Thursday 24 May 2012

email marketing is part of promotion strategy

promotion strategy : There are many voices out there today, each one clambering for our attention. In our home based business, we get bombarded daily with offers that we are told we just can't refuse! Each one offers their best marketing strategy and/or courses, which if you will just simply buy it; it would literally set you financially free! Ever been there?
Well, that's not what I'm going to do here!! We're going to be talking about one subject: Email Marketing and email marketing strategies. Clearly there are more marketing strategies than email marketing. The fact is, there are many different marketing strategies out there, and we have many choices, but you have to decide which ones you want to implement. A strategy that has worked well for me and other internet marketers is to start with two, maybe 3 marketing strategies. Get very familiar with those, and make sure they are working for you. Don't let anything or anyone sidetrack you. Stick to your guns. Once you have those mastered, move on to the next 2 or 3, but don't abandon the original 2 or 3.

Friday 18 May 2012

difference in email marketing

email marketing logo | email image
Difference in email marketing are contain from 4 component.

Different types of email marketing

Emails sent as email marketing is broadly classified as promotional emails or advertising emails and information emails.
• Promotional mails include advertisement mails, newsletters which also promote the brand, offer mails and so on.
• Information mails also include newsletters which are precise and give only information, transactional emails, and direct emails and so on.
Email marketers use these types of emails to their advantage. Since there are so many different types, it makes it very easy to adapt a simple email to your specific needs and ends. It is up to the marketers to vary the emails according to the requirements and take advantage of it.

Understanding Email marketing

The ubiquitous email still survives. Research shows that checking email inboxes is one of the most common activities that we do online, even today. Email was and still is one of the most popular means of personalized conversation tools on the internet. Today with social media making waves, everything is watched, read and talked about. Hence the significance of email to deliver a personal message becomes much more powerful. The reach and power of the email was never doubted even with social media making such a huge impact.
Since some time now, online marketing has become very popular. Email marketing is an integral part of the entire process. Many huge corporations and also small vendors today make use of email marketing as a means of directly reaching their message to prospective clients.
Advantages of emails:
  • Include content as required, can be words, pictures, videos anything we can imagine, making it highly personalized.
  • Deliverability is easier, safe and stays within reasonable limits.
  • No limits to amount of emails that can be sent.
  • The reader can choose to read or discard solely on his own terms.
What started off as a simple mechanism to send personalized messages over the internet email has turned into something which is used for a lot more than that. It has become a marketing tool, a networking option and a means of getting the word around. Email marketing is a force to reckon with. It has various benefits which can be utilized as per need. The high level of personalization along with the various types that the simple email can morph into has made it a very versatile tool. This is one the main reasons why it has not died down at all.
Email marketing is a concept which is business worthy, strong and gives amazing results when used according to plan. Many huge corporations and businesses have relied on email marketing as a tool to market their products, stay in touch with their customers and increase customer involvement. The versatility of the email has enabled businesses to modify it according to their needs. Email marketing has caught on in a big way and with businesses looking for profitable options to traditional marketing tools, email marketing in one of the biggest choices.

Promotional emails:

These are used traditionally to approach clients. It is one of the first steps to advertising through emails.
An email marketer basically uses an email to promote his brand or product. It is a simple straight forward process. Advertising emails can range from simple brochures to detailed product descriptions with videos and animation. When email marketing kicked off marketers used it to its full potential. The amount of content kept increasing with time. Introduction of links, animation, and video happened in quick progression.
All these developments were happening because of the feedback that they were receiving from the clients. The market was responding in a very positive manner. The customer had the freedom to read what he wants and when he wants. This made perfect sense to him. He could also get back to the marketer if he had any requests. He could also make use of the links provided according to his convenience. This was a very beneficial feature. The customer could do all the research that he needed, all the marketer had to do was point him in the right direction.
Pointing a client in the right direction was of paramount importance. Email templates are available on the internet which helps the marketer to get the right message across.
Designing a good email for advertising
Some of the main features of a typical promotional email are as follows:
  • Content
  • Length
  • Market or audience
  • Scheduling
We need to keep a few pointers in mind while designing a good promotional email. The dangers of spam have to be suitably addressed. To ensure this happens sticking to certain guidelines is beneficial. Getting blacklisted is a definite no no. sending out bulk emails is also not a very popular thing to do now. Segmentation and understanding the customers need makes an email marketers work much easier. Narrowing down your list and ensuring that you do not send out mails which reach inboxes completely disconnected from your specific demographic.
Hence a little bit of research is required while going about building a mailing list. Contact lists are found aplenty over the internet. There are various websites dedicated to the task of collecting genuine and hard data. They even have search engines which help us in narrowing down the criteria to a thin line. All these are benefits that we should use. To this mailing list also include addresses which we have ourselves collected. This makes sense as we will have inputs of our own.

Tuesday 8 May 2012

21 email marketing success maximize tips

email marketing success maximize metrics rate stories success achievement inspirational campaigns failure life
Here are 20 email marketing success maximize tips. You can follow these steps to maximize your email marketing goal.

  1. Offer Incentives to Attract Subscribers. Most Internet users won't just sign up for something just because they see a registration form. Many people are hesitant to give away their email addresses because they believe that they may be risking their privacy and security by doing so. For this reason, you need to give them a good reason to sign up. Offering incentives such as free e-books or discount coupons may do the trick. Whatever you offer, be sure that it is something that will entice them to subscribe and retain their subscription.
  2. Simplify the Registration Process. Make sure that your subscription form is visible on your website and provide details on what benefits subscribers can gain from signing up. Also, don't ask for too much information. The fewer fields you ask for in your registration form, the more likely your visitors are to fill them up. If possible, ask only for names and email addresses.
  3. Get Subscribers to Opt In Twice.Although the registration process should be as simple as possible, it is best to get your subscribers to opt in twice. This will allow you to ensure the quality of your mailing list. To do this, you simply need to send out an email to all those who subscribe through your opt-in page. Within that email, include a link that recipients must click on to confirm their subscription. There are, of course, other ways to do this but making the process simple for subscribers will encourage them to perform the desired action.
  4. Be Consistent with Your Sender's Line. When people receive new emails, they normally check the "From" line to find out who the sender is before checking the "Subject" line to learn what the email is about. Whenever an unfamiliar name appears in the sender's line, recipients are likely to delete the email without even bothering to find out what it is about. Being consistent with the name you place in your sender's line is important because you need to make your recipients familiar with who you are. If the name you use sparks recognition, your recipients will be more likely to read your emails.
  5. Develop a Persona. Many business owners use the name of their brand, company, or service in the sender's line. However, using a person's real name is often recommended because it makes emails more personable. By allowing your subscribers to know who you really are and by communicating with them as an individual and not a corporate entity, they are more likely to trust you. Large companies have also found benefits in developing a fictional character that subscribers can relate with. This fictional character can eventually become a persona that companies can then leverage once it starts to be known as an expert within a given niche.
  6. Use Attention-Grabbing Subject Lines. Typical email users take less than a second to decide on whether or not an email should be ignored or deleted. For this reason, it is important for you to make use of headlines that not only catches your recipients' attention but also gives them an idea of what benefits they can get from reading through your email. Offering an enticing promise or a benefit in your subject line will lead your subscribers to be more interested in what you have to say.
  7. Put Above-the-Fold Content to Good Use. Most email clients now provide users with an option to view snippets of new mail without having to open their inbox. These snippets often include the sender's name, the email's subject, and the first few lines of the main text. There are also software that feature preview panes that allow users to glance at the content of new emails to help them decide on whether or not to open it. Knowing this, you need to make sure that what appears in mail snippets and preview panes is enough to capture the interest of your readers. You can do this by positioning another heading or other interesting content at the top of each email and place supporting information below it.
  8. Personalize Your Emails. Always keep in mind that people generally don't like receiving emails that have nothing to do with them. They don't like spending their time reading through content that won't give them any benefit. By addressing your subscribers by name, you give off the impression that what you have to say is relevant. By simply adding your recipient's name in the subject line and main text of your email, you can dramatically increase your open rate. Note, however, that you really need to be sure that your content is relevant to recipients before you address them by name. If not, you could easily disappoint them and cause them to opt out.
  9. Write in a Conversational Tone. Apart from addressing your recipients by name, compose your content in a manner that makes your emails more personal. Your writing style should be casual and conversational just as you would write to a friend to share some interesting information. By writing this way, your emails will seem more like a one-on-one conversation with your recipients rather than a broadcast sent to thousands.
  10. Send Out Relevant Information. As you move forward with your email marketing campaign, be sure to keep a record of your subscribers' responses and purchases. By doing this, you'll begin to learn more and more about them and use what you know to make your content more relevant to what they are interested in. You will also gain a lot of insights that will help you enhance your email marketing campaign to better suit your target audience.
  11. Help Resolve Issues. By becoming familiar with your target audience, you can determine what issues they are facing. Use your newsletter campaign to provide useful information that will help them face their issues. Also, make sure that you provide them with valuable insights that they won't be able to find anywhere else. Doing this will not only help you enhance your reputation but also demonstrate your expertise. Subscribers will then be more likely to patronize your business and become loyal to it.
  12. Never Try to Sell. Keep in mind that people subscribe to your emails because of the promise of useful and relevant information. For this reason, you must never use your mailing list to send out sales pitches. Doing so will instantly irritate your readers and prompt them to opt out. Instead, use your sales copy on your website. If your email marketing content is persuasive enough, you'll get your subscribers to visit your website for information on products that can benefit them.
  13. Keep Your Emails Concise. The emails you send to your subscribers need to be short and contain only nuggets of information that recipients can easily read through. This will encourage them to read through your content and easily digest the information you provide. If you do have a long-winded article that you want to share, you may just want to publish it on your website. You can then send out a few choice quotes to your subscribers and lead them to the full article through a text link.
  14. Provide Different Email Formats. Different individuals prefer to view their emails in different formats. While some like receiving HTML emails, others prefer plain text. HTML will give you more freedom to make your emails more attractive in terms of design and layout. However, emails in this format are never properly displayed when users set their preferences for emails to display in plain text. Furthermore, many Internet users now view their emails using mobile devices making it more important to provide different email formats. It may be best to ask each of your subscribers to choose their preferred email format upon signing up. That way, you can send them emails according to their preferences right away.
  15. Make it Easy to Opt Out. Making it difficult for subscribers to opt out of your mailing list can easily damage your relationship with recipients and ruin your reputation. For this reason, you need to have a visible "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of each of your emails. Also make sure that you honor your recipient's request to unsubscribe immediately after the request is confirmed. Making it easy for subscribers to opt out of your mailing list will also help you properly track the results of your email marketing efforts.
  16. Follow a Schedule. Before you even start with your email marketing campaign, develop a schedule for sending out emails and stick with it. Let your subscribers know whether they should expect new messages on a weekly or on a monthly basis. Also, try to send out your emails on the same day of every week or every month. This will allow your subscribers to expect your emails and become more preconditioned to open them once they arrive.
  17. Use a Template. Develop a template for your emails and use it consistently. Your template should guide you in developing each email's design and layout as well as the style of copy used in each part.
  18. This will allow your subscribers to become familiar with your emails and determine which parts they like reading. Following a template will also help achieve your branding objectives.
  19. Always Use Clear Call-to-Action Statements. Any email marketing campaign has objectives. Generally, the objective is to capture the interest of readers and prompt them to visit an online business website where they can make purchases or avail of services. No matter what action you need to get from your readers, be sure you state it clearly in your emails.
  20. Experiment with Your Messages. There are many ways to communicate what you want to say to your subscribers. To find out which way is best, you may want to experiment with your emails. Try sending out different versions of your email to the different segments in your mailing list. Make use of various layouts, titles, and content to check which ones generate the highest response rates. Even if the results you are currently getting from your email marketing campaign are good, make sure you test everything. You might end up realizing that what you're getting is only a fraction of your potential.
  21. Test Your Link Placements. In addition to experimenting with your messages, you need to test your link placements. Most email marketers prefer to place their links towards the end of each message while others include links in between content. Link placement is important because it may be the only thing that will lead your subscribers to your online business website. By determining where it is best to place your link, you can continuously improve on the effectiveness of your email marketing campaign and increase the likelihood of subscribers availing of what you have to offer.

Email marketing can be a company's most valuable lead generation tool. However, it needs to be planned and implemented correctly to produce optimal results. Following the twenty one tips above will allow you to make the most out of email marketing campaign. It will not only help you achieve your sales objectives but also enhance your reputation online, build a rapport with your subscribers, and establish yourself as an expert within your community. See also best tips to create email marketing

Monday 7 May 2012

email marketing tips for small business

email marketing for small business example
Here are some email marketing tips for small business:

1. Start building an email marketing list of customers
If you do not have an email marketing list you can start building one now. Whether you have a small or a large client base, you can start by first including your existing customers on your email marketing list which you can build upon with time. A small business can start an email marketing campaign from a relatively small list which can expand with time. As new inquiries are received, the list can be expanded. It is a common practice to purchase targeted email list from a professional marketing company.

2. Email registration on your website
Offering customer with a way to register via your website is probably one of the easiest ways to build your own email list. A registration form can be added to your website with ease. The placement of the email registration feature on your website is important and has an impact t on conversion rates. It should be placed on a prominent place on the website. If your website uses a content management system then most likely the newsletter registration feature will be built in.

3. Start a Marketing Newsletter
Sending newsletters to your customers is one of the most effective email marketing techniques. You can start a newsletter on a topic related to our industry. The newsletter can be weekly, monthly or even quarterly. A newsletter provides an excellent opportunity to communicate with your customers on regular basis. You can use the newsletter to subsequently market your own products or services.

4. Improve awareness of your email marketing list
You can take some simple steps to increase the popularity of your email marketing newsletters and growing your email list. Creating a quality marketing email or newsletter requires time and effort so it is best sent out to as many people as possible.
Following are some simple methods to improve awareness about your marketing newsletter or email list and encourage people to register:
o Include a link to register for emails in all email correspondence.
o Include information about your email newsletter in invoices, purchase orders and other company documents.
o Include email registration link in a prominent place on your website and blog.
o Let your team know to inform customers about your marketing newsletter at every opportunity they get.
o Create an incentive to subscribe to your email or company newsletter e.g. discount coupons or prize draws.

5. Follow data protection act
It is vital that you respect customer's privacy and take all steps necessary to protect customer data collected by your email marketing campaigns. You should not share information without prior consent from the customer. Your email marketing list should be opt in. When customers register their email address they are agreeing to receive marketing emails from you. If you purchase opt-in email marketing lists, you should do so from reliable sources only.

6. Send quality marketing emails
Nothing can be worse fro your branding than sending out a poorly designed marketing email to customers. You should research the content of your marketing email and plan your marketing campaign in advance. The content of the marketing email should be well researched and offer value to customers. It is OK to promote your products and business in your emails but you should try and offer a variety of information. A well balanced email is more likely to succeed than a purely promotional email. If the email you send is full of self promotion and does not offer real value then customers are likely to un-subscribe or opt-out form receiving emails in future. Focus on quality over quantity.

7. Select an appropriate subject for the marketing email
A good subject for the marketing email plays a vital role in deciding how many emails are opened and read by customers. It is important to choose the subject of the email with careful thought and consideration.

8. Design and Layout:
You should plan the structure of the email with care. The layout should be clutter free and easy to read. The design should be clean and minimalist. Use images carefully. Any images used should be optimized for fast loading time. The design should reflect your brand. You should also Include your logo and contact information.

9. Clean-up your email marketing list from time to time:
If you are maintaining your own email list then you should perform basic list maintenance tasks periodically. Any un-subscribed user should be removed from the list immediately. Similarly all old or not working email addresses should be removed. It is better to categorize your list in to different categories so you can pan your emails and send specific information to specific groups. At the same time any new contacts should be added so they are not left out in the next email you send out.

10. Test your marketing campaigns
Whether you send out regular emails or send then less frequently, it is vital that you test your email marketing campaign properly before you send them out. A spell check should be performed. Any links in the email should be checked to see if they are not broken. A good technique is to send a copy to yourself first.

11. Measure the performance of your Email Marketing campaigns
It is important to measure the success or failure of your email marketing campaigns. There are many ways to monitor the performance. The ultimate measure of success is the number of enquiries you receive as a direct result of your marketing emails. Statistics related to your campaign can provide a useful insight. Most email marketing software will allow you to monitor deliver rate, response rate, click rate and so on. You can find out how many emails were delivered, how many were opened and even how many links in the email were clicked. You can use this information to judge the effectiveness of each email that is sent and to plan and improvise on future campaigns.

12. Call to action
An effective marketing email should encourage users to take an action. Including a call to action statement in your marketing emails can improve the chances of conversion. A call to action can be anything from a request for more information to a link to buy a product.

Email Marketing Format : Easy To Read

Best Email Marketing Format Easy To Read
How to Make Email Marketing so that look Easy To Read : I personally think that if you give a hard return at the end of every few sentences, that it is very readable and probably creates more clicks long run, like this:
  1. So this is what
  2. it might look like
  3. if you were to hit a
  4. hard return after
  5. every few words.
  6. It basically makes
  7. a lot easier for the
  8. reader to just scan
  9. down and get to your
  10. click through if they
  11. are in a hurry.
  12. This also creates a
  13. distinguishment between
  14. your emails and many
  15. of the others that people
  16. receive every day.
As you are writing emails, you can play around some with how they look, and you should come up with something that complements your personality.
By the way, do you want to learn more about using articles like this to drive traffic to your website and increase online conversions?