A Simple Guide to Email Marketing

Email marketing

There are many factors to consider when you are thinking about an email marketing campaign.

The first rule of email marketing is only email people who have opted in. The Spam and Privacy Act provide stringent legislation in Australia with regards to collecting and using personal data. The first question should be, have the intended recipients physically opted in to receive marketing information?

On the flip side, once the person has the email, unsubscribing should also be clear and simple. Not having an unsubscribe is actually illegal!

Subject line

The subject line is without doubt one of the most important parts of your email. A subject line can mean the difference in delivery and being opened. The subject line has to be relevant to the recipient and the content. Some words get filtered by some email clients and can mean that your emails don't actually get into the intended mail boxes

Devices & Browsers

Is your email readable or viewable across all devices and browsers? According to a recent report, nearly a third of all emails [in the second half of 2011] were opened on a mobile device, depending on the recipient and content this figure could reach 50%.

There are a few key points to consider - Bear in mind the size of the screen and the method of navigation on smart devices... don't make the email too long (too much scrolling), don't have too many images (takes time to download), don't have too many columns (squashes the content into the screen) and finally don't have the links too close together (bear in mind some people have fat fingers!).

Lastly, offer a plain text version in case the full colour (HTML) version cannot be viewed by the email client or device.

Content

The content has to be relevant to the recipient. Keep it short and sweet and to the point, provide links through to your webpages to read or view the full content. Remember they could be reading this on their smartphone.

Social Media

Use social media links so your recipients can share the content with their friends and colleagues. This makes it very easy for your email recipients to spread the content in your email to the people in their networks, extending the reach of your email beyond the original list of recipients.

Use a recognised system

Use a proper email broadcast system, one that manages subscriptions, automatically offers a text version, allows you to test your email before you send and finally, provides full analysis and reports once sent.

Lastly, once sent, use the analysis and reports... what's working and what isn't working? A recent study reports that 69% of consumers who unsubscribe from an email list do so because they're receiving too many emails from the business!

Benefits of Email Marketing

The world of business is highly competitive. In order to be taken seriously, you need to be more than capable of keeping up with the times. Of course, this can be somewhat problematic because not all businesses come equipped with all of the things that they need in order to be successful. A reseller of SEO programs exists primarily as a means of allowing various companies to overcome this roadblock. A reseller of SEO provides businesses with the tools that are required for them to flourish. By complementing each organization's shortcomings, these programs allow them to excel far beyond what would otherwise be possible.

Many SEO resellers provide businesses with email marketing services, allowing them to expand their horizons and push past preconceived boundaries. Email marketing is an excellent option for growing businesses, as it allows for a much greater level of versatility than many other marketing techniques.

With email marketing, geographical limitations are virtually nonexistent.

When you advertise your business, you're trying to get as much exposure as you possibly can. Without some form of digital advertisement, however, you're limited in who you can market yourself to. A reseller of SEO that offers email marketing services is one of the most reliable resources that you can have in this situation, letting you broadcast your message to people all across the globe.

You can target certain types of people when sending out marketing emails.

No one wants to be hassled with advertisements that are completely irrelevant to their own interests. At the same time, though, no business ever got anywhere by manually picking and choosing who would view its material. With email marketing, your advertisements will be sent out to those who match the kind of demographic that your company's shooting for. You can target people based on their interests, age group, career, and various other demographics. A reseller of SEO will provide this kind of service for quite some time, and it's only been growing in popularity for its wonderful efficiency.

Emails, by their very nature, are more personal and interactive than many other advertisement mediums.

Email marketing allows the people whose attention you're trying to get to get in touch with you and share their own opinions. This is wonderful, because it provides them with the opportunity to tell you what they want, which ultimately serves to benefit your business in the long run. It's important for you to be able to gauge your own success. Feedback is one of the most reliable ways of doing so. By using the email marketing services provided by SEO resellers, you can make a great and positive change in the way you interact with your demographic.

Effective and Powerful Email Marketing

Email marketing is a very cost-effective way of promoting new services and products. When done properly it can add to your branding, build loyalty and name-recognition in your customers. If your mind is leaping to the image of a barrage of spam emails that end up in Junk email box, think again.

E-mail marketing is all about communicating in a genuine manner with your customers, staying in touch with them, informing them of a new product line, a new service or a special offer they might be interested in. Email marketing reminds your customers that you are there for them and generates new leads and sales.

Here's an example of a successful email marketing campaign. A print company's business card print run needed filling, so the marketing department put together a one week promotion offering a free business card holder with each order of business cards. The email went out to their targeted mailing list of previous and existing customers. Within a day of the email going out, their business card print run was full for the week. The special offer of a free business card holder was a small incentive but the real value in the promotion was more in keeping in touch with customers, jogging their memory, the e-mail reminding them of something they needed already and hadn't got around to ordering.

This example demonstrates the importance of keeping in regular contact with your customers. You can be sure that if you don't keep in touch, your competitors will fill the gap with their own email marketing. It makes it easier for them to woo your customers away with an attractive promotion of their own.

A few email marketing tips:

1. Keep emails short, friendly and to the point. No-one wants to wade through a long sales pitch to find out what the special offer is. Even better use well designed images and text, so that a glimpse is enough to get the message across.

2. Keep your mailing list clean and targeted. Remember that the most effective form of email marketing is aimed at keeping in touch with existing customers and those who have already shown interest in your business.

3. Make sure that all your promotional mailers keep in line with your business branding, so that they are supporting and building brand recognition among your customers.

Email marketing works as a friendly reminder of your products and services even if the customer isn't interested in the particular promotion currently on offer. It is very cost-effective, keeps your name fresh and at the fore-front of your customers' minds, and builds your branding simply and effectively.