Marketer's Corner: When should you utilize e-mail marketing for your business?</h1> <article> <h1>Marketer's Corner: When should you utilize e-mail marketing for your business?</h1> <p>Steven Fisher — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:45:26 GMT</p> <p>Much has been written in the past about e-mail marketing over the last few years and it has become a popular channel to communicate with customers and market your products and/or services. The concept of e-mail marketing started as people sending text messages through ListServ’s that communicated with a group that gave their permission to get the messages and participate in the responses. Slowly, people started to creep into these group e-mail services and promote their services that quickly got them banned. So they started to send those e-mails to people randomly and the concept of SPAM was born. There are great <a href="http://email.about.com/od/emailmarketingtips/Email_Marketing_Tips_Tricks_and_Secrets.htm">tips and tricks</a> out there on the nuances of do’s and don’ts so your e-mails are received and read versus being treated as spam and ignored. But where and why should you utilize e-mail marketing in your business? </p> <p><b> It Starts with Permission</b> </p> <p> E-mail marketing is part of a larger concept called Permission Marketing. The definition on Wikipedia is as follows “Permission marketing is a term used in e-marketing. Marketers will ask permission before they send advertisements to prospective customers. It is used by some Internet marketers, email marketers, and telephone marketers. It requires that people first "opt-in", rather than allowing people to "opt-out" only after the advertisements have been sent.” “Opt-In” means that you must gather information (e.g. web forms), publish content (e.g. white papers) or sell products that incorporate the “Opt-In” capability in the purchase process for customers to receive your e-mail communications. </p> <p><b> You have something to say, not just something to sell</b> </p> <p> True, you are here to sell something and your web site might be your sole channel for selling products/services. But when you are prospecting and selling customers you need to communicate the value of why they should buy from you. There are two primary way to accomplish this: </p> <p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"> Communicate how you are different</span> </p> <p> Here you need to utilize e-mail marketing to talk about what your company is up to, new projects you have completed and creative ways to use your product/service. </p> <p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"> Become a Thought Leader</span> </p> <p> This is where you can build your reputation as a leader in your market. You become not only a great resource of information but you are the first person people think of when they need a product/service in your market area. </p> <p><b> Ok, I am ready to utilize e-mail marketing, where do I start?</b> </p> <p> There are many places that provide e-mail marketing services to small businesses. You should make sure that they work with all of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to be on “White Lists” which make sure your e-mail goes through and not get you classified as “Spam”. One place to start that might fit your needs is <a href="http://www.constantcontact.com">Constant Contact</a> (a <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/web-site-promotion/constantcontact.jsp">Network Solutions</a> partner). You can also do a search for “e-mail marketing” and there are plenty to choose from as well. Most have monthly services that are very affordable based on the number of e-mails and subscribers you send it to each month. If you are low on subscribers, you can work with their partners that provide lists where people have already “Opted-In” and you can purchase those lists to build an initial audience. </p> <p><b> Have any of you out there tried e-mail marketing?</b> </p> <p> This is where we want to hear from you. Has your business used e-mail marketing successfully? Not very much? What have been your lessons learned? Please share in the comments below so your fellow entrepreneurs can learn from your experience.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div> </article> </main></body></html>