients to get everyone else’s Email Address. This also works because nobody gets anything. Not good for Email Marketing though. So, for a little bit more than you’re paying your Internet Service Provider (the company that connects you to the Internet and probably provides you with Email), you can get a powerful software package that sends everyone an individual Email. This is what you always wanted to do but just didn’t have time to do. Like a mail-merge document that costs pennies to create, deliver and – again to tell you who’s reading it. Pretty cool, huh?
Email Marketing Programs, like Jugglemail, help you defeat Spam in many ways. First off, they won’t send Spam. Email programs will tell you what kinds of words and phrases in your outgoing Email will be caught by Spam filters and what kind of Email Addresses are Spam Traps (address that have a much lower threshold for Spam). Email programs send individual messages to your important list of clients or potential clients, as if you sent the same Email 100-10,000 times (depending on the size of your list).
Summary
• Email Marketing is inexpensive
• Spam is bad for 90% or more of the people
• Your Email program is great for one Emails and horrible for anything past 10
• Proper Email is easy to produce and send
• Email can do many things that plain paper can’t and costs hundreds of times less
Email Links, Tracking and Opt-In
Some of the things that Email can do that paper can’t have already been discussed. You can send individualized Emails that tell you what people are doing with them. But there is so much more that can be done with the proper tools.
Email Marketing Programs (like Jugglemail) can help you create emails in many ways. They come with pre-designed templates that you only have to fill in. They send each Email individually. They use bonded, White Listed Servers (a way of making sure that your Emails are delivered properly). They also attempt to deliver Email to clogged receiving servers at least 100 times before giving up – and then they tell you why your Email bounced (came back as undelivered).
This would be enough for many people to use an Email Marketing Program but there is so much more to it. You can include photos, videos and sound in your Email Marketing messages. But the most important thing that Email Marketing can do for you is compel people, who are already on their computer, to buy online. This is done by including Links in your Email to your Website where your products and services are designed to sell. After reading a well-written, sophisticated Email Message, many people will purchase your goods and services with only a few clicks. And the best thing is, your Email Marketing Program can tell you who did what and how many times. Yet another bunch of great things that paper can’t do.
This is world of Analytics, in which the more you know about what your people are doing with your Email, the better you can market to them. For example, if people aren’t reading your Emails in large amounts, you can spruce them up or tone then down. If a lot of people are reading them but not making purchases, you can make a more compelling argument for them to buy. Analytics provided by Email Marketing Services (like Jugglemail) can help you track Emails Sent, Emails Read, Links Clicked and, if you want to go that far, where people go once they reach your Website. You can follow an Email from in-box to Shopping Cart if you want to.
People who aren’t interested in your products and services can tell the Email Marketing Program not to send anymore Emails. This is referred to as Opting-Out. This is good because you can save each other’s time and your money by not spending time on someone who doesn’t fit your demographic. The same program that lets people Opt-Out also lets people forward your Email to friends (and gives you those Email Addresses) and lets people Opt-In as well. More on that later.
Summary
• Each Email you send with an Email Service is track-able
• Each Email has Links to your Website, where people can make purchases
• You can tell what people are doing with your Emails with Analytics
• You can tone your Emails up or down or re-mail to your Hot Prospects
Email Marketing Pieces
So far it’s been all about why but now we can get into what. If you’re still reading, you are probably excited about how to put them to use, so thank you for reading this far! Now, here are a few tried and true Email Marketing Pieces that you can use to great affect.
Sales Introduction
The Sales Introduction is a great way to get a soft sales message to potential customers. The Sales Introduction can be as simple as a letter or a postcard and shouldn’t be much more fancy than that. People who don’t know you and your products/services well might shy away from an Email Marketing piece that is too flashy. By all means, however, do place your logo and at least one high-quality photo in your Sales Introduction. You also want to invite people to see your products and services by linking to your website. The idea behind a Sales Introduction is to say: “Hello, this is who I am and what I do. I don’t know if you’d be interested in my products/services but, if so, here’s a way to find out more.”
Direct Pitch
The Direct Pitch is a way to get people to purchase what you’re selling. It is designed to get the person, most likely someone you know a little better than one you’d send the Sales Introduction to, to make a purchase. The Direct Pitch works well with Hot Prospects (this is what Jugglemail defines as people who’ve read and/or clicked on a previous Email but haven’t made a purchase). The Direct Pitch can have better graphics, more photos and a more direct way of speaking. Something like: “Because you know me, you know you’ll get something of great value from me. Here are a few pictures (and possibly a video) of my products (or me serving clients) in action. If you order today, you’ll not only get the benefit of the product (or service) but you’ll also get a discount. You can even return it for a refund if not satisfied.”
Above the Fold
You want to put your sales message Above the Fold. This is an old newspaper term meaning in the top of the page (or in the case of Email Marketing the screen) before anyone has to scroll down to make a purchase. It’s the place where a reader’s eyes naturally go. And, because people read left to right, guess where your sales message should go? Right! Right and just Above the Fold.
Email Newsletter
An Email Newsletter is a great way to give your customers and prospects a look at the human side of your company. You can spend more time and space giving information and insights because you’re not rushing anyone to a sale – and people like that kind of change-up. The Email Newsletter is more about why a person should do business with you than what you do and why a person should buy today. It’s a much more laidback message that says: “I’d like you to get to know me and my people better so that you can rest assured that we create the best products and/or services. We are a group of people with friends, families and interests inside and outside of the things we sell. We have fun together and we just know you’ll have fun working with us too.”
Tips
Tips are a great way to gain clients – especially through Opt-In efforts and Auto Responders, which will be talked about later in this Piece. Speaking of this Piece, you’ve probably already realized that you are reading the perfect example of a Tips Piece. It gives the reader valuable information about a product or service that they want to know more about. You either signed up to receive this or an associate who knows you and your needs forwarded it to you. Either way, it comes to you from an organization that is a specialist and can most certainly help you with your needs through advice and a subtle sales message. The Tips Piece says: “I specialize in just what you are looking for. I am willing to give you a vast amount of my experience in exchange for you allowing me to briefly describe my product or service when it relates directly to what we are talking about.”
In this case, the product is Jugglemail and it provides all you need to send Marketing Emails to 100-10,000 clients. It also offers you the opportunity to gain clients who Opt-In to your Email List and automatically responds. Yes, we’re about to talk about more features.
Summary
• Sales Introductions are heavy on information and soft on sales messages
• Sales Emails have the message Above the Fold
• Email Newsletters are about the people behind your products and services
• You’re reading a Tips Piece right now
Opt In and Auto Responders
Email Marketing Programs (like Jugglemail, the product we’re selling in exchange for you taking advantage of our expertise in this Tips Piece) can allow you to build your list of prospects and send them a Sales Introduction or Tips Piece automatically. The Marketing Program allows you to program what you want to gain (Email Address, Name, Address, etc.) in a step-by-step protocol. At the end of the process, the program produces html code that you can place in outgoing Emails, on Websites or on your Blog. This code becomes an Add Box for your website that collects information from people who are interested in your products and/or services. It also places them on a pre-designated Email List and sends them a Pre-Designated Email. For example, if you offer a product that enables people to market via Email, you would offer Email Marketing Tips. People who are interested in this would find your website, blog, or receive an Email with this promise. Then they would sign up and automatically receive an Email you have written and stored with your Email Marketing Service.
By Opting-In, your prospects agree to be sent an Email and, because they have Opted-In to an Email Marketing List, you can feel comfortable sending them Sales Emails. If you have other products and services, you might send them a Sales Introduction Piece about them to gage their interest. About three or four times a year, you would send these people an Email Newsletter about your company and its people. The interesting thing is that you can write and update this Email Newsletter and program it to go out in a set number of days after a person initially signs up on your Email List.
It’s like having a robotic secretary that collects Email Addresses, files them and sends correspondence at set intervals. You do a little bit of work in the beginning and some occasional maintenance and that’s it. The robot does the rest. The best news is that the robot doesn’t cost you anything and you don’t have to store it. But it’s still cool to own a robot. I mean, we’ve been promised them in Science books and journals for about 50 years.
Summary
• You can create an Add Box to allow people to Opt-In to your Email Lists
• They are already interested in what you have or they wouldn’t have signed up
• You can program Auto Responders to send them Emails after they Opt-In
• Robots are fun to own if you don’t have to pay upkeep or storage
Fulfilling the Promises Made by Your Email Marketing Efforts
In order to succeed with Email Marketing, you need a few important things.
A computer with Internet Access is vital. Your Email Marketing Program is Internet Based, meaning the software is created, stored and updated On Line. This gives you one less thing to worry about (purchasing software and continuing to purchase upgrades). Saving money is almost as good as having your own robot.
Another vital piece of equipment is a Website. Your webpage can be simple or complex depending on how much time and money you want to expend on it. The website should tell customers and prospects about your company, products and services; where and how to purchase them; the benefits of having purchased them; and a little bit about the people who make them. There should be high-quality, low-resolution photos, videos too, and lots of copy designed to nudge the reader to purchase. Remember that if you use a web designer, he or she might promise you the world and it might take just as long to create.
E-Commerce is also good. You can use several Internet-Based programs and services designed to take payment form clients and reimburse you after a certain percentage is retained for the service. The most popular is Pay Pal but several others exist. Look for links at the bottom of this document, go to their websites and see how they handle Email Marketing E-Commerce and Shopping Carts.
You also need a delivery system for your products. Many Fulfillment Companies take your products, ship them to your clients and bill you for the service. You can do it yourself but you should have some protocols in place – especially if your Email Marketing efforts are successful. Remember to have enough product or time to serve as you have potential customers. You can Email tens and even hundreds of thousands of potential customers inexpensively and might get high returns.
An Email Marketing Firm can help you develop Emails that sell well. They can even manage your Email Lists, through a program like Jugglemail for you. A full service firm will create ads, Email them and make sure you have the proper follow-up protocols in place – or create them for you.
Landing Pages are important. Once you send an Email, you want people to go to a place that is similar in design and feel. A landing page is a way-station between your Email Marketing Piece and your Website, E-Commerce site or any place else you want people to go. You can design your Email Marketing Piece to drive your customers to your own site, a Landing Page created just for them and/or right to your catalog.
Summary
• People need a place to go from your Email
• Emailed clients need to end up at Website or a Landing Page
• E-Commerce and Fulfillment Companies can help
• So can a Full Service Email Marketing Firm
Next Steps
What to do next? First, take stock. Ask yourself important questions designed to see if you can be successful at Email Marketing. Here are a few starters:
1. Is my Webpage designed for sales?
2. Am in involved in E-Commerce or can I get there quickly?
3. Do I enjoy communicating via Email?
4. Am I doing less effective, more expensive forms of Marketing?
5. Can I do away with those expenses and invest them in an Email Campaign?
6. Do I have the time to dedicate to Email Marketing?
7. If I don’t have the time, do I have the resources to hire someone to do it for me?
The answer to any question about the viability of Email Marketing is: “I can’t afford not to.” Your competitors are already doing it. You have been the recipient of it. The Internet and E-Commerce are here to stay and it’s time you started benefiting from them.
Second, become aware.
1. See if you notice how many times you are targeted by Email Marketing
2. Get yourself on a few lists, Opt-In and see what each company does. You can always Opt-Out later
3. Speak to your business associates, friends and especially younger people.
4. Take a class, seminar or a free Online Tutorial for a product you’re interested in.
5. Have fun.
Third, get in and do it. Many Email Marketing Companies have free trials. Jugglemail is one such company. And now for the wind up and the Sales Pitch: If you log into www.Jugglemail.com and go to the Landing Page we’ve designed for you (see the link that says Free Trial), you will be given 100 free Emails to send. If you have an Email database you can Email a random selection of your clients and see how they respond. We strongly advise you to take this offer AFTER taking the Online Tutorial. It may seem strange to you at first but remember, it’s just another way to do what you already do: communicate with your customer list, grow it and market to it.
