When you think of email marketing, what comes to mind?

Spam or Customer Loyalty?

The common misconception of email marketing by many business owners is that if I send out an email “blast” then sales, leads and website traffic will instantly increase. In many cases this is incorrect. FYI, I absolutely, detest the words “email blast” this makes me think of the traditional spammers (the blue pill or online gamming emails).

Today there are so many negative associations surrounding email marketing:

#1 Spam

#2 Opt-Out Rate

#3 TOO MUCH EMAIL!!!!

Your prospects and customers don’t have time to read emails from you only when you want to only make a sale. I have seen some of the best products; offers and promotions fail in an email marketing campaign because the company is trying too hard to make the sale.

Developing an effective email marketing campaign should be more than just a “blast” to your opt-in in house email list (NO I don’t recommend renting lists, unless of course the are from a GOOD and TRUSTWORTHLY SOURCE). I will write more about the topic of selecting the right list in a future article.

Think of your email marketing campaign just like any type of offline marketing or advertising campaign. Before you launch any type of email campaign I strongly recommend you plan the following:

1. Goal(s) – What is the goal of the campaign? Sales, Awareness or Communication?

2. Approach – You know your customers and prospects better than anyone (hopefully you do, if not try sending out survey’s to them to learn more about their needs and wants, this will ultimately help better position all forms of online marketing). There are several type of emails: Promotion, Informational to name a few.

3. Timing – Try to develop a campaign or series of appropriately timed emails that are sent out over a period of time, rather than a one time email. I do not recommend sending out email campaigns more than 2 times a week. This will help keep you opt-out rate low.

4. Offer or Promotion – If you are sending a promotion or offer, try to think of something that will have a good approach to your audience. Percent off, dollars off, buy one get one free, etc.

5. Implementation – IF you don’t have an Online Marketing Manager to do this for you, I recommend purchasing some type of an Email Marketing software. This will help you manage your list receive statistics from each email campaign and more importantly protect you from any possible spam complaints.

Nick Stamoulis is an online marketing expert that has helped businesses achieve web marketing goals for the past 9 years. He is currently the Online Marketing Manager at Smart Destinations and has worked with companies such as: United Way, Computerworld, Vision Music USA and more. Nick is a member of SEMPO, EMA, AMA and is Google Adwords certified. Nick is the editor of WebMarketingResource.org which is a free web marketing resource site for business owners and marketers.

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