ATTN: SMALL BIZ OWNERS. Email Marketing

Is Low Cost, Targeted, Measurable, Effective.

E-Marketing blog: http://helpamericaspeople.com/EWP/

 

The mission of this blog, started by the Founders of www.helpamericaspeople.com, is to raise awareness of the most cost-effective marketing tool for Small Business owners like you   >>>  EMAIL MARKETING

 

If you’ve found this posting without reading our previous postings, please visit http://helpamericaspeople.com/EWP/.  In order to develop effective strategies to meet your business goals and objectives, you MUST spend considerable time on the following tasks, which are addressed in our previous blogs: 

 

1) Identify qualitative and quantitative goals for your business – at a minimum for the next 12 months

2) Analyze the current situation - what is the status of your industry –  growing, declining, flat?  what are the economic, regulatory and technological trends?

3) Identify your major competitors and learn everything you can about them – check their websites, join their mailing list (under a fictitious name); what are their strengths and weaknesses?

4) Identify your target customer(s) and divide them into segments possessing similar characteristics (buzzword alert: segment your audience), such as demographics like gender, household income, zip code and psychographics such as purchasing patterns, purchasing behavior, etc. 

 

You should put in a minimum of 40 hours

gathering this vital information.

 

I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t have time for this.  I’m running my business!!  BE FORWARNED:  This research exercise is CRITICAL to the ongoing viability of your business.  Why not hire a college student majoring in marketing.  Pay them a fair hourly wage.  This “real-world” project will be a valuable addition to their resume! Give him or her direction and review their work frequently to keep them focused.  Just don’t rationalize that you’ve been in business for __ years without writing a marketing plan.  Given the discouraging rate of failure among U.S. small businesses, you need to write a marketing plan to ensure you won’t be a statistic in the U.S. government’s small business failures data!!

OK, I’ve either convinced you or you’re just about ready to click on the “X” in the top right corner (or top left if you’re using a MAC).

If you’re still with me, once you’ve completed the information-gathering stage, based on the knowledge and insight you’ve gained plus your already wealth of knowledge about the business you’re in, it’s now time to develop your strategies.  And, since this blog is focused on email marketing, you’ll need to consider the frequency, format and content when developing your email strategies:

 

1) Since permission-based email is the most cost-effective marketing strategy for your small business: to build awareness, to begin and nurture a relationship between your business and your customers (current and past) and prospects, to generate leads and to make sales — Use it, but Don’t Overuse it!!

If you have relevant and interesting content, plus offers of interest to your audience, you can send your permission-based email list a weekly email (at minimum you’ll have two messaging versions — one to customers and one to prospects).  A good frequency is twice a month, but again the content must be of value to your email recipients.  Even once a month is better than nothing. 

IMPORTANT: Maintain the Frequency; there’s nothing worse on the internet than a website or blog left idle. Or even worse, getting your customers and prospects to sign up for your free enewsletter, then not meeting your promise to deliver valuable content and offers every month.  This could actually damage your reputation, so honor your commitments.  Contract the writing to a freelancer.  Pay them per newsletter and you can be certain they’ll meet the deadline each and every month.

Ultimately, you’ll know the desired email frequency by carefully monitoring email performance data, i.e., clicks, click throughs, leads, sales, unsubscribes, etc.

 

2)  Determine the Type (s) of emails to send

Short Form, often called an E-blast or Email postcard

In many cases, all the content in these emails appear “above the fold,” i.e., recipients do not have to cursor down to read the entire email.  This type of email usually includes some editorial, however, this format is generally promotional.  Potential offers: print out the attached coupon, attend a special event or conference, enter a contest, take a course.  This type of email can achieve several objetives:  drive traffic to your website, generate qualified leads, build a relationship with readers by keeping your business name “top of mind.” 

Another good use of the short form is to send a survey to your customers and prospects on a quarterly basis.  You’ll gain invaluable insight into how these audiences perceive your product or service, your customer service, preferred content and frequency.  Offer an incentive for them to fill out the survey and email it back to you, i.e., special price discount, free e-book on a relevant topic, eligibility to enter a contest or drawing, etc. 

Less is more in the short form.  Keep the copy at a minimum and be sure to include a Call to Action.  Every customer needs to be told what action to take after reading an email, i.e., fill out the contact form, purchase your product online, visit your store and receive a 20% discount, etc.

 

Long Form -Enewsletter

CONTENT — informational and relevant — is King in this format.  Remember, in this format you want to maintain the readers’ interest and address their needs and concerns.  What information can you provide in your enewsletter to solve the readers’ problems.  In this bloggers opinion, the minimum ratio of informational content to promotional content in an enewsletter should be 75-25.

Enewsletters should be sent at least on a monthly basis.  Providing valuable information to your readers will build credibility and trust in your business.  If you build a relationship through an ongoing dialogue, when the customer or prospect is in need of your product or service, the likelihood they will do business with you is high.

 

 Next post:  Developing Email Marketing Tactics 

  

 

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